Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with switch

What is the absolute simplest, least expensive way to fix my sister-in-law's home network?

ook — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:57:17 -0800

What is the absolute simplest, least expensive way to fix my sister-in-law's home network? Here's what we have so far:

* a technophobic relative who lives hours away from me, for whom I would like to do a minimum of telephonic tech support
* a cable internet box, which has exactly one ethernet jack
* an iMac with one ethernet jack and no ability to connect to a WiFi network[1]
* a mac laptop for which they would like wireless access
* an Airport Express, which I suggested they buy before I discovered that the iMac cannot connect to WiFi.

[1] I spent a good chunk of my Thanksgiving weekend trying unsuccessfully to get WiFi to work on that iMac; the laptop connects fine, but I finally concluded that either there's something wrong with the iMac's airport card or that an assistive-learning device she has installed for her son is interfering with the machine's ability to connect to a normal WiFi network or there's some other software issue which I'm just too dumb to figure out; in any case let's just assume that this machine will need to have a wired connection.

Obviously I could suggest they buy an Airport Extreme instead, and then they could use the Express to extend the network range or as a, I dunno, doorstop. But that's kind of pricey, and I already feel a bit sheepish for suggesting they buy the Express in the first place.

Will one of those cheapo $10 ethernet hubs be sufficient? (Cable box to hub, from there wired connections to the iMac and to the airport express, which the laptop can connect to). Or do I need a switch, or a router, or -- basically I know enough about networking to know that there is a difference between these devices, but not enough to know what it is or why you would need one instead of another in a given situation. And I don't really care, I'd just like to put this behind me with a minimum of fuss. And I would especially like to avoid buying anything that will need my sister-in-law to do any software configuration, because I'll end up trying to do it over the phone, which... yeah. Let's not.

So: suggestions?

Show me your naming convention

togdon — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:28:46 -0800

After approximately 10 years of using the same equipment naming convention at work we're thinking about changing, I'm curious what other people have used. Our current convention was decided with much frustration by committee about 10 years ago. Roughly we use this for the FQDN:

[network interface].[device class].[pop].[organization].[domain]

A better example might be:

hme0.sun457.pdx1.acme.domain.tld

This gets used as the reverse pointer for the primary IP on the box, and as a business rule we've never re-used names (so once sun457 is assigned to a piece of equipment it never gets another name and any replacement will have a new name). In addition to that name we create a minimum of two others (as CNAMEs to the A record), a nodename that's essentially the shortened version of the FQDN (eg. sun457.domain.tld) and a friendly name that better describes the function of the piece of equipment (eg. staff.domain.tld).

At the time the convention was put in place we had three geographically separated data centers, no good systems for tracking inventory, and a needed to provide as much information as possible via the reverse pointer on the IP alone.

Fast forward a few months from when the convention was put in place and we'd managed to get a database with a nice web front end in place to track all of the pieces that were part of the name along with a whole lot more. Fast forward a few more years and we managed to get a good tracking system in place for inventory. Fast forward to today and we've got in the neighborhood of 1000 pieces of equipment (servers, routers, switches, load balancers, virtual machines, desktops, etc). We're working to consolidate our various ad-hoc tools into a unified portal, and we're shifting to a new monitoring system for the third time since the convention was put in place.

I'm one of the only folks that remembers the initial arguments over the naming convention, most new people think it's bloated and gives away too much information in the hostname. I tend to agree. The current system works fine for our purposes, and probably always will, it just seems like we could do better and that now is the best time to make a change.

Simply cutting the name down to the nodename (eg. sun457.domain.tld) seems like the easiest thing, but there are a variety of arguments about keeping other pieces. On top of that, after 10 years it seems like if we're going to make a change we might as well either make a drastic one or no change at all.

So, with the caveat that these are going in DNS (so they need to conform to the RFCs) and that cutesy names are out (there aren't enough Simpsons characters to cover the number of devices we have and remembering that itchy and scratchy are DNS servers and that moe, lenny, and carl are border routers simply isn't an option), what have you used?

The sky is the limit, so outside of the DNS/cutesy limits don't try to fit with any of the above.

I'd like to give my year notice, please.

