Re: [Leica] on web design packages

[Brian Reid <reid@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>]

> The idea is rubbish.  Stick with regular ISP's and avoid this cable
> gibberish.  (And, having her computer next to mine has given me cause to
> compare a 36.6 modem to her cable connection and the difference is minimal.
>  She is about ready to cancel the cable connection -- a chunk of money for
> no real improvement in service.)

The idea is not rubbish. Your implementation of it is rubbish. Not only is a
cable modem capable of being faster, but the always-on nature of a cable modem
is a tremendous improvement over dialup, regardless of the speed.

I would be happy to help you get this working. I'll contact you offlist with a
few questions to help me better understand what's happening. Believe me, once
you've got it working, you'll never be able to go back to dialup.

I've raised my children to have always-on high-speed network access their whole
lives. They've never had to use a modem. By 1983 I had 9600-baud always-on
service to the household's one computer. By 1988 I had 56KB/sec always-on
service to the 3 computers on the household Ethernet, using a router that I
made myself. As soon as I could fit each new technology upgrade it into the
family's budget, I installed it. But my goal was for them to grow up taking
high-speed always-on global-access communications technology for granted.  Now
we have as many computers as people (5 Macs, 2 PCs) and a bunch of servers in
the garage. We now have 100MB Ethernet to every room, 11 MB wireless access for
laptops and visitors, a family file server that college-bound children can use
from their dorm rooms, and IMAP mail service for everyone. I have a computer in
the garage that makes DAT-drive backups of everyone's computers so they have
also grown up without the experience of losing a file due to computer failure. 

You're never too old to start doing things the right way. Always-on is better.
Faster is better. Shared access via a router is better.

Brian