Wireless network between houses – three years and counting…
Jan0
We have had a wireless network operating between 7 houses for around 3 years. The savings on Internet charges have been large and worth the small amount of pain in setting it up and maintaining it.
I get asked a lot about how it works and what we use so here is a brief explanation.
We have a 2.4ghz standard wifi A/G network setup in a star configuration. The central house has a Linksys WRT54G wireless router attached to a standard ADSL 2+ modem, a very reliable unit which has external antenna connections unlike some other wireless routers, you can get these pretty cheap on Trademe. Attached to that and mounted on a small mast is an omni directional antenna from www.gowifi.co.nz something like this.
Each client house has a Linksys WAP54G wireless access point, these are again solid units and we used them because they can be used in reverse as a client instead of an access point. Note – there is a strange bug when configuring these, you need to use IE or Chrome when accessing the configuration panel as some editions of Firefox do not work with it. These have a directional antenna (similar to this) aimed at the hub. Most of these are inside houses and aimed through a window.
Almost all our failures have been at the modem, either it losing its session and not restoring it properly with the provider or it dying completely. We also have a troublesome shelter belt that has grown up and blocked two houses – the gear is true line of sight stuff.
This has enabled our house to lower its telecoms bill from $100+ to $20 by using a voip provider for the phone. Voip is getting better and better in this application but was inconsistant for the first year – still, we are early adopters and that is what you get.
Office Refit – Wanaka Wastebusters
Jan0
Mooted quite a few months ago I finally managed to find an accomplice, the extraordinary Gutter Man – Tony McCutheon aka Gromme, and get the office refit project for Wastebusters well underway last week.
The goal was to increase the productivity of the office space by providing storage for each work space and some division between them. I adopted a rule of 1m3 storage per 1m of desk space, which is a lot but reflects the fact that the office space is connected to the best second hand shop in ~ Wanaka? The world?
Storage is provided by the vertical cases which also split up the desk space. The traffic way around the central island is also now blocked to provide a private (Simon!) workspace. Walkways only work if there is enough room to transit without interrupting which there wasn’t in this case.
All construction is from seconds 15mm plwood from Trademe, some of which was… er… very second rate. To be expected I guess. It all screwed with superscrews so it can be re-configured or dismantled easily at a later date.
Below is the quick Sketchup representation I did to convince everybody it would work, and below that some pictures of it in progress.
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- New printer station with paper and toner storage above
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- Before - all deskspace is linked and storage is mostly under desks.
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- During refot - Storage towers are in place and extra shelving.
Welcome to Wholebody.co.nz
Jan0
We would like to welcome www.wholebody.co.nz as a new client to the rock solid Staple Webhosting service. The transfer was seamless and her site is now on our servers.
We recommend anybody looking to tune up their body to book in with Lori-Ellen when you are in Christchurch. You won’t regret it 
wholebody.co.nz
Staple Design now offering webhosting
Dec0
So…I have been running webservers in one way or another for ten years and I have decided it is time to take it to the next level.
I appreciated that what people want with their websites is…for it to work. With this in mind I am not out to confuse with high level server megaflops and a zillion features but rather to offer:
- Super stable and secure web hosting – hassle free
- New Zealand based servers which are faster for kiwis, unless you are internationally focused in which case a US server or European
- Great service, and an actual real person you can talk to
- Fair pricing, actually: a real bargain
- Help when you need it. Advice on improving your site and design/coding input if it is ever needed
I’ll make a zingy feature table sometime – but for now the plans look like this:
Staple 1: Basic – $95/YEAR
This plan gets you 20mb of diskspace, enough for a small static websites, and 1 email address with unlimited bandwidth.
Staple 2: Interactive Starter – $120/YEAR
For sites with scripting and database needs i.e wordpress, CMS driven sites etc. 100mb of diskspace with 1 MySQL database and 5 email addresses.
Staple 3: Interactive Medium – $180/YEAR
For sites with larger scripting and database needs i.e ecommerce and CMS driven sites etc. 500mb of diskspace with 5 MySQL databases and 15 email addresses.
Staple 4: Interactive Large – $250/YEAR
For sites running multiple database driven applications. 1500mb of diskspace with 10 MySQL databases and unlimited email addresses.
Please note:
Yes! You can get a server at Godaddy with a hell of a lot more of everything. You will not however be able to ring up a clever local web expert who can help you sort out your problems and give you sage advice on how you could make your website better, reduce your costs or increase your business productivity using the web.
Inkscape – 0.47 = PDF beauty.
Dec0
I would like nothing more than to make Ubuntu my main operating system. But for that to happen I need graphics and CAD programs, with this in mind I have been using Inkscape on and off over the last few years and keeping an eye on developments.
This week I loaded up the new version 0.47 and tested it out on a few small, odd tasks I had to do. Strangely these did not include drawing which is Inkscapes strength.
