The article you have been waiting for is now up!  You get to check it out before the rest of the Internet hears about it on Monday.  Don't you feel special?  It's called: Network Card Roundup - Which is the Best Network Card?  We know the answer.  I'm really interested in what you think about the article, so please leave comments or criticism in this thread in the forums.

I received the phoneline networking cards in the mail today.  I haven't had the chance to play with the yet, but they seem to be pretty cool.

I installed the two Alpha PEP66 with two Nidec Beta V 60mm 25CFM fans on my Tyan Tiger 100 and it now runs at dual 550 Mhz without any problem.  My only complain is that my computer now sounds like a jet engine taking off.  Ah, the price of overclocking.

That's all folks!

March 27, 2001
Trick 1:
I have for you today a little trick that I picked up for Windows NT and 2000.  Most of the time when you are not using your server I assume that you log out of your computer so that it is inaccessible from grubby little hands.  However, if you have a program that is not designed to run as a service, the program will shut down when you log out which is a big problem.  The trick that I found was to hit "Control, Alt, Del", then select "Lock Computer" which will basically log you out.  The difference between 1. logging out of your computer and 2. locking your computer is that authorized users can still log into 1. while for 2. only there person who locked the computer or an authorized administrator can unlock it.  Since I now use FREEping, which isn't designed to run as a service, I can't log out of my server but I can still lock it for an additional measure of safety.

Trick 2:
Did you know that you can access this website by the domain DSLwebserver.com AND CABLEwebserver.com?  Just in case you didn't know.  Now you people on cable modem don't have to taint your fingers by typing D-S-L and vice versa for those on DSL.  Boy I must be bored.  Good night!

March 26, 2001
I found this great FREE utility called FREEping which can serve to both monitor your network status and keep your DSL/Cable connection alive and prevent your IP number from changing.  Too bad it only works with Windows.  Check it out, it might be what you need.  I added this utility to the Test/Tools section and also gave brief blurbs about it in the DNS and Network sections.

March 25, 2001
This morning I drove down to LAX to greet the USC Men's Basketball team from their outstanding trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.  It's been an exciting basketball season!  Between March Madness and the Oscars, I haven't been able to study at all!

Thanks to Tim Higgins of Practically Networked for listing this site as a good resource for DIY home webserving.  Check out the pages with the reference to DSL/Cable Webserver here and here.

I purchased a couple of cheap phoneline networking cards from CompGeeks.com.  I plan on writing up a guide on how to setup a bridge between a phoneline network and a traditional Ethernet Network without having to buy an expensive bridge.

I'm now putting the final touches on my network card roundup so we can answer the pesky question: "Which is the Best network card?"  It will be out in about a week.  Hey, careful testing takes time!

On another subject, for my home computer, I ordered two Alpha PEP66 in hopes of getting my dual Celeron 366 stable at 550.  Right now I can only get dual 366@412.  Let's hope those Alpha's do the trick.

I also archived old news at the bottom of the page so this front page isn't so looooooooong.....

March 21, 2001
I received several emails asking me if my continuous ping method takes up a lot of bandwidth so I decided to do some testing.  I ran several of the speed benchmarks listed in the Tests/Tools section to see if my line speed had degraded any.  I did notice the speed downstream (from the Internet to my computer) did slow down by about 2-3%, but my upstream speed (from my computer to the Internet) did now slow at all.  Also, people on my network who share my DSL line could not notice any difference at all.  This is good news for those of you who are choosing to use this method of keeping your connection from timing out.

March 19, 2001
My DSL problems still exist, but I found a temporary solution.  It seems that my DSL connection shuts down after a period of inactivity, even though I have a static IP address.  When this happens, all requests to my IP address get timed out.  The temporary solution I found was to make the line constantly active.  Basically, my server is pinging my my ISP's router continuously.  I added this method of keeping your connection alive in the DNS section.

A couple more updates.  I overclocked the server cpu from 333 Mhz (3.5x95) all the way to 380 Mhz (4.0x95).  For some reason, the multiplier wasn't locked.  Don't worry, the server is 100% stable.  A good overclock is always 100% stable no matter what you throw at it, otherwise it's not a good overclock.  The reason I decided to overclock the cpu now is because I'm running RC5 cracking software on it.   Find out more about RC5 cracking and other distributed computing at distributed.net.  Don't let your idle cpu cycles go to waste!

March 18, 2001
It has been an extremely frustrating spring break.  I have NOT been able to get my DSL fixed at all.  If you can even read this front page, you're lucky because most of the time you'll get an error on your browser.  I can't get my ISP or Verizon to fix it, let alone admit that something is wrong.  Hold on tight while I try to get this site back up.  Ah, the perils of running your own webserver!  Thanks for your patience.  I did have the chance to update Russ' webserver profile (that is if you can even get to that page!)

March 11, 2001
Okay, this site has been having major DSL problems and that's why you probably haven't been able to access this site. I have no idea what's wrong and Verizon doesn't to have a clue either. I'm working on a solution, but knowing Verizon, this could take a while.  Can you guys do me a favor and let me know when this site becomes unavailable by posting a message here when the site comes back up? Thanks.

March 9, 2001
Today, it seems like the site was down for most of the day.  This was due to DSL problems as far as I can tell.  Of course, I called my DSL company and complained.  Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.  Other than that, nothing really happened today.  Exams are over and I'm on spring break!  I'll be updating this site in the coming days.

March 7, 2001
The Hematology Pathology exam was difficult, but I think the Cardio Pathology exam on Friday is going to be much worse.  Today I added another entry to our Member Sites page.  That's all for now.

March 5, 2001
Boy, I am tired!  I studied today from 8 am until 11 pm.  I have to pull the same thing tomorrow for the exam on Wednesday.  Then I have another exam on Friday.  No, I'm not cramming because I didn't prepare, it's just that there is so much material in Hematology and Cardiovascular.  Okay, for some site info, I added the first two Member Sites!  Yeah!  If you want me to put your site info/specs, email me!

March 1, 2001
I have exams for the next week so I won't be able to post much new (if anything at all) in the way of guides or articles.  I did finish a large batch of testing, so I just need some time to write it up when my exams are over.  Just wanted to let you know that we're still alive over here!
 

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