Back in the days when the first DVD players were introduced, I was employed by Europe’s biggest audio-visual facilitator. So naturally, we dove right in, and I even worked on the menus for a few major movie releases. I remember being blown away by how hours of great image quality could fit onto such a small disc. But recently, those same discs have started to really annoy me. They scratch, they’re easy to misplace and they take up a lot of space if you’ve got many. That’s why I’d been looking at the latest generation of network media players. I got one this weekend for the person in my household who has the most DVDs, my six year old daughter .
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One of the first things I noticed when I started using my new router, was that I could not log in to the device’s web interface using Chrome as a browser. Like many other routers (I’ve had at least two, including a Linksys one), my new Draytek doesn’t really use the username field, and the manual advices to leave it empty. But it seems that’s exactly why Chrome is having trouble. When I tried ‘admin’ instead, I was able to log in.

So, if you’re having trouble logging in to configure your router, try using a generic name like ‘admin’, ‘user’ or ‘root’, or see if the manual lists a default username. Not because your router needs you to enter it, but because leaving the username field empty seems to upset Chrome. This issue probably isn’t exclusive to routers, but most other services will require a username anyway.

I just sold my Linksys WRT54G router on Marktplaats (a hugely popular second hand marketplace here in The Netherlands). It had been gathering dust or a few months, and I didn’t think it deserved that after being my ‘lifeline’ for years. This router has been my single favorite piece of equipment ever. I love the way it looks, I love how it never ever failed on me, I love the simple setup, it’s hackability (although I never did load any of the alternate firmwares out there).

I feel silly for feeling bad. Guess it’s quite a feat for a small plastic box to get me all sentimental. But now that wireless-n is here, and my provider-supplied modem/router finally supports WAP encryption, there’s no need for me to hang on to it. I hope it makes the buyer happy. Sigh…

I’ve been connected to my LAN through the air for a couple of years now, and I’ve had some pretty mixed experiences. My Linksys WRT54G router is a marvel, and has yet to fail me. The adapters I’ve used with my PC however have for the must part not been able to keep up. And, as I realized today, they all happen to be made by Sitecom.
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