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:20:35 -0800

My employer is impressed enough with my work that they want to promote me into a position which would ordinarily make for a great career move. I, however, am planning on leaving in a little over a year to earn a degree in a completely different field, and thus have no interest in the job (for reasons explained after the jump.) How do I diplomatically tell them no without jeopardizing my current position, and how much, if any, of my future plans do I mention to them? I work in the IS department for a large company and, at the moment, am lucky enough to do decent work and still leave at 5:00 PM most nights (with a small amount of occasional night and weekend work that everyone is expected to do.) Later this week, I'll be having a meeting with my boss where she's essentially going to make a sales pitch for another job which under normal circumstances, would be ideal for someone in my position (far more visibility among the higher-ups, greater responsibility, increased salary, etc...)

The problem is that I don't want the job, and (other than the truth, of course) I can't think of a legitimate reason to explain why. In a little over a year I hope to be in school full time pursuing a nursing degree. At the moment, I'm taking all the prerequisite courses needed to even apply to these programs, and much of my nights and weekends are spent in class and/or studying. I have been doing this for the past year or so (taking one or two classes a semester) and have thus far done a pretty good job of managing both school and work. However, with this new job comes a lot more responsibility as well a good deal more after hours work. I wouldn't be able to accept the position and not have either school or work suffer.

I already know I'm not going to accept the position. I have no desire stay in the IT field after ten years in it (two and a half at this job), and the idea of being a nurse really appeals to me on many different levels. I'm just not sure how I should tell my boss no. Assuming, for the moment, that I wasn't planning on going into nursing, and that I was an upwardly mobile worker bee with high ambition and a desire for a larger salary, there should be no reason for me not take this job (aside from the increased hours, which I can assure you, are seen as necessary growing pains for future rewards down the road. They aren't really, but that's how it'll be portrayed.) I'd thought about telling her that I really like the work I'm doing now, and that maintaining a work/life balance is important to me, but then I keep thinking if I were a manager, is that what I'd really want to hear? Does a manager/director really want an employee on their team who, while doing good work, is content to stay exactly where he is as long as things remain status quo, especially if that person could be of greater value to the company elsewhere?

So, I guess my question is, how do I tell my boss no without jeopardizing the position I have now? Do I *gasp* actually tell them about my future plans? On the surface, that would seem (to me at least) to be a pretty stupid thing to do. It's essentially telling them that I have no real interest in my job or the company, and that I'm using them for a paycheck. On the other hand, my position will be a tough one to fill (similar positions have taken them months to fill, even in this economy) and, although I don't owe it to them, I'm sure they'd appreciate the extra notice. Or, do I simply say, "I'm flattered that you're considering me for this position, but for personal reasons I really have to decline" and just leave it at that, essentially making them guess?

What say you, hivemind? If you were a manager, what response would be least likely to raise your suspicions and allow me to stay where I currently am?

Thanks in advance.

Switching BACK from a Mac to a PC: I know, I'm not cool. Help me anyway?

scody — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:38:42 -0800

About 5 years ago, I switched from PC to Mac. Now I'm most likely switching back. I have a couple of specific questions (about iTunes and viruses) and a few general questions. I am hoping everyone will play nice in keeping this this from devolving into a grand Mac vs. PC debate. I have nothing against Macs or Mac users, and if I didn't use a PC at work every day I am guessing I would have had an easier time adapting to my Mac over the years. (a/k/a: It's not you, it's me.)

My iBook is dead, dead, dead (I've checked into replacing the hard drive, and it's more time and money than it's worth). I had originally thought I'd just get a new Mac Mini, but on further reflection I realized that the only thing I like better about Macs, besides their admittedly superior aesthetics, is the fact that I don't have to worry about viruses. Nothing else about the system ever felt fully intuitive for me (again, no doubt because I'm on a PC all day).

My primary daily needs are email, web, music, and word processing. My gaming, such as it is, consists of playing Farmville on Facebook. I don't watch movies or TV shows on the computer, though if I had a system that could support it, I probably would. I don't do any graphic design, video editing, or suchlike.

With that in mind...

1. If I get a PC, does it matter that all of my music (which is all on my external hard drive, not on my dead iBook) is in iTunes for Mac? In other words, is there some big conversion from iTunes for Mac --> iTunes for PC that I'll have to go through?

2. I am assuming that Norton still sucks for virus/malware/etc. protection (at least it did back when I had my PC). If so, what are the kids using these days to keep the nasty stuff at bay?

