almost free vpn

i'd been surveying the vpn offerings from companies like Tunnel Bear, Private Internet Access and Strong VPN. after boiling down my use cases to exactly one immediate need/desire, I decided to roll my own.

that use case is getting secure browsing when connecting mobile devices to any wifi that isn't the one in my house.

happily, my new Asus router has a PPTP server built-in. and unlike my adventures in dd-wrt land, i was able to get this vpn server working.

though PPTP isn't the most secure vpn, i think with what the asus has onboard, it will be secure enough for my purposes. for encrypted authentication, it has chap v1 and v2; i configured the router to leave that at "auto". for encrypted traffic, i selected MPPE 128-bit.

the router also allows config for dynamic dns. that's the "almost free" part -- last month, dyndns finally stopped offering free service, now it's $20/year. leave it to me to not sign up until immediately after their policy change.

on the ios side, i was able to use the dyndns account to connect, but my authentication kept failing. turns out, my 18-character password was a bit much, so i knocked it down to 16-characters and i could now authenticate (i've yet to find documentation about password length, so there was some trial/error in here. it might also be why i couldn't get the dd-wrt vpn to work).

the last bit to solve was that, even though i was connected, i could not load anything from the internet. that was solved by disabling the option on the router vpn page that said "connect to DNS servers automatically" and instead hard-coding the DNS entries for my ISP.

after that, i could connect from my iphone and get internet. the speeds are reasonable, too. over 4g, i usually get around 1 megabit download, but saw 3.7 Mbps download yesterday. (frankly, i'm surprised AT&T's 4g allowed that).

someday, when i need more vpn capability, i'll probably re-investigate Tunnel Bear and the others, but for now i've got what i need.

cable is cancelled! aaand i still get TV through comcast.

i finally told Comcast to cancel the cable TV last week. this ended a series of frustrating phonecalls with them trying to gather enough information to decide if i wanted to. e.g. such hard hitters as "how much will my internet cost if i cancel the cable portion of my service?"

(after being passed around to several departments, i ended up speaking with a woman in California who had no access to my account and was demanding to know why i wanted to speak with her).

my other question was about how the TV portion worked. i'd read that, when getting internet, the cable providers still push some basic cable. seems it used to be required, now they're allowed to encrypt it. trying to get an answer from comcast on if/how that worked was more than useless.

instead, i waited for it to be cancelled and then plugged the 75-ohm cable into the TV and told it to scan for channels. half an hour later, it had found 98! Looks to be the same channels offered over the air digitally, and comcast had not encrypted it (it's called QAM).

lovely! except i'll confess i miss the DVR conveniences of pausing live video and scheduling recordings. for the moment, we'll see how we like the combination of QAM, Hulu, Roku, Amazon Prime and Plex. we'll probably add Netflix before too long.

should we miss DVR too much, i may invest in the combo of the HDHomeRun tuner and eyeTV osx software. in addition to DVR, it would have the added benefit of bringing the QAM signal through the receiver and the better speakers, instead of relying on the tuner built into the TV.

all of this is much more complicated than having cable, but good god is it cheaper. even when factoring in the cost of the mac mini to run plex and the monthly fees on the content, it won't take long to break even.

and the answer to my original question is $15/mo. internet bundled price was $50, unbundled is $65 for 25 Mbps down. after bitching about the price, was given $5/mo off for the next 6 mo. So the answer is actually $10/mo, for now. Let us note that RCN is offering DSL (over fiber, it seems) for $50/mo for 30 Mbps. might have to check into that, though i'm wary of DSL, and i did buy that cable modem. hate to have to retire it so soon.

router madness

in an effort to 1) increase my wifi throughput and 2) set up a VPN server, i took the gf's old Linksys WRT54G wifi router and flashed it with ww-drt.

it was an interesting adventure, though not fruitful in the end. i was able to figure out which package to use for the router, but not by using the handy "find my firmware" tool on the site. instead, i crawled through wikis and forums to learn that that tool is out of date and could brick your router. hurrah!