- Extracting pages from a PDF
I like to fill out forms on the computer as opposed to printing, hand writing, scanning and emailing. If you are lucky enough to have Illustrator or Indesign this is relatively easy. Inkscape now extracts single pages from a PDF, you can then lock that into a layer and type over the top – even place your pre-scanned signature. Inkscape performed this seamlessly. Excellent! - Outputting as PDF
I had a logo to output and my experience with PDF export in Inkscape has been sketchy in the past, crashing the application and strange clipping in some object fills. This time is was as fast and beautiful as I could have wanted. Again Excellent!
So… along with the excellent drawing main feature set Inkscape is an excellent PDF editor (at least for single pages).
No all I need is Google to put out a Linux edition of Sketchup. Please. Pretty please.
Arrowtown house insulation installation underway
Dec0
My major project the last few months at Wastebusters has been Energyhouse - a new house insulation business for Otago. This has involved building the budgets and business from scratch (with able help from Uncle Gary of CBEC), creating the branding stuff and liaising with the Otago Regional Council Clean Heat program.
Last week we completed our first, underfloor and ceiling insulation, projects in Arrowtown. I can report underfloor for 6 hours in a 450mm crawlspace with spiders and sharp bits of wood and tin for company is pretty grim; it was only made bearable by the wit of Gromme and the brilliant Novatherm product, no nasty Pink Batt dust, no nails glue or staples! More about it later.
New small business Voip system up and running
Nov1
Well it’s been a bit of an epic – mainly struggling with diverse hardware and getting Telecom to give up the Wanaka Wastebusters number. But the new internet based phone system is now up and running.
The system:
- 4 x lines on standard phones through 1 x Linksys ATA and 1 x WAG with 2 ATA ports
- 4 x people using softphones – X-Lite
- 1 x Linksys SPA922 VOIP deskphone
- Auto attendant on main calling in line
- Eftpos and Fax on a POTs line which also carries the ADSL
- Voicemail on all extensions with voicemail sent to email addresses where necessary
Lessons so far:
- Linksys ATA’s seem to be more reliable and give better call quality than a software phone on a PC.
- Starting out with one sort of end point (ATA’s) would have been easier. Having people on three different solutions makes config and customization a bit of a nightmare.
- The free version of X-Lite does not do a blind transfer, I haven’t found a free softphone yet that does but will try Zoiper tomorrow.
- Without a local digital PBX (Wastebusters is using the Kiwilink service) you are restricted to the options that the external service offers on their (usually Asterisk) setup. In this case a limit of 9 speed dial numbers restricting the pool of possible blind transfer speed dials.
Savings
- Reduced monthly rentals by around $200
- Cheaper calling costs
- Flexible extensible PBX features, mostly changeable through web interface
Fenestration fustration – antivirus
Nov0
I would rather be worrying about windows of a glass variety – but in order to design on a computer I accept there is a maintenance cost. My Windows XP T61p is slower, mainly due to a full disk, than ever and I hate over bloated antivirus software that advertises to you at every opportunity (in this case Avira).
I have always thought good antivirus should be part of an operating system, after all who knows the internal workings of a platform better than the developer? It has always irked me that after buying Windows you then have to buy or find a kindly free provider for a key operating system component – protection from virus’s.
Over the years I have used a paid for Nortons license (horrible and slow), a free AVG edition (actually quite good) and a free Avira (German software? Had to try it but horrible popup ads). So it was with pleasure I installed Windows Security Essentials a few weeks ago, its small, fast and unobtrusive. And totally free – ie: no ads. I then went on to replace Nod32 on 8 computers saving Wastebusters $400 a year. So far the experience has been exceptional.
I also disabled the Client Security Solution in the Bios which has made a small difference.
Mechanisation of the lightearth process
Nov0
I have been doing quite a lot of research into how we can speed up the lightearth/strawclay/lightstraw process for some up coming projects. This video is the best example I can find so far of more advanced production. Exciting stuff.
This video Features Tyler Buck, Tribal Construction and The Jackpine Collaborative.
Light earth wall experiment progress
Oct0
As part of the conciliation of things into satisfying projects the greenhouse project has morphed into a lightearth wall proving ground.
Ever since I read Gernot Minkes book and then encouraged Bis to make his walls I have been convinced that lightearth (or straw/clay or light cob) is a superior infill system to strawbale for buildings in the New Zealand temperate climate. It offers sufficient insulation, thermal mass and a lower footprint.
The posts have been in the ground for over three years but the design has stuck – an off angle roof tuned for solar performance while hunkering down to the south (where the cold comes from). The south wall will be 220mm thick light earth with firewood stacked under the oversize eave – hopefully offering enough mass and insulation to let us grow some citrus inside the building.
The idea is to test the performance of the lightearth wall in a very demanding environment - high humidity and spraying water every day should provide that. I will put some temperature data loggers in the wall and on either side (I’d really like some humidity data loggers too but haven’t found any cheap enough).
More later as it evolves.
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- The roof framing in place. The south side of the roof is recycled galv corrugate - the thick soft stuff (which looks like it came on the first ship)
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- The rear wall has top and bottom ... er .. kinda bond beams. The footing will be a hybrid 'welsh' stone footing and metal flashings. I am fighting my first inclination to use concrete with a desire to experiment and build a structure which could be dismatled as easily as it is built.
Clients
