My excuse to buy a netbook...

drew2000

So, I have a toddler who loves to run around and play in every room in the house. She likes to change rooms every 15 minutes, or whenever I seem to get settled into my LAB work or my Boson practice tests.

Since my laptop was aging, I started looking at netbooks (cheap, lightweight).

So I devised a plan to get a netbook, connect to my wireless router, and then telnet into my lab by giving one of my lab routers an IP on my wireless router's subnet.

So I should be able to telnet into my lab from any room in the house!

Hopefully this will work! My lab is in the basement and she hates the basement.

I got an ASUS 1005HA, it was pretty inexpensive and got good reviews.

Drew

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Comments

typesh

drew2000 wrote: »

So I should be able to telnet into my lab from any room in the house!

Hopefully this will work! My lab is in the basement and she hates the basement.

I got an ASUS 1005HA, it was pretty inexpensive and got good reviews.

That is what I did as well.

I connected my 2950 switch to my Linksys Router and assigned VLAN1 an IP on the subnet. Now I can telnet into the switch using the wireless connection. I am going to connect all my devices this way as it will let me connect and practice no matter where I am at home.

If you are getting the 1005HA you wont have a Serial port on it. So you might want to check out a USB-to-DB9 connector for when you do need to connect to the console port.

billscott92787

Great idea. I will probably do this as well. In addition to that, the USB to DB9 connectors are pretty cheap. The only thing I ran into was that the one I bought came with a minidisk that I couldn't use. But, I was able to find the driver required online pretty easily. Man I love google

typesh

Your home router should allow you to port forward as well. This will give you access to your lab even when you are not at home. I find it really useful as it lets me practice on my switch even when I am not home.

dynamik

That's a good idea. I do something similar. Do you have an access server like a 2509 or 2511? If you can connect to that, you can get to your other devices even if you mess up a config, etc. Pretty handy.

typesh

dynamik wrote: »

Do you have an access server like a 2509 or 2511? If you can connect to that, you can get to your other devices even if you mess up a config, etc. Pretty handy.

Good idea.

I can't even tell you how many times I have done something to bring down the the interface that connects back to my Linksys (such as setting duplex or speed)... I end up getting kicked out until the interface comes back up

drew2000

dynamik wrote: »

That's a good idea. I do something similar. Do you have an access server like a 2509 or 2511? If you can connect to that, you can get to your other devices even if you mess up a config, etc. Pretty handy.

I don't, I have 3 2501's & a 1721, along with 3 2950's.

I probably won't do much to the 2501 that I am using to bridge to the lab, so I think my connectivity will be fine.

Thanks,
Andrew

kevin31

drew2000 wrote: »

So, I have a toddler who loves to run around and play in every room in the house. She likes to change rooms every 15 minutes, or whenever I seem to get settled into my LAB work or my Boson practice tests.

Since my laptop was aging, I started looking at netbooks (cheap, lightweight).

So I devised a plan to get a netbook, connect to my wireless router, and then telnet into my lab by giving one of my lab routers an IP on my wireless router's subnet.

So I should be able to telnet into my lab from any room in the house!

Hopefully this will work! My lab is in the basement and she hates the basement.

I got an ASUS 1005HA, it was pretty inexpensive and got good reviews.

Drew

Hi

Yeah did the same thing got a Samsung N110 about a month ago great for picking up and going anywhere! Got a 2509 which makes connecting to each device easier especially if you accidental shut down an interface your using lol!

Upgraded mine to 2gb ram to runs packet traces a treat! lol

drew2000

Sweet - I didn't even know I could upgrade my Asus to 2GB, but once I saw your post I looked it up and I can!

That will happen soon!

Drew

mikej412

I got the Acer Aspire One -- it's good for travel (airplane) when I don't want to lug the 15.4 or 17 inch laptops through security. But the small cramped keyboard makes it annoying to use for anything other than light web and email. The chopped display (1024x600) is also annoying sometimes while trying to use it for "real work."

