This new section will cover some university stuff like information on some topics and more general stuff. First thing to go online here is my beloved HWResNet.
Here are my time tables (PDF, 64 KByte):
During second term we had to write two research reviews which should summarise various topics of current research. My first review covered carbon nanotubes. These are molecular tubes made of carbon which can be used for their unusual mechanical properties as well as for their electronic behaviour as both semiconductor and (semi-)metal.
The second review was bout inertial sensing and how to improve the accuracy of inertial sensors by matter wave interferometry (mainly using the Sagnac effect).
24/05/05
A little update on that matter. Finally I adjusted the HWResNet-o-meter as HTTP connections now seem to be stable almost all the time. Unfortunately all the e-mail protocols are still not supported, SSH doesn't work and FTP only using an insecure HWResNet applet.
Fortunately there are some wireless LAN hotspots or "internet oases" as I like to call them where at least SSH is possible and using tunneling almost every other protocol as well then. But these hotspots seem to be extremely difficult to maintain as it often happens that a login to the network is simply not possible. When this happens in level 4 in the library the friendly library staff tell you they have no responsibility for the network and the IT helpdesk tells you that this is just an experimental and optional service which might just be not available sometimes (for no apparent reason...).
Studying at Heriot-Watt was and is really great, I'd say, but the student's internet connection is unfortunately still very poor.
Oh, well...
As I started my study in Edinburgh I was pleased to hear that every room in the students' halls has an ethernet socket for an "always on" internet connection. GREAT!! That's what I always wanted! 24/7 fast (university network) internet access for a flat-fare price. The world seemed to be a perfect place.
But it didn't work.
And unfortunately it still doesn't work.
Students are supposed to connect to the internet via a proxy server which ideally blocks off all the bad guys and maintains privacy but seemlessly integrates into the network connection. With a working proxy solution you should be able to connect to the internet using whichever protocols you'd like. So you could be able to download your e-mail messages using a POP3 connection and then reading them in your favourite mail client instead of using some slow webmail interface. You should be able to send messages using SMTP storing them all on your computer locally and allowing you to keep a track of what you sent when and to whom. You should be able to connect to your webserver via SSH or FTP and maintain the server or update web pages. And so on.
I can understand that the university doesn't want peer-to-peer filesharing on their network (most of the time it's illegal after all). But why they blocked everything but HTTP and HTTPS remained a miracle to me at first.
In previous years there has not been any real network connection at all but just a modem line. So university decided last year that they wanted to improve the network for their students and discussed together with the Students Union which solution might be best. Mike Barron, Manager of the Students Union, explained this process to me in an e-mail:
The situation is that, after thorough review of all the options, is was decided that the scheme offered by Forevision utilising the University's Janet link was the best available in terms of service and price. The Students Association was a partner in the process. We were aware that some services would not work, though FTP was not specifically mentioned as one of them. The reason that these services are not implemented is not to do with Rorevision, it is to maintain the security of the University network (Michael Barron, 25/10/04)
This made me suspicious. Did this mean that they block most of the ports because they want to protect computers running insecure operating systems like Microsoft Windows? Hm... As a Mac you usually don't really like Windows anyway but this increased my aversion a lot! I know what you're thinking: "But when most of the people use Windows why shouldn't they do everything to increase security?"
Well, I don't say they shouldn't be increasing security (installing a virus-filter might be a good idea!) but just blocking all the ports so that crackers cannot get into the network or whatever seems to me like throwing the baby out with the bath water! And, again, they might better start teaching their students in using Linux or any other UNIX which is a lot more secure than Windows.
I started to ask when SSH will become available and got this answer:
SSH will be two weeks maximum. FTP we are testing as we speak (type?!) so look out on the hwresnet pages for an application note in the next day or so... (HWResNet support, 14/10/04)
Two weeks after that nothing had happend so I wrote a new mail and got this reply:
We are still waiting on SSH, I'm afraid. We were expecting this to be done this week but some of the other Proxy work has had to be reprioritised. (HWResNet support, 29/10/04)
Still nothing happened "this week". So now they have at least become a bit more cautious in mailing any dates when services will be available. I have so far never again seen a concrete announcement of when SSH etc. will be available.
There is a big swap taking place (we hope over the next day or so) which will certainly improve stability of the proxy - this should also improve the performance at peak times. Once the new unit is in, outages should be significantly reduced. (HWResNet support, 18/11/04)
I did not experience any reduction in outages nor did my colleagues.
You might be asking: "But how on earth then can you update your great website!?" Good question! Fortunately there are some wireless LAN hotspots which are not maintained by ForeVision systems and (therefore?) working most of the time. As the IT department could not tell me where these hotspots are I started to make a list by myself. If you have any additions, please let me know. So far I know the following hotspots:
In my point of view the university network should provide the following features (scaled to my personal networking needs):
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4 point out of 10 (40 % working) |
