Pierre’s Lab

Network Magic is a software that makes home and small office networking easy - very easy, sometimes too easy. It makes several PCs, routers, printers and devices such as digital cameras and gaming systems all talk to each other and work smoothly using only Microsoft Windows XP or Vista - it doesn’t support Linux software but that’s not a real problem as my network is mainly Windows based.

I like several feature like seeing when someone join the network - great to see the kids login in their computers. Network monitoring and very easy tools to secure wireless networks - nice to see when ‘someone’ tries to access your wireless.

I don’t use printer sharing as our 2 printers are on the network already, I don’t use file sharing as we have a mass media storage for file sharing which is now managed by Network Magic.

I love the network map, health and security dashboard - great to know when Mom’s computer needs software upgrade! Once in a while I like to measure my network speed and to know that my youngest downloads like crazy.

The general advices are a bit simplistic for me, remember it’s my job but for anyone else, they are worth the time.

Bottom line for $39.99 up to 8 machines, Network Magic is worth it!

The D-Link DIR-655 is installed and running since now 10 months. I upgrade firmware regularly, the box is on 1.10 which includes nice features such as bridge functions. Plenty of the upgrades are to get certification passed.

This wireless router gets the job done - bottom line. It never crashes, don’t loose connections unless you make configuration mistakes.

The only feature I would complain about is that the email log file function doesn’t work. But what the heck, do I need to receive lengthy emails with logs? Don’t think so.

The setup is quite easy unless you don’t have a clue. Bottom line the D-Link DIR-655 is a great router for the money.

That’s the question. Power over Ethernet (POE) technology is a system to transmit electrical power to remote devices over standard twisted-pair cable in an Ethernet network. Power is transmitted along with data.

The technology is comparable to POTS telephones, which also receive power and data (although analog) through the same cable. It works with an unmodified Ethernet cabling infrastructure.

POE is ‘organized’ by IEEE 802.3-2005 and provides 48 volts DC over two out of four available pairs on a Cat3/Cat5/Cat6 cable with a maximum current of 400 mAmp for a maximum load power of 15.4 watts.

The big advantage of POE is that you don’t need to power the remote equipment. This is perfect for IP phones or surveillance IP Cameras. The big down side is cost. IP phone are some 10% more expensive which is not really bad unfortunately, switches and routers get a hike up to 150% compared to non POE.

If your network includes many remote units where power can be difficult to setup, POE is the way to go.

AR1688 is a programmable chip, used for low cost IP phones, it replaces the famous open source PA1688. The architecture is the same, with 8-bit controller for VoIP protocol and 24-bit DSP for voice compression algorithm.

If you compare both chips, the AR1688 has more CPU processing speed and higher and better integration. The IP phone based on AR1688 has improved performance, better voice quality, more features at lower cost.

AR1688 specifications and cross reference with the PA1688:

• CPU clock speed: 48Mhz, the PA1688 ticks at 22Mhz
• DSP runs 60MIPS, the PA1688 runs 33MIPS
• Integrated high-quality audio codec, the PA1688 need external codec
• Integrated SRAM, no external SDRAM needed, the PA1688 needs 1×16 external SDRAM
• RoHS ready
• ICMP response time for 1472 bytes: 10ms, the PA1688 response 21ms)
• TFTP server data put through: 140kbytes/s
• MD5 48 bytes encryption calculation: 4.8ms, the PA1688 needs 9.9ms)
• Software API use open source SDCC compiler, the PA1688 uses commercial Keil C51

Bottom line, the AR1688 is faster, better and cheaper to integrate.

Did it again! Looking for a good VoIP solution, I search stores, eBay and other market places unfortunately I didn’t find anything affordable with all the features I needed.

I searched among Asian suppliers and found several with quite extensive products.

Now, I’m the proud owner of a very powerful and reliable VoIP network Based on High Link products, the network works like a Swiss clock. IP phones are GF302 built on the famous AR1688 the model selected is not POE so they need external power supplies.

The gateway is a good rock solid GW202O with 2 Ethernet ports, 2 FXS and one FXO. The network support analog phone as well as IP phones and PSTN.

These products are so good, I decided to import some and sell them first on eBay and why not later in a B&M.

I’ll keep you posted on my selling progress.