Techie Q&As

[Tichtheid]

Hello, I'm hoping for some advice (never try to tie your shoelaces in a revolving door)

My wife is about to start a new job which necessitates working from home, but the wifi is rubbish where she wants to work, so I have two options from what I can gather

1. I can run a Cat 6 cable from the router, but this is clumsy and only sorts the broadband coverage in the one room.

2. Mesh network - does anyone have any experience of installing these in the home? Are they any good? I have a budget of about £250 so that would cover TP Link or Google Nest, but not the Netgear stuff which seems to be about a grand.

[Margin__Walker]

Hello, I'm hoping for some advice (never try to tie your shoelaces in a revolving door)

My wife is about to start a new job which necessitates working from home, but the wifi is rubbish where she wants to work, so I have two options from what I can gather

1. I can run a Cat 6 cable from the router, but this is clumsy and only sorts the broadband coverage in the one room.

2. Mesh network - does anyone have any experience of installing these in the home? Are they any good? I have a budget of about £250 so that would cover TP Link or Google Nest, but not the Netgear stuff which seems to be about a grand.

I set up a mesh network last month after running up against the same issues. I went cheap in the end with this, but honestly it's such a huge upgrade on what we had, it doesn't feel budget.

https://www.tendacn.com/en/product/mw6.html

[fishfoodie]

Hello, I'm hoping for some advice (never try to tie your shoelaces in a revolving door)

My wife is about to start a new job which necessitates working from home, but the wifi is rubbish where she wants to work, so I have two options from what I can gather

1. I can run a Cat 6 cable from the router, but this is clumsy and only sorts the broadband coverage in the one room.

2. Mesh network - does anyone have any experience of installing these in the home? Are they any good? I have a budget of about £250 so that would cover TP Link or Google Nest, but not the Netgear stuff which seems to be about a grand.

If its just the one room, there's no need to sling cable; just get yourself a couple of powerline adapters, & keep it simple.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-network ... 8631p-kit/

[Sandstorm]

Hello, I'm hoping for some advice (never try to tie your shoelaces in a revolving door)

My wife is about to start a new job which necessitates working from home, but the wifi is rubbish where she wants to work, so I have two options from what I can gather

1. I can run a Cat 6 cable from the router, but this is clumsy and only sorts the broadband coverage in the one room.

2. Mesh network - does anyone have any experience of installing these in the home? Are they any good? I have a budget of about £250 so that would cover TP Link or Google Nest, but not the Netgear stuff which seems to be about a grand.

If its just the one room, there's no need to sling cable; just get yourself a couple of powerline adapters, & keep it simple.

https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-network ... 8631p-kit/

+1

[Raggs]

Powerline can be temperamental depending on the house wiring, but it definitely sounds like it could suit your requirements.

Cable is always best though.

[Tichtheid]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is and then plug in the powerline adpater, which would negate the purpose, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

[Sandstorm]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

You can do that with mesh if WiFi improvement is your goal. But if your wife is working from home and accessing a couple of cloud-based Apps, then cable/powerline is the answer.

Trying to do regular O365 email searches on WiFi will annoy the shit out of her.

[TB63]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is and then plug in the powerline adpater, which would negate the purpose, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

Unless you have 3 phase in your house (which I doubt), your whole house circuits would share the signal, you could plug it in to your immersion heater and it would still work..

[fishfoodie]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is and then plug in the powerline adpater, which would negate the purpose, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

Unless you have 3 phase in your house (which I doubt), your whole house circuits would share the signal, you could plug it in to your immersion heater and it would still work..

That's my experience too; & I ran another AP upstairs in my house off one, until I ran an ethernet cable up to it, so I could use it for PoE, & connectivity.

[Raggs]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is and then plug in the powerline adpater, which would negate the purpose, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

Works best on the same ring, but will work anywhere in the house.

You can get powerline that will also act as a wifi extender.

Mesh could be your best bet if your wife is happy with wifi (I've never tried mesh, may well do when we move).

