DIGWDF Store Announcement

[dirknerkle]

I bought the Gerbers and Design files for the ESP-RS485 Adapter (what an incredibly useful little board!).

When I tried to send the gerbers to a fab house, the fab house rejected it because the board outline was not a rectangle. I was able to view the outline and it included the outline for the ESP-01 which hangs over the side.

I have used drawing software like Visio a lot and lightweight CAD software a little. I am not a circuit designer but I was able to use a free version of (I think it was) DipTrace to remove the ESP-01. I had to drop in a replacement header component and connect traces and then find some instructions about how to configure DipTrace to output "fab house compatible" Gerbers. It worked.

I'm so proud.

Good job, although you shouldn't have had to do that. The GML (mechanical) layer file for that board is clearly and unequivocally rectangular. There is a silk screen marking that goes off the board but that's not what defines the board dimensions -- the mechanical layer does. The board house goofed-up.

[Jerry-Rigs]

Good job, although you shouldn't have had to do that. The GML (mechanical) layer file for that board is clearly and unequivocally rectangular. There is a silk screen marking that goes off the board but that's not what defines the board dimensions -- the mechanical layer does. The board house goofed-up.

Maybe that is what they complained about. I don't remember. Anyway, it worked out. Thank for making the designs available.

[dirknerkle]

The DIGWDF Store has moved. It's now at http://digwdf.org/store as digwdf.com has been put out to pasture...

[ukewarrior]

Poor Thing. Alas, we knew thee well !

The DIGWDF Store has moved. It's now at http://digwdf.org/store as digwdf.com has been put out to pasture...

[dirknerkle]

Comcast was so thoughtful about 10 days ago when they flashed my router with a new (and possibly untested) version of firmware... all access to my server died except for the LAN side -- it worked fine internally. For one thing, one can still log into the Comcast router directly, except there are critical configuration points that are no longer available: you have to configure them WITH YOUR DANG PHONE USING AN APP!

So I downloaded the app, logged in and still couldn't configure anything, partly because I couldn't find anything -- they've screwed things up again!!!

After some tense (and VERY LOUD) phone conversations with them, they sent me a new router and some credit on my account, but they ignored my request to return to the good old days of being able to configure the router directly. Jerks.

So now, after 3 more days of screwing around with their new "make it easier for customers" app -- which obviously they released before they'd done any consumer testing -- I FINALLY got it working again today. Each time I contacted their online tech support people, who always had to escalate the service ticket to the "expert" team, and they said they'd call the next morning. Those calls never happened. Neither did any texts or follow-up of any kind. Jerks. However, each time I got on a chat with a tech person (and there were quite a few chat sessions), I got a credit on my account. So I'm thinking maybe I might get my account down to zero$ if I work this right...

In any event, DIGWDF.ORG is back on the web for any of you folks that need our assembly and user guides, need to do research on the old DIGWDF products, or want to order any of the Gerbers for one or all of our boards...

[ukewarrior]

Ugh~!
You can't configure it from a browser from your side of the router!? WEIRD.
I would hate that.

Comcast was so thoughtful about 10 days ago when they flashed my router with a new (and possibly untested) version of firmware... all access to my server died except for the LAN side -- it worked fine internally. For one thing, one can still log into the Comcast router directly, except there are critical configuration points that are no longer available: you have to configure them WITH YOUR DANG PHONE USING AN APP!

So I downloaded the app, logged in and still couldn't configure anything, partly because I couldn't find anything -- they've screwed things up again!!!

After some tense (and VERY LOUD) phone conversations with them, they sent me a new router and some credit on my account, but they ignored my request to return to the good old days of being able to configure the router directly. Jerks.

So now, after 3 more days of screwing around with their new "make it easier for customers" app -- which obviously they released before they'd done any consumer testing -- I FINALLY got it working again today. Each time I contacted their online tech support people, who always had to escalate the service ticket to the "expert" team, and they said they'd call the next morning. Those calls never happened. Neither did any texts or follow-up of any kind. Jerks. However, each time I got on a chat with a tech person (and there were quite a few chat sessions), I got a credit on my account. So I'm thinking maybe I might get my account down to zero$ if I work this right...

In any event, DIGWDF.ORG is back on the web for any of you folks that need our assembly and user guides, need to do research on the old DIGWDF products, or want to order any of the Gerbers for one or all of our boards...

[dirknerkle]

Ugh~!
You can't configure it from a browser from your side of the router!? WEIRD.
I would hate that.

Yeah. It's ugly. You can still log into the browser and make some changes, but some of the all-important ones such as port forwarding? Nope. Gotta do that with either the phone or logged into xfinity on a desktop. And on a desktop, some of the screens are so poorly designed you can only see 2 of the 3 digits of an octet of an IP address.

And then there's a thing called "advanced security." They have replaced Norton (or MacAfee) with their own version of protection, and the setting to change it isn't anywhere near the Internet settings. What it essentially does is block everything both in and out that's not port 80, and it even hammers some of that. The configuration setting is enabled by default and to disable it, you have to dig deep into the general settings area of a different part of xfinity's account configuration. Your choice is either ON or OFF, nothing in-between. And if it's ON, you're pretty much guaranteed that access to anything on the LAN from the outside is not going to happen.

So, with that in mind, Merry Christmas from Xfinity/Comcast, where we're always full of surprises, and other things....

[ErnieHorning]

Yeah. It's ugly. You can still log into the browser and make some changes, but some of the all-important ones such as port forwarding? Nope.

Buy your own modem/router. I bought a Netgear for my GF and you only needed to verify with a Comcast website.

It your modem/router and they don't update the firmware, its your responsibility.

She has 200MB download and it's 200MB on internet speed tests. Upload is around 60-80MB.

I have Spectrum and switching was a total PITA. I had to have a Tech come out and another Tech had to directly modify the server.

No more slow speed and dropped connections anymore. Also saved $20 a month, renting those limited routers.



Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[k-mob]

I was going to recommend this as well. Xfinity kept jerking around the modem/router software enough (making it difficult to get in/out with Blue Iris) that I finally bought my own modem and router. They're not expensive at all; I think they pay for themselves in less than a year once you stop lining their pockets with the modem rental fee.

[dirknerkle]

I absolutely agree that your own gear is the best way to go.

However, for us, our landline phone and security system are tied into the mix as well as cable TV and gigabit Internet, so it gets a little more complicated. We're what they call "a heavy XFinity customer" and if we run into a really bad situation where something is absolutely down, because it's all their equipment and not our's, they send out a tech person usually in the matter of a couple hours; the gear gets fixed or replaced immediately. When we call for help and they pull up our record and see that we've been heavy-use customers since 1981, they go, "OH, I've got your account right here. We'll have someone come out right away!" And they do.

I'm willing to pay for that sort of "insurance." But in the case of the web servers that I run here, they will go only as far as their equipment and making sure it works as prescribed -- they won't touch any configuration issues with the servers. And that's fine with me.

Just FYI, XFinity has implemented a thing called "advanced security." From what I can tell, it has no variability in the settings -- it's either enabled or disabled. When it's enabled, nothing else seems to work, not port forwarding, port triggering, not DMZ, nothing. The default setting is "enabled" and you can absolutely tear your hair out trying to connect from the WAN to the LAN. All the settings can look just right but it won't work. Worse, to turn it off, the setting is buried deep in the general configuration area of your account, not in the Internet configuration area.