Gerhard Potgieter

Mikrotik announced the release of the RB433 early this week. The RB433 is a high performance AP (Access Point) with a 300mhz Atheros CPU. With the announcement of the RB433 came the EOL (End of line) announcement of the RB333 a performance AP that was based on the PowerPC CPU.

The RB433 is the replacement for the RB333, which is weird cause the RB333 hasn’t been in production for that long. Mikrotik probably used the RB333 to test the PowerPC CPU in their devices. We at CTWUG have a RB333 on one of our highsites and it perform very well.

Back to the RB433, it is kinda a exact replica of the RB333 with exception to its hardware specs and price. The RB344 boasts a Atheros AR7130 300MHz CPU, 64MB Memmory, 3 x 10/100 Ethernet ports with one POE (Power over ethernet) enabled, 3 miniPCI slots for wireless radios, 12~28V DC power jack aswell as POE, and the great RouterOS level4. One thing that it doesn’t support is remote voltage monitoring, something that is expected in a later hardware release.

I spoke to william at Scoop Distribution earlier today and they expect stock arrival by the end of May. The best thing about the RB433 is the price, it will be sold for just under R800 here in SA as apposed to the RB333 that is currently going for R1300 exlc vat. Scoop also told me that they will be selling the RB333 for R1150 as they are trying to clear our the RB333 in expectation of the new RB433.

All and all I’m looking forward to this new High Performance AP from Mikrotik and know they won’t dissapoint as always. Im sure CTWUG will be stoking up on on the RB433 for new highsites and even relay nodes as soon as these babies goes on sale.

Kudos to Spur Steak Ranch Canal Walk aka Mexico Spur for having the worst service I’ve seen in the restaurant industry till date. Me and my fiancee and her one bridesmaid set out to Canal Walk yesterday to chill, have something to eat and do some shopping.

So we decided to go to the Spur as we all were having a crave for a nice spur burger. Upon arrival we were asked to take a seat outside the Spur to wait a while, I thought ah well probably busy. After waiting for about 10 minutes a waiter took us to a table, gave us our menus and told us he would be with us shortly. So we waited and waited and waited and after about 15 minutes he came and took our drink orders. By this time I was getting quite hungry as it was just past 13:00 and I haven’t eaten a single thing the whole day.

After waiting another 15 minutes I had to remind Ricky (Our waiter) to bring us the drinks. So he said yes its on its way, after saying that I saw how he only then placed our order. So after waiting another 10 minutes or so I called Ricky again to hear where our drinks are and to place our order aswell. By this time I was starving and craving a nice double burger, but just to be told that sorry they can’t serve any burgers anymore cause they have ran out of stock. This just took us over the wall and by not having received our drinks and not having burgers we decided we just gonna go.

I would have understand If the place was busy, but there was allot of tables open in the restaurant, and not even once did a manager come and ask us if things where okay. So I did the reasonable thing and laid a complaint at Hello Peter. The Spur Steak Ranch head office replied swiftly, and while I was busy typing this entry I got a call back from Mexico Spur.

Thanks for calling me back, but damn I could hardly hear him as his phone was breaking up the whole time. After a second call he got better signal and we talked things out. He gave a explanation about a delivery truck breaking down and not planning well enough for the long weekend, and offered us a free bottle of wine at out next visit. Well thanks for all the opologies and wine offer, but your service sux big time and you wont see me at your spur ever again as you have terrible service.

So after this bad experience we set out to the nearest restaurant we could find, and this was Dodge City Diner. We were served by a trainee, and I must say he did a great job. I ordered a nice V12 Burger with 2 big patties, and it was very tasty. Just too bad we dont have a Dodge restaurant in the northern suburbs, otherwise I would gladly eat with them from now on.

Thanks Mexico Spur for waisting my time, and thanks Dodge City Diner for your nice tasty burgers and showing me there is allot of other nice places out there.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron finally got released today. The Linux community have been counting down the days for the official release and its finally here. Not only did the Ubuntu community do what it does best and produce an easy-to-use, reliable, free software platform, but Hardy Heron will have Long Term Support (LTS) with security updates for five years on the server and three years on the desktop editions. With  hundreds of improvements and the addition of the latest version of Firefox amongst other outstanding applications, no wonder more and more users are converting to Ubuntu with every new release, and this one has no exception.

Hardy Heron not only comes with the latest version of Gnome, but also boasts superb productivity tools, music and video support, office applications that completely integrate with the proprietary office applications out there and a tested and stabilized platform for a faster and safer browsing experience using Firefox 3.

I just finished downloading the ISO’s for both the server and desktop editions and as soon as I get home tonight I will upgrade my server to Hardy Heron. All and all I’m looking quite forward to playing with the new release and know it will be a pleasant experience just like all the previous releases.

Big up to the Canonical Team for creating this fine operating system for no cost at all. More info about the features of release can be found on the official Ubuntu website.

