Reading overview, it seemed to be the perfect solution: “The D-Link® Xtreme N™ Dual Band Gigabit Router (DIR-825) uses dual band technology (2.4GHz & 5GHz) … This allows you to check e-mail and browse the Internet using the 2.4GHz band while simultaneously streaming High-Definition (HD) movies and other media on the 5GHz band”. In theory, the idea, itself, is great: to separate wireless traffic when your kinds are on-line and you need to do something at the same time. But, there are few problems:

1. In the real life, I have never seen five bars on my dual-band card (5GHz) and was loosing a connection just two dry-walls behind (15…20 feet).
2. (minor) additional software is required to use USB devices.
3. The router does not see any upgrades on the server, so if you are not lucky and did not get the router with the-latest-the-greatest firmware, you will never know about it until you visit the manufacture’s web site.
4. Well, if you did not upgrade your firmware, you might waste hours or days trying to figure out why you cannot ‘reserve’ IP address for your computers, or why it’s possible for one network card but not for any. Finally, you will learn on Internet, that this router have had this problem with MAC address for months and the upgrade might help you to solve this problem
5. Do not think, that all your problems are left behind: Linux computer will not be accessible from Windows computer having the network adapter with the “wrong” MAC address.

Quick solution was only to look for another router. So minimum requirements were:

1. Price below $100
2. Must be Gigabit wired and N-wireless networks
3. Nice-to-have USB

But the problem was I have needed a land line for the “old-fashion” device using an analog modem. So I looked around and, of course, I have heard a lot about magicJack people have been using for years world-wide.

I went to the RadioShack, bought, came home…

These guys are great. I installed the device in a few minutes (Windows 7 32 and 64-bit), including registration and getting the phone number. I hooked up my cordless phone and it worked great.

But my device did not work. So I looked over Internet and the most discussions were about QoS: how to set it up with different types of routers and bla-bla-bla. Honestly, I think that when we are talking about cable Internet provider and gigabit network… QoS is a last resort.

Keeping playing with the regular phone, I discovered , that magicJack had a problem with dialing numbers (DTMF decoding) if I set up the microphone level too low. Eureka!

I tried to change levels… and as soon as I set the microphone level a little bit higher than default and headphone level to max, my analog device started working almost every time as I have to use it. Of course it could be a problem with the service provider I have to call in.

But, it’s straight way to get a small “replica” of Linux VPS on your desk within a few hours. So, please, if you don’t need or you are Linux guru, just skip all of the below.

Ubuntu 10.04 on laptop Acer Extensa 5620Z

• Why is Ubuntu? I tested a few live-CDs with 32- and 64-bit systems, and the only one started and was working smoothly on my laptop was Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit. The problem with 64-bit was, of course, support Adobe Flash and some other desktop features.
• If it’s necessary, set Ubuntu Linux root password:

  $sudo passwd root

• Share /var/www directory to have access from another Windows PC.  If for Windows computer is not in  default WORKGROUP , it will be better to change its name in samba configuration file at

  /etc/samba

All the program, modules, including HP and Canon printers drivers are from the Ubuntu repository.

Apache 2 server

• Apache mod_rewrite
• Modify configuration file in /etc/apache2/site-available

  <Directory /var/www>
    AllowOverride All
  </Directory>

PHP 5.2.* is installed as Apache module

• It’s installed as an Apache modules
• Additional modules: gd and curl

MySql 5.* & phpMyAdmin

• The problem with phpmysqladmin installation is the package is inaccessible through local web server. So, I think the easiest way is to create a link to that folder from the web server’s root directory.

  $sudo ln -s /usr/share/phpadmin /var/www

FTP server

• You do not need to have FTP server installed until your working/playing with WordPress and you would like to use auto update feature.
• Uncomment the line

  #local_enable=YES in

  /etc/vsftpd.conf

Remote Access to the server

• Now we can try to assign the static IP address to the web server to provide access from anywhere by using DDN service.
• Static IP address is used for wired connection
• PROBLEM: failed to bind mySQL to the static IP address, so it accessible only with phpamin
• PROBLEM: to get access to the Windows computers I have to to use wireless card with DHCP

• I think, that’s from some movie: “I shoot first, then ask”. So I registered and signed for free service. As soon as start the web server and made some changes on my router, anybody could access my local web server. Cool…
• I did not really compare all the options we have from setting DDN with different providers, and my choice was DynDns.com
• The service for the domain <your-domain-name>.dyndns.ws is free. The perfect and easiest way to setup test and presentation environment from any place