How do all those illustrious billionaires feel after today’s horse race? I don’t follow the sport but I saw it on television. I laughed and I cried. Laughed because a horse costing $9500 won over the best money can buy. Cried because this is the first I knew that such a cheap horse was even allowed on the fairgrounds. What might have been if I’d been allowed to know such things when I was a child? It might seem odd that I call it a sad experience when a customer keeps returning to our shop, but today was an example. Young black guy in school bought a laptop but does not know how to use it. Whereas we install and repair, it is a distressing fact that often people keep coming back to us because there is nowhere else they can go. We are a hobby shop and they perceive that as the only friendly atmosphere in a computer world gone scary.
Today was a good example of what I mean. Turns out the customer’s CD drive (he had an older Dell) was broken, therefore he could not install his router software. Every place else he went tried to upsell him a new laptop or an expensive replacement drive. Florida is nasty when you need a little practical advice because every scumbag in this town will try to take advantage while only pretending to help. Nobody would listen that he had an assignment on the laptop and needed his home connection to work. To solve the problem, I rigged up a temporary external drive to his USB port and copied the installation software off the CD onto his hard drive. Then, I showed him how to install it from that drive when he got home.
During the process of getting him on-line, I saw the new Radio Shack USB Ethernet adapter. They should call it an “Internet plug”, but no. It was named by the same people who call a router an “Internet gateway appliance”. This reminded me of the whole router setup situation. The procedure is fairly easy. But the directions use such convoluted language that it becomes such a dreadful task that most people never go beyond the basics of just getting the stupid thing to work.
My computer chats seem popular, so I’ll give you a few sentences on a router. A router is nothing more than a little black plastic box that lets you share one high-speed Internet connection between many computers. When you do, you have created a “wide area network (WAN)”. The phone and cable companies, called an ISP for “Internet Service Provider”, don’t like it when you do that (unless you pay them to do it).
There was a time when the ISP expected you to install a different link for each computer in your house. The heck with that, once you pay for the service, it should be none of their business what you attach behind closed doors. And I’ll gladly tell you about that, as long as you remember there is more to it than what I can write here.
If you have one computer on the Internet, it is connected to a modem and the modem is connected to a wall jack. (The modem is just another black plastic box.). Look at your setup, you’ll see what I mean. All you do is unplug the cable from the back of your computer and plug it into the router you just bought. You’ll find the correct socket easily. Plus you will see at least 4 more outlets on the router. See picture.Now all you need is the right type and length of wires, one for each computer. You can connect a different computer to each router outlet and each computer will think it has a private Internet connection. When the ISP tests the line (which they often do) the clever design of the router makes sure all they can see is a single computer. Neat or what? (This feature is less important now that it is legal to use your own router, but is still good for privacy. The router blocks snooping by using a “firewall”. Now you know too much.)
A word to the wise: the computers connected to a router not only see the Internet, but they can (to a degree) see each other. Why? Because each computer now has an “IP address” so the router (and the Internet) can keep things sorted out. They got this address automatically from the router you just installed. Ah, now all that IP address stuff begins to make sense. Hint: before you buy a router, take a look in case you already have one. These days sometimes a router is built into the modem. Always check first.
Alaine called. I may be going to a wedding. The meaning here is that I have not been to a wedding since I was 19. I have no idea what to even wear, but accepted the invite provided I don’t have to kiss the bride. It is up in Ft. Lauderdale, a friend of Alaine’s. Rumor has it there will be single women there. Does it work like that, you watch to see who catches the bouquet? The wedding is only a probable maybe at this stage.
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