IPv6 up and running!

Slightly odd weekend, I had to deal with the snow storm (shoveling the walk, twice - grrr plow driver!), finish up with installing the wireless software for OpenWRT, 8.09.2 and the WGT634u (kmod-ath5k). In between I installed one WGT634u which has no wireless card. This left more memory for IPv6. So I took the initial steps to start the tunnel between my WGT634u and Hurricane Electric (an IPv6 tunneling service). I didn't leave it up and running as I'm not certain about the current state of my firewall with respect to IPv6 but I was able to ping a few things before turning off the tunnel. Hopefully I'll get more IPv6 up and running. In the mean time I have added a lot more to my Home IPv6 notes page I've also noticed that my IPv6 Certification is still at newbie. I'll attempt a few of the certification tests and see if I can't move up a bit. :-) By now I think I know a bit more about IPv6.

My Facebook account was lynched by a Facebook mob!?!

Wow, I came home to a Inbox full of angry people! I'm not sure what it is that I was supposed to have done to offend (many claimed I was spying, quite a few were quite vulgar). Well my Linux Home Automation Facebook account has never gone out and asked for friends in any way. And I've only looked up people's profile when they sent a friend request. I don't know maybe my account was hacked (it would be odd but possible, boy that would be embarrassing!). Either way the account is now disabled. So I decided to do a little Internet searching and found this thread from hoax-slayer. From what little I can tell my account was disabled because people went to block 'Automated Labs' - a Farmville cheat (not block but search actually) and my linuxha Facebook id came up first. A number of people attempted to block me and anyone else on the list then 33 different people sent me hate mail (I'm a NY'r I'm not going to cry ... ;-). My favorite thread quote is from Scott Coole (this was not to me but in response to someone named Toni):

With all due respect toni,what you are saying below is false.Look up Linux Home Automation and go to bottom of page where it says hacks, click on that site link and it will take you to a site dedicated to hack anything electronically programmed or run including games......That was one of the groups that came up for me ...and I researched it.Do as you wish but a hack site and people that come up along with it will be blocked on my acct.

Now I have no qualms with Scott blocking my account. He obviously has no interest in the material on my site . BTW, further down the thread Scott mentions a 'fluorescent green' page (???). I'm sure that Scott did a quality job of researching 'Linux Home Automation', oddly I can't find this 'fluorescent green' page. Also there are no games on any of my sites nor is there anything illegal or morally wrong - though there are grammatical mistakes. I've counted some 37 times I've mentioned the word hack, usually in reference to a kludged hardware/software fix or a hardware/software improvement not originally envisioned by the vendor. Also he doesn't know me so I doubt he can place any trust in me. I do take some offense at his inference of my reputation being questionable. None of what I have on any of my pages is illegal (or morally questionable, at least in the US). His assertion that the word 'hack' leads to illegal activities is quite the leap of faith. I hope he has good luck in the lottery with his psychic abilities. Sorry but I am protective of my online reputation.

So there you have it, my linuxha Facebook account has been lynched, the spectators have passed in precession and some have spit. As for the rest of the linuxha online persona, well the Internet goes on.

Oh to the folks in the thread that pointed out that the names may have nothing to do with 'Automated Labs', thanks. It nice to know that part of the world can think on their own.

IPad, ZWave, OpenWRT and stuff

Okay so I'm a little late with the IPad jokes but I was going to skip them anyway. The IPad seems to be a pretty good size. I see the point with everyone point out the lack of a web camera (as opposed to a phone/camera). It would have been nice to have the ability to video conferencing with the device. I actually seeing it being a very useful device for home automation (of course). Perfect size, it's not a PC (netbook/laptop/whatever) and it's the standard touch interface. I really don't understand these folks who think it will replace the PC. The lack of a keyboard makes it difficult to use for such things. I also don't see this becoming the central controller of the home. It's too woefully underpowered. I do like the fact that we're also seeing competitors (HP and a few others) and we're seeing a less expensive Android equivalent. While the Touchbook has a chance I think it will need to pick up the development speed as competitors are beginning to come out of the woodwork.

For the last week and a half I've had nearly 50 tabs open on my browser (I've even gone as far as to bookmark things so I can reference them for my blogs and web pages). I'm woefully behind (1.5 months at least) on technical matters (studies, IPv6, router upgrades, electronics, web pages and blogs). I guess it didn't help that I finally got my doctors (and appointments) all in a row (no I'm not sick, just general checkups). So tonight I finally managed to get much of the ZWave information posted to my ZWave page. I really need some time to play with the code (Perl) and my ZWave equipment. With my Trenton Computer Festival presentation (and my Automated Doll House) and me being the Longest Day chairperson. I don't see me getting any time soon.

Last week some time I was offered a trade of services (upgrading some routers to OpenWRT) for equipment (WGT634U routers). I've just spent the weekend upgrading to OpenWRT Kamikaze 8.09.2. The routers were a bit of a mess (used in a class) and needed various settings and firmware changes to make them behave. I still have a bunch of work to finalize everything (still need to install some packages) but the work went well. When done I'll have a bunch of working routers and the owner will have a bunch of working routers. I also received a Netgear WNR1000 V2 which has OpenWRT V2 from the factory (nice job Netgear). It may be running Kamikaze 7.09 but it's still OpenWRT and very flexible. With all this OpenWRT available to me I hope to finally get my IPv6 tunnel up and running. The WRT54Gs I have are a little tight on RAM with everything I'm running on them.

Speaking of IPv6, Comcast announced trials for some of it's customers. I've signed up and I'm hoping I can be involved. I'm looking forward to learning more about IPv6. I've gone as far as putting a Home IPv6 page together. It's a notes page and it tends to contain the equivalent of scribblings. I'm not sure it's totally coherent and I'm certain I have to correct some of the information but I find it useful.

Finally, I managed to get in my electronic orders. I've picked up a few Audrino Pro boards, a couple of Kill-a-watts, a couple of XBee interfaces, XBee to RS232 carrier boards, XBee to USB carrier boards, XBee to direct IO carrier boards, Polar Heart rate monitor boards, a AVR Terminal (RS232, LCD, IO, etc), ARV programming dongle and a couple of SD carrier cards. I've got a lot of projects using this stuff so don't ask what it's all for. I'll just create a few pages for each project. :-)

Well I think that's all for tonight. I think I'll now relax by playing with my Violin (I'm learning the Violin). Yeah, I know way too much but it keeps an ADD mind busy. :-)