A not so technical friend in India is shopping for a laptop. He often travels and stays months in Malaysia and so needs to be able to use the laptop there as well. He typically connects to the internet via wifi, but sometimes must use a telephone line (yes, with a modem). And of course there will be times when he has to plug into mains power to recharge the battery. So to be able to fully use his future laptop in both India and Malaysia, I need to know:
Are the wifi standards the same in both India and Malaysia? And will the same wifi card work in both countries?
Similarly, will the modem work in both countries?
And, too, is the mains power the same in India and Malaysia?
If there is an incompatibility in any of these, what is the simplest resolution?
I should probably get him an extended warranty also. Is there such a warranty which would allow him to have the laptop fixed in either country, depending upon where he happens to be?
Am I overlooking any considerations?
Thanks in advance for your sage experience.
On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 05:48:16AM -0400, ken wrote:
Off-topic content trimmed.
While I commend you on the use of the OT tag in the message's Subject I feel I have to ask... _why_ would you choose to post this here? I didn't see a single item that was even remotely on-topic for this list.
Can't you locate a more appropriate list for this query?
John
On 05/24/2011 06:17 AM John R. Dennison wrote:
On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 05:48:16AM -0400, ken wrote:
....
While I commend you on the use of the OT tag in the message's Subject...
Thank you.
I didn't see a single item that was even remotely on-topic for this list.
Which is why it was labeled off-topic (OT:). Difficult to understand?
Rather than getting your undies in a bunch, why not just hit the Delete button when you see a Subject line starting with "OT:"?
Alternatively, there are a variety of ways to filter mail by the contents of the Subject line (and other parameters) programmatically. Do this and you'd never have to see an "OT:" labeled message again in your entire life.
Judging from past experience, I guess we're now to enjoy three or four days of posts about OT posts (as opposed to perhaps four replies actually relevant to the original post).
Finally, I'd suggest a list convention whereby if someone wishes to discuss/dispute tangential issues of this kind, they should prepend the words "[Thread Cop]" to the Subject line.
On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 07:18:14AM -0400, ken wrote:
Which is why it was labeled off-topic (OT:). Difficult to understand?
Topical mailing list for topics regarding the CentOS enterprise Linux distribution. At first glance that seems pretty straight forward and simple to grasp. Second and third glances as well.
Perhaps you'd like to review the Guidelines for CentOS Mailing Lists page located at http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=16 - specifically the reference on that page that describes this mailing list.
Alternatively, there are a variety of ways to filter mail by the contents of the Subject line (and other parameters) programmatically. Do this and you'd never have to see an "OT:" labeled message again in your entire life.
Alternatively there are google, yahoo, baidu and many other search engines to locate a more appropriate list for your postings in the future.
Finally, I'd suggest a list convention whereby if someone wishes to discuss/dispute tangential issues of this kind, they should prepend the words "[Thread Cop]" to the Subject line.
Even easier... Stay on topic.
John
Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning John? :-)
Yeah the CentOS mailing list is for CentOS matters but nowhere in the list rules have I seen one that says we can't post off topic questions. Asking if the power in another country is compatible with yours (or a friend's) laptop is off-topic but still within the bounds of an acceptable tech question for a *technical* mailing list.
On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 03:26:54PM -0700, aurfalien@gmail.com wrote:
On May 24, 2011, at 5:58 AM, Drew wrote:
Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning John? :-)
I think he urinated in his own cornflakes.
This is so very appropriate in a distro mailing list.
And it's refreshing to see that I am not the only one that thinks that this entire thread is misplaced being here; seems the guidelines for the CentOS lists have been updated today. You all may care to take a look.
John -- Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids.
-- John Steinbeck (1902-1968), novelist, Nobel laureate, East of Eden, 1952
On May 24, 2011, at 3:32 PM, John R. Dennison wrote:
On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 03:26:54PM -0700, aurfalien@gmail.com wrote:
On May 24, 2011, at 5:58 AM, Drew wrote:
Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning John? :-)
I think he urinated in his own cornflakes.
This is so very appropriate in a distro mailing list.
Sorry John, I will review the Centos guidelines tonight for sure as I want to be a good person.