3. A netbook (e.g., Acer or Dell) seems perfectly sufficient for my needs in terms of capacity. CAVEAT: I anticipate disliking the small screen and keyboard of a netbook when I'm not on the go (which is about 95% of the time), so intend to plug in my nice shiny flatscreen monitor and a regular keyboard/mouse to use most of the time instead. With that in mind, are there any particularly good reasons I should consider one of the ultra-small desktop PCs instead? Or does a netbook still make the most sense?

4. Entire investment must be under $500.

5. Anything else I am missing/overlooking? (Please note that in terms of tech savvy, it may help to think of me as your sort-of-cool aunt: clever enough to use Firefox instead of IE, but not clever enough to have figured out how to use Greasemonkey.)

Thanks!

Two bulbs, one switch

furtive — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:27:44 -0800

Can I wire two light switches into one switch? I have two light switches in one plate. The left one lights the bathroom above the mirror, the right one lights above the toilet/shower. We'd like to make this one single switch since we find there is no need to have separate switches.

Is it as simple as putting both sets of wires into one switch? What should I be checking first? They are on the same fuse. Can you buy a plate that's double wide but only accommodates one switch?

My level of skill: I once cooked a hot dog using two nails attached to an old electrical plug, and managed to short the grade four classroom at the same time.

Light switch making popping noise.

feathermeat — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:33:45 -0800

Calling all MeFi electricians: why does my light switch make a popping noise, and will it kill me? I have a light switch in my kitchen that intermittently makes a small popping noise when turned on or off. Usually it'll happen a few times in a row, and then not happen again for several weeks. I have not experienced any flickering/dimming of the light in questions and I have not seen any sparks. There have been a few times when it's happened and I have smelled a little bit of ozone (at least I think it's ozone). I have tried to google this, and it seems like the answers range from "this is going to start a fire, call an electrician immediately" to "the switch is going to stop working eventually, but it's not a safety hazard, so replace it whenever." I don't mind replacing the switch if that is what's needed, but money is tight enough so that I really, REALLY don't want to call an electrician if this is not a big deal.

Seeking simple off/on switch for phone line

4midori — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:14:34 -0800

I need a simple off/on switch for my phone line. I have a passable cordless phone. I used to have a really nice one, but it broke. Disposable commodities!

Anyway, I turn the phone off when I go to bed. My current phone has no way to turn off the ringer short of unplugging the phone line from it.

I'd like an simple off/on switch for my phone line, preferably one with an indicator light which very clearly indicates whether it's on or off. I've Googled it buy found nothing.

I'm not handy with a soldering iron, so I'd rather not build something.

Suggestions?

Can't believe I'm wasting my 1 weekly question on this, but...

newfers — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:53:19 -0800

Where can I buy THIS offensive Jesus light switch? I love this silly item, and my wife does as well (growing up Catholic warped us in far too many ways), so where can I possibly find one (or 10!) for sale?

Software override for iPhone stuck on SILENT?

kairab — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:01:33 -0800

My iPhone silent switch is stuck on SILENT (silly idiot me) - is there a software override? HELLLPPP! As I very rarely need my phone to be silent and keep missing important calls when the switch flips over (pretty poor design for Apple) I had the smart idea to glue it in the RING position with superglue. Worked a treat except - you guessed it - I got the position wrong. OUCHHH! Is there a way in software to override this? My phone is brand new, so don't dare "lose" it for a while yet. I really need help here - is it a lost cause?

Email Switcheroo

drjimmy11 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:57:25 -0800

What do I need to be aware of when switching a client from ISp-provided email to Google-provided email? I am in the process of re-doing a website for a client. They also want to change hosts, so I'm building the site on the new host, and when the time comes I'll just switch the domain over.

Rather than get email through the new host, we decided to go with Google Apps Standard Edition (http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html).

I'm thinking it will go like this:
1) I'll ask everyone who has an account to make sure they have downloaded all messages onto their hard drives.
2) I'll set up the account on Google and give it access to the domain. I'll re-create all the user accounts, and tell them how to set up their clients to access their new email.

My questions are:
1) Will there be any "outage" or possibility of missed messages, during the time I will be making the switch? The old ISP account will still be active, but I assume once I give Google access to the domain, no mail will arrive to clients set up to download messages from the ISP? Is there any way to forward or anything?

2) Are any of my assumptions bad, or are there any other pitfalls I should watch out for in this process?

thanks!