[Saint]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is and then plug in the powerline adpater, which would negate the purpose, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

Unless you have 3 phase in your house (which I doubt), your whole house circuits would share the signal, you could plug it in to your immersion heater and it would still work..

I know I don't have 3 phase, but power line simply doesn't work in my extension. Spenta small fortune on Netgear mesh, but I have enough broadband that it made sense (I'm on Virgin Media and get nearly a gig). TP Link will do fine

[fishfoodie]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is and then plug in the powerline adpater, which would negate the purpose, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

Unless you have 3 phase in your house (which I doubt), your whole house circuits would share the signal, you could plug it in to your immersion heater and it would still work..

I know I don't have 3 phase, but power line simply doesn't work in my extension. Spenta small fortune on Netgear mesh, but I have enough broadband that it made sense (I'm on Virgin Media and get nearly a gig). TP Link will do fine

I've stuck a small, 8 Port, PoE capable switch in a central room; & run CAT6 from it, to dark areas, where I can put in extra APs, & now I can put a smart motion sensor lamp out in my shed; & have it linked to my Home Automation ... Happy Geek

[TB63]

I read that powerlines work on the same ring, which makes sense, so I'd need to run a cable from the router to upstairs to where the intended office is and then plug in the powerline adpater, which would negate the purpose, as that is on a different ring main.

I want to extend/improve the wifi all over the house, so I thought the Mesh was the best solution

Unless you have 3 phase in your house (which I doubt), your whole house circuits would share the signal, you could plug it in to your immersion heater and it would still work..

I know I don't have 3 phase, but power line simply doesn't work in my extension. Spenta small fortune on Netgear mesh, but I have enough broadband that it made sense (I'm on Virgin Media and get nearly a gig). TP Link will do fine

Mine works perfectly in the shed, different breaker, and for fun, traced which phase I'm on (overhead supply) and tried it in one of the neighbors house, worked fine there too...

[Raggs]

Unless you have 3 phase in your house (which I doubt), your whole house circuits would share the signal, you could plug it in to your immersion heater and it would still work..

I know I don't have 3 phase, but power line simply doesn't work in my extension. Spenta small fortune on Netgear mesh, but I have enough broadband that it made sense (I'm on Virgin Media and get nearly a gig). TP Link will do fine

Mine works perfectly in the shed, different breaker, and for fun, traced which phase I'm on (overhead supply) and tried it in one of the neighbors house, worked fine there too...

It's known to be temperamental. Mine would work fine, then basically reset the connection and reconnect after 20 seconds. Too annoying to work with, but fine as just wifi extender (though it's elsewhere, and doesn't seem to do that with wifi).

[Margin__Walker]

Powerlines didn't work for me at all. Huge speed drop to a point where it wasn't fit for purpose, hence the mesh. Assume it was an issue with the wiring somewhere.

[Line6 HXFX]

Powerline type adaptors ( I had a couple free with Talktalk once) still works brilliantly for me.

Used to run cat5 cable throughout the flat which just sucked.

[Tichtheid]

I bit the bullet and bought a Netgear mesh set up - one router and two satellites, they were on a deal for £240, I take delivery of it early next week

The newer iteration of the same thing is an eye-watering price.

Apparently I have to turn my Virgin router in to modem mode and then set everything up from there..

Give me a saw, a hammer and some nails and I can do a job, this techie stuff intimidates me.

[Saint]

I bit the bullet and bought a Netgear mesh set up - one router and two satellites, they were on a deal for £240, I take delivery of it early next week

The newer iteration of the same thing is an eye-watering price.

Apparently I have to turn my Virgin router in to modem mode and then set everything up from there..

Give me a saw, a hammer and some nails and I can do a job, this techie stuff intimidates me.

It's very simple to set up. Log in to your VM router, there's a slider to select Modem mode. Plug the master Orbi into the router. Follow the instructions in the box. Robert's your father's brother

[ScarfaceClaw]

I bit the bullet and bought a Netgear mesh set up - one router and two satellites, they were on a deal for £240, I take delivery of it early next week

The newer iteration of the same thing is an eye-watering price.

