Oh wow! 

How did I manage to think about writing new notes to my blog, but I procrastinated for 6 consecutive years? 

Oh well, better late than never I guess. So much happened in the last 6 years that I can't fathom where to start from. Perhaps I can skip it ? :) Nope, not a choice. The world changed so much within the last 6 years.

may be tiny recap? Covid started and covid ended. Suffered a "widowmaker". As I didn't have a spouse, I wasn't qualified for it :) Although many guessed that it was related to the Biontech vacs, for my point, it was due to too much sofasurfing and bacon. I have actually written my horror story, I'm still not sure about publishing it. After that sh*t, nothing scares me!

- Oh yes, no more freelancing. Happily ever after in Telia group as a Tech Specialist. Details? Not allowed to disclose. My story :))

These days I'm obsessed with retro HIFI (it's retro for many of you as many have been hypnotised by your phones and Spotify). For me, it's mainstream awesome sound that never gets old, just ages like wine. I'll probably share more about this soon. 

Still single and not looking. Whatever happened after my widowmaker, I made a policy to avoid drama and bull****.

Anyways, I'm still around...I will write more soon

How I recovered from a Network Disaster?

Year 2000, when I first landed on a job where I was also in charge of a large network which included thousands of LAN and WAN nodes. It didn’t take me long to realize the bottlenecks and the challenges that laid ahead. Only on the LAN there were around 4000 nodes. With the MPLSs and the WAN connections, the number was probably around 18,000 nodes.  The most crazy part was that most of these networks were running on 10/100 switches, which were used as “dummy hubs”. In those days certifications like CCNA and MCSE did exist but people with certifications were very scarce.

I admit I am not a network engineer, but an IT Manager who knows the importance of a network; preferably a healthy one. In this case, it was far from perfect as the subnetting and the routes were implemented with the use of expensive hardware routers (yeah, even on the LAN!) and the use of IP subnets.

To give you an idea of the dire s**t I realized I was in, this company was a multi-million US$ GSM operator, which functioned 24/7 live operation. I guess you can imagine impacts of a network disruption and most equipment didn’t have a fallback system. So, if the traffic gets interrupted, it’s a total mess as it was virtually impossible to detect where the problem was arising from. I’m sure IT crowd of such operations know what I mean.

In a 24/7 operation there should be several fallback/backup systems as well as monitoring to minimize the risk of disruption as a failure means millions of US$ loss by the hour! So if you wish to send the top IT officer to the guillotine, this the most guaranteed method.

Ground Zero

I guess it was first few months into my IT Technical Manager position. Whilst still trying to orientate into the company culture and the messy organization, one morning at 3 am my phone started ringing persistently (yeah I pressed no few times I guess). I could feel the fear in the voice of the night shift techie. He was talking about a total network disruption, which also affected the NSS / GSM core network MSCs and as the domino effect followed, it was already causing buffer overflow on the HLRs, causing the GSM core network to fail.

As the Technical Manager it was my duty to alert the networking team and activate the emergency protocol ASAP (which generally meant that the networking team need to come to the operation centre ASAP).

By 05:00 am, most of the core networking and support teams were at the operation centre. We had already lost 2.5 hours, which didn’t relate to millions of $ yet as it wasn’t in the peak hours, but we had only 2 hours before 07:00 am, when the peak period began (in a normal work day there were around 12 million GSM related transactions taking place – calls, SMS, GPRS, pings, broadcasts etc., which 40% of these were in the peak hours) and if we could not get the system up by then, it’s counted as the worst case scenario of a 24/7 operation and yes, getting fired is the best thing that can happen in that case.

The goal was to make sure the HLR’s should be online as well as the core GSM network is active, whilst the MSCs recording the transactions (so that they can be billed). As the LAN’s and linked NSS networks were not able to communicate whilst switches not setup up properly (no VLANS, no redundancy, no bandwidth management, no packet management virtually nothing), we had to do a total sweep, eliminating the probabilities, within 2 hours!! J.

Starting with the HLRs, working our way backwards, we realized that there was no communication between the HLRs and the NSS, the core GSM network MSCs as they were set to automatically go into fault mode on disconnection, disabling the GSM network. By the way, we are talking about year 2000 and the main OS of the MSCs’ were run by a primitive version of Linux (Nokia DX200) and the MSCs were out of our department so we needed to cooperate and wake up more techies from their beds and drag them to work.

The error message on the Nokia DX200 was simple. It was stating that there was an IP conflict! Now you are probably now asking in your minds, how can there be an IP conflict on a dedicated network with static IP addresses? You are right, it cannot be! But, when we pinged it, we got a reply. When we tried to trace it, it seemed that it is somewhere in the void of the unknown LAN (yeah, they had placed the NSS Servers into the office network, like rest of the other servers) and it seems someone is sabotaging the whole setup by conflicting a very specific IP address!

Whilst we are trying to swim in the spaghetti, the “call” came from the CEO. Like I had no pressure, had to squeak to the CEO for 10 minutes whilst giving him assurance that the problem will be solved soon! As you can expect the board of trustees had been already alerted which was pressurizing the CEO and all the way down the ladder, “me”.

Due to shortness of time, we had to think outside the box and make a “crazy Ivan” manoeuvre [1].

During the Cold War, one submarine would frequently attempt to follow another by hiding in its baffles. That is, turning to observe the blind spot and detect any followers. Related manoeuvres included the Soviet’s "Crazy Ivan", a hard turn to clear the baffles and position the submarine to attack any followers, and "Angles and Dangles", a five-hour process of rapid direction and speed changes to ensure that all items aboard were properly secured for hard manoeuvring and would not fall or shift suddenly, producing noise that the enemy could detect,

Like mentioned before, nearly all network nodes were bundled into the same network segment and they could communicate with every other device, the only logical action we could do was to disconnect whatever isn’t needed for the operation to narrow the circumference hoping that we can disconnect the conflicting network node. Of course the simple question might come to your mind as “why don’t you just change the IP of the NSS?” but, changing that meant changing the IP settings on 7000+ HLRs throughout the country, so that it they can communicate with the NSSs.

