There are some work-related reasons involved, but mainly I wanted the option to upload photos from my digital camera to a computer while I was still at the range.
I enjoy taking pictures at matches, and sometimes I take more pictures than my available memory can hold. (That's over 3GB, which is about two hours. Don't laugh, I have exceeded this limit a few times at two-day matches, and I regretted having to decide whether to film match performances late in the match. Some of the most interesting situations take place near the end of a large match.)
I've had people ask me to give them copies if the pictures I took of them, and sometimes of the whole match. It was disappointing that I couldn't do so, because I had no way of creating a transportable media to hand them at the end of the day.
No more! Now I can burn a CD at the match, and give it to someone who has suffered through an awkward stage (or a very well-run stage) before they go home.
The problem was when I wanted to transfer the files to my desktop computer. I have so far relied on the CTAM (Chevy Truck Access Method), which in this case involves using a 4GB thumb drive to copy the folders I created from the SanDisk memory chips out of the camera, move them to the desktop, and then do the editing and cutting.
My best solution was to set up a Wireless Local-Area Network (WiFi, essentially) at home so I edit them on the laptom and transfer them directly to the Internet.
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The problem was, I didn't know anything about Wireless networking and I was reluctant to invest money in a system which I may or may not be sufficiently technically competent to install.
So it came as a happy surprise when, last week, my landlord (I live in a Town-house Duplex) approached me as I was watering my garden, with the question "Jerry, you have a Cable Modem don't you? What would it take for me to hook into your modem for high-speed Internet access?"
My answer was immediate: "No problem, just buy me a WiFi router. I'll hook it up and give you access to the encryption key."
He decided that was acceptable, and wandered off. Saturday, after no more encouragement from my landlord, I wandered over to my local Computer Store after completing the Dundee September Club Match and bought a 54 MBPS (Mega Bits Per Second) WiFi router for $50.
I bought this from a computer store rather than from an online vendor such as Tiger Direct because this is the merchant who built my new desktop computer, and I like to support local merchants. As it happens, I got a decent price on the router even when compared to similar products available from in-town big stores such as Staples and Office Max.
Today, after spending most of the day with SWMBO (we had to do some shopping at COSTCO and remove the air-conditioner from her window), I took my new router home. I loaded the CD into the desktop and painfully followed the step-by-step instructions provided there.
It took me about an hour to install the router, because of my Y-Chromosonal tendencies to avoid RTFM (... uh, not reading the manual) I missed some obvious requirements. One of these requirements was to read the specifications on the bottom of the hardware, which provided userid and password which is needed to complete the firmware installation. Sure, I'm a Geek. But I'm a Guy first, and therefore only marginally competent to understand the need to know what I should respect during the installation process.
The other Guy-Thing that slowed me down was a tendency to fiddle with the blinking lights just to see "what happens when I push this switch?"
In this case, I pushed a switch on my laptop ... which killed my WiFi connection that I had already established. Took me an hour to decide I should reboot the laptop to refresh the connection and the "Authentication Key" (read: password) so that the internet address I was usint to test the connection were actually available.
So in case you're thinking about installing a WiFi router in your home, here are a few suggestions to make your day less frustrating:
- RTFM! (Read the Install Manual before you start installing)
- When they say to pull the power plug on your Cable modem or Router and wait for x-number of minutes ... pull the plug and light up a smoke. That stuff needs to reset!
- Don't push buttons on your client computers while you're trying to establish an Internet connection.
- When all else fails ... reboot.
One other comment: The cables provided by the manufacturers of WiFi routers are too small to place the router in the best possible places (away from electronic devices, toward the center of the structure, and in a 'high' place ... especially when it must be connected directly to your computer and your computer sits on the floor.) Fortunately, most routers are able to communicate at least 100 feet from where-ever you put them as long as the walls the signal needs to penetrate aren't brick or steel or some other dense material. So positioning might not be a major factor.
Heck, if I can do it ANYBODY can hook up a WiFi Router so your laptop can piggy-back on your hi-speed modem.
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