i got as far as getting basic internet and wifi working, with WPA2+AES wifi security. sadly, it did not perform as well as my old Linksys WRT54G router, which still has Linksys firmware on it.

i was not able to get the PPTP VPN working. i went through many, many forum posts and wikis, trying to navigate the inconsistent, out-of-date and contradictory information. i had to call upon old unix skills to telnet into the router and update bourne shell scripts, run sed commands and the like. i took all the bits of info i could find and tried them in all the combinations i could, but still no vpn connectivity.

so i bagged that and set about trying to increase the wifi throughput. comcast internet is coming in at a zippy (for the US) 25 Mbps d/load speed, but over wifi it was 14 at best with the linksys firmware, and 10 at best with dd-wrt. i read through a number of threads about increasing wifi performance (one key parameter made available with dd-wrt is the transmit power of the radio, plus other cool stuff like assigning Tx/Rx to different antennas), but again was met with contradictory information.

each tweak i tried, guided by user recommendations, actually *decreased* performance. i got it all the way down to 3 Mbps. hurray internet!

after undoing most of the recommended tweaks, i was able to get it back up to a reliable 11 Mbps; still not as good as the stock firmware.

so in the end, i punted by putting back the router with the linksys firmware and ordering an asus RTN66U router. i'm hoping the n-band will provide wifi speeds closer to the 25 i'm getting through the modem, plus it comes with vpn capability. i'm reading that not only is the router software open-source, but its extensive configurability was based on open firmwares like dd-wrt and tomato.

now, here's hoping that the year-old threads i'm reading about the vpn issues with the asus are not indicative of an ongoing problem...

good god, backup really is that complicated

at least if one wants to duplicate the convenience of apple's Time Capsule.

i've been combing over posts @ readynas.com, which is an excellent resource for Netgear NAS products. though it seems easier than ever to run Time Machine software with non-Apple devices, there are still a lot of issues. upgrading osx versions, running multiple Time Machine users, and running Parallels caused issues for a number of users.

those anecdotes are also peppered with cries of "NAS isn't a backup solution!" Which is a shame, given that's exactly what i wanted to use it for. so then i was pricing out 2 TB external drives to back up the NAS.

Time Machine tracks revisions to files, such that one restore their computer to the exact state from a date in the past (chewing up a lot of extra disk space in the process). That's a neat use case, but one I don't really need. I version my own files when it's important to me, what I need from a backup system is something for that rainy day if my laptop is stolen or the drive dies.

iow, I need the latest snapshot, that's it.

seems I already have everything I need for that: external firewire drives and Super Duper. I contacted the author and he confirmed for me that NAS solutions, while having some nice features, doesn't allow Super Duper to make a bootable backup the way it does with a dedicated device.

so I suppose I'll stick with my 3-prong approach, using Mobile Me Sync, Backup of some files to the apple servers, and Super Duper for the entire image.

good god, is backup really this complicated?

today I learned about NAS: network attached storage.

now that i've moved into the 21st century with the purchase of a new mac laptop running Snow Leopard (previously was running Tiger, skipping Leopard entirely), AND designating my laptop as my new "main machine", i thought it high-time to modernize my backup procedures. And to get the gf's machine running regular backups, as well.

naturally, i first investigated Apple's solution, Time Machine and Time Capsule. it didn't take me long to find the accounts of the multitudes with failed Time Capsules, seemingly due to a bad thermal design. That, and there's no built-in RAID, so Time Capsule is off the list. Would still like to use the Time Machine s/w, though. after some googling, I found that what I was looking for was an NAS device.

anyone been to Linksys' site lately? it's now streamlined and fantastically worthless. what is Valet? haven't a clue, other than beautiful people can use it easily.

the Iomega Ix2-200 looked promising, but some devastating reviews @ amazon has put me off. the Netgear Stora stuff also looks interesting, but it seems it also has its fair share of issues. That, and I'm not *at all* convinced that I want the same device storing my backups to also be serving files and media to devices outside my home.

after more research, including finding the (netgear) readynas site and its osx section, the leading contender is a diskless Netgear ReadyNAS duo, which i'll fill with a pair of 2-terabyte Western Digital drives.