ThinkGeek had the small USB secondary display available, but I decided to lug and use the netbook along with a laptop to get a 2nd screen. I will never admit to ever carrying 2 laptops and a netbook.

The netbook does sit next to me a lot -- I use it to show the "kibble cam" out in the barn. Friday night I was able to stop a possum twice from raiding the cat food out in the barn -- and the Raccoons haven't been back since meeting Mr. Paintball Gun last Spring.

I almost got one of the new 12" 1280x800 screen netbooks -- and still might -- but when I noticed I could get a decent laptop for that price I started shopping and then had to fight off the urge to get a 21" laptop

Oh -- on the Acer Aspire, windows updates "took out" the built in Ethernet port for a few months. The most recent updates finally "brought it back to life."

dynamik

mikej412 wrote: »

The netbook does sit next to me a lot -- I use it to show the "kibble cam" out in the barn. Friday night I was able to stop a possum twice from raiding the cat food out in the barn -- and the Raccoons haven't been back since meeting Mr. Paintball Gun last Spring.

Note to self: Do not take a sip of beer while reading Mike's posts...

apd123

I got a netbook so I could webex Cisco TAC on that and then work on my laptop. Nothing worse then spending time with a halfway clueless TAC engineer when you could be troubleshooting yourself.

kevin31

drew2000 wrote: »

Sweet - I didn't even know I could upgrade my Asus to 2GB, but once I saw your post I looked it up and I can!

That will happen soon!

Drew

Lol you can do alot with them! I do believe you can upgrade the hard drive in yours quiet easily to! Google it and see......

Forgot to mention mine also has a massive 9 hour batteery life so is great for plane/travelling!

mikej412

mikej412 wrote: »

I almost got one of the new 12" 1280x800 screen netbooks -- and still might -- but when I noticed I could get a decent laptop for that price

I got one of the 11.6" (1366x768 video) Acer Aspire One Netbooks with the "full size" keyboard -- for $250 at Costco I couldn't pass it up. It's got the 1Gb memory and 160Gig hard drive like my smaller netbook.

The "flat top keys" are a little bit "different" but I can still touch type on the flat keys without any problems (or additional typos).

drew2000

$250 is hard to beat!

Drew

veritas_libertas

mikej412 wrote: »

The netbook does sit next to me a lot -- I use it to show the "kibble cam" out in the barn. Friday night I was able to stop a possum twice from raiding the cat food out in the barn -- and the Raccoons haven't been back since meeting Mr. Paintball Gun last Spring.

and I thought you lived in Chicago...

mikej412

veritas_libertas wrote: »

and I thought you lived in Chicago...

I took the "NW 'Burbs" off my location since some people couldn't figure out it it meant NorthWest Suburbs -- though I'm actually out in the "super boonies."

I'm about a 1 hour (morning commute) drive away from the Chicago CCIE Mobile Lab location that's just inside the city, just north of the Kennedy Expressway near O'Hare.

drew2000 wrote: »

$250 is hard to beat!

I'm still trying to figure out how the 10" model costs $300 and the annoying even smaller one costs $370

tdean

typesh wrote: »

Your home router should allow you to port forward as well. This will give you access to your lab even when you are not at home. I find it really useful as it lets me practice on my switch even when I am not home.

im new to this stuff... just finished a week long class on ICND1. can you explain how i can do this? i have a d-link dir655.

i also have a 2511 access server. this would be great, right now im sitting in my basement consoled in.

APA

yup... doing the same over here as well...

However I've also boosted my netbook (Asus eeepc 1000HE) to 2GB of RAM, and have a mobile dynamips lab that I can take with me everywhere!!!

runs a 6 router lab quite easily! (7206VXRs & 3725 images).... I'm sure I could create a bigger lab with smaller router images..

Go on... you know you want to

dynamik

veritas_libertas wrote: »

and I thought you lived in Chicago...

Plus, I think zoning regulations require that his cat farm be outside the city...

veritas_libertas

dynamik wrote: »

Plus, I think zoning regulations require that his cat farm be outside the city...

Hmm, maybe not? Wacky Cats