SD Card Reader

I ended up ordering a SD Card Reader online rather than going to Bintaro Plaza, thus saving money in the process as items are always significantly more expensive in the malls. Here are the specifications:

It all looks good but I'll to wait and see if it does the job. At least it has a USB C connector as well so it is future proof if I move to a more modern laptop in the future. If it is functional, I'll transfer my Calibre library that is on my external hard drive to the micro-SD and continue saving books to the relocated library. It should arrive between the 15th and 17th of March.

I should invest in a new external SSD drive at some point because my current mechanical hard drive is a little unstable, a slight movement can cause a break in the connection. One step at a time however, and so for the time being I await the arrival of my latest accessory.

MIcro SD Cards

Having bought a 128 GB micro SD card, I could not find an adaptor to insert it into, even though I knew I had some laying around somewhere. In the end, I ended five of them online (the smallest number that could be purchased). Unfortunately, the SD card reader on my laptop doesn't recognise the card and two old USB 2 card readers that I found where also of no use. I'll purchase a USB 3 card reader and hope that does the job.

The reason for my purchase is that I want to store my Calibre e-book library on a storage device other than my hard drive. When my laptop crashed after updating Linux Mint, I lost all the data on my hard drive and even though I had a backup on an external hard drive, it was sadly out of date. It was quite a tedious and slow job to back up the library which is why I procrastinated in doing it. 

The SD card, even with the adaptor, is more compact than a thumb drive and can sit less obtrusively in my USB hub that currently hosts a fan and a dongle for my mouse. There are two slots left. My laptop has two USB 3.0 ports, one hosts my TP-LINK WiFi dongle and the other hosts my USB hub. 

It would be nice to have everything working on my laptop but that it's nearly 11 years old now I can't complain. Currently my Elementary OS that I have installed doesn't recognise the internal WiFi card, the webcam or, seemingly, the SD card reader. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the current performance of the laptop.

WiFi and Elementary OS

Since installing Elementary OS on my 2013 MacBook Pro, I had been using a wired connection and only recently noticed that the operating system was not recognising the wireless card in my laptop. I tried a few suggested solutions online but nothing worked. However, I found an old USB WiFi dongle that simply worked.

I was curious to find out more about this venerable dongle so I asked Gemini:

What can you tell me about the year of manufacture and other details of the TP-LINK USB dongle with identification TL-WN322G+?

Identifying the exact year of manufacture for a specific TP-LINK TL-WN322G+ USB dongle might be challenging due to the lack of individual tracking on each unit. However, I can provide you with some general information about this model and suggest methods to determine its approximate age:

General Information:

• The TP-LINK TL-WN322G+ is a wireless USB adapter that supports 802.11g Wi-Fi connectivity with speeds up to 54 Mbps. 

• It was first introduced in 2008, making it a relatively older model compared to newer Wi-Fi standards like 802.11ac and 802.11ax. 

• It's a budget-friendly option for basic internet connectivity needs and is not ideal for demanding tasks requiring high bandwidth.

Given that our Internet router is pretty ancient that's hardly a problem. I asked the following question:

What WiFi standard came before 802.11ac and 802.11ax?

The WiFi standard that came before 802.11ac is 802.11n, also known as Wi-Fi 4. It was introduced in 2009 and offered significant improvements over its predecessor, 802.11g, in terms of:

• Speed: Increased maximum data transfer rates of up to 300 Mbps compared to 54 Mbps for 802.11g. 

• Range: Improved signal range and stability. 

• Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology: Introduced MIMO technology, which utilizes multiple antennas to transmit and receive data simultaneously, further enhancing speed and reliability. 

• 802.11ac, also known as Wi-Fi 5, came after 802.11n in 2013 and offered even faster speeds (up to 1.3 Gbps), wider channels, and improved beamforming technology for more efficient data transmission. Finally, 802.11ax, or Wi-Fi 6, arrived in 2019, bringing further advancements in speed, efficiency, and capacity to handle the ever-growing demands of modern wireless networks. 

