I wonder if peripherals are getting better.
Although I spent 26 hours getting a wireless network up here, it was thanks to Jethro Carr on Twitter, one Facebook friend, two real-world friends, two of their friends, and one forum that got it up and running.
There are a few things that don’t work as they claim on the tin, but, by and large, we have a functional office again.
The last time I set up an office network, I actually wound up doing the opposite to what every expert told me. But, you know, after two days, it worked.
That incident gave me a healthy scepticism about “expertise”: sometimes, if your own intelligence levels aren’t too bad, you might be able to come up with a better solution. Besides, the experts aren’t right here in the room with you—they can only visualize so much.
I’m glad to note that in 2011, I have halved my time.
This time, the experts were all correct, confirming what I got right, and providing me useful leads that showed me where I could have gone wrong.
As it turned out, it was software that was preventing the network from functioning properly and nothing with my set-up skills.
While some of it’s on Twitter, the bulk of the dialogue is at this link on Tech Support Forum, which seems to be blessed with some regulars who know what they are talking about.
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“sometimes, if your own intelligence levels aren’t too bad, you might be able to come up with a better solution” I second this statement. And what would we do without forums nowadays:)
They were really good this time around. Normally I’d get stock answers for very unusual problems, but then, since the folks couldn’t see my set-up, I’m not surprised. (I must have given out my share of stock answers on them.) I did get a few copy-and-pastes, but there was one lady on the networking forum, 2XG, who must have read my original post in huge detail to be able to give such specific answers.