A nerd nostalgia thread of possible #RetroComputing interest:
From 1993-1994, I was a “technical assistant” in the RF Engineering department of #Comcast#Cellular. Back then, Comcast was a scrappy regional cable #TV operator making its first foray into #mobile telephony, not the multinational #telecommunications and media behemoth we know today. (1/6)
I had previously whipped up an #Excel#VisualBasic for Applications (#VBA) Erlang B function to calculate #cellular tower quality of service (#QoS), so my other big project was modeling #Comcast Cellular’s network call capacity for an overdue upgrade from the (analog!) #1980s-era Advanced #Mobile Phone System (AMPS).
My first corporate #programming lesson: toy code will be expanded regardless of scalability. (4/6)
Before moving to greener (and higher-paying 🤑) pastures, one of my two big "technical assistant" projects for #Comcast#Cellular was upgrading the engineers' Sun #Unix workstations from the #BSD-based #SunOS 4 to #SVR4-based SunOS 5 (#Solaris 2), and from #NIS / #YellowPages to NIS+.
In hindsight, it was a bad idea to make both changes at once, but I was a kid entranced by novelty and not yet very considerate of my users during the inevitable downtimes. (3/6)
IIRC, any given AMPS antenna could only handle about 400 #mobile phone calls at once, and there were usually three antennae spanning the 360º around a #cellular tower. Busy areas often dropped phone calls as users were handed off between antennae.
Hmm, the #Wikipedia inverse Erlang-B #VisualBasic function bears a striking resemblance to my 1994 code… (5/6)
Anyway, I did what any underpaid college dropout would do:
• ask #IT for a few extra PCs on the LAN
• distribute the #cellular tower data across #Microsoft#Excel workbooks, one per machine
• write some glue macros to exchange data (probably using Network #DDE or #OLEAutomation)
• babysit the PCs as they inevitably crashed every few hours due to #Windows' flaky cooperative multitasking and its #NetBIOS Frames (then called #NetBEUI) networking protocol (6/6)
With #LTE and #5g mobile connections, the demands on the voltage sources have also increased: In particular high peak currents of approx. 4 A @ 3.7 V and more can push some circuits and the voltage converters installed in them to their limits.
In the event of stability problems with mobile radio modems, it is therefore particularly worth taking a brief look away from the software and towards the hardware. Can the power supply really meet the high requirements? An examination with an oscilloscope shows even the smallest fluctuations in the millisecond range and can reveal possible problems.
In our specific case, we are investigating stability problems with a new modem, which can only be reproduced unreliably. In the video you can see that even small pings have a visible effect (voltage fluctuations of approx. 800 mV) on the voltage source.
Having power issues sometimes is the "It's always DNS" equivalent in the embedded electronics world.
When we wanted to put one of our customer projects into operation, we noticed strange problems with a Quectel modem that we had not had before. Of course, from a software developer's point of view, the software was initially suspected of causing problems. But slowly a different picture emerged ...
Read the full story and learn how important it is to always consider hardware when you're having software problems (and vice versa!):
Generative inspiration of the day: Pancake ice — ice formations due to low air temperatures and undulating waves which are breaking large ice sheets and shearing edges, with fragments crystallizing into thick rings/cells. A kind of circle packing approach & result...
I came across David Sinclair and his research into reverse aging. Especially, I came across this video by Veritasium with Sinclair. Apparently his team has managed to reverse aging in mice in a lab? Has this been peer reviewed?...
Now, as mentioned in that fire, this is a fishing community. Look how picturesque it is before sunset?
The Fishing Boats of Marie-Joseph, a short drive from my oceanfront home. I get awesome sunrise photos from my own deck but can't see the #sunsets , if I want to see a nice sunset, I'll come here, or Ecum Secum.. Standby for more.
This one I took should be in a calendar, don't you think?
BTW, there's spots of #Cellular near here, at the park.
I skipped over same day, and took you to the days of #HurricaneFiona , when we spent 14 days without power, never had cellular, probably never will, it's the BUTT end of #Halifax, rather pretty, but most have never been.
Without power, when the roads were cleared of trees, we went to call and let everyone know we were OK (Remember?)
I believe Fancy's Beach gets a Cellular signal.
Check when you go?
Another good song, and the beach at Tor Bay Provincial Park.
If you blink, you'd miss this amazing place. No one else here but the birds. @TheSauce #PipingPlovers#Plover#Birds
Not every beach is sandy @TheSauce , but I've seen 100s of them in NS, dozens along the longest highway (#7) in #Halifax. (You'd need a guide.) #TourismNS will never mention these places, or I wouldn't go there.
In NOVA SCOTIA, we don't eat lobster daily. #WAYCTV ◄
NONE OF THESE PLACES have #Transit, #Gasoline, #Cellular, #Television, #Stores, #Banks, Public #Phones, #Tourist Info, #Seniors Care, #Veteran Support, Healthcare & more. More City folks have seen Cuba, than the end of #HRM FORGOTTEN
@npilon@SuzanneR70#Bell got $1.6 billion Federal Tax dollars to put in Rural Internet, still not done. What do they do with their own money? OH, legal fees and shareholders into 3B or so. No Cellular, so now Provincial Gov wants to step in to pay for #Cellular towers with our tax dollars,then GIVE IT TO BELL, are we insane? If we do it, sell them the use, Roaming fees, No Telecom has added a tower since Cellular was available. It exists only 1mile long in Sheet Harbour then next in Sherbrooke
"Since 27 October at about 18:00, contact with the #Gaza Strip has been cut off, following the shutdown of #landlines, #cellular and #internet services. As a result, this Flash Update contains minimal updated information about the humanitarian situation in Gaza over the past 24 hours." - #UN#OCHA
Thursday and Friday is when T-Mobile Home Internet seems the busiest. You would think the weekend, such as Saturday or Sunday, but nope, Thursday and Friday is usually when the network acts odd. I assume this is when it is congested.
How far is reverse aging tech?
I came across David Sinclair and his research into reverse aging. Especially, I came across this video by Veritasium with Sinclair. Apparently his team has managed to reverse aging in mice in a lab? Has this been peer reviewed?...