So here I am with my 2013 MacBook Pro and my 2008 WiFi dongle connected to rather dated wireless router. I thought I'd find out more about this router:

What can you tell me about the HUAWEI EchoLife HG8245A wireless router?

The Huawei EchoLife HG8245A is an optical network terminal (ONT), also known as a fiber optic modem router,  designed for home and small office/home office (SOHO) users. It utilizes GPON technology to provide high-speed internet access through fiber optic cables.

Here are some key features of the Huawei EchoLife HG8245A:

• Supports GPON technology: Delivers fast and reliable internet connectivity through fiber optic cables. 

• Wi-Fi connectivity: Provides wireless networking capabilities with support for 802.11b/g/n standards, offering speeds of up to 300 Mbps. 

• Wired connectivity: Includes four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports for connecting wired devices like computers, game consoles, and smart TVs. 

• Additional features: It also has one Phone (POTS) port for connecting a landline phone, and one USB 2.0 port for potential future uses.

Here's a table summarizing the specifications of Huawei EchoLife HG8245A:

Feature Specification

• Technology GPON 

• Wi-Fi Standard 802.11b/g/n 

• Wi-Fi Speed Up to 300 Mbps 

• Ethernet Ports 4 x Gigabit LAN 

• Phone (POTS) Ports 1 

• USB Ports 1 x USB 2.0

Overall, the Huawei EchoLife HG8245A is a suitable option for users who require a reliable and basic fiber optic internet connection for home or small office use. However, it's important to note that the Wi-Fi standard it supports (802.11n) is an older standard with limited speeds compared to newer options like Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax).

If you prioritize high-speed Wi-Fi for activities like online gaming, streaming high-definition videos, or transferring large files, you might want to consider a router that supports newer Wi-Fi standards.

I tried to find out the year of manufacture of this modem:

What year was this wireless router from HUAWEI released?

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a definitive answer about the exact year the Huawei EchoLife HG8245A was first released.

While I looked through various resources including product pages, press releases, and technology news archives, the specific launch date wasn't readily available.

However, based on the information gathered:

The router supports the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard, which was introduced in 2009. This suggests the HG8245A was likely released after 2009, but an exact year is difficult to pinpoint.

It's also helpful to consider the release dates of similar models from Huawei. For instance, the Huawei EchoLife HG8120, a predecessor model, was released in 2008. This might suggest the HG8245A came out sometime after 2008.

Therefore, while I cannot confirm the exact year, it's safe to assume the Huawei EchoLife HG8245A was released sometime after 2009, likely in the early 2010s.

Chrome OS Flex Update

Having installed Chrome OS Flex on my 2103 Mac Book and replacing the Mac operating system, I've been using it successively to carry out my everyday tasks. On the plus side, the WiFi glitch that so bedeviled my Mac with the old operating system has gone. The problem arose when I tried to access the WiFi from a repeater. I would get an IP conflict error message. Not anymore.

On the negative side, the touch pad remains problematic. The pointer works but sometimes is not responsive for a few seconds and this makes it impossible to use for sustained periods of time. Fortunately the mouse works just fine. However, when connected to an external monitor, the mouse becomes "twitchy" and suddenly jumps from the laptop screen to the external monitor. This becomes quite an irritation when using dual screens for extended periods of time.

I've tried to download Linux but so far I've not been successful. Figure 1 shows what happens.

Figure 1

Setting up a recovery image on my USB drive also fails as can be seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2

I don't print anything so I've no idea what problems there are with printing. I would suppose many but fortunately that's not an issue for me. I've learned about PWAs or Progressive Web Apps, defined by Wikipedia as:

A progressive web application (PWA), commonly known as a progressive web app, is a type of application software delivered through the web, built using common web technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WebAssembly. It is intended to work on any platform that uses a standards-compliant browser, including both desktop and mobile devices.

I've set one up for Twitter so that I'm saved from needing to open it via the browser. Here is some additional information from Wikipedia:

In 2017, Twitter released Twitter Lite, a PWA alternative to the official native Android and iOS apps. According to Twitter, Twitter Lite consumed only 1-3% of the size of the native apps. In July 2019 Twitter started serving all website users to Twitter Lite by default. On June 1, 2020, Twitter deactivated the legacy website layout, leaving the progressive web app version as the only option.