Apparently I have to turn my Virgin router in to modem mode and then set everything up from there..

Give me a saw, a hammer and some nails and I can do a job, this techie stuff intimidates me.

It's very simple to set up. Log in to your VM router, there's a slider to select Modem mode. Plug the master Orbi into the router. Follow the instructions in the box. Robert's your father's brother

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin ... modem-mode

All the instructions are on there. Getting your new router set-up will take a bit longer but should be relatively straight forward to do.

[Tichtheid]

Thanks lads

[Torquemada 1420]

Hello, I'm hoping for some advice (never try to tie your shoelaces in a revolving door)

My wife is about to start a new job which necessitates working from home, but the wifi is rubbish where she wants to work, so I have two options from what I can gather

1. I can run a Cat 6 cable from the router, but this is clumsy and only sorts the broadband coverage in the one room.

2. Mesh network - does anyone have any experience of installing these in the home? Are they any good? I have a budget of about £250 so that would cover TP Link or Google Nest, but not the Netgear stuff which seems to be about a grand.

I use Orbis and they are brilliant. I'm on 500Mb up and down and barely see any drop off from devices connected to the satellite routers. But the best thing is how seamlessly they set up.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/netgear-orbi

[Tichtheid]

Hello, I'm hoping for some advice (never try to tie your shoelaces in a revolving door)

My wife is about to start a new job which necessitates working from home, but the wifi is rubbish where she wants to work, so I have two options from what I can gather

1. I can run a Cat 6 cable from the router, but this is clumsy and only sorts the broadband coverage in the one room.

2. Mesh network - does anyone have any experience of installing these in the home? Are they any good? I have a budget of about £250 so that would cover TP Link or Google Nest, but not the Netgear stuff which seems to be about a grand.

I use Orbis and they are brilliant. I'm on 500Mb up and down and barely see any drop off from devices connected to the satellite routers. But the best thing is how seamlessly they set up.

https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/netgear-orbi

Well the Orbi arrived this morning, a few days earlier than I was told.

It took about half an hour to set up and the results are really good. I pay for 200Mbps to come into the house and I'm now getting that in every room in the house.

The speed jump on this old laptop is very noticeable.

[Sandstorm]

Good to hear the kit works. I have issues in the kitchen (solid walls and a staircase in the way) and my study (above garage with lots of metal rafters) affecting with my wifi signal.

But £220 is also a LOT of beer......

[Dinsdale Piranha]

Good to hear the kit works. I have issues in the kitchen (solid walls and a staircase in the way) and my study (above garage with lots of metal rafters) affecting with my wifi signal.

But £220 is also a LOT of beer......

My first suggestion is always to run a cable as it's the cheapest,fastest and most reliable but a good mesh network is very convenient once set up.

Sadly, £220 is not nearly as much beer as I would like.

[Torquemada 1420]

Good to hear the kit works. I have issues in the kitchen (solid walls and a staircase in the way) and my study (above garage with lots of metal rafters) affecting with my wifi signal.

But £220 is also a LOT of beer......

Same issues with me. Distance and many solid walls between source and satellite and Orbi has no issue with it. Without it, I got no signal at all with the router maxed out.

[Tichtheid]

More techie advice sought.

I'm looking for a monitor to add to a 2015 MacBook Pro, the graphics specs are as follows

Graphics and Video Support
Intel Iris Graphics 6100
Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colors.
Thunderbolt digital video output
Native Mini DisplayPort output
DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI, and HDMI output supported using Mini DisplayPort adapters (sold separately)
HDMI video output
Support for 1080p resolution at up to 60Hz
Support for 3840-by-2160 resolution at 30Hz
Support for 4096-by-2160 resolution at 24Hz


I want to use it for Logic, general browsing and for streaming rugby.

I've read about the different types of panels, refresh rates, response times and all sorts of groovy things, but tbh I'm none the wiser.

is it better to use Thunderbolt, display port or HDMI?

