Mix and Match Netgear Powerline Adaptors

A few notes on mixing and matching different models of netgear power line adaptors. These tests were run on a PC with a cable connect direct to the router.

Screen shots were pulled from netgear Genie.

Original Setup

From left to right media store, router (gateway) and house. Total distance about 100m. Rouiter is in shed at bottom of garden. and house access point (connected to XAV2001 by cable) is furthest point.

Test Set Up

Removal of XAV5201 and test of speeds between two XAV2001.

Newer Adaptor at Router End of Line

So by putting the XAV5201 does this make thing better. I should point out that the XAV5201 is a newer model than the XAV2001, and has higher bandwidth. 

Older Adaptor at Router End of Line

There has been an improvement! What does this mean, does the newer power line gear receive signal better than the older stuff? I am not sure, if that were the case then wouldn't we see better TX results by swapping the other way around.

AV500. . .AV 200

Does matching power networking standards help things, both below are AV500 compliant . .  no it doesn't.

Conclusions

I haven't a clue! How about you? Please leave a comment.

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Desktop Study

CST Laser Trackball CST2545W-RC Review

CST Laser Track Ball CST2545W-RC Review

This CST Laser Track Ball Review CST2545W-RC is a heavily built large offering, which is made in the USA, it will set you back about £120 if you are buying this in the UK. It is probably worth it if you are having posture related issues, such as shoulder pain as it removes all requirements for you to push a mouse with tense shoulders all day.

The video above shows the trackball in use with me narrating on the task I am performing. There are some advantages, and some disadvantages.

Update 2022: After 3 years this piece of kit has been very good. I use it everyday, and even for stuff I would have switched back to a mouse for, I still use this. Having got quite used to it now. I did have a slight problem with it in that I used it one day with very sandy hands, and the sand got inside. I had to take it apart and clean out the interior. This was an easy task and needed doing any way. 

Pros - Comfort and "Throw and Catch"

The comfort is good. There is no need to tense you shoulder or upper arm. I found this aspect to provide more comfort from the outset.

When moving the pointer from one side of the desktop to the other you can throw and catch the ball. This is demonstrated in the above video.

Cons - Learning Period & Drag and Drop

It takes a while to learn how to manipulate your hand so as to achieve a drag and drop. You will be using all-sorts of muscles in you forearm that you may not be used to using, and this can take time to get used to.

I tried out "click lock" for a while to see if this would help but it didn't. The DPI setting I have also left of default.

Some Photos

 

Conclusions 

This is well worth the switch to improve comfort and posture, I would hesitate to make the switch if not required for practical reasons, not because it is not good to use a trackball but because you will burn up some time learning to use it.

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Intensive Program Application is Causing PC to Freeze

Intensive Program Application is Causing PC to Freeze

This a a quick tip to get around a situation where a processor intensive program or application is causing you PC to slow down.  

This method assumes you have a multi core machine. 

Step 1 - Launch

Launch the application you intend to use. In this example Foxit Phantom PDF. 

Step 2 - Set Affinity 

Press Crtl+Shift+Esc to bring up Task Manager. Select the processes tab.

Right click on the process that is causing the system to slow. Click on "Select Affinity".

Deselect 50% of the check boxes, so that the program can only use a limited number of cores. This should free up some resources so you can carry on with other stuff, whilst the intensive application munches through its task in the background.

This is handy for modelling programs, batch image compression, video rendering and other CPU intensive operations.

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