The BRICs Superpower Challenge - book review.

Having just read this book, I'm left both frustrated and bemused.  I have seen quite a bit written about B.R.I.C.S on the web, and while the book doesn't offer an appraisal of 'S' (South Africa) it does offer a comprehensive analysis of the strengths & weaknesses of the other four, namely Brazil, Russia, India and China.  I figured this book would provide a decent foundation on these up-and-coming 'upstarts' who (using the book's terminology) in the not too distant future could provide both 'soft and hard' competition to the current bully-of-the-block on the global stage, the USA.

You do not have to read this book for long to realise that this is little more than a rehash of 'facts' that are currently viewed as being 'politically expedient', with actual realities never getting a look-in.  The entire book is devoted to analysing the attributes of the four, both good & bad, then using America as a yard-stick when scoring them.  The author then summarises, citing the country's strengths & weaknesses, and offers them advice on rectifying these problems.  Maybe this methodology is fine where 'hard-power' is concerned, but it's tough to stomach when the author recommends say, more "democratic" policies, as if the 'West', and the US in particular, were the only political systems that one should aspire to.  Particularly ironic given that democracy in America has long since had its hey-day, the US becoming more and more a National Socialist State as each day passes.

Equally irritating throughout this book is the constant conjuring up of the "terrorist" bogey-man.  Reference is made repeatedly to 911, the author even commending some of the countries (China and India in particular) on their immediate responses after this "outrage".  While it is possible that many/most countries initially believed the 'terrorists-with-bolt-cutters' story, there is now overwhelming evidence to the contrary - yet 12 years on, Mr Kwang Ho Chun was still promulgating this poppycock as if it was fact!  Given that the US is directly responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000,000 Iraqi's since the war that it started on a pretext that has since been proven to have been a blatant lie, it must be obvious to most who the real terrorists are!

This book may as well have been produced by the Rand corporation for all the 'unbiased' opinion it exhibits.  In fact, to my recollection, there is not a single critical comment regarding America to be found anywhere in this book.  Maybe that's hardly surprising given that the author is from South Korea - although the "South" part has been deftly omitted - making him far from unbiased towards American foreign policy.

All of this might make me seem anti-American, when in fact I'm not.  Just a romantic who dreams of the world that the American Ideal originally espoused, not the tyrannical hegemony that it is fast becoming.  Even the American public is (finally) becoming jaded at the direction that the "Land Of The Free" seems to be heading in.  Which is why the rats in charge are now looking to take away their guns! But I digress.

Long story short, not a very satisfying read. 

Huawei E5220 rant...

Jesus wept.  There's a line from the John Cleese film 'Clockwork' that often comes to mind at times like this - paraphrasing, "it's not the 'despair' I mind, despair I can handle, it's the 'hope' that's the killer."  I had six days of hope that my wireless problems were at an end.  I had been connected continuously for that long, still with the same public-IP address.  Not a true test admittedly, as in that time I had also rebooted the laptop several times, flipping between old faithful Ubuntu 10.04 and the new Mint 17 install.  But for all intents and purposes, the E5220 seemed to have been performing admirably.

Until yesterday that is.  Last night, while web-browsing, and with a Intel 5100 <- > E5220 connection, without warning, the wireless disconnected, followed almost immediately with it reconnecting again.  That in itself was unusual, particularly the speed at which it reconnected.  Unfortunately, although reconnected to the E5220, there was no internet connection.  Checking the E5220's connection information via the Firefox browser revealed that there was no incoming signal from the ISP, a rare occurrence, but something that had happened a few times before, so was plausable.  But just disconnecting the 5100 NIC and enabling the Atheros 5008 gave me a live web-feed again - yet the E5220's connection stats. still showed there to be no ISP signal present.  To restore the 5100 connection, its driver just needed to be removed & restarted via 'modprobe'.

