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Saturday,
30 September 2000 - Updated the Hardware Router chart with entries for:
- While we're on this subject, a few comments on the
above routers. SMC calls their router an 8
port Barricade. However, there are only 7 LAN ports.
The eighth port? The WAN port! (C'mon guys....) MultiTech says the RouteFinder supports Dial-In
RAS via its serial port. However, this router looks an awful
lot like the SMC and Asante FriendlyNet
routers that are OEMd from Amit.
If it is, then the Dial-In RAS isn't there! (Remember
that SMC and Asante had to remove the missing feature from their early
product descriptions?)
- We're currently working on the ZyXEL Prestige
312 review. Should be up in a few days.
Friday,
29 September 2000 - Finally wrestled through the SonicWall SOHO evaluation
and produced a six page review. There's a lotta stuff in that little
box! Go here for the
story.
- Looks like NetGear has posted new
firmware for their RT311/314. This release adds port
forwarding to the browser admin interface, longer PPPoE user
names (45 vs. 30 characters), and bugfixes. Go
here to download the firmware (v3.20b). Remember that this firmware
will work with the ZyXEL Prestige 310 and 314, too!
- Been catching up on various things around the
site. We've created syslog
and SNMP program pages for
those of you looking for Windows or MacOS flavored applications to use with
those protocols. Various updates to the Linksys
firmware update help info, for Linux and even OS/2 systems!
Wednesday,
27 September 2000
ShieldsUp passes the 5
million mark!
- Steve Gibson dropped us a note today to let us know that ShieldsUP
has passed the 5 million user mark today. That's in less than a
year! Congratulations Steve and thanks for making such a great
service available. LANs around the world are resting more safely
tonight, thanks to you...
- On a related note, if you think that ShieldsUP was good,
wait until you see his next step in Internet Security Analysis!
If I told you, though, I'd have to kil... ahh, what the heck, go
here to be amazed.
- And, of course, I'm late on the SonicWall review.
There's more in this little bugger than I thought! Review up sometime
tomorrow.
Tuesday,
26 September 2000
TV takes over your LAN - Got a tip about a product that could be interesting to those of you who
have a TV tuner on one of your PCs. SnapStream
Media's Personal Video Station (PVS) lets you use your PC as a
VCR, then stream the recorded video to any PC on your LAN. The
full-featured version is $50, but they also have a free limited feature
version that you can download and try out. This product is a little
different than what we normally review, but if there's enough interest, we'll
give one a look, so let us know.
Router
news
- The SonicWall SOHO review is in process
and should be up in a day or so. It's better than expected for some
features, but not as good as expected for others. Check back for the
full story.
- The ZyXEL Prestige 312 review is on
hold until we get some questions answered from them. This box can make
your brain hurt trying to figure out its four different NAT modes!
Monday,
25 September 2000
More new routers - SMC is fielding the SMC7008BR,
an 8 port version of their popular 4 port 7004BR Cable/DSL router. No
pricing or availability info yet. MultiTech will soon be shipping the RouteFinder
RF500S Broadband Router. It's a 4 port 10/100 switched
router with a serial COM port that can be used for either WAN connection via
an external modem, or as a Dial-IN RAS port! No print
server, though. On-line pricing is about $165, but
it's not available yet. Both these will be added to the Router chart
soon.
Sunday,
24 September 2000
Some good news.. - Feedback form, review Opinions, and email firmware request operation has
been restored. Please report any problems to us. Thanks!
-
Been checking out the new Linksys BEFSR81. It's an 8
port 10/100 switched router with QoS (Quality of
Service) features that allow you to set "High" or "Low"
priority by application port number or by 4 of the 8 physical LAN
ports. It's supposed to be available thru on-line retailers
tomorrow at a price of about $200 (click
here to check Pricegrabber) We'll have a more detailed review
soon, after we get some questions answered by Linksys.
Saturday,
23 September 2000 - A generous reader has created a Windows application that helps maintain
a PPPoE connection for the Linksys router. Go
here for the scoop.
Site problems are back! - We've been moved to the other server again. Until we're moved back,
the feedback form won't work (send mail to feedback@practicallynetworked.com), you can't post Review Opinions, and can't request Linksys firmware via email. Please bear with us!
Friday,
22 September 2000
We're
Back! (we hope...) - Think we found the little beastie that's been causing us
(and most importantly, you!) to be down more than up for the last week or
so. But, please let us know if you have problems with the site,
especially with downloading files.