Is there any point in getting a 4K display as I doubt I'd be supplying the monitor with a 4K feed over wifi?
- I could cable up if this would give me a better picture for streaming - the router is about 25 feet from my desk

I don't really have a budget yet as I don't know what I need

Thanks.

[Torquemada 1420]

Your monitor will probably come will all those options. Remember HDMI does not support data. It's purely for video and sound (not before 2.0 IIRC). Display port is by far the greatest capability for quality but only if your output is capable of using it: otherwise you'll see no difference.

[fishfoodie]

Gotta say, I always go with Dell monitors, & if you hit the Dell Outlet, you can get stonking bargains, & depending on your budget, you ca choose Home, or Business class.

Get yourself a soundbar for the monitor too, if you don't have USB speakers.

[Gumboot]

I want to convert a few dozen albums and singles into digital files without spending a fortune. My options seem to be limited to buying a turntable for about a grand and doing it myself, or paying someone else $50 a record to do it for me. The DYI option sounds much more fun as I haven't listened to these records in years, but I'm not planning on buying any new vinyl so doubt the turntable would get much use after that. Can anyone suggest an equally effective but cheaper way to get the job done?

[Tichtheid]

Cheers Torque and Fishfoodie, my wife has a Dell monitor in her home office but I think I can do better than that one, it belongs to the university so it's probably not the highest spec - for sound I'll be almost always using studio cans (Beyerdynamic DT 150s in case anyone is interested - the best I've ever had and you can buy replacements for every single part, so they could become Trigger's broom eventually)via an audio interface with high quality DACs

[ASMO]

Samsung do bloody good monitors too.

[Torquemada 1420]

I want to convert a few dozen albums and singles into digital files without spending a fortune. My options seem to be limited to buying a turntable for about a grand and doing it myself, or paying someone else $50 a record to do it for me. The DYI option sounds much more fun as I haven't listened to these records in years, but I'm not planning on buying any new vinyl so doubt the turntable would get much use after that. Can anyone suggest an equally effective but cheaper way to get the job done?

Don't bother. The outcome will be sh*t whatever way you do it. Much as I hate CDs, you'd be better (and cheaper) buying the CD versions. Failing that, looking for the files online: preferably something not with lossy compression e.g. FLAC. Sell the vinyl if you are sure you'll never use it again: it might cover the costs of your replacements.

[Torquemada 1420]

Cheers Torque and Fishfoodie, my wife has a Dell monitor in her home office but I think I can do better than that one, it belongs to the university so it's probably not the highest spec - for sound I'll be almost always using studio cans (Beyerdynamic DT 150s in case anyone is interested - the best I've ever had and you can buy replacements for every single part, so they could become Trigger's broom eventually)via an audio interface with high quality DACs

I use Eizo BUT they are expensive and really only worth the additional outlay if you are doing photography processing or very high quality video. For standard use such as internet, streaming etc you won't see any difference because the quality of the medium is too low.

{EDIT} Something like this https://www.color-management-guide.com/ ... eview.html

[Tichtheid]

Is there a way to post Bluesky in the same way as X posts? I know that you substitute "twitter" for "X" in the address and that posts the item in full rather than a link.

Is there a similar thing for bluesky?

[laurent]

Is there a way to post Bluesky in the same way as X posts? I know that you substitute "twitter" for "X" in the address and that posts the item in full rather than a link.

Is there a similar thing for bluesky?

Please add Mastodon too :)

[tabascoboy]

I would think there is a way using API calls to sort out and make easier for 'X' and possible for Bluesky the embedding, but whether this would require an upgrade or update to the forum software I have no idea.

Discord certainly has no issues with embedding for Bluesky although you do have to tweak the URLs for certain 'X' posts using FixTweet bot

oEmbed: individual post pages on bsky.app have HTML metadata which points to the oEmbed API endpoint. This enables automatic oEmbed discovery when pasting bsky.app URLs in to third party applications, like blog or website composers.