VGA Splitter or KVM for my Xbox 360 on my monitor AND TV?

xdeliriumx — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:02:52 -0800

Xbox360Filter: I have an Xbox 360 with a VGA output which I use on my Samsung computer monitor. I want to be able to have it hooked up to my TV (which has a VGA input as well) at the same time. In order to connect my VGA to both my monitor and my TV do I need a VGA switcher? Can I use a KVM splitter to do this? AND if I get either of these can I have my xbox displaying on BOTH at the same time as well as the option to switch back and forth? I would ultimately like to be able to play on either individually or both at the same time.

With that said, can anyone direct me to the cheapest solution for what I need? I like newegg.com but didn't know what I should be getting exactly.

Foreign Firefox

ryanbryan — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:23:05 -0800

Whenever I try to type ä's, ö's and å's (or any character that requires Alt + x), my tabs in Firefox go crazy, and no character results. I presume this is because Alt + x is a preprogrammed shortcut in Firefox to switch tabs. Any idea how I can turn this off?

Anyone have a component video switch (with audio) they can recommend?

penciltopper — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:18:58 -0800

Lots of video devices with component video outputs, but TV only has one component input. Bought an automatic component video switch from a local big-box store, turned out to be junk. Anyone have recommendations for a quality unit? So it's not in the budget to replace the TV, but I've got 4 Composite devices and only one input for them on the TV. Getting behind the TV and swapping cables to use the DVD player got old really fast.

This is component video (Red, Green, Blue), NOT Composite (Yellow) video.

There is no mix of alternate inputs (using s-video, composite, etc.) or sending one signal through anothe component (run the XBOX through the DVR, etc.) that works. I've tried all the various wiring combinations, and there's no way to make it work without some kind of consolidating unit.

For simplicity's sake, I'd also like a unit that can handle the audio switching for those devices as well.

I found what I thought was exactly what I was looking for with this:
Philips PH61150. It takes Component and Audio inputs from 4 devices, and combines them into a single output to connect to the TV.

It could automatically switch from one device to the other (turn off the XBOX and turn on the DVD player, the switch would handle that), but a pushbutton switch or one with a remote would work too. Problem with the unit I had was that the signal would intermittently drop, especially at times when there was a lot of signal happening (heavy fast visuals in a movie, or intense combat in a game). Getting a few seconds of blank screen in the middle of fighting off a dozen zombies was not what I wanted.

Something like what I'm looking for must exist, but I don't have any friends who get the high-end audio/videophile catalogs. And I'm not fingding a lot of useful information by just googling "component video switch".

Anyone have a unit they like?

How to wire up light switch?

matholio — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 15:58:07 -0800

How do I wire up this infra-red mains light switch. I bought an infrared PIR light switch via ebay., but all the instructions are in chinese.

The only information I can reasonably determineis it's 180-250v 50-60hz, which is good, I'm in Australia.

There are three wires, red, yellow and white.

Can anyone tell me how to install it?

It's this product

Apple Keyboard + KVM switch

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:57:10 -0800

Mating an Apple Keyboard to the right KVM switch? I have tried a couple Belkin and IOGear KVM switches which do not seem to work well with the aluminum-flavored Apple Keyboard. Can someone recommend a KVM which works, without reservation?

(Please do not answer with links to Google or Apple Discussion Boards. Thanks.)

What is my strange home network setup missing?

penduluum — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:27:05 -0800

Home networking question: What piece of hardware do I need to share a ... actually I don't know how to phrase it correctly so I've included links to 2 simple schematic drawings. I need help connecting a file server and an Xbox 360 to my home network. Basically what I want is this. What should that mystery box be? Would a switch work? A network hub? Another router? The file server and the 360 don't exist yet, but I've checked the powerline network connection and it works. Wireless can be wonky in my house, and I don't want to connect the 360 wirelessly anyway. The router and cable modem (oh, there's an assumed cable modem between router and internet connection; sorry) can't be moved. Bizarre, I know, but true. Would this work? Are there other problems I haven't foreseen? Would server performance be hurt? I eventually want to set this server up to stream media, serve to me through a VPN connection when I'm elsewhere, etc.

If that setup wouldn't work, or if there's no such piece of hardware as I would need for the mystery box, would this setup work? Would the two powerline adapters interfere with each other?