i'm still doing research, and need to verify that i can RAID those for a total of 2-terabytes of backup. even with full-bandwidth audio files to back up, and 2 users, that should be enough space for the foreseeable future. And it looks like Time Machine setup is relatively painless.

i think it'll work completely wirelessly, so i can chuck it in a closet and not have to worry about running an ethernet cable between it and my (aged) Linksys router.

hey, makers of automated voice systems

how about starting off like this:

our offices are now closed, but we offer a number of automated options you can access now. to hear our hours, press 1. for automated access, press 2.

i'd like that better than spending 5 minutes navigating your system, hearing all kinds of automated payment information, and then being told your offices are closed when i'm finally presented with an option to speak to someone.

end rant.

updated MB Pro benchmarks

i visited the apple store again and re-ran XBench for the 13" 2.66 GHz mb pro, providing results that i think are closer to reality (correcting that out-of-whack UI Interface value).

	MB Pro 2.53GHz C2D (Nov 2009)	13" MB Pro 2.66GHz C2D (Apr 2010)	15" MB Pro 2.53GHz i5	15" MB Pro 2.66GHz i7
RAM, gig	4	4	4	4
Overall Score	128.33	139.19	166.23	174.52
CPU	181.45	190.23	201.96	221.38
Thread	309.72	280.11	491.01	539.79
Memory	190.57	196.82	314.76	330.08
Quartz Graphics	197.14	164.88	209.01	233.53
OpenGL Graphics	90.44	168.13	198.13	204.90
User Interface	278.42	199.38	324.52	353.68
Disk, Overall	47.99	51.67	52.55	53.42
Disk, Sequential	95.06	100.12	107.92	116.04
Disk, Random	32.09	34.82	34.73	34.69

XBench figures for April 2010 MacBook Pro lineup

i last did this back in November, but with this week's release of the new laptops, I thought it was time for new benchmarks.

So tonight I stopped by the AppleStore tonight and grabbed some figures, with the same version of XBench (1.3). Again, usual caveats apply wrt variances from test to test, most notably with the User Interface score for the new 13" MB Pro. Sadly, I did only one run. More sadly, they didn't have all versions of the machines, so I grabbed what I could.

For comparison, I included the MB Pro 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo from last fall. Interesting how it and the new 13" 2.66 are not much different, performance-wise, despite the doubled RAM and "improved" graphics card. The move up to the 15" i5 seems a clear step up, though I'm thoroughly unconvinced I need or want a 15" form factor.

	MB Pro 2.53GHz C2D (Nov 2009)	13" MB Pro 2.66GHz C2D (Apr 2010)	15" MB Pro 2.53GHz i5	15" MB Pro 2.66GHz i7
RAM, gig	4	4	4	4
Overall Score	128.33	71.97	166.23	174.52
CPU	181.45	190.54	201.96	221.38
Thread	309.72	214.07	491.01	539.79
Memory	190.57	198.92	314.76	330.08
Quartz Graphics	197.14	157.52	209.01	233.53
OpenGL Graphics	90.44	170.67	198.13	204.90
User Interface	278.42	20.29	324.52	353.68
Disk, Overall	47.99	48.02	52.55	53.42
Disk, Sequential	95.06	89.78	107.92	116.04
Disk, Random	32.09	32.77	34.73	34.69

lmgtfy.com

just spreading the word on this smart-ass site.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+time+is+the+midnight+buffet%3F

XBench figures for Fall 2009 Macbook lineup

Here's just the results for the laptops, making the comparison more interesting. I may add Macbook data, once I get it. I think the faster MB Pro with an SSD would really kick butt.

green = best score for category, red = worst.

