Broadband Comparison
Andrew Cooper pointed out from my Broadband Comparison column of April 2002 that Roadrunner has stopped offering NIC (Network Interface Cards) during their installations. They are now offering their connection through USB. This is really an unsatisfactory method for data throughput and is not really adequate to get the full advantage of the broadband connection. NICs are cheap, easy to install, and provide a proven throughput path for data from the broadband modem to the computer or network. As noted before, all current OSs are network ready including Windows 3.11 to Windows XP. Varying setup requirements are necessary, but the result provides data throughput that is worthy of a true broadband connection. It is recommended that any broadband installation, DSL or Direct Cable be routed from the modem or network to the computer through a 10/100 Ethernet NIC. If any member needs help, the Dr. Is In is available to guide him or her through the network installation. It is better if the NIC is installed before the broadband installation is completed. This way, the broadband connection can be directly checked before the serviceman has departed.

During a setup of a Multitech RF500 router on my ADSL connection, everything fell into place when the router technical help person and I discovered that ADSL from Southwest Bell is via a Point-to-Point-to-Point (PPPoE) setup in the router. This is usually a check box in the advanced setup of the router. I found this setting in the WAN Segment (Wide Area Network) of the general setup in the Multitech RF500 router I installed. This is a general comment to anyone attempting to setup their own ADSL broadband router. A quick review of the Addtron ADR-E200P broadband router on my Direct cable connection also had a PPPoE check button for setup. As Roadrunner does not require PPPoE, this button is not checked on this connection.

The Southwest Bell User ID and password must be entered in the PPPoE information boxes to make the connection back to Southwest Bell. This is the basic access method for ADSL. The PPPoE connection is a time base connection rather than a fixed-cost connection. The ADSL ISP will provide the user ID and password. You may change the password after the connection is completed.

Routers
I have installed two new broadband routers in the past month that deserve a summary writeup. The first was the Multitech RouteFinder RF500S router on my ADSL connection. It contains a four port Ethernet Switch and a serial connection as well as the WAN Ethernet port. Port One in the switch can be configured as a uplink for connection to an Ethernet Hub. A On/Off switch configures it as Ethernet or Uplink. Front panel LED lights indicate Switch 10/100 Ethernet connections, Serial connections, WAN connections and power. 

This router comes with a setup disk that finds the router for the setup process. The documentation is excellent, both from the disk and from the setup routines. There are two setup utilities on the disk. One, the RouteFinder Manager Wizard, checks the physical network to find the RF500 and provide the setup routine for getting it on line. The second utility provides intermittent or continuous monitoring capabilities of the status of the router and connection. The router can be ID and password protected.

The RF500 provides NAT (Network Address Translation), DHCP (Dymanic Host Configuration Protocol), and the ability to control all TCP/IP ports in the router. This is very good basic network attack security. It handles both dynamic and static WAN receive and transmit capability. There is an asynchronous (serial) port for connecting analog modems or setup computers to Telnet into it. It can be setup to handle DNS (Domain Name Service).

The monitoring utility provides TCP/IP local and remote IP address data, router time up with transmit and receive data, status, and router/client transmit and receive byte data. Additionally, there is an event log that logs router send/receive and intrusion data with remote IP/port addresses. I have Zone Alarm Pro on one of the ADSL networked machines and it has not logged an intrusion since this router was activated.

The second router was an SMC Networks SMC7004ABR Barricade. Again, this is a broadband router designed to share ADSL or Direct Cable bandwidth to the Internet. There are two verisons, one with four Ethernet ports and one with eight Ethernet ports. It contains a serial port and a printer port. This printer port is what makes this router a good deal. This printer port is capable of connecting a non-network ready printer and sharing it with all the computers on the network. It is done through a printer setup routine that can be executed during router setup. The Ethernet ports work through a network switch and connect the computers in the network to the router. There is an uplink port for connecting a Ethernet hub to the router.

Again, documentation was very good. A CD is provided with all the utilities needed to complete the setup. Initial entry to the router setup is via a browser entry to the router IP address as given in the instructions. The setup utility follows the essential items that most broadband routers follow. It can be dynamically or statically setup on the WAN side and provides DHCP service on the network side. It provides NAT. The printer routine is very good.

Computer Recycling in Europe
An article in the May 2002 IEEE Spectrum caught my eye this past month. It concerned new recycling computer/electronics policies being instituted in the European Union (EU). The EU have documented approximately 6 million metric tons of electronic waste in 1998. And, are forecasting that this waste will double by 2010. E-waste as all those old computers are called contain lead and other hazardous chemicals that can really upset the water supply and other quality of life requirements. A soon to be issued directive called the WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment) will require that up to 65 percent of that e-waste be recycled for free by the manufacturers. The EU ratification process hopes to make it active as a directive by 2008.