So, after a minor vote, with my directive, the teams started turning off core active network devices in mare attempt to isolate the system with the conflicting IP. We are talking about shutting down the network of a building with 2000+ employees, over 10000 active connected nodes, including servers, data lines, security cameras, alarm systems, security card systems, fire systems, printers, scanners, HVAC systems and many others that I cannot remember after 20 years that connected in the same network only separated by IP addresses.

By 08:30 am, after having manually disconnected 80% of the core internal network, we still weren’t able to isolate the conflict! The only physical networks we were left with were GSM technical department, (the department that actually manages the NSS systems and the MSCs), the core network switches/routers, WAN connectors and the NSS systems. I admit my stress level continued to rise. So we continued into the GSM Tech department systems. By now, the non-critical personnel were in the office, not able to work and phones continued to ring nonstop. As we got to 90% of the systems, we started the 2nd phase, which consisted of questioning the teams on if they could have installed something new in the last 10 hours or so. None of the answers managed to solve our problem. Lastly, though the GSM Tech’s director strictly forbid us to disconnect their department’s systems, I override his authority and approved the disconnection of their department’s systems. Then poof! Suddenly the problem disappeared. The MSCs and the HLRs started responding after few minutes.

Of course you can imagine the shock. We had had shutdown the 95% of a multi-billion $ company’s 24/7 operational systems to find out that there’s a tiny server under a table, which belongs to a R & D techie, who setup SCO Unix server for test purposes and decided to setup a DHCP server service with identical IP range as the MSCs and the HLRs…apparently some other test machine in the same department had picked up the IP address which caused a huge conflict with the MX200’s IP address, making it unavailable for the HLRs to connect causing massive disruption due to buffer overflows.

We had isolated the culprits manually and managed to turn the network to its previous state by 12:00. The loss of the day was calculated to be around 6 million US$.

Of course some people’s key cards didn’t work the next day, including the GSM Tech director’s. In the meanwhile, as the leader of the ERT (emergency response team) although I didn’t get any commendations, I was instead given the task of reshaping the whole network infrastructure of the organization, in a way that a scenario like this would never happen again.

With a team of professionals we managed to revive and configure the huge network within 24 months with a big hefty budget, where all active devices were configured, managed, monitored and 24/7 (I shall talk about this in my next log). As I hear from colleagues, they are still using the same operational lifecycle fundamentals I had established back in 2002 (based on early version of ITIL and enterprise architecture).

Since that day, I prayed often that I would never face a challenge like this ever again. It was all good until 2019. Which I will talk about this in my next article.

Revive your old PC - Part I - Hardware Upgrades - Portable Computers

After years of usage, time comes for every computer to be revived. For the first stages, utility cleanups, reinstalling the OS may improve the performance, but with loads of security patches, upgrades, fixes etc. every Windows system becomes too heavy to bare at some point.

Though Microsoft hoped to revamp its operating system legacy by introducing Windows 10, the old systems actually became to feel really slow.

Eventually, you decide to buy a newer and faster machine. But, there are alternatives otherwise.

This post shows you the alternatives you have other than buying a new system for your need for speed.

You can achieve your goal both by upgrading some hardware for a reasonable cost as well as installing alternative operating systems. I will explain both.

Part One: HARDWARE

Facts About Components
1. In the last 10 years, CPU's haven't actually developed much other than adding more cores to the architecture to manage the applications better. Yes, the fastest commercially available CPU in the market is the new Intel Core i9-9900K (5 GHz), which is priced around 800$ including the mainboard that supports it. Otherwise, the latter is the  Core i7-3970X which is stuck at 3.5 GHz, but still very pricey.

2. Memory modules' speeds haven't increased much either. Instead by adding more memory to the existing systems proved that it does improve Windows performance. Of course there those overpriced gaming memory modules, but that's not what we are talking about here.

3. The traditional hard disks (HDD) have a streamlined alternative these days: the solid-state drives (SSD), which are generally a box packed with an IC, where chips are embedded, that are counted to be more reliable, eco-friendly, robust, faster than the traditional hard disks.

Though the world isn't still sure enough about the SSD's reliability, it is speedy indeed. Even the most basic ones are at least 20x times faster than the fastest commercially available HDDs. Plus, their price range is nearly equal to hard disk prices!

4. Graphics Processors (GPU): Though the manufacturers boast about the performance of their GPUs, they haven't developed so much in the last 10 years also, other than the improvements that are made to it. The bit rates are increased, the memory levels are steady and the graphics are more stable by adding more cores to the processors, just like the CPUs. As a downside, for some reason I cannot fathom, the power requirements of the GPUs have increased beyond boundaries, as there are some commercially available GPUs available out there with nearly 500W power requirements. These GPU's feed on direct power with a cable connecting to the power outlet of the PSU in the PC casing (the traditional power was obtained via the bus on the mainboard).

The other fact is, desktop PC's are getting less popular day-by-day as the cost of ownership of mobile machines become less. I admit I see more portable machines these days than I did 10 years ago. But as you have already discovered, mobile machines are not so upgradable as desktops machines. I will try to shine a light to both of them in parallel.


1. Hardware Upgrade: 

1.1 Laptops / Portable Computers

Upgrading the hardware of your existing portable isn't so much possible, it is not impossible.

1.1.1 Hard Disk
If you wish to revamp your old machine, the first thing you should consider is replacing your old hard disk (HDD) with a new SSD. It is the main hardware on your system that makes it SLOW !!

Windows operating systems use a lot of memory and hard disk utilization due to its virtual memory management system. Due to the constant read/write of HDDs, the waiting periods and more the annoying hourglass will be on your screen.

First things first, check online for a reliable and budget SSD for your laptop/portable. Most preferred reliable brands are Kingston, Samsung, WD, Sandisk. The price of a new SSD is as low as 30$ these days.

Please note:
1. The ideas here are for computers that have been manufactured 2005 onwards as the older machines may have IDE ports instead of the SATA ports which are compatible with today's mainstream and sorry, there are no SSD's with IDE ports. Check your hardware specs to be sure.

2. Though newer SSD's have SATA 3.0 ports which provide faster throughput, they are backwards compatible with SATA 2.0 and SATA 1.0 technology and are still faster than the regular HDDs.

3. Most of the premium laptops, the hard disk isn't very easy to access and may require a technician to replace it for you.  