How should I terminate this cable?

hxc — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:31:31 -0800

In need of some networking advice, how to terminate a cable on the switch side. As always more information after the jump. I am in charge of networking a switch to ten drops. I am currently deployed and the only thing I could get for the rooms is a dual port surface mounted boxes. I will only be using one port per room. The instructions say to terminate at the box in this fashion

T568B
White/Orange
Orange
White/Blue
Blue
White/Green
Green
White/Brown
Brown

I need to figure out how I will terminate the switch end of the cable. Straight Through, Crossover, or what?

TV or no TV...that is the question.

NoraCharles — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:37:36 -0800

Will my old black and white battery operated television be defunct after the analog to digital switch? I have an old black and white portable television that runs on 8 D cell batteries. It's ancient, but still pulls in a pretty good signal and has come to my rescue several times when I have been without power -- once for several days at a time. I only use it when the power is out.

With the new analog to digital television switch coming in February of 2009, I've tried to look for converters, but they are all requiring another power source, which kind of voids the whole battery operation feature.

Is there any kind of analog to digital converter out there that runs on batteries as well? Or is there some kind of battery operated power source I can use?
Any suggestions Hivemind?

Picture a Venn diagram with 3 circles: LaTeX, Emacs, Mac. I'd like to live in the intersection.

gleuschk — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 11:08:47 -0800

Mac users who write LaTeX documents in Emacs (with or without AucTeX), please tell me about your workflow. My wife and I both recently switched (back) to Macs from Windows machines. We're mathematicians, and we both live -- or used to live -- pretty much completely inside an Emacs buffer, writing LaTeX. We've had a terrible time approximating our Windows setups on the new Macs. What Emacs version do you people use? (I've tried Aquamacs and Carbon Emacs.) What PDF previewer? (Skim, Preview, something else?) Most importantly: how is everything tied together, in your .emacs or elsewhere?

Finally, please help me understand what the point of AucTeX is. Both the emacs versions I've tried come with it pre-installed. So far, all I can see is that it adds unnecesary keystrokes when I want to typeset something, and destroys all my useful muscle-memory. Do you use it? Does it make your life better/easier?

What Mac should I buy if I want to play games on it for the next 3 years?

so_necessary — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:50:57 -0800

It's time to get a new computer. I'd like some kind of Mac. What's the smart thing to buy? I'm switching from a PC that's just got to the point where it can't meet run new games. My first choice would be to get an iMac, but really I want something that will be able to run (most) new games for the next three years or so. I'm not a total framerate obsessive - if it can meet minimum spec I'm happy enough.

So what I'm asking is: is Boot Camp up to snuff for running games alright? Will an iMac handle it? Friends reckon I should get opt for a Mac Pro instead, especially with it being upgradeable and components being replaceable. Is it alright to downgrade the Mac Pro to just one quad-core processor rather than the standard eight (eight!) cores? Because that saves 320 quid so it's only a bit more than the iMac then... (sans screen, though.) And I guess there's no real reason to buy the display from Apple, right, or even the RAM? Or will third-party RAM cause my Mac to burst into flames? Is it worth getting the NVIDIA Geforce 8800 for the Mac Pro rather than the default ATI Radeon one? Finally, according to Macrumors I shouldn't buy any of 'em because an update might come out ANY SECOND... but how likely is that, really?

Basically, the rational and thrifty part of my brain is annoyed that the marketing-susceptible part has fallen for the Apple spell - help me appease the former by getting the best value for money I can. Any advice welcome!

Help me show him the truth

arniec — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:15:16 -0800

Help me convince my friend of a basic networking truth. He sent me an e-mail saying he was assigning static IPs to all the devices on his home network so the signal would be stronger. More details inside: My friend has the following set-up: His cable modem goes to his router. His router feeds wall jacks throughout his house. In his basement is a single CAT-5 wall jack, but since he has several devices there he got a switch, so the wall jack goes to the switch, which then goes to his DirectTV and his XBox 360.

This worked fine in this set-up for months. But a couple weeks ago he stopped being able to receive On Demand programming. If he plugs the DirectTV right into the wall jack it works, but through the switch it does not.

He then assigned his DirectTV and his XBox 360 static IPs and the On Demand programming worked through the switch.

He believes the switch is causing weaker signal and the static IP is strengthening the signal to his DirectTV which, as an IT network tech, I know is NOT the case. And I've told him this but I cannot convince him that it's not a signal issue since he has seen the "evidence" that a static IP fixed the On Demand issue that a static IP didn't.

So (a) why would his DirectTV not work through a switch with a dynamic IP and (b) How can I explain in complete laymen's terms the fundamental networking essentials concepts of digital signal transmission through shielded twisted pair cable is NOT effected by the IP addresses being static or dynamic?

