Cradlepoint CTR-500 mobile router review

DSC_0093A couple of months ago I bought a Sierra Wireless AirCard 597E ExpressCard along with Sprint service so that I could have wireless access for my Mac while I am on the road. So far I have been really happy with it apart from the intermittent disconnects that I am sure are normal for most wireless data services like this.

Last week I also bought a Cradlepoint CTR 500 which is a super tiny Wifi and wired ethernet router that lets you plug in either an ExpressCard or a USB modem for your wireless data service and route that through the built in Wifi AP. There are literally a *ton* of cool features that I didn’t really expect. For instance, the AirCard 597E has assisted GPS built in and the CTR 500 lets you map the NMEA data to an IP port on the router (I am assuming this is using gpsd) so that you can still use that feature without having the card plugged in. I assumed the ethernet port was set up to be a wired port on the LAN side of the network so that you can connect a switch to it, but I found out that you can also change a config in the web admin console to map the ethernet as a WAN side interface. This means it can double as a portable travel router if you find yourself in one of those medieval hotels that only has an ethernet port for internet access and you want to enjoy the freedom of Wifi while you watch the stupid Youtube videos sent to you by your favorite spammer friend.

Other nice features are the built in NAT firewall, WPA2 support, a connector for an external antenna, and the list really goes on and on. Did I mention that the mobile broadband devices can do failover if the connection from one goes down? Really good stuff for $150 US and if you travel a lot I highly recommend it. This model does not have battery power although other models do. I have a homemade battery pack for this that is working perfectly and I will post a how to on that sometime when I get a chance.

Mosso/Rackspace using ServiceMix

Mosso - The Hosting Cloud
Bruce pointed out this little snippet on the new control panel and provisioning system for The Hosting Cloud from Mosso, a subsidiary of Rackspace. Its really interesting that the only specific technology mentioned in the article is Apache ServiceMix which they are apparently using as an integration point for management of current and future services.

We have certainly seen some interesting and unique uses of ServiceMix outside of the traditional business integration scenario, but I find this one really exciting. I have become really interested in the whole cloud computing and virtualization space but I really never expected to see ServiceMix mentioned like this. If anyone has more details about the architecture I would love to hear about it.

I finally bought a Mac

15-inch MacBook Pro showing display.People who know me will realize what a sensational topic this is. I have sworn for years not to ever own a Mac. The reasons are complicated, but it was mostly because I am a total Linux geek and I am really just too busy to worry about changing this aspect of my daily work life. Even worse, I am still a Fedora nerd and have never even used Ubuntu, Suse, or any other Linux distro. So that should give you some idea of my loyalty (or unwillingness to fart with learning a new OS).

Lately I have realized that the very thing that has caused me to stay with Linux (not enough time to worry about changing) has become my very reason for switching. Lately I just don’t have enough time to monkey with certain Linux applications for graphics, diagrams, presentations and a myriad of other things that I am starting to use more and more. So Linux will still be an important part of my development and testing workflow, but its only a matter of time before I will probably use it less and less. I haven’t given up on desktop Linux, but right now I need more polished and usable apps to satisfy my requirements and if I actually have to pay for them, then so be it.

ApacheCon US talks scheduled

ApacheCon US 2008

I submitted three talks for ApacheCon US this year and one of them has been accepted and one has been scheduled as a fallback in case they need to fill a slot. My accepted talk is titled “ServiceMix, ActiveMQ, Camel, and CXF - An integration toolbox” and will be about using all three of these projects together inside of ServiceMix ESB. Its going to be a tight schedule talking about all of these in less than one hour but I have done almost this much before so with a little practice I think I can get done in time for some questions.
My Fallback talk is titled “Enterprise class integration with Apache ServiceMix 4.0″ and this was the one I was really hoping to get accepted. This talk is about using ServiceMix ESB in large scale environments (clustered) with load balanacing and failure scenarios. I will also throw in some simple examples of integrating with things such as IBM MQSeries/WebSphere MQ, maybe throw in some Tibco, and whatever else seems “Enterprisey” at the time.
ApacheCon US is in New Orleans this year in November, so it should be a good time. I am looking forward to some good cajun food and a some good times!

Try ServiceMix 4!


ServiceMix 4 is built on an all new OSGi architecture and contains major enhancements to the underlying container. There have been several milestone releases but we need more feedback from the community as we get closer to a release. I encourage anyone currently using or interested in ServiceMix to try out the new ServiceMix 4 Milestone 3 release and give us some feedback, scream at us, praise it, or whatever your initial reaction is. This release is a fairly stable build and should serve as a good test for anyone evaluating ServiceMix and deciding to go with version 3 or 4. Documentation is somewhat lean ;-) but once we get some feedback and things are solid we can add the necessary docs. Come on, you know you want to try it. Go ahead and give it a shot!

Sony Ericsson K850 for $299 at JavaOne

I’m not a big iPhone fan, mainly because I insist that all of my gadgets have some form of Java hackability (I know, hackability isn’t a real word). So I have been looking around for a long time for a good phone with Java support and I have always been interested in the Sony Ericsson K850 with the JP-8 Java support. In lieu of a full on Android based phone that I can stuff in my pocket next week, I think I am going to take them up on their offer and buy an unlocked K850 for $299 at JavaOne next week.

If anyone has any other ideas to get some Java lovin’ on my phone I am open to suggestions.

ActiveMQ, ServiceMix, Camel and CXF Meetup at JavaOne

If you will be at JavaOne or are otherwise in the Bay area on Monday May 5, come join us at Zebulon Cafe from 6-9PM for some drinks and food sponsored by IONA Technologies. Many of the committers on these fine Apache projects will be there, including, Dan Kulp, Hiram Chirino, Rob Davies, Guillaume Nodet, Bruce Snyder, and myself. This will be a nice casual get together where we can answer questions and talk about the projects and the upcoming releases that are in the works.

If you are planning to attend, please visit the following page and add a comment with your name so that we can make sure to save you a beer or five :-)

JavaOne Meetup 2008 Registration - Apache ServiceMix - Apache Software Foundation

GlassFish v3 to be based on OSGi?

via Jerome Dochez (Du côté de chez…) it looks like Glassfish v3 will be running in top of OSGi (hopefully Felix).

Now the interesting question that everyone will be asking soon, are we switching to OSGi as our underlying module subsystem ? Today I can say yes, we will.

I don’t know very much about Glassfish, but knowing the Sun position
on OSGi (or lack thereof) made me wonder if this was a belated April Fool’s joke. This seems like a very bold move and hopefully there is more news like this on the way (crossing fingers). Given the recent analysis of JSR-277 by Peter Kriens (Ghost Town JCP) and Neil Bartlett (No Way to Run a JSR), maybe my one time wish that “common sense would prevail” might show a glimmer of hope?

Speaking at Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise

On Thursday March 27 I will be speaking at the Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise conference in Philadelphia, PA which is put on by the fine folks at Chariot Solutions. This talk is entitled “Service Oriented Integration with Apache ServiceMix and Camel” and will give a brief overview of Apache ServiceMix, JBI 1.0, and Apache Camel and how to use them together to acheive integration bliss. Well, I just made up that last part because we all know that integration projects rarely result in anything resembling bliss, but I do intend to show what these projects can do to make life easier.

Cross your fingers

Today Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president. Now geeks like me don’t normally get into politics, but I know a good thing when I see it and these are my two favorite people in the Democratic party. Cross your fingers America and hope that this is the next President and Vice President of our country. I can’t think of a better combination than these guys to rescue us from the horrible domestic and international predicaments that Monkey Boy and Darth Cheney have gotten us into.