But my suspicions had turned from the laptop's on-board NIC's to the Huawei E5220 itself.  I then decided to reboot the modem via its 'Settings' options using the browser.  This seemed to have no effect - I still had the same public-IP and the connection stats still showing that there was no ISP signal, despite now having a live-internet connection.  I then tried resetting the E5220 to its factory defaults, again via the browser.  Again, no effect.  Seeing as I had a torrent on download, I left things as they were overnight, to find this morning that my download had completed, all 3gigs worth - so a perfectly healthy connection, despite what the E5220 itself thought!  I had to physically switch off/on the modem, before it realised that the ISP's signal was indeed present.

So I've gone from being suspicious of NIC drivers on my laptop - rightfully so, and through much suffering! -  to having my woes compounded with the knowledge that the new Huawei modems firmware is almost certainly buggy as well!  One of the E5220's improvements helps confirm this, namely its battery back-up feature.  Since I've got it, I have experienced at least one 'brown-out', a momentary interruption of the electricity supply, which would normally have reset my old TP-Link router, making it necessary for it to reconnect with the ISP again.   Since this can't happen with the E5220, it reduces considerably the possible causes for network disconnections.

What this means is that until Huawei fixes this firmware problem, I have probably just exchanged one set of firmware bugs for another.  Boo-hoo, not fair.  The only plus so far that I've experienced is that I've witnessed the fastest download speeds yet with it - over 850kB/s, but only for short bursts.  Most of the time it averages just 150-200kB/s.

Edit: The above little hissy-fit seems to have been premature.  A few weeks on, the E5220 has been performing exemplarily.  A rock-solid connection with no re-occurrence of the bug seen above.  What has surprised me even more has been the speed.  I now regularly see speeds of 700-950kB/s which is great!  This has been using a E5220 <-> Intel 5100 connection.  If ever I needed proof that the Linux ath9k Atheros wireless drivers are buggy as hell then this must be it.  I'll continue with this problem-free setup for another while before looking for confirmation and trying the E5220 <-> Atheros AR5008 setup.

Linux Wireless (still) Sucks!!!

I've been using the long-ago EOL'ed (end-of-line) Ubuntu 10.04LTS as my main OS for several years now.  So, apart from the developers still issuing security-updates for it, development-wise it is dead, with most of its application repositories not having been updated for years (but thankfully, are still on-line).  Critical packages I had taken to building myself from source, but increasingly, 10.04's frozen-libraries (Python for instance) are no longer being supported either, so attempted builds often fail with unmet-dependencies.

Searching for a replacement, I settled on Mint 17 using the Mate Desktop.  Frankly, I expected more from Mate - a 'fork' of the no-longer-supported Gnome2 desktop - which I thought should at least have been on-par with Gnome2 by now.  No major faults, just lots of annoying little things that don't seem to work 'quite right'.  After initially believing that the snazzy Compiz desktop compositor would no longer work with Mate, I was elated when I got it going, but not perfectly - currently after logging on, I need to immediately change the desktop 'Appearance', which 'fixes' Compiz's initially-broken multiple workspace feature - changing the desktop-appearance in this way somehow gets multiple-workspaces working properly again!  Annoying but bearable, at least for now.

Anyway, after installing a brand-spanking new OS on a brand-spanking new SSD (Transcend 256GB) I hoped against hope that Wireless might at last also be working properly.  I didn't have to wait long - within 5 minutes, Linux wireless had lost its internet connection!  That was the final straw, I resolved there and then get to the bottom of this issue (somehow!).

My first act was to order a new wireless network-interface-card (NIC).  Seeing as most of my suffering for the past several years had revolved around Atheros cards (specifically the ath9k driver-class), those were obviously ruled out.  My experience with my Intel card (IWL3945) had been none too favourable either, but given that Intel is still heavily engaged in both developing and financing development of Linux systems, I decided to give them another go.  Ended up getting a Intel 5100 NIC for a very reasonable $10 all-in.