However you must be a rich man from crapping all those diamonds every morning.
A line borrowed from a great film, Stripes;
"Lighten up Francis"
- aurf
On 05/24/2011 11:40 PM, aurfalien@gmail.com wrote:
This is so very appropriate in a distro mailing list.
Sorry John, I will review the Centos guidelines tonight for sure as I want to be a good person.
can we cut this out please ?
- KB
On 05/24/2011 10:48 AM, ken wrote:
A not so technical friend in India is shopping for a laptop.
try the iLUG mailing lists, there are some very clued up people there who would be able to give you better feedback than this list. I recommend the ilugc ( chennai ) list and the ilugd ( delhi ) lists.
- KB
On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 05:48:16AM -0400, ken wrote:
A not so technical friend in India is shopping for a laptop. He often travels and stays months in Malaysia and so needs to be able to use the laptop there as well. He typically connects to the internet via wifi, but sometimes must use a telephone line (yes, with a modem). And of course there will be times when he has to plug into mains power to recharge the battery. So to be able to fully use his future laptop in both India and Malaysia, I need to know:
Just to be radical and actually offer some response to the OP:
Are the wifi standards the same in both India and Malaysia? And will the same wifi card work in both countries?
Although WIFI standards have progressed through a number of phases over recent years, I think most WIFI cards will handle most standards. Look for a card that handled a bunch of them. You should also be able to do a few searches and find out what standards are the latest, etc. I do not think WIFI standards are country specific, although some countries might be a little more up-to-date than others.
Similarly, will the modem work in both countries?
Telephone modems are more basic and as long as the dial-up handshake signals are reasonably modern, there should be no problem - other than the slow speed and higher tendancy to drop out. If you want to do anything like web searching over the modem you need to be able to do IP over PPP. But, that is pretty standard everywhere.
And, too, is the mains power the same in India and Malaysia?
Most chargers/power supplies on laptops nowdays can handle any power condition that you might encounter around the world - other than no power at all. Most will handle 110-240 volts and 50-60 Hz. Just make sure you get a charger that does that and there is no problem. You may need to have a couple of adapters for the plugs to make them match. Most travel stores in any of the countries I have been in sell those adapters for not too much.
If there is an incompatibility in any of these, what is the simplest resolution?
Google is your friend. Do some searches.
Just remember that many people - millions - travel between countries with their laptop computers nowdays and have no serious compatibility problems. India is a very computer literate country - at least in the urban areas. Malaysia, at least in Kuala Lumpur is quite up-to-date as well. I don't know about outlying areas.
I should probably get him an extended warranty also. Is there such a warranty which would allow him to have the laptop fixed in either country, depending upon where he happens to be?
That may well exist, but probably would be quite expensive relative to just buying a new machine. Fixing a laptop anywhere may also take a long time. He might be switching countries before he got it back.
Am I overlooking any considerations?
Backups. Make sure he does backups of his useful data to some reliable media. Don't worry about the OS, or any standard files from the company or other standard source. Those can be reinstalled.
Keep the working files in a separate directory tree and back that directory tree up frequently, maybe even daily if the data is important. Depending on quantity of data, burn a CD, use a USB stick or an external USB hard drive. If you use a stick or an external drive, I would suggest at least a 3 unit rotation - maybe even a few more so your new backup doesn't overwrite a too recent one. Note that backups are not infallible and it is good to have several in case something is wrong with a couple of them.
Run a good OS on it such as FreeBSD or CentOS, at least dual-booted with your MS-xxx. Even if he still mostly uses MS-xxx, one of those can help you out of situations.
(By 'at least dual-booted with MS-xxx' I mean even if you still keep MS on the machine and don't completely turn it over to FreeBSD or CentOS. maybe use 1/3 or 1/2 of the disk for FreeBSD or CentOS and the rest for MS, or whatever.)
Thanks in advance for your sage experience.
Sage is really good in roasted poultry such as turkey or chicken.