Macbook for school- buy now or wait for a revision?

baphomet — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:18:16 -0800

Getting ready to go back to school and make The Switch at the same time- when to buy my Mac? I'm going back to college next week and am getting ready to purchase a new laptop for said purpose. After being a lifelong PC user I've decided to make the switch, mainly because I refuse to run Vista. I could just buy a new PC laptop, wipe the OS, and acquire a copy of XP to drop on it, but I don't really like the idea of having to wipe a brand-new system to put an older operating system on it. It just seems like a step in the wrong direction for me.

So I'm getting ready to buy an Apple, most likely a MacBook. I've done lots of research and there's quite a bit of rumbling in the blogosphere about a possible update to the MacBook/MacBook Pro line soon, possibly as early as September. I'd like to get the new system up and running as soon as possible, so I can get used to the new OS while I have time to mess around with it (rather than when I'm trying to work on it while in the midst of a 17-credit workload).

I've examined the specs of the current MacBooks and I think the specs are great for what I need. That said, the talk of the town is that the next revision could introduce some future-critical features that I'd miss out on if I bought the current model. I've also heard, but can't confirm, that if Apple releases a new version of your product model within 30 days of purchase, you can return/exchange it for a new one- can anyone confirm or disconfirm this? I'd gladly pay the restock fee if necessary.

My budget is around $1500. As I said I've done some research but I'm interested in what MeFi's vibrant Mac community thinks about this. I already have an 80GB iPod classic so the free iPod deal doesn't really appeal to me- I could just turn it on eBay but there's a lot of talk of a September iPod revision and as such I'd anticipate the second-hand market for 1st-gen Touches to take a hit in the near future.

Bonus question- does anybody have any experience with using iWork '08 for student work (or in general)? How's that working out for you?

A + B = a trip to Radio Shack?

harkin banks — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:54:17 -0800

How can I build my own A/B/A+B speaker selector box? My lab is two adjoining rooms, with a large doorway (but no door) cut into the wall. We have a crappy bookshelf stereo in one room. It is just audible enough in the other room to be irritating, but not enough to really hear what's going on. I scrounged another pair of 6 ohm speakers from another crappy bookshelf stereo, and I was thinking about how to connect them up so that both sides of the lab can hear Talk of the Nation. Commercial speaker selector switches run $50 - 300, and I'm cheap -- plus I think this might be a project within my limited soldering skills, so if I can make it myself I'd like to.

The stereo is an older one, made by Fisher. The speakers say "MAXIMUM POWER 80W (PEAK), 6 Ω IMPEDANCE"; the stereo says "6 Ω MINIMUM". I'd like to switch the speakers in and out with a break-before-make rotary switch like this one. It's easy to figure out how to run one pair at a time (A or B), but how do I wire it up to drive both pairs safely (A + B)? I'd like to wire the speaker sets in parallel, but I know this will drop the impedance of each circuit to 3 ohms, which is below the amp's rating. Is the solution as simple as putting a 3 ohm power resistor in the circuit, to raise the total resistance back up to what it would be for just one speaker? Is there a better way to do this safely, that will sound OK? Lots and lots of people work in this lab and will be using this switch, so I can guarantee you that it will be switched under load more often than not.

Surprisingly Google has failed me on this issue. I can find lots of schematics online for switching two or more amps between one set of speakers, but nothing for the reverse situation. Please help us hear the sweet sweet tones of Science Friday clearly!

My friend Moke and I are experiencing a cosmic cell phone link. What could cause this to happen?

doomtop — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:35:05 -0800

My friend Moke and I are experiencing a cosmic cell phone link. What could cause this to happen? My friend Moke and I are experiencing a cosmic cell phone link.

What seems to be happening is some of Moke's phone calls are redirected to my cell phone. It doesn't seem like my calls are going to him, but when I try to call him I get my voicemail instead. When he tries to call me, he gets his voicemail.

It only seems to happen when we are geographically close to each other. It doesn't happen all the time either, it seems to be random.

What could cause this to happen?

Help me connect up this network?

chairish — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:44:50 -0800

I have been charged with the task of adding a switch to a network. There are ethernet jack points at each workstation and each of these go back to a network cabinet. Apparently to make the connections live I need to add a switch. Where can I find a tutorial that will quickly get me up to speed with this sort of networking?