1.1.2 Memory (RAM)
Most probably the original OS installed on your system was good enough in the good old days, but with so many patches, antivirus software and loads more stuff it has become very little and insufficient. When RAM becomes insufficient, it loads more burden on the HDD as the operating system tries to compensate the loss by using more virtual memory; disk utilization.

Good news is, though your system is old, the memory modules are still globally available as brand new and 2nd hand. Depending on the specification of the RAM compatible with your system, you can upgrade your RAM for a fairly reasonable price up to 8Gb (on some systems it's 16Gb). Please refer to your system's manual for a compatible memory module specification. Good brands for memory modules are once again Kingston, Samsung and Adata. I strongly suggest avoiding buying used memory as no one sells memory modules unless there's something not right about them.

In most systems, it's a simple DIY task which I can guide your through (there are thousands of DIY videos on Youtube for changing memory modules specific to your hardware). Only on a small proportion of systems the memory modules are inaccessible by the user and may require a technician's intervention.

1.1.3 Battery
Yeah, it must be dead a long time ago, right ? Most probably the manufacturer either does not sell the spare battery still or it's available at a price of a new system! Good news is there are OEM batteries that can be trusted that are available globally; also that cannot be trusted. Depending on the model of your system a spare battery can be bought from sites such as Amazon or AliExpress.

I have refined the search links but you will still need to refine it more depending on the brand and the model of your system.

Revive your old PC - Part II - Hardware Upgrades, regarding desktop PCs' will be in my next post.

Tips on buying a used laptop - Part 2

Here are the tips you should observe whilst buying a used laptop/portable computer:

1. Check for chipmarks screws. This may give you an idea if it has been unboxed for repairs etc.

2. Hard disk surface scan may reveal hidden bad sectors. As I mentioned in Part 1, as devices get more compact, HDD's are more consealed inside devices and very difficult to replace. As it's a mobile device its always vulnerable to misuse, such as being dropped to the ground, which mainly damages the hard disks.

Usually sellers do not bother replacing the hard disk but try to hide the bad sectors with utilities. No, few bad sectors isn't OK ! Bad sectors is like a disease. Once the HDD starts showing bad sectors it will gradually increase until dataloss is eminent !

Also disk error information can be read from the bios of the hard disk from it's S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) database which is embedded into the hdd with a simple free app from internet called Crystal Disk Info.
 
Also as devices get more compact it becomes harder to service. So if you are going to buy a used device, believe that you are going to be the last user. So it's a Titanic investment.

The best you can do when you buy a 2nd hand/used laptop is that, if it doesn't already consist of a SSD, I strongly advise you to get the existing risky HDD (hard disk) replaced by a new and at least 20x faster and more reliable SSD disk storage.

Unlike HDDs' SSDs' only consist of microchips; so, no moving parts inside, which means less vulnerability to damage. I prefer Kingston SSD drives as they are the most reliable in the market.

3. Keyboard. Though many tend to ignore the keyboard it's the main utility for input. Check the keyboard keys for wears. Every used laptop should have some sort of wear marks on the keyboard. IF it does not, it could mean the keyboard may have been replaced. There are several reasons why a keyboard is replaced including water damage, impact, broken keys.

4. Screen. Check the screen for straches, dead pixels and signs of impact damage.

  i. Dead Pixels generally mean, black spots on the screen, due to malfuctioning LCD and no, few dead pixels isn't OK. It affects the view and it can become annoying. Best way to spot dead pixels is to put a total white background image on the screen and look thoroughly for black spots. 

ii. General signs of impact on the screen shows itself on white backgrounds at high brightness. Where there has been an impact on the screen, it will show lighter color. The impact on LCD screens are usually happen when the lid is closed and though there may not be any sign of damage on the laptop's cover, the damage on the LCD is permanent. 

iii. There can be several other signs of damage on the screen. Anything out of the ordinary is NOT OK, though the seller may try to convince you otherwise. 

5. GPU. Although most premium portable computer's (laptops) GPU is embedded into the CPU instructions, GPU is quite important if you plan to play games on the system as 2D and 3D performance may be affected due to defects. Worse, it may cause the system to overhead or defunct in a most weird manner. If the seller allows you, best reliability results can be obtained with a benchmarking software such as 3DMark or BurnInTest.

The most common sort of malfunction on a used laptop is overheating of the CPU and the laptop's power.

 on the screen, heating issues (it reveals CPU/GPU malfunctions)

6. CPU. Though the development of laptop CPU's have slowed down, to which generation/version the CPU belongs does matter and can affect the whole system's performance greatly. Though usually, CPUs are quite robust other variables can affect the CPU performance greatly. Looking at Intel's CPU matrix, even the i7 you are intending to buy can be at least 8 years old! So, aim for a machine not older than 3-4 years maximum to have reliable performance and don't waste your time or money for anything that is less than a i5 CPU. 

The most important tip regarding the CPU is temperature control. Though CPU's are one robust body, it works with 2 other components: mainboard and the CPU fan. 

i. CPU Fan: Most portable computers' CPU fans get clogged with hair, cat/dog hair, dust over time. In the past when the laptop bays were accessible via bay doors, it was a relatively easy task to clean the air ducts but, in today's compact devices, it's nearly impossible. (I know some people put a vacuum cleaner trying to suck out the dust etc, but I do not advise as it can damage the CPU fan). So it is a good idea to check the air ducts for clogging as well as heating on the laptop body (it should not heat so much, even in 3D applications).

ii. CPU Fan insulation/paste: Not just bound for CPUs' of portables but in all devices related to heat, between the CPU and the CPU fan is a substance called "thermal paste" which, generally is a grease with thermal conductiveness, consisting of silver particles. Thermal paste improves the conductivity of heat between the fan and the CPU that enables rapid heat transfer to cool the CPU. 

Over time, depending on the usage of the system, the thermal paste tends to get thin, or worse in some cases, melt out. When this happens, the CPU can induct more heat than usual, which may affect the performance of the CPU as the hotter the CPU gets, the slower the CPU becomes. The newer CPU's tend to waste less power and heat up less.

If the casing of the system is hot or above warm, this might be the case and most probably you cannot fix it yourself as the whole case needs to be dismantled. It's a real pain...