From the get-go, this seemed much more reliable than the (2) Atheros cards.  Nevertheless, there still seemed to be breaks in communication.  I had always known that my router's (TP-Link MR-3420) software seemed 'suspect'.  Often while cursing the Atheros cards as I restarted Linux (often the only recourse), to my dismay I'd find that I still had no signal!  But rebooting the router would fix the problem!  It was while Googling for others that were suffering similarly with this router that I came across the OpenWrt project.

OpenWrt it turns out is a Linux-based (yipee!!!) OS for embedded-systems.  Frankly I had never thought of my router like that, so was excited by the possibility of being able to swap out firmware that I knew was buggy for one that hopefully contained less bugs.  Actually it was an Aussie-based 'fork' of OpenWrt that I first came across located here, affectionately known as ROOter.  These guys apparently focus on working out the configuration details of the newer modems available, then combining these configuration-scripts with the current OpenWrt releases.

The slight downside to upgrading your router's firmware is that you run a real risk of 'bricking' it should anything go wrong during programming!  I've just recently found out that as long as you're prepared to get your hands dirty (and can solder) it's possible to un-brick them through a combination of software and a serial-cable.  That said, I've not had to go down that road (yet) despite flipping back and forth between different firmware-flavours over the past few weeks.  One interesting (and suspicious) thing about the MR-3420 router is that it employs an Atheros chip (AR6722) which also uses the very-suspect (to me anyway!) ath9k Linux driver.  I'd love to know where TP-Link sourced the AR6722 driver-code that's in their firmware.  Wouldn't surprise me in the least if it was the buggy ath9k driver-code that they used - it would at least explain a lot!

Anyway, although I've been playing with ROOter for about 2 weeks, I would need to leave things 'undisturbed' for at least a month or two before I could do an apples-to-oranges comparison between OpenWrt and the original TP-Link firmware - something I haven't thought of doing yet, as I've been, well, 'playing' with it.  What was quite disappointing to find was that neither of my Huawei modems (E169G, E122) were recognised by ROOter, although both connected to the internet OK - all the statistics-fields of the live-connection are left blank though.  This wasn't helped when 3 days a go, my 'fast' (7.5Mb/s) E122 modem suddenly died.  I chose the easiest option and simply upgraded my modem via my ISP - €30 for a E5220 modem and another 12 month contract.  Much more than just a modem as it turns out - faster 21Mb/s speed, battery-backed with in-built routing for up to 5 external connections.  Downsides - no external antenna support, and no microSD-card slot.  Unfortunately, this modem is not recognised by either the TP-Link firmware or the latest ROOter firmware.  Nor can it be controlled via the router (the other two modems can), so they cannot be used in combination. The downside of connecting using just the E5220 is that the signal between the E5220 and the computer(s) is noticeably weaker - understandable, since the router comes equipped with  2 large 3dBi antennas!  But as I'm composing this on that very setup, it obviously works well enough.  Surprisingly, the incoming signal from the ISP's nearest cell-tower is displayed as 'strong', even though the speed-tests done so far average only about 200-300MB/s at best - so not much better than what I was receiving with the other two modems, and certainly nowhere near what I was regularly receiving at my old address (600-700MB/s).

So a mixed bag really, result-wise.  I now have 2 NIC's installed in my laptop, although only one of them is ever being used.  Several times already, the Atheros NIC has lost the signal completely.  Switching to the Intel 5100 has resulted in an immediate resumption of the feed.  As far as I'm aware, the 5100 has yet to slip up.  Then again, the MR-3420 is now out of the loop completely, so it's really a different combination of software/hardware that's being tested... 

Aliexpress - going from bad to worse.

I first came across Aliexpress a couple of years ago, which is basically the Chinese Ebay - a very poor imitation as it turns out.  I have ordered literally hundreds of items from Ebay itself and with one exception, everything has been peachy (order sent out allegedly,  but it never arrived, and unfortunately I bought into the Sellers assurances that it would eventually turn up, and waited too long before submitting a claim with Ebay.)

