June 18th, 2008
On the Technical Side
So here in Khartoum it’s just a small office with two laptops and an OfficeJet Printer/Scanner/Fax thingy. They also have a DSL modem and a wireless router.
I know that some of you won’t understand half of what I’m about to say, sorry in advance. You can go ask a geek, they’ll understand (well, most of it anyway).
My first goal was just to connect my laptop up and get some desperately needed Internet (I was starting to have some serious withdrawal symptoms). So I immediately look at the back of the router and notice that the cable running into the Internet port is coming from a disconnected cable that used to come from the printer. The DSL modem is running into a LAN port. At this point I’m lost. I ask them if they even have Internet access, and they say they do. I couldn’t figure out how this was even working until I tried to put it back the way it was suppose to be. That’s when I realize that they were just using the router as an overpriced switch. Someone couldn’t get it to work the right way (probable because the modem and router were using the same IP range) and just plugged things in until it worked. Anyway, I changed the range on the router and now things are back to normal, even faster. 
The laptops are pretty normal, though they were overloaded with the “complete” OfficeJet software. All 600+ megs of trash that HP loves to install. So a not-so-quick download of the secret “corporate only” drivers, a little fiddling with cables and IP addresses and now they don’t have the trash, but they also don’t have to pass a USB cable back and forth to print.
Oh, and I almost forgot, every once in a while I hear a pop, fiss sound. That’s the US to Sudan power adapter that sparks when the power flickers (every 20 minutes or so) or when you touch it. Luckily we all have laptops and they have a UPS as well.