	MacBook 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	MacBook Pro 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	MacBook Pro 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	MacBook Air 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, SSD
RAM, gig	2	2	4	2
Overall Score	114.16	116.60	128.33	131.29
CPU	160.81	160.58	181.45	151.83
Thread	250.11	244.86	309.72	218.52
Memory	184.56	183.66	190.57	177.25
Quartz Graphics	169.17	177.97	197.14	157.63
OpenGL Graphics	77.98	82.69	90.44	70.70
User Interface	201.94	241.03	278.42	217.89
Disk, Overall	45.46	44.61	47.99	87.94
Disk, Sequential	87.52	83.58	95.06	76.62
Disk, Random	30.71	30.42	32.09	103.17

update: added the results from the gf's MacBook. the first time I ran XBench on her machine, it scored in the low 120's (overall score). This time it was lower. Just goes to show the variance of XBench results from run-to-run.

the MacBook and the low-end MBPro are really on par with one another, speed-wise. The $200 extra for the MBPro get you a firewire port, a better case, a backlit keyboard, and a smaller hard drive. hm.

XBench figures for Fall 2009 Mac lineup

I'm shopping for a new mac, not sure what I want. The other day I went to the Apple Store and ran XBench on a number of models. Figures are below. Note that I ran these one time only, so some results may be an outlier.

With the exception of the Air, all the laptop drives were 5400 RPM. The Air had an SSD drive. Also, I'm pretty sure the tower was the Quad core, not the 8-core, but I'm not certain. Finally, I didn't run benchmarks on the Macbook or the mini. Sorry!

I didn't reproduce all the results here, just the category ones (I did break down the Disk Test to its two sub-categories). I still have the full results and can provide additional numbers for the curious.

For XBench, the higher number is better. I have no idea how they're weighted for the total score, but here we are:

	MacPro 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon	iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	MacBook Pro 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	MacBook Pro 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	MacBook Air 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, SSD
RAM, gig	3	4	2	4	2
Overall Score	196.45	123.33	116.60	128.33	131.29
CPU	197.83	217.22	160.58	181.45	151.83
Thread	875.92	367.74	244.86	309.72	218.52
Memory	399.97	210.98	183.66	190.57	177.25
Quartz Graphics	254.35	243.05	177.97	197.14	157.63
OpenGL Graphics	126.66	173.48	82.69	90.44	70.70
User Interface	367.85	51.245	241.03	278.42	217.89
Disk, Overall	80.70	65.08	44.61	47.99	87.94
Disk, Sequential	159.01	170.75	83.58	95.06	76.62
Disk, Random	54.07	40.20	30.42	32.09	103.17

XBench version: 1.3

iWeb, me.com and zoneedit

there's a lot of webconfusion out there about how to get one's own domain working with a me.com/iWeb site. happily, i sussed it out and got my own working.

i use dotster as my registrar, and am usually quite happy with them. after buying a new domain to use with iWeb, however, i unhappily discovered that dotster wanted to charge me an extra $10/year to simply have access to the DNS records. outrageous.

one can, however, and for free, specify domain names that point away from dotster servers. that's where zoneedit comes in: they'll let you use their DNS servers for free (with some limits), but give you free reign over the DNS configuration.

so, to get this all working:

1. ensure you have a working, live iWeb site


2. go to your registrar of choice and buy a new domain


3. make an account at zoneedit and set up a configuration for your new domain


4. zoneedit will give you a pair of DNS server names


5. at your registrar, use those DNS server names for your new domain


6. back at zoneedit, go to the Aliases(CNAME) tab


7. add a new entry, with Alias "www" and Actual Name "web.me.com" (without the quotes, of course)


8. press Add New Alias


9. log into me.com


10. go to Account


11. click on Personal Domain


12. enter your new domain and click Done

that's it. within a couple hours, you should be able to go to your domain and see your iWeb page.

note that zoneedit automatically configures your email so that an email sent to any address @yournewdomain will be forwarded to your address of record (in my case, that's my me.com email address).

Linksys WRT54G and PS3 problems

after configuring my router with my new ISP, whenever i hooked up the PS3, it would be given an in-use IP address from the DHCP server in the router and take down the entire internet connection.

after a big of googling, i found two suggestions for running PS3's with this particular linksys router (the WRT54G):

1. disable PS3's media server, or
2. disable UPnP is the router

i did both, and everything works fine now.