Brian Jepson’s Weblog

The
Merlin G100 I recently picked up on eBay works great on Mac OS X
10.3. I
plugged it into a 400MHz PowerBook G3, and it instantly recognized it as
a pccard-serial port. I used Macron software’s
GPRS Script Generator to bang out a quick script, and it worked
perfectly. The speed is pretty nice (about 40kbps) and the modem feels
less flaky on my Mac than it does on my ThinkPad (I need to remove and
reinsert it on the ThinkPad in between connections).

As has been reported
elsewhere, the Apple Music Store is pretty hosed right now.
Although clicking on Dead City Radio brought me directly to Chuck
Mangione’s Feels So good and Clicking on WSB brought me to Missy Elliot,
I was still able to get into the Thanksgiving spirit by typing in
“Thanksgiving Prayer” and buying the piece
directly from the search results.

Something I just came across on eBay; quite a
few sellers have the T-Mobile/VoiceStream
Merlin G100 GPRS card for around $50. I believe most, if not all of
these, are locked to the T-Mobile network and I don’t know if there’s a
way to unlock them. Here’s
the auction I picked one up from for $49. This is a lot cheaper
than the $249 that T-Mobile asks for the Sierra
Wireless AirCard 750, although the AirCard has more features than the
G100. Still, $50 vs. $250–not bad if you’re looking
for a cheap card to use once in a while. I’ll let you all know how it
works after I’ve had a chance to play with it.

Update: the card works great. Linux sees it as /dev/ttyS2. It
didn’t respond to my AT+CGDCONT command at first (well, it responded,
but with an error), so I removed and reinserted the card. I’m typing
this over a GPRS connection using the card right now. This was $50
well spent (and the fastest-shipping eBay purchase I’ve ever had; won on
Friday, the seller sent it out on Saturday, and I got it Monday).

I bought a Nokia 6200 a while back so I could play around with EDGE, but I
really hate the Nokia DKU-5 data cable. The only computer I could get it to
work with was a Windows PC, and the Mac absolutely hated it. So, I dropped
about $70 on SmithMicro’s
QuickLink Mobile Mac, and I have no regrets. The cable’s USB->Serial
converter identifies itself as a Prolific PL2303, which works great under
Mac OS X using the driver that SmithMicro supplies. Another pleasant
surprise was that Linux is happy to talk to it if you have the pl2303 module
compiled into your kernel.

Who cares what this thing does? It
looks cool and it uses EDGE, that’s good enough for me…

AT&T
Wireless: “AT&T Wireless took center stage at COMDEX as it announced
the availability of EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution), a
significant upgrade to its Next Generation wireless network. EDGE offers
average data speeds between 100-130 kbps — nearly twice as fast as
other national mobile wireless networks and up to three times faster
than traditional wired dial-up services.” It’s still $79.99 a month
for unlimited data, though. Even if I were on the road all the time, it
still seems a little steep. I
think there’s a lower price point for this; perhaps $49.99 a month would
attract more subscribers.

Alan Reiter: “WiFi
is changing the dynamics of meetings, but most conference organizers are
clueless.”

Just on the off chance that someone else now or in the future needs to
get Gentoo to recognize a D-Link DWL-650 adapter on a Thinkpad A20m
connected to a WEP-protected AirPort network, here it is:

• boot with gentoo pcmcia
• Edit /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf and change all prism2_cs to orinoco_cs
• Issue the command: iwconfig eth1 essid "YOURSSID" key
"s:YOURKEY" restricted

(via http://mywebpage.netscape.com/SNKMOORTHY/G600.html)

Now, you might not search for phrases like hypostasis of the archons, but I do. And what do you know, it turned up an online version of the Nag Hammadi Library, one of the many inspirations for the delightful madness in Philip K. Dick’s Valis.

AT&T
GSM(TM)/GPRS General Discussion: NEW BIG GSM National Coverage Map