Home of DJ and technophile Jonathan Puddle (aka J Puddy)
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Configuring a Cisco DPC3825
02 months ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
I ordered an internet connection from Rogers for a new branch office in Toronto. Normally this is against my morals, but in this case there was simply no alternative in the price/service range. The service ordered was a fast cable connection; Rogers supplied a DOCSIS 3 router, the Cisco DPC3825. This is a fairly capable little router, but has a few quirks.
For anyone who’s using one of these, the first thing you need to know is the default admin credentials. These weren’t provided to me anywhere, and it took me a while on Google find them.
Default username: cusadmin
Default password: password
Once in, the interface is pretty straightforward, though there are some quirks in the field validation. If you want to change the IP address of the router to a different IP range (including changing the DHCP range), then you need to first disable DHCP, save the config, and then reload the page. If you don’t do this, then you’ll get an error about the DHCP range not matching the subnet. Once that’s done, you can change the IP subnet the unit uses to something far more appropriate than 192.168.0.1.
Brief thoughts on the Kindle Fire release
03 months ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
Living in the unprivileged every-country-outside-of-America, I can’t get my hands on an Amazon Kindle Fire, but I’m enjoying reading the reviews. Engadget has a typically thorough review up, which boils down to this:
It’s physically tough, remarkably affordable, presents the best integration of content digital acquisition, and can’t hope to compete with other better tablets.
In a word: Amazon. This is exactly the device Amazon would release, and I commend them for playing to who they are, rather than just delivering an iPad knock-off. Amazon’s in this game for the long-haul, and this looks like a fantastic first entry. They’ve addressed the UI issue with aplomb, but I’d still like to see something creative with a color e-ink display down the road.
Things I’ve Learned Working From Home
03 months ago
In 2007, Maija and I moved to Finland, and I’ve been working from home ever since. What started as a 3-month trial that we assumed wouldn’t work, has become a litmus for my organization; both our Executive Director and our CFO now work remotely, commuting back to the office only every few weeks. I’m lucky enough to get to stay home most of the year :) On my last few visits to the office I’ve been struck by the differences in what can be accomplished in the office, and at home. (more…)
Open letter to Blackbaud
63 months ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
Dear Blackbaud,
In October, you gave many people a sneak peak at a new product option, The Raiser’s Edge Mobile. This mobile application is being developed for iOS, Android and Blackberry devices, we were told, and will let us access our own Raiser’s Edge database from outside the enterprise using mobile devices. I believe this is a huge leap in the right direction for Blackbaud, and I am very encouraged to see that this functionality is very near useable. However, developing a mobile app is easy; anyone can develop a mobile application, and connect it to a SQL database. Adding mobile functionality to The Raiser’s Edge will not set you apart, in many ways it won’t even bring you up to par. It’s 2011 (almost 2012!) now, and mobile applications were so 2009. What you really need to bring to the mobile space, is the tools for us to build out our own solutions against The Raiser’s Edge: you need to release a mobile platform.
Contracting your weaknesses: Schooley Mitchell
03 months ago
A few years ago, when I’d just been promoted to IT Manager, my predecessor encouraged me to staff my weaknesses. I’ve followed that strategy, and have had the privilege of building up some excellent staff and building some great teams. I’ve now moved into the realm of staffing my strengths, as I seek to be less of a point-of-failure, and more of a value-add to my organization. I’ve also had the privilege of working with some excellent corporate partners, and this post will the first in a short series highlighting a few of those amazing companies. These guys have totally made up for my weaknesses in various areas, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.
The first, is Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants. (more…)
The truth about Windows 8 and IE 10
04 months ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
I wiped my main laptop this week and installed Windows 8 Developer Preview on it, which you can grab here. I read a few blogs regarding whether it was ready enough to act as your primary machine, and most of the responses were detailed and anlytical and the answer was always no due to various technical failings.
I’d like to suggest that Windows 8 is entirely ready for you to use (with certain caveats) but that you won’t WANT to continue using it, because it’s design is fundamentally flawed. (more…)
Using OpenVPN in Windows 8
24 months ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
When I first started using Windows 7 x64 I had some challenges getting OpenVPN to work. I blogged about that here, and it’s been the most popular post on this site ever since, by far. This morning I installed the Windows 8 Developer Preview, and thought I’d follow things up.
The good news is that Windows 8 is remarkably stable/useable already. Getting OpenVPN to work was a cinch, but I’ll describe the steps anyway as a couple of details weren’t immediately obvious. (more…)
Choosing a ChMS Vendor
185 months ago
Earlier in the year we began the search for a church management software vendor. I’ve been meaning to share the process we went through, as well as our results, but haven’t had the chance to till now. We’re in the midst of a large software project, replacing all our core business software with more suitable applications. One of the needs we recognised early on was for our pastors and ministry staff to have a tool that was truly well suited to their particular needs. The process we went through is equally applicable to most kinds of software, not just ChMS.
Amazon, give us the “Ignite”
15 months ago
by Jonathan Puddle
in Tech
I’ve been meaning to write this post for about 4 months, and as is inevitably the case when you delay, someone else writes it for you. Today that was Ars Technica, so at least I’m in good company :)
I’ve started traveling more regularly for work, and at the start of this year I set myself a goal of reaching 26 books. That works out to roughly 20 pages a day, so I tend to need multiple books on a 2 week work trip. That’s a nonstarter for me, so I asked (begged) my wife for an Amazon Kindle for my birthday. She arranged it, a few friends chipped in, and I happily read books now in predominantly digital form. This week I read Call of Cthulhu, by HP Lovecraft. It was deranged and brilliant!
But this post isn’t about the Kindle, it’s what Amazon needs to follow up the Kindle with… and I can’t think of a better name for it, than the Ignite. (more…)
Adding more links to the Google Apps global navigation bar
09 months ago
At Catch the Fire we use Google Apps for all our email and collaboration. We recently wanted to include some more links on the Apps global navigation bar, but were at a loss as to how to do so.
One of my team members managed to find a confusing sounding, but actually excellent solution, to this problem. Jesse Middleton posted this last year, and while some minor things have changed, it still works very well. Thanks Jesse! The basic steps are as follows:
- Register yourself with the Google Apps marketplace as a vendor.
- Create an application (with the sole purpose being to put a link on the menu bar).
- Add the application to your domain.
Because you’re not actually publishing your app to the Google Apps Marketplace, it doesn’t cost anything to do this, and won’t get in anyone’s way. You can create as many apps as you might want, for links to various things. Some enterprising individual should take this method and expand on it to allow people to rename and customise these menu items at will.
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