5. Battery. Normal laptop battery can go between 2-5 years. For example, I am using a 6-year-old laptop with a battery that still works for at least 1 hour. Badly used laptop's batteries usually malfunction between 1-2 year's time. If the seller is selling the laptop with a dead battery or an unoriginal believe that it may have been misused.

6. Power Adapter. Though many do not take into caution the power adapter, as I mentioned in PART I, power adapters must be preferred to be the original one as most OEM adapters are produced under most inefficient environments and they do lack a lot of the tech that may save your system's life, such as the "grounding" . Also, an unoriginal adapter may be a sign that the system may have been overloaded in its past. 

I have witnessed laptops with burnt out mainboards whilst using unbranded/non-original power adapters in even minor power fluctuations.

7. The outer case. Though the seller will do their best to cover the signs of defects on his sale item, you should look for chips, cracks and wear marks under the laptop as well as the corners of the top bezel part as well as under the system. This might sound like a joke to you, but smelling the system can give you a good idea on what may have happened to it in the past such as water damage, overheating (burnt plastic smell) etc. 

8. Operating System. It's no doubt that the mainstream operating systems (especially Windows !!!!) are the main reason why the computers are slowing down by the minute. Especially when you start installing software like the antivirus, the system automatically loses performance by at least 35%. Any antivirus/internet security software who says otherwise is just bull%*¤#*ing. 

As Microsoft confirms, it's operating systems are unsafe and always vulnerable. Though there are constant updates, it's risky. Though they are vulnerable, after every patch or upgrade it becomes slower. That is how our systems get slower and require more performance every day. That's why the world is full of hardware labelled as "legacy". 

Though Microsoft hates it, there are alternatives that bring life back to old/legacy systems called "Linux". 

Linux was created by a Finnish university student called Linus Torvalds in 1994. His invention, unlike marketed products, was built on perpetual licensing options, it was built on the GNU Public Licensing model, which allows the product to be used and distributed "freely". Since the first version, the idea took off so powerfully that nowadays it's the biggest competitor of Microsoft. 

Bottom line here is, you can bring life into your old system with installing Linux operating system on it, instead of the slow and demanding Windows. There are certain common Linux operating systems (yes, distributions) that has the Windows GUI feel, for a smooth transition, such as Linux Mint Cinnamon. AND unlike Ms stuff, most Linux distributions consist of Office software embedded into them or can be installed free of charge later and is compatible with Ms Office distributions.

OK, I won't boast about Linux further here but also remember that you do not need to use antivirus software in Linux as it's nearly impossible to infect a Linux system.

You can read more about my Linux story HERE.

Tips on buying a used laptop - Part I

This question came up in one of the forums I frequently follow (from a programmer; programmers don't understand shit about hardware. They just code, they are not even IT, although HR departments usually confuse the two !)

Buying a 2nd hand laptop is always a big challenge. The reason is, noone really sells a laptop unless there's something wrong with it. Its not very common to see laptops on sale because of old age. If you are lucky, you may find one of the leased machines that has been returned to the financial institution. But, even that is risky as those are sold in bulk in auctions (and seller do not allow you to even touch the machine and are sold "as is" or "WYSIWYG". 


Advantages and Disadvantages
OK, you may not have the funds to buy a brilliant and high performance machine, but having a low performance but brand new laptop has it's advantages against the high performance but old machines. 

Things you need to know (that noone will ever tell you)
Unlike many bloggers, I will start with the disadvantages which may sound intimidating but will prove worthy:

1. Noone sells an old portable computer just because it got "slow"; some do, but the chances of catching one of those is pretty slim. So, there much be a "catch". It might be a defective component or worn out component such as the battery, hard disk, memory or worse the mainboard. Good news is, though sellers do their best to camouflage the defects deep, it is possible to spot them. Bottomline, there's no virgin laptop.
    
2. Unlike desktop computers, portable machines are more vulnerable to mishaps and accidents. A laptop get's dropped on hard surface at least 3 times in it's life cycle. Hard drops usually invisibly damage the hard disks, as the hard disks are the weakest component in portable machines (does not apply to SSDs, I will mention them soon). Hard disks are made of few magnetic platters spun by a tiny electric motor whilst a very sensitive head moves back and forward to read and write the data on it). Also as their function is mobility, they are used many environments, which some of them can be quite risky.
   
   Though many believe the life of a HDD is calculated by the amount of warranty length, by looking at it's MTBF specification by the manufacturer may actually give to a good insight on the predictability of the reliableness of the component. (MTBF: Mean Time Between Failure is an engineered rating that shows the reliability of the hard disk).
   
   Though MTBF values aren't advertised in the open, it is usually available from the vendor websites' technical specification leaflets.
    
3. As the technology trend enforces devices to be more miniature, robost and more mobile, devices reduce insize; not by miniaturization but by sacrifice. Yes, sacrifice of precautional elements inside the devices. For example, before the 2000's most laptops were heavy and chunky. The reason for that was that under the cover there were certain precautionary measures to ensure the durability of the system, such as aluminium skeleton to improve durability against falls to protect mainboard and LCD screens from getting wrecked or component bay doors to allow parts to be upgraded or changed. But, just like in our great looking but worthless cars, everything these days are engineered not for the durability, but the cost.
   
   Engineers has been convinced by the sales people that it is cheaper to replace the whole thing instead repairing components; even if you tried to repair a new laptop that has been damaged, you probably will not be able to reach the required parts for reasonable prices. So, the lesson is newer it is, less durable it is. Even the hard disks have less protective insulation in them these days. That's why they are so thin, so fragile and short lifed.
   
   So, best lifetime of a laptop of today's tech is around 2-5 years. That's if it doesn't get damaged by a short circuit or a fall. Oh yes, I have to mention this ! The old laptop power adapters were big and chunky. The main reason for it is the wattage. Today's laptop adapters are usually much smaller in size but the wattage is much lower too. Also less reliable as they are more vulnerable against power surges (a power surge generally fries the laptop's mainboard. It happened to me twice).
    
4. The screen: Though tech hasn't changed much on the screens in the last decade; other than the new 4k monitors, it is still the most fragile component. It's life is not longer than 1-5 years at most; really depends on the usage and production quality. As the bezels are so thin, they are more vulnerable against damage. Also as the new LCD panels are so thin, they get damaged VERY easily and no, it's non-repairable. But good news is, there are lots of OEM's that screens can be purchased online from resources such as AliExpress and replaced by people like myself. Most frequent sign of defect in LCD panels are dimm lights, stratches of screens, inequal light patches on screen (CAUTION: This means the screen has been smacked or damaged!) or missing pixels; dead pixels in the screen, which can be usually seen on white backgrounds.
    
