Connect to adhoc wifi networks in Windows 8.1

keywords: joikuspot, adhoc, mobile, tethering, Nokia, Windows 8, Windows 8.1

You need to follow tutorial here to manually create network with needed name and password, remove both ticks (connect auto, connect even if not broadcasting).

*not sure if this was needed, but I went to device manager and in the properties of my WiFi card set AdhocChannel=6 (same as in Joikuspot)

Then, open Command Prompt (As admin):

netsh

netsh> wlan

netsh wlan> set profileparameter name="ssid" ConnectionType=IBSS

then try connecting to your adhoc network

netsh wlan> connect “ssid”

if it worked well, create .bat file with the following command

netsh wlan connect “ssid”

and execute it everytime when you need to connect to adhoc network.

Joikuspot problems under Linux Mint 17

Keywords: Joikuspot, Linux, MTU, adhoc, Ubuntu, Mint, tethering, Nokia

This might be useful for some people still using Nokia phones to share internet connection with Linux machine using excellent JoikuSpot 2012. I googled up several problem reports over last 3-4 years, listing Ubuntu, Mint, Arch, etc. Usual symptoms of the trouble – you can connect to some sites – google, news, even some https sites (for me,  friendfeed.com worked), but some other sites (in my case feedly, facebook, and any other site requiring Google Accounts authorization) did not load, or loaded only partially, with connection indicator spinning endlessly. Imagine internet circa 1994… What heplped me to identify rootcause, was the fact, that iPad mini (iOS 7.1) and Windows laptops worked well with Joikuspot (after some vodoo to enable adhoc connection under Windows 8.1).

Change MTU size from default 1500 in Ubuntu 14/Mint17 to 1280.

Go to Network Manager, disconnect from all networks, edit your wifi Joikuspot connection properties, there is setting in the GUI to do that. Upon reconnecting, every site should open flawlessly. Below is the picture I found quickly for editing MTU for wired connection. It’s same for WiFi.

Cloud storage update

While AeroFS is good, I think that in the coming months I will be switching all my data sync over to BitTorrent Sync. I am currently using it to sync one folder between my laptop and a server in another country and see that it matured to the point that sync is reliable. Moreover, it offers some serious advantage over AeroFS (which is going to focus on enterprise), and it is that it works on Windows, Linux and Android/iOS. I now spend more time in Linux, but my shares are on NTFS volume, and AeroFS refuses to work with fuse-mounted volumes, while BT Sync just keeps going. And Android/iOS apps perform real syncing, which is a pure win.

One month with iPad Mini Retina

One month with an ipad mini retina wifi 64gb. Before purchase, iOS looked to me like a steaming mix of shitake and Steve Jobs' charisma. But I thought, maybe I miss something, maybe iOS users know something, millions of people cannot be SO WRONG, after all.  Now, I must admit, that iOS is in a direst hole than I could imagine. This isn't just a walled garden, this is a walled asylum.

Welcome to 90-ies, memory leaks accumulate to the point, that when you switch between 2 tabs in Safari, both of them keep reloading every time. Programs quit here and there, iOS performs harakiri on itself unexpectedly, but even this doesn't help, you need to reboot it manually once in 2-3 days to keep ipad in sane working mode.

App ecosystems advantage is a myth. There are more nice games for toddlers, but no seriously useful apps over android. Moreover, android apps scaled from phone to tablet look better than iphone apps scaled to ipad. And of all apps, foursquare only has iphone version. WTF?

Lack of app intents (ala android) and file system is plain stupid. Paid games, even after being bought for 3-5 EUR, keep peddling in-app purchases to my kid, driving me mad.

Build quality? Good, but not better than LG G Pad 8.3 or Nexus 7 costing 30-50% less.

The only "plus" about iPad mini retina is about its battery life. Its seriously delivering on 10 hours of reading time (whether in web or pdf books). With 100% brightness it would work for about 8 hours. Outdoors its still ok to read books, but no longer good enough to watch movies on a sunny day.

TLDR - I will keep this thingy until android 8-incher comes around with good battery life. Then I will pass iPad to my daughter. This thingy is good for reading and games but not much else.