Scott Hanselman

A few years back I picked up an Xbox MN-740 Wireless Bridge to make my original Xbox wireless-enabled. It worked great.

Recently I did a network audit for our home and realized that we were running WEP for security. It was probably set this way when I upgraded us to FIOS. I switched the Router over to the more secure WPA.

Aside: I encourage you to switch over to WPA as well. Apparently WEP can be cracked in minutes with free tools. Also, hide your SSID.

I then went to each of the networked devices in the house and switched their security over to WPA, including the Nintendo Wii. Nearly all appliances with Wireless built-in have WPA support now (although this wasn't the case two years ago.) Everything worked, and I didn't give it a second thought.

This evening The Wife said that her ReplayTV wasn't updating its TV Guide. It's currently connected to the MN-740 and I'd forgotten to update it...when I went to set it up, I realized that this device doesn't support WPA. Lame.

I did some Googling and it turns out that the MN-740 is a dead product. However, the hardware is the same as a D-Link 108AG Gaming Adapter.

If you're comfortable taking the chance that you might brick your adapter and you absolutely void the warranty, you can do a one-way (that means, non-reversible) flash of the MN-740 with some hacking.

Follow the directions in this forum post at DSLReports (while it's still there).

You'll need:

• The MN-740 Firmware Update from Microsoft
• Three Files attached to the post in the DSLReports forum

You then need to run the Update, and while it's up, but before you hit "next" you overwrite some files using the alternate firmware. Again, you may brick your device, and you're breaking the EULA. You're on your own.

This apparently works by changing a manifest file and telling the updater that there's a newer firmware. If it works, hook up a network cable and hit http://192.168.0.1 with admin, no password.

If it worked, you'll get the D-Link Web Administration interface, and you can select WPA as a security option.

Last disclaimer. I'm just reporting the news here. You're on your own if you choose to do this. There is absolutely no reason to except if you need WPA security on this wireless bridge.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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This dialog box is a work of art, truly. ;) It filled the screen on a 1024x768 laptop. I've read through it, completely, four times, and I'm still not quite clear on what it's trying to tell me. One day I shall unlock its hidden secrets.

First, it took me a moment to realize that the choices were meant to be clicked on. They are neither buttons nor hyperlinks. The first choice just closes the dialog...doing nothing. Apparently I'm supposed to make sure my microwave is turned off.

The second one tries to be generic by saying "The following policy" in the first hard-coded sentence. Then the last paragraph actually references BACK to the list, forcing me (rather than the computer that actually has the information) to figure out if the "policy provider identified is Windows Firewall." If it wasn't, I'm to "check the documentation." Helpful. Really. Danke.

The third and longest "not-button-arrow-choice-action-clickable-area-thing" says I should unplug my home's Internet connection. Seems a little drastic if you have a spot on the carpet to lay down all new carpet. (Also, why do we insist on calling these routers "modems"? What exactly are they modulating and demodulating. Newsflash - It's not like I'm calling out to FidoNet every night on my USR v.32bis.)

I ended up right-clicking on the connection in the tray and selecting Diagnose and Repair and all was well. I also reveled in the fact that Diagnose and Repair was NOT available when using the much more common single-left-click on the network connection icon.

Oy, the networking in Vista is SO confusing. All I can count on is netsh (how-to).

Seriously, do yourself a favor and head over to a command prompt now and run...

netsh interface ip show config

...and experience a level of detail that ipconfig /all can't touch. (Which apparently doesn't work as Admin...bummer) You'll begin to appreciate why typing...

netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" dhcp

...can make you look like a superstar whilst others are still clicking around. 

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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My sixty-eighth podcast is up.  What's the big deal about Orcas, er, Visual Studio 2008? I sit down with my partner in crime at Corillian (now part of CheckFree), Patrick Cauldwell, and chat about .NET 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, oh my! We also talk a bit about dynamic languages, VB 10, and LINQ.

• Subscribe:
• Download: MP3 Full Show
• ACTION: Please vote for us on Podcast Alley! Digg us at Digg Podcasts!

If you have trouble downloading, or your download is slow, do try the torrent with µtorrent or another BitTorrent Downloader.

