OpenWRT Installation Tutorial on a N600 TL-WDR3600 Router
After several failed attempts to find a well supported router that was reasonably priced I picked up a TP-LINK N600 TL-WDR3600 router and found the right OpenWRT firmware to install on it.
As part of the project I produced my first YouTube video that walks through the process. The video walks through located the correct firmware on the OpenWRT site and upgrading the factory default firmware using the built-in web interface.
If you’re going to be using the video as a guide here is the link to the OpenWRT firmware for the TL-WDR3600 router.
My thanks goes out to Michael Kuron for his blog posting about his experiences with the TL-WDR3600 and OpenWRT whose blog posting convinced me to purchase this router.
New Conclusions
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
-Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Examinations
Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
-Charles Caleb Colton
Debt Ceiling Part 1 – Living Within Our Means is “Completely Unnecessary”?
When the Federal Debt ceiling was raised the media portrayed it as an averted disaster that was “completely unnecessary” according to President Obama. In an effort to make my own determination about the consequences of the shutdown I went back to the source of the quote by President Obama to understand the context of the statement. The quote comes from a CBS News interview on October 9th and I’ve included it below for your viewing.
In the interview President Obama says the following with regards to the impacts of the shutdown:
“… Right off the bat you’ve got hundreds of thousands of people [federal workers] across the country who aren’t sure about their paychecks. That also has an economic impact, it means that the restaurants in Virginia, maybe they’re not getting as many customers because some of those federal workers are worried and holding back on spending. It means that businesses that provide services to the federal government, they’re not getting paid, so that may have an impact on their payroll. So the ripple effects from this, across the board, are particularly damaging for this area and Virginia. And that’s why what I’ve said repeatedly this is completely unnecessary. The reason we’re where we are right now, Speaker Boehner and House Republicans, thought that they could get leverage in budget negotiations or de-fund the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, by taking us to the brink, and essentially trying to hold the entire US economy hostage. And what I’ve said is I’m happy to negotiate, and democrats have shown themselves happy to negotiate on any issue. But you can’t threaten to shut down the government as a means of getting leverage in negotiations. You’ve got to take that off the table and I think most people understand that.
If the President accepts it’s normal for federal workers, everyday people like you and me, to cut back on spending to live within their means shouldn’t we expect our government to exist within it’s financial means too?
Shutting the Federal Government down is a drastic action but who is to blame? The person saying “we aren’t living within our fiscal ability and it has to stop” or the person who keeps borrowing with no plan for the future?
My General Opinion of the Debt Ceiling Crisis
At the time of this posting the United Stated Federal Government has been shut down for 14 days. This posting is my critical thinking about the debt ceiling crisis.
In my opinion, the news media is filled with stories about which political party is (or isn’t) willing to negotiate about raising the debt ceiling and what could happen if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. Regardless of political affiliations and opinions of who is to blame please ask yourself these questions:
- Do you want defense for your state against foreign threats?
- Do you want protection of your personal liberties regardless of which state you live in?4
- Do you want adequate healthcare and social programs to help in times of trouble?
The answer to each of these questions is probably “Yes”. Most people would agree they are all good ideas. As a matter of fact the first two are already provided as a mandate of the United States’ Constitution. With these ideals in mind can this nation afford to use deficit spending to finance healthcare without putting our other priorities at risk? I don’t think so.
Healthcare is important, it must be accompanied by a fiscal plan to reduce debt and return our federal government to maintainable spending practices otherwise everything else the federal government stands for will be in continually jeopardy.