Starbucks provides a PWA that is 99.84% smaller than its equivalent iOS app. After deploying its PWA, Starbucks doubled the number of online orders, with desktop users ordering at about the same rate as mobile app users.

Several businesses highlight significant improvements in a wide variety of key performance indicators after PWA implementation, like increased time spent on page, conversions, or revenue.

As I take many screenshots, I was relieved to discover the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Take a screenshot: Press Ctrl + Show windows 
• Take a partial screenshot: Press Shift + Ctrl + Show windows , then click and drag.

Another issue is that my poor quality webcam does not work which is unfortunate but it's something that I never use so it's no great loss to me. Obviously, it could be a deal breaker for some who need to use the device on a regular basis. 

Additionally, my Express VPN does not support Chrome OS which seems odd but I'll investigate the matter further and will consult with the company's technical support if I can't resolve the issue.

Overall I'm happy with my new operating system that is still in unstable beta release. I'll look forward to some of my existing problems disappearing during future updates to the operating system.

Resuscitating Old Laptops

An acquaintance asked me some time ago to resuscitate an old laptop that had ceased to function. It had been running Windows. The laptop, an Asus X401U, dates back to about 2012 when it was being sold for US$280 as a cheap netbook. It has a Celeron processor running at 1GHz with 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. The graphics are integrated Radeon and eat into the already meagre memory. Most versions of this laptop came with 4GB of RAM but not this particular model. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: Asus X401U

I used a program called Rufus to create a bootable USB for installing Windows. This is a fast and powerful little program. I had managed to download the ISO for a stripped-down 32-bit version of Windows 10 that was suitable for the laptop's weak specifications. Despite many attempts I could not succeed in installing Windows. See Figure 2.

Figure 2

I then downloaded the ISO of lubuntu, a lightweight version of the fully-featured Ubuntu, and used Rufus to create a bootable USB. This installed without any problems and the laptop is at last useable again. It still takes over two minutes to boot to the startup screen but once up and running it performs satisfactorily. It's only useful for Internet browsing and simple word processing but that's often enough for many users. See Figure 3.

Figure 3

The lesson to be learned from all this is that these older laptops are ill-suited to run Windows but can be made quite serviceable by installing a lightweight Linux OS like lubuntu via a simple tool like Rufus. Once the ISO for the OS has been downloaded, Rufus will quickly create a bootable USB from which the OS can be run even without installation to the laptop's hard drive. This is useful for trialing the new OS and, if satisfied, it can then be installed on the hard drive.

USB Tethering: Mac and Android

I long ago discovered that my Macbook Pro doesn't play well with repeaters. It will connect without problem to the main router but, if it needs to connect via a repeater, then IP address conflicts arise and connectivity is lost. This was the problem in my bedroom but I overcame it by making use of the Ethernet port on my repeater. Once I connected the laptop to the repeater via an Ethernet cable, there was no problem. 

Recently however, my granddaughter was having buffering problems when watching Netflix over WiFi on her iPad Pro. I gave the repeater to her, connected her to an Ethernet cable via a hub and all was well. For her, that is, not for me. I was very quickly confronted with my old problem again. However, I had my Android phone and thought that the solution would be to tether the laptop to my phone via Bluetooth. The Macbook was having none of that. No problem I thought. I have a USB cable so I'll tether via that. No luck.

A little investigation led me to a site run by Joshua White and an app called HoRNDIS-9.2.pkg (46919 bytes) that I downloaded to my laptop and installed. I restarted my laptop and connected to my phone via USB and I'm typing happily away creating this post. 

No help of course from Apple popped up at the top of the search results but at least I'm connected now. I haven't tried watching Netflix or similar yet, in order to test the speed of the connection. I'll do that later and add to this post if there any problems. On his website, Joshua explains the technicalities of how the app works.

I still don't know why the bluetooth tethering didn't work. Perhaps there's a similar program that needs to be downloaded for that to work as well. For the moment, I'm just happy that I'm connected. Perhaps the motto of all this is indeed that CABLE IS STABLE.