////jerry
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
--- On Tue, 5/24/11, ken gebser@mousecar.com wrote:
From: ken gebser@mousecar.com Subject: [CentOS] OT: wifi, phone, power in India and Malaysia To: "CentOS Mailing List" centos@centos.org Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 5:48 AM A not so technical friend in India is shopping for a laptop. He often travels and stays months in Malaysia and so needs to be able to use the laptop there as well. He typically connects to the internet via wifi, but sometimes must use a telephone line (yes, with a modem). And of course there will be times when he has to plug into mains power to recharge the battery. So to be able to fully use his future laptop in both India and Malaysia, I need to know:
Are the wifi standards the same in both India and Malaysia? And will the same wifi card work in both countries?
Wifi is wifi, never heard of a wifi A or B.
Similarly, will the modem work in both countries?
see above...
And, too, is the mains power the same in India and Malaysia?
All laptops I have thus far encountered, have power adapters that take in anywhere from 100-250V. You should be covered worldwide if your meets those requirements. This friend might have used a phone-charger or hair-dryer, what voltage were those?
If there is an incompatibility in any of these, what is the simplest resolution?
I should probably get him an extended warranty also. Is there such a warranty which would allow him to have the laptop fixed in either country, depending upon where he happens to be?
Extended warranties :-) for a laptop purchased in the U.S.? Try Toshiba or Samsung, but again, only your friend can tell you whether he has ever seen a Toshiba shop or Samsung shop. If he goes to rural areas, chances are none of those would be present anyways.
Am I overlooking any considerations?
YES. A big one for foreign travel people is a GSM modem, whereby one would use a SIM card from their phone for internet access. I really doubt that part of the world would have any dial-up access as you claim. They never caught up to it, and landline are rarely available. However, GSM 3G access is abundant, even in the remotest of areas.....
Thanks in advance for your sage experience.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On 05/24/2011 03:29 PM, Richard Mollel wrote:
Similarly, will the modem work in both countries?
see above...
i dont think thats true. There are plenty of places I've travelled to where the modem in my laptop ( this was 2002 - 2004 ) didnt work. Eg. the modem that worked fine in the UK didnt work in the US, didnt detect the dialtone, didnt work in australia - the DTMF tones were slightly different and pulse dialing didnt work etc.
- KB
On 05/24/2011 10:38 AM Karanbir Singh wrote:
On 05/24/2011 03:29 PM, Richard Mollel wrote:
Similarly, will the modem work in both countries?
see above...
i dont think thats true. There are plenty of places I've travelled to where the modem in my laptop ( this was 2002 - 2004 ) didnt work. Eg. the modem that worked fine in the UK didnt work in the US, didnt detect the dialtone, didnt work in australia - the DTMF tones were slightly different and pulse dialing didnt work etc.
- KB
Yes, exactly. If we think about it just a little bit, a lot of stars have to line up just so for for two countries-- even countries speaking approximately the same language-- to adopt exactly the same technology.
As with phones, this may also be the case for wireless.
On 05/24/2011 03:29 PM, Richard Mollel wrote:
Am I overlooking any considerations?
YES. A big one for foreign travel people is a GSM modem, whereby one would use a SIM card from their phone for internet access. I really doubt that part of the world would have any dial-up access as you claim. They never caught up to it, and landline are rarely available. However, GSM 3G access is abundant, even in the remotest of areas.....
And also, the 3g auction went through in India a few months back. I would be very surprised if you had 3g anywhere at the moment
--- On Tue, 5/24/11, Karanbir Singh mail-lists@karan.org wrote:
From: Karanbir Singh mail-lists@karan.org Subject: Re: [CentOS] OT: wifi, phone, power in India and Malaysia To: "CentOS mailing list" centos@centos.org Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 10:39 AM On 05/24/2011 03:29 PM, Richard Mollel wrote:
Am I overlooking any considerations?
YES. A big one for foreign travel people is a GSM
modem, whereby one would use a SIM card from their phone for internet access. I really doubt that part of the world would have any dial-up access as you claim. They never caught up to it, and landline are rarely available. However, GSM 3G access is abundant, even in the remotest of areas.....
