tzlee.com/blog

Author: Justin Lee

  • 3Com Vanished?

    It seems 3Com has silently vanished from the desktop networking scene. I had a flashback into the past as I dug out some old 10/100 3Com NICs. I wanted to install them into my server so I could test out a virtual router but couldn’t find Windows 2008 drivers for them at all.

    3Com 595 and 905B NICs.
    3Com 595 and 905B NICs.

    In the end, I installed an Intel NIC and it worked perfectly off default drivers found in Windows 2008.

    3Com made pretty decent hardware back in the late 90s – I still have some SuperStack switches and an OfficeConnect hub lying around. These stuff seem to work forever.

    I was quite surprised because 3Com used to be the choice for desktop networking until sometime in 2000 when things started to change – they exited the enterprise market and focused on the then-popular Palm brand. On July 31st 2000, 3Com’s share fell sharply after it spun off Palm. Later that year, their Chief Executive quit.

    In 2003, 3Com went into a joint venture with Huawei, now known as H3C.

    Oddly after checking 3Com’s website, they are back in the enterprise market again, but things will never be the same.

  • Renovation Backtrack

    The renovation has already started as of this posting, but I was too busy to blog about it, so I shall backtrack a little and start with the house still in original condition.

    We bought this flat off the resale market from a local chinese lady and got our keys the day after our ROM. We liked the flat because it’s spacious and all square with no weird corners. However, the original renovation was extremely distasteful and a major overhaul was required.

    Living room, main door and bomb shelter.
    Living room, main door and bomb shelter.

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  • Environmentally Friendly Way to Discharge a Li-Po

    Earlier this evening, the air-con guy called me up and asked to meet up at my new house to discuss how we would love run the array of ugly thick gas pipes around the house. Since the electrical wirings are out, there’s no light in the house and we needed one.

    I keep an old Li-Po (Lithium Polymer) battery from my RC heli in the back of my car so I could use it with a 12V flourescent tube whenever the occassion requires. I’ve been using it for quite some time already and never had to recharge the 12V pack for almost a year.

    I brought the battery and flourescent light along to meet the air-con guy. We kept talking until the lights went out and drained the battery well beyond its safe minimum capacity and it puffed like a pillow.

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  • The Wife, On Top

    So The Wife knew about the new blog and then started interrogating me.

    starie6 says (2:41 PM):
    why the wife is not at the top of the blog roll?
    =(
    *kicks dd*

    Ouch! It was automatically sorted alphabetically. Oh what can I do?

    Ah, I got an idea. I renamed it (!) The Wife.

    starie6 says (4:36 PM):
    why exclaimation mark?!

    Oh please tell me what pleases The Wife?

    I’m quite sure I’m gonna get killed for this post.

  • Welcome Back, Folks

    Hello folks. It has been a long time since I last blogged. I’ve lost touch with the world. Now that I’ve found some time, it’s good to start again. I’ve had quite a lot of ideas I wanted to share, but never had the time to write about them.

    I’ve decided to migrate to WordPress for good. My old blog is still available, but I won’t be updating it.

    Since I created QQBlogs, why WordPress, some may ask?

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