5. The Battery: An optimal battery life of a laptop is around 1-5 years, depending on the usage. Machines that have been used offline tend to have longer lasting batteries, whilst the machines that have been hooked up to a constant power resource, tend to eradicate faster. Battery units are made up of parallel connected cells. Higher the number of cells, higher the long livety and the performance of the battery is. Generally 6 cell batteries are the best.
   
   There are hundreds of OEM brands which claim their replacement battery is the best with low prices, but it's generally a fake information. OEM batteries do not last as long as the originals ; even might be out of specification that may damage the system. 

continued on part 2 soon.

How to Exclude Domains in Google Search Results

If you’re more interested in excluding specific sources, there are two ways you can do this.

The first method is identical to excluding keywords. If you’re searching for links about Raspberry Pi but don’t want any Wikipedia links, you could just use:

“raspberry pi -wikipedia”

The problem with this method is that if an article on another site mentions Wikipedia in their article, that link will also be excluded from your search results, and that’s not what we want.

"macro lenses -nikon”

Instead, the second method is to use a search operator that specifically excludes URLs. The query would then look like this:

“raspberry pi -site:wikipedia.org”

Using this method, you can also exclude subdomains or specific webpages and still get results from other subdomains and other webpages on the same domain.

So if I wanted to search for royalty free vector stock images of Finnish flags and leave out most of the mainstream paid stock sites, my query would look something like this:

finnish flag royalty free -vectorstock - stock -pixabay -shutterstock -rfclipart -istockphoto -dreamstime -123rf -depositphotos -featurepics -fotolia -photoscase -storyblocks -canstock -gettyimages -canstockphoto -photocase -masterfile -alamy -adobe -clipdealer -stock

Custom Google Search results

I don't know about you, but I use Google Search every day for many reasons including forums, information, sites, shops, apps and everytime I get search results I have to filter through the spam results to get to the actualy results. 

Yeah ! Spam results and I am not talking about Google Ads but results based on "keywords" that are written into the code by sellers. 

For example, I really needed a royalty free flag image, which I know it is widely available across the internet. But the problem is stockphoto and other stockimage sites have infested the Google search results in such a way, that even Ad Block Plus cannot handle them. 

Luckily, Google actually does provide several options to narrow down your search to reach the required information and you do NOT need to be an internet search guru to overcome this problem. 

Going directly to the point here are the top tips.

REFINING SEARCH RESULTS

• Google Search usually ignores punctuation that isn’t part of a search operator. Don’t put spaces between the symbol or word and your search term.
  
  A search for site:nytimes.com will work, but site: nytimes.com won’t.

Common search techniques

Search social media

Put @ in front of a word to search social media. For example: @twitter.

Search for a price

Put $ in front of a number. For example: camera $400.

Search hashtags

Put # in front of a word. For example: #throwbackthursday

Exclude words from your search

Put - in front of a word you want to leave out. For example, jaguar speed -car

Search for an exact match

Put a word or phrase inside quotes. For example, "tallest building".

Search for wildcards or unknown words

Put a * in your word or phrase where you want to leave a placeholder. For example, "largest * in the world".

Search within a range of numbers

Put .. between two numbers. For example, camera $50..$100.

Combine searches

Put "OR" between each search query. For example,  marathon OR race.

Search for a specific site

Put "site:" in front of a site or domain. For example, site:youtube.com or site:.gov.

Search for related sites

Put "related:" in front of a web address you already know. For example, related:time.com.

Get details about a site

Put "info:" in front of the site address.

See Google’s cached version of a site

Put "cache:" in front of the site address.

How to Exclude keywords in Google results

When it comes to excluding specific keywords or items from your search results, all you need to do is place a hyphen in front of the word without a space.

So if you wanted to search for articles about macro lenses for photography but didn’t want anything about Nikon, you would use the following search query:

“macro lenses -nikon”

Windows Explorer Tabs

Though I don't make many Windows posts these days, this is a feature many Win10 users were actually waiting for. Tabs in Windows Explorer. 

As Microsoft had announced that "tabbed Explorer" was to arrive with the October 2018 update "Redstone 5" , apparently it was vetoed by some and have been decided to be placed in some later build. (Most probably it's a PR thing). 

Well, like if Ms updates are the only solution out there, there are several coders who create productive alternatives. 

CLOVER3. Written by a Chinese coder ; yeah, I know you automatically think ! But not every Chinese coder is a hacker. Code is clean and it's freeware. It does not install weird stuff onto your machine. (PS. Avira tends to report it as a false-positive, but all others are pretty clear). 

Clover 3 has been created by Chinese programmers, so the website may confuse you and it won’t offer much in terms of information (unless you can read Chinese). No worries, app does function in several languages including English.

However, the download link is prominent, so it shouldn’t be troublesome. 

Linux - Google inc. to Google LLC.

As Google has decided to change it's name over night from Google Inc. to Google LLC and updated it in the software repos accordingly, many distros update services started to give errors whilst trying to verify the Google Chrome's repo signatures. 

Tthis error message is meant to ensure that the new entity named Google LLC you are fetching Google Chrome updates from is the same as Google, Inc. that your system trusts and knows its signature. By accepting the change, you asking your system to trust Google LLC and accept Google Chrome updates from it in the future.

The error generally states: "Repository 'http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable Release' changed its 'Origin' value from 'Google, Inc.' to 'Google LLC'"

To resolve it, simply in terminal type "sudo apt update" and select Yes.

Why did I switch to Linux?

After a long consideration I think I have to thank Microsoft for pushing me to switch to Linux ! I admit it has been a long road until I decided to give up my will to insist on Microsoft Servers and workstation operating systems. I think the fallout actually began in year 2002, with the launch of Windows XP as I was a real keen Windows enthusiast in those days, (even a certified one - MCSE !!) but, though the whole population adored Windows XP, I hated that menu and the GUI which used excessive GPU and memory. I had to go in advanced menus to set it to basic screen mode to free memory and GPU which enabled you to work smoothly, even with 8 Gb memory. I was already aware back in those days that the CPU speeds were stuck at 3.4 Ghz and would not go up and Intel would play around with cores and caches to sustain its revenue.

