DD-WRT vs. Tomato

DD-WRT vs. Tomato

I am sure you know know what DD-WRT or Tomato is, otherwise you wouldn't have stumbled upon this page. I have been a long fan of DD-WRT, I think it is the best firmware out there. But that was because I was using the Linksys WRT54GL router. I loved DD-WRT so much such that I had to promote it everywhere, I went to get more routers to get this installed everywhere. However, I want to be cheap and try to save some costs, so I looked up the DD-WRT compatible list and found that the Buffalo WHR-G54S, however I could tell you this is no router for the DD-WRT. Installation was painful, I had to use tftp and I feel like I could brick the router anytime. I had previous brick a wrt54gl with the use of a so-called "Psp version" of the firmware, which according to the description, would allow me to connect to the xlink kai network without the use of a computer and an extra wifi card.

I am a moderate Bittorrent user, and when the traffic shots up the DD-WRT version of the router freezes. The BT traffic will keep going in a slow manner, but the normal traffic will not work anymore. I tried to setup QoS, but it doesn't seem to work even when I have 8M/2M. And during that time you can't even login to the administrator menu, it would just time out. Even if you could, when you try to hit the reboot button, it would time out right there. You have to physically reset it each time the BT kills the router.
I previously read an article about the comparison between tomato and DD-WRT , I thought why not give tomato a try. I know there are a few more 3rd party firmwares out there, but I know the more flash you do, the more risky your router might become an expensive paper weight. I read online everywhere and found that you could flash it within the DD-WRT menu, but you need to type a few commands to reset the administrator password. Installation was relatively easy, however, not as easy as flashing a brand new wrt54gl to DD-WRT.

When I log onto the administrator menu, I fell in love immediately. Everything was quick, and simple. The traffic counter is working flawlessly with a bit of flashy ajax, and I appear to get faster throughput than my old dd-wrt firmware. Plus UPnP actually works right out of the box. I could see computers login and use uPnP. I must say I was surprised by the speed I was getting from the Tomato firmware. DynDNS was setup easily, and it wouldn't jam up every once in a while. I used to have to reboot my router more than once per week, now it is probably once every month?

The verdict is I prefer Tomato over Dd-WRT, however, that is for my Buffalo WHR-G54Srouter in this very moment. DD-WRT runs fairly smoothly at my wrt54gl.

Aircrack on Ipod Touch / Iphone

This video shows that it is possible. It is only a matter of time before someone tries this on the HTC T-Mobile G1.

How to Properly Taste Coffee

The cupping method and tasting terms

Coffee beans have up to 800 flavor characteristics that our senses can detect. Red wine, by comparison, only has 400. Most coffee connoisseurs prefer mild roasts because the longer a coffee bean is roasted the more characteristics that are burned off.

Tasting coffee is an art form. To detect the most amount of flavor from the coffee bean, it must be tasted properly. Coffee tasting works much like wine tasting. As in wine tasting, coffee tasting has special terms, used to describe the taste of coffee and to find the perfect balance.

The Cupping Method of Coffee Tasting

Coffee tasting, or cupping as it is called, has to be done the same way every time to ensure that the difference in the taste of coffee beans is not due to outside factors like amount of coffee and water temperature.

The cupping method works in the following way.

Choose the beans that you want to taste.
Take a quarter ounce of coarse ground roasted coffee.
Heat 5 ounces of water to just below the boiling point.
Pour the water over the coffee in a circular motion.
Dip a spoon into the cup (with your nose close to the cup) so that it breaks the top layer of that coffee grinds that floated to the top.
Take approximately half a spoonful of the liquid from the cup.
Quaff it with a loud slurping noise. The noise is made so that you can mix the liquid with the air, spraying it directly over your tongue.
Savor, swish once, and the spit out the liquid.

Using this method, the tongue is able to discriminate among the many subtle flavors of coffee. Different parts of the tongue detect different flavors.

The back of the tongue discerns the bitterness.
The sides of the tongue discern the staleness.
The tip of the tongue discerns specific flavors.

Terms used in Cupping

Knowing how to taste coffee is not enough. One must know how to describe the flavors. The terms below are used in cupping. Each of these terms describes certain characteristics of coffee.

Aroma: the smell of the coffee.
Fragrance: the smell of the coffee grinds.
Body: the way the coffee feels in your mouth. This is the feeling of weight and texture.
Rich: the coffee has more than body and aroma. The coffee is buttery and satisfying
Mellow: the coffee has a fully-developed body; not harsh.
Acidity: The verve (for lack of a better word) of the coffee. Arabica beans are famous for having this characteristic.

A Word on Acidity

Acidity is a highly desirable characteristic in coffee. Water that is used in brewing can affect it. If alkaline water is used to brew coffee, it will counter the acidity in the coffee. Purified or filtered water is recommended to get the best and truest taste from coffee.

Read here