This RangeMax™ Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router offers shared access to an external USB storage device (ReadyShare™) and ReadyDLNA— for streaming videos, photos, and music to a wide range of networked media players.
While the router performs well, the USB storage device sharing is not flawless. It is recommended not to share too many files and, if possible to disable the media server.
The Squeezebox Radio can playback MP3, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Apple Lossless audio. Built into the Squeezebox Radio is an 802.11G antenna which supports WPA Personal, WPA2-AES, and 64/128-bit WEP encryption. However, your wi-fi connection must have the SSID broadcast enabled. Alternatively, you can connect through the Ethernet connection, which is a 10/100 Mbps version.
Like the Squeezebox Classic, you can control this device through a web interface over the Internet.
Belgacom b-box connections
These are the connections on a bbox and what they are used for:
DSL (blue labeled) is used to connect your adsl line output of your phone line
note: this is the line that comes from your adls-filter
PHONE1 and PHONE2 (blue labeled) are used to connect an analogue phone (i.e. normal phone)
note: this connection is only for internet telephony (i-talk)
LAN1 and LAN2 (yellow labeled) are used to connect the TV decoder(s)
LAN3 and LAN4 (grey labeled) are used to connect a pc or any other device with an ethernet connection
Switch a Belgacom b-box2 into bridge mode
These instructions apply to a b-box2 with the firmware listed below:
Follow these steps to switch a Belgacom b-box router into bridge mode:
Connect to the router and logon to the Admin interface .
Before changing any of the b-box settings, make a backup:
Choose in ‘Admin Settings’: ‘Backup & Update’
Before you proceed with the changes, be aware of the following impact:
After you have applied the changes below, the b-box2 router will behave as an adsl-modem only, it will not provide IP-addresses and will not logon to the ISP, these functions will need to be provided by the router that you attached to the b-box2 ; services for Belgacom TV however, will continue to be provided through the b-box2.
To proceed with the changes, you can follow the steps below:
Select Advanced Settings, ‘Network Interfaces’ in the Menu
A list of the configured Network Interfaces will be shown; select ’WAN PPPoE’
Select Disable from the button on the right
Once the b-box2 has disabled the Network Interface you will receive a screen with the new configuration:
Your b-box2 is now in bridge mode.
All credentials for the PPPoE connection (username and password) will have to be configered in the router that you connect behind the b-box2 modem.
Switch a Belgacom b-box into bridge mode
Follow these steps to switch a Belgacom b-box router into bridge mode:
Connect to the router and logon to the Admin interface (http://192.168.1.1):
Before changing any of the b-box settings, make a backup (Maintenance, Configuration):
Before you proceed with the changes, be aware of the following impact:
after you have applied the changes below, the b-box router will behave as an adsl-modem only, it will not provide IP-addresses and will not logon to the ISP, these functions will need to be provided by the router that you attached to the b-box; services for Belgacom TV however, will continue to be provided through the b-box
To proceed with the changes, you can follow the steps below:
Select Advanced Settings, WAN, ATM PVC in the Menu
All ATM PVCs will be shown; select VC1 (the VC with the PPPoE protocol)
Select Disable from the Protocol pull-down menu
Save your settings:
Reboot the b-box.
Note on the use of the bridged mode with a Dlink DIR-655 router (firmware version 1.32EU):
A user reported in July 2010 that VC1 must be switched to “1483 Bridging” instead of ‘Disable’.
Here is how a Belgian ADSL connection looks like:
this is the general schema starting with the telephone line
Use the ADSL-filter for each telephone connection !
Insert the filter between the telephone socket and the telephone, the fax or the answering machine (see picture 2 and 3 below).
Note that the telephone wiring uses RJ-11 connectors.
Check out the Belgian ADSL forum for information on ADSL providers.
Squeezebox
This streamer offers superb playback audio quality on hi-fi systems. Besides support of iTunes playlists, it performs very well for Internet radio streams.
The Squeezebox Classic is a streamer with a Remote Control.
you need to setup an account to manage your Internet radio streams
Squeezebox Server is the software that you need to manage the music streams.
Squeezeslave is a lightweight Windows Player for the Squeezebox Server.
Load this programme to playback on a pc (typically on the pc where Squeezebox Server is running).
Control of the playback is through the browser interface of the Squeezebox Server:
This system works fine for me with iTunes 9 installed on a Windows XP (SP3) system. The Squeezebox is connected to my wi-fi router.
Optimize Firefox (3.0.x)
Firefox can be manually tweaked by typing ‘ about:config’ in the address bar and then modifying the values of the respective fields of the Firefox control panel (i.e. the page that is displayed).
However, the easier way is to use FireTune, a freeware tool that helps to fine tune network related settings of Firefox.
If that is not enough, then you may consider the Configuration Mania extension to tweak many of the advanced (and hidden) settings.
Disable or remove any unused or unnecessary plug-ins, extensions and add-ons.
To minize page load time, I recommend to install these extensions:
Flashblock (to control Flash animation)
PDF Download (to control PDF files)
While Firefox can be instaledl without (Windows) administration rights, you may encounter problems to install plug-ins. Here is some good advice to install the Flash Player plugin.
Migrate Microsoft Outlook Express 6 to Windows Mail Live
Microsoft Outlook Express (OE) is end-of-life and replaced by Windows Mail Live (WML). Moreover, Outlook Express version 6 was bundled with Internet Explorer and could not be (re-)installed as a standalone application. Hence, the need to say goodbye to this Mail Client and welcome the new version, renamed to Windows Live Mail. This freeware Mail Client can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center.
Migration of your messages, address book and mail accounts from OE to WML should work fine, if you upgrade on the same computer with the same Windows version installed. However, moving these data from one computer to another may be challenging. Here are some steps that you can follow to make the transition successful:
1 backup all your Outlook Express data
Follow the steps explained in my ‘Microsoft Outlook Express – Housekeeping’ post.
2 install Windows Live Mail on the source system
Indeed, install Windows Live Mail first on your ‘old’ system to migrate the messages. Once Windows Live Mail is installed, you can import the OE folders and export them into a WML format. The conversion of these data is worthwhile, since WML will create a single file for each message.
3 install Windows Live Mail on the target system
Install Windows Live Mail on your ‘new’ system.
Import the Outlook Express internet account files (‘.aif’ file) and address book (‘.wab’ file).
Import the WML formatted messages from your ‘old’ system. After the import process, you will find your folders and messages under ‘Storage Folders’, ‘Imported Folder’, ‘Local Folders’
Now you’re done and your new system uses the new Microsoft Mail Client, with your mail account(s) and access to your (old) messages and address book.
