Geeky weekend projects

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Had some time on my hands this weekend, so decided to get a few small projects worked out.

  • IPv6 - Since TWC doesn't provide native support, got my tunnel setup on my router and using rtadvd to hand out addresses with wide-dhcpv6 providing various dhcp options. I'm just assigning addresses manually for any host I want in DNS for now, might end up attempting some ddns magic at some point if I care enough.
  • 802.11n - Enabling it has been problematic in the past with the default WRT160N firmware. I'd always end up with dropped packets or random ap reboots once I put it under a sustained heavy load. After attempting all the linksys recommended nudges, I replaced their firmware with TomatoUSB. Still had some dropped packets but after switching wifi from 40MHz to 20MHz I'm getting very smooth 80-90Mbps speeds through most of my house.
  • No Cable! - Dropped Uverse due to their bandwidth capping and moved over to TWC's DOCSIS for a whopping 30/5Mbps pipe. Decided not to keep cable tv and instead bought a Roku for the streaming stuff I can't get easily via XBMC or PS3. Nice thing is, since I'm a TWC subscriber, all the base unencrypted channels are still available so we don't have to put in an antenna for the normal networks and locals. Ended up picking up an HDHomerun box and setting up MythTV along with the XBMC MythBox plugin so we have proper timeshift/PVR as well. Gotta tweak Myth a bit still since playback of higher bitrate stuff is a bit jittery.
  • Media Hub - Had my old media box sitting unused so decided to put that in our living room primarily for syncing media to/from our various portable devices. Bonus - due to the wireless and Myth changes (and a nice 23" LCD/LED monitor), I was able to install XBMC on that box and have a perfectly suitable casual viewing spot. And yes, that does include full HD over wireless.

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