As a person who arrived to the computer world from good old IBM DOS 4.x which had the chance to experience loads of operating systems such as OS/2 Warp, Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, Windows NT and eventually to Windows 95 etc. I remember the days of Windows 95 quite well. It was a breakthrough for Ms as well that several functions and ideas were introduced such as PnP, high resolution desktop graphics, multitasking, 32bit architecture and ah yes, long filenames ! Though all still depended on Ms DOS (playing around with UMB via autoexec.bat and config.sys improved performance greatly).

In those days I used to work in Ms Support Centre back in Istanbul, where support calls were on the swarm after the release of Windows 95 as Ms had announced to the customers that it was very easy install, even for a non-computer person! Of course the illiterates started pouring over the lines ; some even came to our door with their tower computers, weeping for help as they had just wiped their data in the course of installing the new Windows OS. Sad, really. Of course there were those with hardware mismatches, unsupported hardware and of course the hardware manufacturers were only ready for their new equipment to be "compatible" with Windows 95. After a shortwhile I remember the famous machine stickers came in "Compatible with Windows 95!"....

We, as IT crowd, went and upgraded to the latest hardware so that we can use Windows 95 on our machines at home. Games were blazing fast compared to DOS, where we had constant memory problems due to the boundries of 640k UMB.

Ah of course, though we had already known about infectious and malicious softwares called "viruses" but never saw it in action. Thanks to Microsoft, in a short amount of time we became quite acquainted with their kind as the installation diskettes, the OS itself got infested by them. One of the main supporters and software providers for Ms was Symantec (I think they had written some additional parts of the Windows 95 OS, such as the fax functionality and diskscan tool) and funnily, their software was ready on day one! Then we had to purchase packages such as Norton Disk Doctor, Norton Utilities, Norton Antivirus...and eventually the machine was slow again! I had heard about the Wintel partnership but I really didn't know this was the whole idea of it. Then of course higher performance parts started pouring in into the market faster CPUs, 3D capable GPUs, larger capacity HDDs, faster memory modules, fax modems, soundcards...luckily there were the OEM hardwares that helped us young ones to be able to manage the cost of constant upgrading. Ah lastly, for some reason, the softwares we installed started to have special hardware requirements such as more memory !

I never thought this topic is going to be so long and winding, I will publish in pieces I guess. 

With the arrival of the revolutionary operating system Windows 2000, in year 2000, which had the look and feel of Windows 98 but the power of NT, I remember saying to myself, "OK the nightmare is over"...but how could I know that it had just began! Being one of the main support people for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 in Turkey, Win2k was awesome as it was really compatible with the current hardware as well as it was rock solid; less BSD's (bluescreen of death as we named it). I admit I stayed with Win2k for a quite a long time. Of course, once again the systems started running slow once again and the hardware needed to be upgraded once again. Then came the ATX form factor to the OEM markets where most of the previously separately available hardware became "onboard". So we didn't have purchase an IO card separately and try to configure it through its BIOS for 30 times over (today not many know what IRQ or DMA even mean...)

Not long after, we started to acquaint about some "patch" software published by Ms and her software partners that was a compliation of software fixes. It was named "Service Packs". We all imagined that Service Packs were awesome and would have made our machines awesome too....not long after updates started flowing in through the internet called "live updates". Everyone was happy once again ; though it didnt take me long to realize that some of the service packs were so huge, it was nearly as big as the OS installation CDs and the machines did not get any faster; but slower.

It was around then that we learnt a new word called "vulnerability" as viral and malicious attacks started pouring in though the internet. With everyone feeling the vulnerability of losing data, we all loaded our machines with antivirus and personal firewall softwares. Oh oh...this machine is slow again, need to buy more ram !

By the year 2007 I was in a contract project with Ms and I was appointed to be the project manager for customizing the OEM version of the Windows Vista for a hardware brand. As we were the hardware manufacturer, we had to make sure that our drivers were WHQL certified. I think it has then I realized there was no good or god. It was a real punishment and hell torture that went on forever, trying to get the optimum performance out of the drivers so that they are not just WHQL compatible, but also performed as supposed to ! From the user's point of view, the world hated the new start button and could not get rid of it!


The situation was pretty much the same on the server side. Though the companies' requirements were the same as they were 10 years back, OS kept on getting bigger and heavier which required more resources. With the withspread use of virtualization, the resource requirements went over 10000% probably, which increased the arrival speed of alternative virtual and embedded operating systems and hardware such as VMware and NAS. If it wasn't for virtualization, we would all be lost in mayhem probably. The arrival of faster networking speeds and fiber WAN technologies, we were free at last ! Even today when we compare the Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2016, only difference that can be seen are the additions compatibility packs for todays hardware requirements, rest is probably just vulnerability service packs (yes, yes, i know there are hundreds of utilities that are replicated from Unix to stabilize the systems and fulfil today's world's needs, but people of my era probaly understands what I am trying to say). The current server environment is so much aligned with UX that there's even a linux console command system embedded into the PowerShell.

I admit I had played around with Linux OS's back in 2001 when some school kids started asking weird questions such as "linux drivers" for the hardware. Eh? I thought it was going to be another temporary OS like the BeOS...

Then, it was the good old SuSE 2.4 that was actually bundled by a PC magazine that got my attention and I had evaluated it on a test machine. The look and feel as a bit like OS/2 Warp.

I had always disliked OS/2 Warp as it was made by IBM. Most probably I remembered how the installation constantly failed, even on IBM hardware ! For some reason I kept on researching for an alternative OS to the Windows as it was interesting. OSX was never my kind of thing for only one reason: the mouse had only one button ! But I admit BeOS was awesome. Pity other OS corporations thought as competition and took it down asap. Of course there were hardballs such as the AIX and the Sun OS (Solaris) which still rock. I have to admit, the main reason I loved Windows NT and its derivatives was that it killed Novell Netware. I know what is to try to configure a server on a tokenring network with IPX/SPX on NetWare 3.x!! 