And also, the 3g auction went through in India a few months back. I would be very surprised if you had 3g anywhere at the moment
I thought Africa (East to be specific) was supposedly backwards technologically, I do get 3G there...and Indian was supposed to be forefront as far as tech is concerned. Anyways, I would imagine GSM would be available in the remotest of areas in India as it is now in most parts of E.Africa, No? Intention was to highlight the need for a GSM modem, not actual availability of it. Please respond to the original poster if you have further info on availability.
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On 05/24/2011 07:07 PM, Richard Mollel wrote:
And also, the 3g auction went through in India a few months back. I would be very surprised if you had 3g anywhere at the moment
I thought Africa (East to be specific) was supposedly backwards technologically, I do get 3G there...and Indian was supposed to be forefront as far as tech is concerned. Anyways, I would imagine GSM would be available in the remotest of areas in India as it is now in most parts of E.Africa, No? Intention was to highlight the need for a GSM modem, not actual availability of it. Please respond to the original poster if you have further info on availability.
3G is very different to just bog-standard gsm, the data carrier on gsm gen 1 is just under 9600bps ( try loading the google homepage on that, with the 'instant' feature on ). gprs and gen2 gets a bit better - 2.5 ( or EDGE ) is somewhat available in some parts of the world, 3G or 3.5G in much smaller numbers. Even here in the UK 3G and 3.5G coverage leaves much to be desired once you step out of the large cities.
- KB
On 05/24/11 7:29 AM, Richard Mollel wrote:
Wifi is wifi, never heard of a wifi A or B.
actually, there's 802.11 (original, rarely used anymore), 802.11a, .11b. .11g. and .11n, and .11n comes in multiple flavors. Most everything these days is .11b/g or b/g/n compatible.
In various countries, there are different allotments of how many 2.4Ghz 'channels' are available for unlicensed use like wifi. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Channels_and_international_compatib... for a summary of this specific issue.
my general experience regarding all this is the business model laptops from the major makers (for instance, the Latitudes from Dell) tend to come with wifi (and modems etc) that support multinational standards that can be reconfigured for different locales. consumer grade stuff is less likely to have this ability enabled.
--- On Tue, 5/24/11, John R Pierce pierce@hogranch.com wrote:
From: John R Pierce pierce@hogranch.com Subject: Re: [CentOS] OT: wifi, phone, power in India and Malaysia To: centos@centos.org Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 12:24 PM On 05/24/11 7:29 AM, Richard Mollel wrote:
Wifi is wifi, never heard of a wifi A or B.
actually, there's 802.11 (original, rarely used anymore), 802.11a, .11b. .11g. and .11n, and .11n comes in multiple flavors. Most everything these days is .11b/g or b/g/n compatible.
In various countries, there are different allotments of how many 2.4Ghz 'channels' are available for unlicensed use like wifi. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11#Channels_and_international_compatib...
for a summary of this specific issue.
my general experience regarding all this is the business model laptops from the major makers (for instance, the Latitudes from Dell) tend to come with wifi (and modems etc) that support multinational standards that can be reconfigured for different locales. consumer grade stuff is less likely to have this ability enabled.
What i meant to say is that I have not heard of wifi thats strictly sort of regional. Most routers support all the major bands, and many laptops (as you pointed out) support those bands (abgn,..) Alternatively, a GSM router is all he needs, and his wifi enabled laptop would be happy either way, even if running centos.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OT93M6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=48...
-- john r pierce N 37, W 123 santa cruz ca mid-left coast
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
John R Pierce wrote:
On 05/24/11 7:29 AM, Richard Mollel wrote:
Wifi is wifi, never heard of a wifi A or B.
actually, there's 802.11 (original, rarely used anymore), 802.11a, .11b. .11g. and .11n, and .11n comes in multiple flavors. Most everything these days is .11b/g or b/g/n compatible.
Only regional problem could be using 11n radios that are locked of certain region. Any 11a/b/g radio will just work, there is no difference.
You might need to change country code if for example you have US code set and AP is on 12 and 13th channel (ETSI). But 11a/b/g hardware is the same.
Ljubomir
-
aurfalien＠gmail.com -
Drew -
Jerry McAllister -
John R Pierce -
John R. Dennison -
Karanbir Singh -
ken -
Ljubomir Ljubojevic -
Richard Mollel