Intertwined Words

I regularly play Word Master on my iPhone that requires one word to be linked to another by at least one letter. I got to thinking of pairs of words that link completely.

For two letters words, it's rather trivial. For example:

B A

E N

For three letter words, it's also not difficult. For example:

R A T

E T A

As the words get longer, the match-ups become more difficult but still possible for four letter words. For example:

T O R E

A R E A

Of course, looking at the previous example, you might accept TA, OR and RE as legitimate words but what about EA? Well, we need to agree on some reference source and the SCRABBLE DICTIONARY is as good a source as any. Referring to this we find that EA is indeed a word. 

EA: the Babylonian god of wisdom; son of Apsu and father of Marduk; counterpart of the Sumerian Enki; as one of the supreme triad including Anu and Bel he was assigned controlof the watery element.

What about a five letter match-up? It can be noted that alternating between vowels and consonents makes the match-ups easier to find. Difficult consonants, like C and V are to be avoided at all costs become there are very few two letter words to be formed from them.

 B A K E D
A B A T E

BA, AB, KA, ET and DE are all legitimate words according to the SCRABBLE DICTIONARY. What about a six letter match-up?

A B A T E D
D E N O T E

It's not that difficult but watching three words together would be more challenging. Anyway, just introducing the notion of "intertwined words" (for want of a better term).

Calibre Reborn

My USB 3 Card Reader was delivered today and thankfully, after inserting my microSD card, my laptop recognised the storage device and I was able to copy an old backup of my Calibre library from an external hard drive to the new card.

Opening up Calibre on my laptop I was able to redirect it to the new library and so I'm up and running again. I don't know how many ebooks I lost by not backing up more regularly but it's no matter. I had thousands of books and wouldn't have been able to read them all given several lifetimes. It was in essence a vanity project with me collecting ebooks and trying to create a massive e-library that I could brag about.

Not that there's anyone much to brag to. Nonetheless, it's good to have recreated the library even if its not quite in all its former glory. I know also not to trust in SD cards and so I'll make sure that I backup regularly to an external hard drive. As I've said before, it's time to replace my old mechanical hard drive with a newer SSD that doesn't need to be massive in terms of its storage capacity.

Figure 1

Figure 2

My old drive was one terabyte in capacity and the same sized SSD costs around two million rupiah or about two hundred Australian dollars. See Figures 1 and 2. However, it's not urgent as the mechanical hard drive is still perfectly serviceable.

ADDENDUM

Even though some books from my Calbre e-library were lost, they may reside on my Google Play Books website or via the Kindle app on my iPhone, so those locations can be checked as well.

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.

My Maxim

 Once a day

But

Everyday

Ah, a fine maxim that I hope to apply to more of the activities that I tend to neglect. In my Mathematics post today I averred to subject the number associated with my diurnal age to the rules of Conway's Game of Life, once a day but everyday. I might usefully apply this maxim to the my dart throwing. I've already set up an Airtable database to keep track of my "efficiency" as I call it and which I explained in a blog post titled Measuring Dartsmanship. I should also apply it my chess puzzle solving that I wrote about in a blog titled Chess Puzzle in October of 2023. A puzzle solved each day is a sure way to improve my chess abilities or at least arrest their decline.

The maxim can also be applied to physical activities around the house. There are plenty of chores that need doing and it might be helpful to create a list of them so they could be attended to on a more regular basis. As it is, I tend to have bursts of sometimes intense activity followed by long periods of indolence. Getting back to intellectual matters, my failure to master the Indonesian language could be attributed in part to my failure to embrace this maxim. Again, I have bursts of activity followed by inactivity. I was thinking that watching at least one YouTube video each day about the language might be helpful.

Variations on a theme

The activity doesn't have to be the same each day. For example, if I didn't want to solve some chess puzzles then I could play a game of chess instead or study an opening. Similarly with the Indonesian language, there are many activities that could be tried other than watching videos. For instance, Desy was searching for the English word "fold" to describe the activity of folding clothes. I told her the correct word and didn't want to admit that I didn't know the equivalent Indonesian word. The word happens to be "lipat".

"tikar" means "mat"

For example, "Desy folded the clothes" would translate as "Desy melibat bajunya" and "followed clothes" would translate as "pakaian terlibat". There's a similar word "libat" that means "to wrap" and is used figuratively to mean to be involved with or wrapped up in something. For example, "She was involved with a married man "Dia terlibat dengan pria yang sudah menikah". There's even "lihat" that means "to see".

Elementary OS: Initial Impressions

Given that I've just recently install Elementary OS on my 2023 Macbook Pro (see previous post), it seems appropriate to make some initial observations about its functionality. The OS doesn't come with much software installed and my first order of business was to download the Chrome browser which is my browser of choice and upon which I am heavily reliant. That proved relatively painless thanks to Google's clear instructions. The OS has a so-called App Centre but Chrome was not listed there and so was of no help whatsoever.

The App Centre Software Categories

Next I installed my ExpressVPN and once again that was easy enough thanks to their very helpful website. No help of course from the App Centre but typing "torrents" into the search bar of the same brought up Gabut Download Manager that supposedly handles torrent files and I needed that. Happily, the app works fine when I downloaded a test ebook but that's when the awful realisation downed on me that I'd erased my Calibre library of ebooks. For some reason it didn't cross my mind and given that the laptop wouldn't reboot, the library was probably lost anyway. 

Opps! I forgot to keep my eLibrary backed up

I do have a backup of the library but my last back up was quite some time ago so many books have been lost. I got out of the habit of backing up regularly and have paid the price. The library is too large to back up online. Calibre is not listed at the App Centre but I happened to notice a small link that leads to Flathub and a message that apps can be side-loaded from that source. The download was successful. I also noticed that Chrome and a great many other apps are available on Flathub so that's probably the best place to retrieve apps from. 

The native video player opened an AVI file that I'd downloaded but played only audio with no video. However, VLC from Flathub came to the rescue and I had video as well as audio!