Coming back to end-user operating systems, Windows 7 was the return of the flagship ! Most compatibility issues were fixed, less BSDs, configurable Start button (LOL!) as well a huge list of improvements which eased the life of the IT crowd greatly as it was easier to manage remotely and use everywhere possible. Plus, it had great improvements to the deployment services which still is quite complimentary.

Frankly I had forgotten about that thing called "Linux" for a longwhile. Long until I needed a low cost webhosting and a webserver to run php. Though I aimed at Windows based webhosts, I must admit linux based webhosting packages were much cheaper. Of course nothing goes perfectly. Eventually found Googling about fixes. Later on found myself doing myself a LAMP installatio (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). I had no idea that I was being pulled in deeper ! Though I was skeptic about the reliability of it as Linux is "opensource", especially securitywise. But in comparison with Ms, what could be worse ? I mean Ms guys in Redmond and elsewhere were supposively test the apps perhaps 1000 times, but things still go horribly wrong, whereas in opensource, tests are executed by self-motivated, groups of volunteers who test the sh*t out of the applications then publish them have less glitches. 

Whilst freelancing for a precious customer, (yeah, he will read this I know) the customer had requested a solution like "Websense" but relatively cheaper. Whilst researching for such software's availability a friend of mine advised me to test "Squid" or "Dansguardian". By the time I realized what platform they work on, it was too late ! The word was out and the customer demanded one of them as per a noob's referral. Guessing that I would be lost in code, I started searching for a solution that perhaps process would be easier. Then the linux kicked in. Someone had thought of creating an all inclusive software that includes web content filter, firewall, vpn, proxy, mail scanner (antivirus) as well as all inclusive monitoring and reporting tools that can work on the most pathetic machine configurations.

My test took approximately 2 weeks as I could not find anything wrong with it. You know, its quite annoying not being able to find a bug. When I realized that I was like Jamie in Mythbusters, I gave up the research and went into live installation. Seriously, it's annoying not to find anything wrong! As I do not work for that customer anymore, since I have serviced it last (in 2010) noone has touched the machine and it seems to be working like a charm. The package I'm talking about is called Endian Firewall.  


Frankly I dug so deep into Endian's core, I found myself involved. Though I am not a coder, we were a good team with the Italians and successfully published later versions with more ability. Heck, it still can work with 512Mb memory ! Of course I would recommend 4Gb minimum but that's my argument. The point I am trying to make is, Linux can work on low resources as well as legacy hardware like a charm. These days there are several packages like Endian (eg. IPcop, pfSense, OPNsense, etc.) that does the same sorts of tasks including even a full featured VPN server.

god, this has taken too long..I will continue in Part.2 soon.

My most ever challenging project

For some reason this topic came up as a question in quite a few interviews. Though I remember "my most challenging project" rather well, I tend to leave it out from the discussions, due to several reasons (and as it sounds too fantastic).

It was just after Y2K (2000) era, when humans realized that the world wasn't going to destroy itself due to the limitations of the date problem in early computers...Our journey with Karma had just ended and I was hunting hight and low, when a fellow friend, who was the CEO of a major IT Project company, in Turkey (I am publishing this article with his kind permission). I had signed up to work on project basis, ranging from networking hardware to complex IT tender projects

Soon enough a "Mission Impossible" project landed on my desk. Turkish Directorate of Motorways -(TCK was and still is one of the major gov't tenderers in Turkey) had recently opened a tender for data connectivity project for the Istanbul's two Bosphorus Bridges datacentre's.(As there are toll booths on both bridges, the data used be collected to huge tapes then manually shipped to the hq datacenter, which of course meant a huge vulnerability).

At first glance in 2018, the project may seem quite simple, but in early 2000 era of Turkey, where fiber connectivity was only a myth. Most of the city’s internetworking backbone was built on dialups and copper cables which were connected over tens of pops.. Due to the extremely low quality cabling, excessive pop usage, speeds over 2 Mbps (async ofc!) was only a dream. Whilst the Telecom was still trying to hurdle with the leased copper lines, though it was available in selected locations, ISDN was part of the dream; even then 4-5 128kbit lines didn’t solve anything.

So the TCK had a huge bottleneck as trying to link both bridges’ datacenters into one, generally meant for the offering companies to use at least 2x 2 Mbit copper Leased lines over approx. 20 pop locations. Of course this means huge hardware as the day had it’s limitations. Estimated value for the project was around $ 2m.

Of course, first alternative that came to my mind was to lay a 5 km of fiber cable under the Bosphorus Sea. Though it seemed reasonable, it still was risky as Istanbul is known for it’s unsolicited constructions, yes, even underwater and as the govt’s offices were so disconnected from each other, they usually wouldn’t even bother letting the other party know that they are going to dig in their turf, until they damage something :)) ; plus, Bosphorus Sea itself isn’t a soft cookie. It’s known for its strong currents, which generally meant extra shielded fiber wires needed to be used with a lot of slack. When we added the costs it came close to $ 2m, which didn’t really leave much profit for us.

Wireless? What wireless? We are talking about year 2002. How can you get a secure wireless singal over 5 km and achieve 2Mbit data connectivity ?

I didn’t know it was possible and most of you out there, still do not know that it is possible !  

With a long flight to Canada and vast R & D, I was convinced that it was possible; at least it was possible to send 155 Mbit at full duplex over 4 km and the company was promising that weather conditions such as rain, fog, snow didn’t matter. After the nda, we shared our project with the manufacturer who mainly served on military contract, which were actually fascinated with the idea. They were so fascinated, they even decided to support the project !

The challenges were that the direct line distance from A to B was about 5 kms (4.9) and the range of the device was limited to 3 km (2.8 guaranteed). This simply meant we needed a pop somewhere in the middle, perhaps on a cell tower or something even higher ! Also due to the technology of the products all the transreceivers had to see one and other over a certain degree range.

You still don’t know what I am talking about do you ? OK, no need for mystery. There’s a technology that exists since the late 90’s and is widely used where cable or radio signal connectivity isn’t possible :)) Yeah I know. I drooled too.

It’s called FSO – Free Space Optics. You can read all about what it is here. Similar technology is currently used today to transmit live HD video from the ISS to earth and enabling us to view it over YouTube live. Though our goal was to obtain the “AFAP” (as far as possible + as fast as possible) fSONA can obtain around 2.Gbit data rate over shorter distances today.