So I’m not a big Facebook addict like the majority of www users out there, but once in a while I would log on to Facebook to leave a quick PM to friends abroad or see what everybody is up to. Personally I think Facebook is one great piece of development, and has all the features one could think of except one which was a live chat function.

A while back I saw a leaked video of a live chat for Facebook and and first thought it was a hoax or something, but after thinking about it I realized that this was one feature that would make Facebook stand out even more and something that I believe every user would use if not abuse during work hours.

So this morning I logged on to Facebook and saw this bar at the bottom of my browser, and after looking at it realized that Facebook chat finally got implemented. I must say I’m quite chuffed with the addon, looks good doesn’t bother my browsing experience and is easy to use.

To the left is a picture illustrating the the chat program expanded showing your online friends and a open chat windows. Its as simple as clicking the online friends bar en a small window pops ups showing all your online friends. Then you just double click the friend’s name and a chat window opens and then your ready to chat.

After sending a message you can close the chat window and once you receive a new message it will automatically pop up. Without any windows open the chat applications sits at the bottom of your browser just as a small gray bar with 4 icons.

You also have the option to detach the chat application from your current Facebook page and view it in a seperate window if you feel that doing all in one browser window is to much.

So big up to the Facebook Development team for this fine addon, I’m sure you hits will now sky rocket even more. Just a shame now this will encourage more companies to block the Facebook website for their workers as this means productivity will go down the drain even more now. But non the less still a great addon.

So this is the NanoStation2, it gets described as “The Ultimate CPE for the Global WISP Community” but lets see what makes its manufacturers think that this device is so leet. Firstly this is the NanoStation2, where the hell was the NanoStation1? Me being part of CTWUG I have all my doubt in this little device as all devices I know that really packs a punch in the wireless industry is Mikrotik Routerboards. So lets have a look at the NanoStation2 specs as given by the Ubiquiti website.

• Processor Specs: Atheros AR2316 SOC, MIPS 4KC, 180MHz
• Memory Information: 16MB SDRAM, 4MB Flash
• Networking Interface: 1 X 10/100 BASE-TX (Cat. 5, RJ-45) Ethernet Interface
• Wireless Approvals: FCC Part 15.247, IC RS210
• RoHS Compliance: Yes
• TX Power: 26dBm, +/-2dB
• RX Sensitivity: -97dBm +/-2dB
• Antenna: Integrated 10dBi Dual Pol + External SMA
• Outdoor Range: over 15km
• TCP/IP Throughput: 25Mbps+
• Max Power Consumption: 5 Watts
• Power Supply: 12V, 1A (12 Watts). Supply and injector included
• Power Method: Passive Power over Ethernet (pairs 4,5+; 7,8 return)
• Operating Temperature: -20C to +70C (System PCB optimized for hi-temp)
• Operating Humidity: 5 to 95% Condensing
• Shock and Vibration: ETSI300-019-1.4
• Weight: 0.4 kg

Out of personal experience with wifi networking I dont think this devices comes close to the Mikrotik Routerboard 133c, and just to mention the 133c is not being produced anymore as its being replaced with the RB411 that packs a powerful 300Mhz Atheros Networking processor. And the lack of a high gain antenna puts me off, as 10dbi is not worth it for a CPE. The throughput listed there is hard for me to believe, maybe in a lab at a distance of 5m but still then i have my doubts as a 175Mhz Atheros cpu maxes out at about 14mbps. Sure it has a kinda powerful radio, but that anway illegal in South Africa. If I must take a guess the NanoStation would retail at about R700 - R900 here in South Africa and for that price I would rather buy a custom Routerboard CPE from scoop. All in all the NanoStation looks good from the outside but with the multitude of CPE enclosures you get nowadays there is better designs out there.

Just to sum it up, I dont forsee this device competing with any Mikrotik produk in the near future as Mikrotik has a good OS on their devices and has allot of power behind their devices that overtakes the NanoStation by far.

Yesterday I finally got my ND: Information Technology from CPUT. Should have gotten it 2 years back but due multiple lost papers and the bad management at CPUT I had to wait. Well now I’m officially qualified and looking forward to continuing my studies from next year. Just a thank to my family for supporting me not just financially but also morally.

Watch out IT industry I’m coming with a big bang.

Welcome to my blog.

So I decided to join the masses out there and start my own personal blog where I can view my opinions and tell the world about stuff I find interesting. So I think its time for an introduction, here goes. My name is Gerhard Potgieter aka Kloon aka Cyclone, born in Cape Town, South Africa and still living there. I’m currently employed at a company called Risk Methods & Solutions as a programmer. I develop all sorts of things where my favourite type of development is web based. I develop in php/mysql and delphi. My main interest currently is wifi networking. I am part of a group called CTWUG running a free community operated wifi network across the greater Cape Town area. Currently we have about 30 odd members on the network and run services like VOIP, FIle Sharing, Gaming and allot more.

I hope you will visit my blog often for great articles and news.