My Wi-Fi Upgrade Project

Here are some notes on the Wi-Fi upgrade I just completed. It’s probably way overkill for my needs. But hey, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. Am I wrong?

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Project Requirements

  • Replace old, slow Wi-Fi with multi-point modern Wi-Fi 5 solution that can be upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 when it becomes more mainstream.
  • Power over Ethernet deployment for flexibility in locating the WAPs. Also, I want the ability to connect my Raspberry Pi widgets using PoE HATs and add some security cameras.
  • Support wireless Halloween electronics widgets all the way out to the street.
  • Ability to isolate Wi-Fi clients into VLANs, keeping the Internet of Shit devices away from my corporate assets.

Why I chose EnGenius

  • I wanted a business-class Wi-Fi solution with as little nonsense as possible.
  • I was spooked by Ubiquiti UniFi cloud compromise.
  • I have my own DHCP and DNS servers. I didn't want a system like Eero or Synology that wants to manage the clients.

Pros

  • On-premise management does not require licensing, registration, account whatever
  • The WAPs are very sophisticated and can be managed in groups
  • I've got a ton of open PoE ports for expansion. The switch has 185 Watts available; the WAPs consume 10.2 Watts currently.
  • Flexible options for VLAN and L2 isolation.
  • Fairly inexpensive addition to my existing network. New equipment purchase was $578.15:

Cons

  • The management UI is pretty good for running on a modest switch, but its quite clunky compared to modern web applications.
  • The HTTPS security options for the management interface are laughable.
  • The switch has fans that run regardless of the temperature. It's the noisiest device in my office rack.
  • Performance measured with iperf3 is ~500 Mbps on my newest laptop. I don't have any extreme Wi-Fi gear to exercise the WAPs harder.
  • Setting up the VLANs is always more confusing than necessary

Recipe: Rice Cakes

There are a couple of videos on GCN showing rice cakes. I’ve made some modifications to create some interesting cycling food. I think the chia seeds give the cakes some interesting texture — so they’re not just bars of mush. Depending on whether the coconut cream is sweetened, it may be necessary to add more sugar. I like using corn syrup because it mixes nicely and I did well in high school chemistry class.

Ingredients

  • 300 g sushi rice

  • 600 g water

  • 50 g chia seed

  • 100 g coconut cream

  • 100 g corn syrup

  • 1.5 ml vanilla extract

Instructions

Throw all the ingredients into the rice cooker and run on the mode for sushi or porridge. After cooking, run the spoon through it to mix again and let it cool down a little. Shovel it into a zip-top bag and flatten it to a consistent thickness. Place it in the fridge for a couple hours. Then slice and wrap. I like the aluminum foil and wax paper packaging. Keep the bars in the fridge; they’ll be good for at least a week, maybe more.