Aliexpress on the other hand has been a very mixed bag.  On the surface everything seems really professional, at least all the bits that channel the customers cash towards Aliexpress!  When you have a problem with an order however, you cannot fail to notice something decidedly odd - it's impossible to contact anyone at Aliexpress itself.  Your only recourse is to contact the Seller and hopefully work things out.  Failing this, you can then open a 'Dispute', which some Aliexpress rep. issues a decree on.  This is all fine and dandy for run-of-the-mill disputes, but there have been several instances when I have wanted to contact them about non-order-related issues - AND THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY OF DOING SO!

Aliexpress also acts as an Escrow, holding onto your money until you have received and are satisfied with your purchase.  What annoyed me about this 'service' was that even though I pay by credit-card, the payment being verified 'live' at the check-out, Aliexpress imposes an additional 24hrs for fund-verification - so before the Seller receives your order, at least 24hrs have passed, annoying!  Worse, until recently the Sellers then had 3 days to fulfill your order, with many Sellers taking it right up to the wire for unknown reasons - so that's 4 days that have passed since placing your order!!!

But having just placed three orders in the past week, things have really gotten absurd - now Sellers seem to have the ability to set their own 'time-out' period.  One of my orders was 'awaiting shipment' for 6 days, with a further 3 days remaining before the time expired!  Another order had a 13 day time-out!!!  And again, absolutely no one at Aliexpress to contact about any of this.  Even the Aliexpress forum cannot be used as it has been "down for maintenance" for at least a week.

I watched all this with disbelief for a few days, with none of the 3 orders having been shipped, before deciding to cancel the lot!  Just to discover more unpleasant surprises for the unwary Buyer.  While there is an option to 'Cancel' an unshipped order, it is more specifically a "Cancellation Request", and the conditions listed are completely Seller-biased.  The only reason for cancellation from the list provided that I found usable was "incorrect part ordered", which I duly chose.  As if to drive home the Seller-centric nature of this setup, my 'request' was almost immediately rejected by one Seller, the order's status being set to 'Shipped'.  This was the order for the highest dollar-value.  The other 2 orders appear to have been cancelled, although only details of one have been emailed to me.

Aliexpress Sellers are a breed-apart as well.  From my experience with them, they don't seem to give a damn about the Aliexpress rating system - the complete opposite to Ebay's Sellers.  One Seller bluntly told me that he wasn't sending my order because he had set the wrong price.  Another first bitched & moaned by email when I gave him 3-stars - my most costly Aliexpress purchase, a Water-distiller for $180, the idiot-seller had quoted me in dollars, invoiced me in yuan, and included the wrong power lead.  I ended up having to pay €58 customs charge thanks to him - itself a rip-off, as much later on I found that it should have been about half that.  I even contacted the Customs branch about it.  Although they quickly responded, on sending them scans of the only documentation I had of the purchase, I never heard from them again!  At the time, these idiots couldn't even convert yuan to Euro, so charged me an additional €9 for them having to contact me!  Another corrupt organisation of this equally corrupt State, no doubt!  Anyway, seeing that I wasn't going to give him 5-stars, the Water-distiller Seller simply removed his ad for the distiller and re-listed it - poof, no more reviews.  This makes a mockery of the Aliexpress review system.  As a result, I've never bothered rating Sellers since.

So why bother with Aliexpress if it's so bad?  Well, in general there is no need to, after all, there are a gazillion Chinese Sellers on Ebay as well!  However, on many occasions there are select items not available on Ebay that can only be got through Aliexpress.  This latest debacle has me wondering though if it is really worth the hassle...

Edit:  Since this was all instigated by a change of address, the item that was posted out to me apparently ended up being deemed 'undeliverable', so was returned to the Seller - which surprised me, I thought An Post would have just kept it!  The final outcome of this debacle was that after opening a 'Dispute' against the Seller, one which had been open for weeks - until the Seller's package was returned to him -  Aliexpress finally returned my money to me!  NO MORE! I'll stick with Ebay from now on.

Edit: Just checked and the Aliexpress Buyers forum is finally back online - after being off-line for MONTHS!  It just goes to show what little regard Aliexpress has for its Buyers.