Do also remember the complete archives are always up and they have PDF Transcripts, a little known feature that show up a few weeks after each show.

Telerik is our sponsor for this show.

Check out their UI Suite of controls for ASP.NET. It's very hardcore stuff. One of the things I appreciate about Telerik is their commitment to completeness. For example, they have a page about their Right-to-Left support while some vendors have zero support, or don't bother testing. They also are committed to XHTML compliance and publish their roadmap. It's nice when your controls vendor is very transparent.

As I've said before this show comes to you with the audio expertise and stewardship of Carl Franklin. The name comes from Travis Illig, but the goal of the show is simple. Avoid wasting the listener's time. (and make the commute less boring)

Enjoy. Who knows what'll happen in the next show?

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

About   Newsletter

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My sixty-seventh podcast is up. In this miscellaneous episode, Carl and I tidy up our brains and talk about the week's goings-on. 

• Subscribe:
• Download: MP3 Full Show
• ACTION: Please vote for us on Podcast Alley! Digg us at Digg Podcasts!

If you have trouble downloading, or your download is slow, do try the torrent with µtorrent or another BitTorrent Downloader.

Do also remember the complete archives are always up and they have PDF Transcripts, a little known feature that show up a few weeks after each show.

Telerik is our sponsor for this show.

Check out their UI Suite of controls for ASP.NET. It's very hardcore stuff. One of the things I appreciate about Telerik is their commitment to completeness. For example, they have a page about their Right-to-Left support while some vendors have zero support, or don't bother testing. They also are committed to XHTML compliance and publish their roadmap. It's nice when your controls vendor is very transparent.

As I've said before this show comes to you with the audio expertise and stewardship of Carl Franklin. The name comes from Travis Illig, but the goal of the show is simple. Avoid wasting the listener's time. (and make the commute less boring)

Enjoy. Who knows what'll happen in the next show?

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

About   Newsletter

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See that book on the right there? That's how I learned to program. This book was THE book in 1984. I typed in the whole book on a Commodore 64. 

Originally, there was a meeting between the principal and my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Hill. They said I was "at risk." I was probably going to be voted "Most Likely to Be Convicted of a White Collar Crime." Anyway, they set it up so I could sneak an Apple II out of the school as long as it was back before Monday morning. After it was clear I'd found my (or "a") calling, Dad decided to get a C64 for me. My dad sold his Van to get me that C64.

You can spend some time reliving your C64 by using the in-browser Java-based C64 Emulator (and games) over at DreamFabric, or by downloading a C64 emulator from Per Håkan Sundell.

I wonder if a book like this could hold a 10 year old's attention like it did for me. I burned weekend after weekend typing in Hex Codes from Compute! Magazine. I paid other kids on the block to read them to me so I could type them faster.

While I'd love for Z to be a little more well-rounded than I, it couldn't hurt to teach him at least the logic around general purpose programming.

Will younger kids "in the future" program by scripting in Second Life? Don Box asked this question two years ago and came up with answers like, Teach them Lisp, or ML, or Smalltalk or Ruby. I'm not sure what he decided...Don?

Should kids learn a "real" language like Lisp? Or an artificially Kiddy language like Toontalk? Possibly a world like Scratch (from MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten)?

Should kids have their own programming environment as an introduction to the world of engineering? Mark Verber considered these languages for his 10 year old and has a great write up on research he did:

• Logo: good for simple projects (and younger kids). Once scratch is released, use it instead.
• Squeak (smalltalk) for older kids whose focus is building artifacts more than programming
• Scheme for kids focusing on learning computer science
• Java, Python, or KPL for kids that want a quick path to vocational program

Perhaps what's needed to help Johnny learn to program is a connection to the physical world like Mindstorms Kits or a Viper Robot and PowerShell (video) or the creation of games using tools like BlitzBasic.  Maybe Supercard (remember Hypercard?)

In the end, I suppose it depends on the kid's personality and natural thirst for learning. I plan to let Z know there is a nearly infinite number of cool things to do. The trick will be explaining it without overwhelming him (or myself.)

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

About   Newsletter

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