- With
our problems (hopefully) behind us, we can return to reviews. The ZyXEL
Prestige 312, SonicWall SOHO and Linksys
BEFSR81 8 port are on deck.
- Speaking of Linksys,
we're getting positive reports on the 1.35 firmware. Folks are saying that it's solving their PPPoE disconnect
problems and that it looks like Linky will finally give you a full
stealth probe report, even on UDP ports! Click
here to download it from their FTP site.
-
D-Link has also been busy.
DI-701 owners have some new firmware
to play with. The Version 3.0 BETA adds a new GUI, port
range forwarding.and filtering! Go to the DLink
FTP site and look for the "300" files.
They've
also introduced the DI704
DSL/Cable Modem Gateway that includes a 10/100 4 Port switch for a
on-line price of about $115.
Wednesday,
20 September 2000 - Still trying to get the site stable. Sorry for the
problems, and please bear with us. The problems frustrate us as much
as they frustrate you!
- Linksys has released 1.35
firmware for Linky. Main feature is improved PPPoE connection
reliability ("PPPoE Keep Alive" has been restored. Also
looks like logging is back, but the logviewer.exe file is not included in
the distribution. You'll have to get it from the 1.33.1
distribution. Go
here for more info on the release.
Monday,
18 September 2000 - Please excuse the problems with the site over the past few
days. We're trying to get the site to be more stable, so please bear
with us.
Saturday,
9 September 2000 - The Linksys router's ongoing problems
with hosting Quake2 and 3 servers behind it has prompted some folks over in
the Quake3world.com Server Admin Forum to start a thread to
seek a solution. If you've got something to say, or want to see what
others are saying, go
take a look.
- Farallon jumps into the low-cost router market with
their NetLINE
Broadband Gateway. Is it us or does it look like
a MaxGate UGate-Plus with some cosmetic surgery? It's not available
yet, but Pricegrabber
has it listed for about $140. Check the Router
chart for the details.
- A few more wireless
products have been added to the Wireless
Chart.
ZyXEL's
powerful new box - Started to look at the ZyXEL
Prestige 312 and it's much more than a Prestige
310 (Netgear RT311)
with a better firewall. The 312 also supports five different
types of NAT routing, including the ability to route to multiple IP
addresses on the WAN side! The firewall is a full featured
stateful inspection firewall, allowing you to establish policies to
pass or block specific kinds of traffic and protecting you against all sorts
of nasty hacking stuff. Logging and email alerts are
also included. I'll have a full review up in a week or so, but until
then check out the details yourself by downloading the User Guide from this
page.
Compaq
gets into gateways - The Compaq
iPAQ connection point is an interesting duck. It includes HomeRF wireless,
HomePNA 2.0 phoneline and 10/100 Base-T Ethernet
connections and will share an internet connection among all three from either
an Ethernet based broadband or dialup 56K Internet connection. Priced at $499,
it's supposed to be out in time for Christmas. (We'll see. We're
still waiting for the HomePNA /Ethernet gateways promised from NetGear and
Linksys months ago...) Looks like Compaq is betting on the less
expensive HomeRF wireless standard to beat out WiFi in the home market. Check
the Wireless Chart for
a spec summary.
-
Thanks to all the alert readers who have written about the lost-again,
found-again Linksys 1.34 firmware. It appears to have
surfaced again on Linksys' FTP site, but we've also got it available here.
No word from Linksys on why it temporarily disappeared, but it looks like the
"ver.txt" file in the August 31 version of the updater file no
longer refers to the PPPoE Keep Alive function that is in the
1.33.1 Beta.
Monday,
4 September 2000
- Spent the holiday doing general updating and trying to
catch up on email. We've added a few more tips and links to the VPN
Help page, posted some new ICS
Configuration maps, and updated the Farallon
SkyLINE review with Win2000/ME BETA driver info.
-
Looks like Netgear's finally added info for their popular RT314 router
to their Web site. Here's
the link.
- Forgot to mention the new Linksys
Tech Helper that they've got up on their Web site for debugging
Linky. Anyone used it? Linksys is looking for feedback on it.
Sunday,
3 September 2000
- Once again, the Buffalo AirConnect review
is delayed. We received the model with routing capability, but also
received the Japanese version of software and manuals!
Comcast to customers: Want VPN? Pay up! - As a followup to the news item the other day about Comcast@Home
banning VPN, a helpful reader sent a copy of their email exchange (available here)
with customer support about the issue. The upshot is that the Comcast folks
want more $ for customers who use VPN. Again, if you want to complain,
email ecare@comcastpc.com or
call 1-888-793-9800.