What FSO is:

Free Space Optics (FSO), also called Free Space Photonics (FSP) or Optical Wireless, refers to the transmission of modulated visible or infrared (IR) beams through the atmosphere to obtain broadband communications. FSO systems can function over distances of several kilometers. As long as there is a clear line of sight between the source and the destination, and enough transmitter power, communication is theoretically possible. Like fiber, FSO uses lasers to transmit data, but instead of enclosing the data stream in a glass fiber, it is transmitted through the air.

In A Nutshell - FSO transmits invisible, eye-safe light beams from one "telescope" to another using low power infrared lasers in the teraHertz spectrum, where capacity can reasonably be expected to reach 10 Gbps. The light beam carries whatever optical transmission signal (layer 2 or MAC) and protocol framing a manufacturer chooses to market, typically SONET/ATM and 10/100/1000 Ethernet. Plus, unlike other free space communication systems, FSO doesn’t require licensing.

I admit it took me a while to convince my friend who actually had put me up to this task as this technology was quite unknown then and it still is pretty much unknown in today’s IT world.

The most amusing part was that all equipment and the installation cost was merely $ 400k ! On the day of the tender, it was quite crowded, probably around 30 companies, some are tendering, the rest just curious enthusiasts.

As expected, first offer was from one of the leading IT project companies and their offer was to go use 2 x 2Mbps LL coppers over 20 pops and hops which guaranteed 1.5 Mbps over the low quality and totally untrustable backbone of Istanbul at a round figure of $ 1.7m. The reason for 2x LL was to achieve the redundancy as well as to load balance the traffic. (But, I can’t help still thinking, wtf is the point of having 2x copper wires going through the same route, same potholes etc. as they are bound together for damage !)

All of the offers in the specific tender were based on copper wire technologies and they just played around the prices on their active/passive hardware via the discounts on their GPLs. The price was as low as $ 1.4m, until we stepped in. Our starting offfer was around 20% lower than the closest competitor and a huge gap of 144 Mbps in full duplex !

I still remember that moment quite well as all the heads suddenly turned towards us like a herd of penguins!! There were quite few synical grins by the “pro’s of the trade” like it was some kind of a joke being told. After a 5 minute presentation, TCK had to decide that there’s no reason for a 2^nd round to tender. After selection of a substute, there was a huge rowl in the room people screaming in pain and distress ! 😂😂😄😄

As a rookie conqueror, I remember that moment quite well. With a simple proactive thinking and deep research I had managed to defeat the top 10 brands and the pro-IT companies which were left clueless ; which several of them went far enough to threaten us with legal proceedings due to their misery!

It was until next Monday that my victory celebrations lasted, when the company owner, who reminded me that I was the leader of the project which didn’t only consist of the sales part of the project, but also the supervision of the installation as I had agreed previously.

Our project proposal actually consisted of placing 2x beacons on the highest point of the two Bosphorus Bridges as well as installing 2x beacons on a antenna tower (approx. 45m high) at the center location as a bridge point. (and I always thought the firm had technicians to install the devices!!!).

First one to bail out was the manufacturer, then the company’s other techies 😀😀😄 as the distance to place the beacons were as high as 170m from sea level (approx. 70m from the carriage way to the peak of the carrier towers) on a tiny platform as wide as 3 x 4 m !! Though I tried to explain to my fellow technicians that all towers consisted of elevators to take them up, I guess I wasn’t very successful.

Frankly, as being one of the fortunate ones to experience the 1999 Izmit earthquake (7.6 magnitude) on a high tower apartment, I knew what it feels like to be in a high altitude when the ground is moving. As both of the Bosphorus Bridges are suspension bridges, they relatively move around even when you are on the carriage way. But being on a 12m² platform, 70m higher and in open-air…….. … --- …

Admittedly I was an adrenaline junkie until that day and I had never had experienced any anxiety whatsoever.

Fortunately it took approx. 4 months for the goods to be shipped from Canada to Turkey; enough time to get used to the idea of working at high altitude. Luckily I had managed to convince two professional mountaineers from Middle Eastern Technical University to assist me on my quest….

Until that day, I had thought I had completed my “most challenging project”….

It was sometime in 2002 a cloudy Spring day that was scheduled for the climb on the primary tower of Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge. It took us around an hour to carry the equipment to the leg of the bridge, where we loaded them onto the service elevator for the ascension 😇😇

When the climb began, I had alreay calculated the wind, the vibration but what I hadn’t taken into consideration was the flexibility ratio of the steel-reinforced concrete tower! Honestly, I have lived that moment in my nightmares for several years.

When we were in the final chamber, it was much smaller than I had expected. Though scene was spectacular, I realized there was no reason to wear the safety helmet as incase of a mishap, it wouldn’t really matter on which part of my body I would land on 😆😆😆😆 Although we were securely harnessed to the rails by double safety belts (to move around you need to detach/attach one belt at a time) due to the gushing winds as well as the flexing tower (I would have never guessed that concrete would flex so much) I could hardly standup (yeah also due to the height LOL!). For a second or so, for a reason that I could not comprehend I had wished to try base jumping from that point. I guess it would have been more fun.

Of course as we hadn’t unpacked the goods on the ground level, we had to cancel the event and head back to the ground level to re-prepare. On the 2^nd trial it was more comforting than the first mockup as the boxes were unpacked and everything was nearly ready to go. After 2 hours of drilling the reinforced concrete, we managed to fixate the beacon on the tower and install the network cable behind it all the way down the elevator shaft. I even had managed to get few shots on my 2MP Kodak camera !

No, the rest wasn’t child’s play. Though I didn’t have to climb to the top of the bridging tower in the center, I had to do the climbing once again on the old Bosphorus Bridge, which was about the same height, the concrete was crumbly and it rocked like a cradle. After a month of constant climbs, tests, I had managed to complete the project on time and hand it over to the offfice doodes who think themselves are real technicians 😈😈😈

I think it was around then I had got the idea to get married and settle down...sigh...I wish I was on top of that tower instead now (at least I had harnesses)….

Was it worth it ? 

Hell Yeah ! Let's go again !

References:

fSONA - http://www.fsona.com

Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-space_optical_communication