One of the recycling goals of this directive is to make the producers think what happens to the product at the end-of-life cycle. It is hoped that design improvements concerning more efficient design and what happens at the end of the product’s life, will make them easier to disassemble and easier to break down for recycling.

The cost of recycling to the manufacturer is a touchy subject to say the least. Some manufacturers, IBM and HP, for example charge between $13.00 and $30.00 to take back anyone’s machine. Most of the big U. S. manufacturers take back machines in some European countries, but are committed to doing so only on their own terms. This WEEE policy runs counter to this commitment and are leading to some upset among the manufacturers.

In March of this year, a U. S. consortium of twelve manufacturers plus Microsoft and Sun Microsystems developed an initiative called the National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative in which some purchase-related charges would fund recycling. It is light on details.

Re-cycling involves a great amount of manual labor and very little chemistry today. Most of the time, it refers to dismantling and reselling rather than reusing old materials in new machines. Old machines are dismantled and shredded for scrap rather than re-cycled into new components.

Lead is the major harmful substance. It is contained in the solder on printed-circuit boards and in cathode-ray tubes in monitors. New development in the process of building circuit boards with other materials or safer solder techniques are being looked into. Cambridge University is leading the way for a process to remove solder from the printed-circuit boards that will enable collection of microprocessors off the boards for resale. The process dissolves lead/tin solders without damaging the boards precious metals and allows them to be collected in near pure stockpiles for reselling.

One of the biggest lead deposits is contained in the monitor cathode-ray tube where it is used to protect against radiation. The glass is not usable because the lead can be scattered. This lead can be separated from the glass in a smelting process. The next biggest problem is in the plastics used in computers. From three to ten different plastics are used. When they are shredded and mixed, the end mixture is useless for further manufacturing. Even a paper label can make recycled plastic weaker than virgin stock.

The U. S. is behind Europe in this process and will follow. The manufacturers are in the lead in the development of how re-cycling is done in the U. S. An interesting subject.

Ultimate PC
The members of the PowerSIG undertook to put into hardware some of the claims about ultimate PCs. We decided to build two PCs using the best technology we could afford. We placed a limit in the form of who would be the user. We decided that the user would be a User Group person with enough knowledge to: 

• build his or her own machine
• use the machine in typical User Group activities including gaming
• have some limitations on the budget
• would know how to get the best deal from the Internet by reviewing what others had to say and where to buy at the best price.

We started in January 2002 and now Mike Fox and I have Ultimate PCs. A review of our process in gaining information about what to build and buy is  found here .

ITEC
One really neat product was shown at ITEC that got my eye. It is a flexible keyboard by GrandTec USA. It is called the virtually indestructible keyboard and seems just that. I am testing one with the Ultimate PC. It is a full 104 key PS2 unit. It is liquid proof and rolls up as tightly as you want for storage. It has a good tactile feel. It was shown at ITEC by Visual Innovations, the group that we purchased the Sony projectors from. Visual Innovations indicated that they could do a deal. We will have more to follow later.

The booth next to us was sponsored by an organization called Infragard, which is a project by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Infragard is organized into local chapters nation wide and provides an avenue for individuals and companies to alert and be alerted by threats from hackers, terrorists, viruses, and other bad things. The National Infragard Program is designed to provide private and public-sector information sharing. Objectives include providing members a forum for education and training on electronic infrastructure vulnerabilities and protection measures; providing members with threat advisories, alerts, and warnings; ensuring the protection of computer intrusion/threat data shared within Infragard; increase the quality and quantity of infrastructure intrusion/threat reports to members; and increase interaction and information sharing among members. The local chapter meets at Kelly USA.

Viruses
Two bad viruses have been hitting with regularity during the past month. Both are Worms that write over the .EXE files and send data including the address book entries out with infected .EXE files. One, W32.klez.gen@mm, has several variations and does severe damage. The second, W32.Gibe@mm, is also a Worm that builds back doors on the computer to send data and use the processor for other things. Both are captured by Norton Anti-virus and McAfee if the virus signatures are up to date. Gibe can compromise the system security including all passwords for remote access and dial-up. All passwords must be changed after it is cleaned off the computer. Both viruses have Fix programs that can be used to restore the computer. These Worms mask each other, and cleaning needs to be run repeatedly until all are removed.

Conclusion
This has been a fun column. I hope that the trivia included herein helps.