IP Addressing made simple, hopefully!

I am now going to focus on a topic that many computer users wish to know, but can't really seem to get the hang of. This of course is IP Addressing.

Basically all an IP Address is, is your computer's Social Security Number or street address number, that it uses to communicate on a network/Internet. (Of course the Internet is a network, just the biggest).

Unless your computer is not on a local network (Local Area Network(LAN)) or the Internet, your computer will not have an IP, because like I stated above, it's used in networking.

All machines must have different IPs. It's the same principle as SSNs or house numbers. Neither of these can be the same either because of identity issues (SSN) and mail would get screwed up (house number).

There are 5 different classes of IP addresses. They are A-E.

Class A - 0.x.x.x - 126.x.x.x
Class B - 128.0.x.x - 191.255.x.x
Class C - 192.0.0.x - 223.255.255.x
Class D - 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255
Class E - 240.0.0.0 - 255.255.255.255

Note: 127.x.x.x is missing because it's used only for loopback, or going back to your own machine. Basically if you type in your web browser, http://127.0.0.1 you will go straight to your own machine, no matter what machine you go to.

Note: There are some IP classes that are for LAN use only and not for WAN (Wide Area Networks, which includes the most popular one, the Internet).

10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255 - Class B subnet by default

169.254.0.0 - 169.254.255.255 - Class B subnet by default - This is Zeroconf, and normally is an IP address you get in Windows if you don't set your IP either by telling it you have a DHCP server or by defining a static one.

172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 - Class B by default

192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 - Class C by default and the notorious in home networks

Now in networking, you normally only work with Class A-C, because D is for multicasting and E is reserved, so in other words both are not used in every day networks.

Before I define how the classes have default subnets I must explain what a network id and host id is.

Network Id - The portion of the IP address that identifies what (logical) network you are on.
Host Id - The other part of the IP address that identifies the host/device, such as a computer, printer, server, etc. Any of these devices are normally called nodes.

In most home networks, the IP address go as such, 192.168.1.x. In home networks, set by the default standard, though it can be changed, a Class C subnet is used. I will explain subnets later.

The octets of an IP address are from 0-255, though when it comes to the host section, 0 and 255 cannot be used although sometimes, in the network id, it's acceptable to use 0 and 255, like 207.255.x.x or 192.168.0.x, it's best to just stay away from 0 and 255 completely.

There are 3 different default subnets.

Class A - 255.0.0.0 - allows for 16,777,214 hosts
Class B - 255.255.0.0 - allows for 65,534 hosts
Class C - 255.255.255.0 - allows for 254 hosts

An easy way to remember what the 255s and 0s even do, is just to substitute them for network id and host id. Basically, 255 means network id and host id is 0 (zero).

So if you are using a 192.168 network, with class A, 192 is your network id, so any machine starting with 192 is all one logical network, not mattering what's in the last 3 octets, which are the host id. This enables you to 16,777,214 machines, which I think is a little much for a home network.

Then if you have a class B, only machines on that their ip start with 192.168 will be on the same network, so machines that may have 192.167 or 192.169, are on a completely different network. The last two octets are host ids. This also normally is way too much for a home network.

Then of course, a Class C, makes it that machines that start with 192.168.1 one network, but machines that may be 192.168.0 or 192.168.2 or whatever else are different networks. Only the last octet is the host id. This is usually ideal for home networks, unless for some strange reason, more then 254 nodes are needed.

My way to remember how many 255's go in each Class, is A is the first letter of the alphabet, so one 255 and the rest 0's. Of course B is the second letter, so 2 255's and the rest 0's. Then C is obvious, it's the third letter, and 3 255s and one 0s.

Now you are not forced by default subnets, meaning even though home networks, 192.168.1.x are almost always Class C, you could easily create a Class B, if for whatever reason 254 hosts machines are not enough. When it comes to IPs, more is better than not enough.

Now all of this information deals with how IP addresses work, but you don't have to literally set all of your machines and devices by hand, you can also use what's called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), which is a server that will run and by default most devices/nodes are set to DHCP, so even if you don't realize it, your devices will get IP address that the DHCP believes are free. Basically your node queries the DHCP server and sets it self to whatever the DHCP server told it to.

Note: Be extremely careful in a DHCP and Static IP mixed environment. You need to configure your DHCP server, so that it can't assign host ids in the range you want to be static. A conflict of address, will create a sitation where both nodes collide and cause all kinds of networking problems.

Notice: I do not claim this is a complete study of IP addresses and subnetting, but I'm just trying to give the normal every day user a glimpse in to the world of IP addressing so that it's not as confusing as it may appear. Also, there are different subnets than just those I describe, due to "borrowing" which were not discussed in this article, because for the normal user, there is no reason to throw away the defaults.

Photo Scanner: A great tool for elimating those huge paper stacks.

Do you have a ton of paper stacks that you wish were on the computer instead?

If you have a computer photo scanner, either a standalone or one in an all-in-one printer, just scan each page in to image format (I use jpg) or PDF, or some other electronic format that you like.

Now that you have electronic copies of the documents, you can use these locally, on a website, or even if you need to reprint out a page eventually.

So as you can see, this is so simple, no real instructions are needed.

Network Card Bridging

So you have Windows XP or Vista and you wish to bridge two or more physical or virtual network cards together? Well you can.

The reason for bridging, which just means sharing the network cards together in to one network, can be useful for various reasons. One major use is with virtual machines, if you already made the Microsoft Loopback Adapter or Tap-32 adapter and want the virtual one to access a real network, bridging can be great.

To bridge two or more network cards together in XP, all you need to go is go to your Control Panel, then Network Connections, select two network cards (hold down Ctrl as you click both cards to selet both at the same time), then right click either one of them, and choose Bridge Connections. That's all you need to do.

Now for Vista it's a little bit of more steps, you have to go to Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center, then Manage Network Connections, then do the same steps, but it works the same.

Now being that it's now a bridge, each card no longer has it's own individual IP address, but one now just for the bridge. So if it's two cards or twenty, it's one IP.

You will still be able to browse the LAN/WAN(Internet normally) with no problems on your machine, yet your virtual machines will now have access to the LAN/WAN. This is if you are actually bridging for virtualization purposes.

Two must have programs for managing Windows Startup.

I was watching TechTV (now G4) one day and I believe it was on The Screensavers show, where they would show off a really cool piece of software.

They had shown Startup Control Panel which is a very cool tool. What it does is, it manages what you want and do not want to start up on your Windows machine. It does way more than msconfig. It actually allows you to add things to startup vs msconfig that only allows you to modify things already added. What's really cool however, is how to adds it self to your control panel where you adjust other Windows things. This is of course, why it has Control Panel in it's name. I also like the feature that if you delete an item from startup, it puts it in Deleted, until you permently delete it, kinda like the Windows Recycle Bin. This is nice for accidental deletion.

The other cool program is called CodeStuff Starter which does basically everything that Startup Control Panel does, except it is added to the Start Menu -> (All) Programs. I prefer this program because it seems to give you way more options. This program allows for way more customization then Startup Control Panel although, I wish it went to your Control Panel also.

So you want a Virtual Networking Card to play with?

There is a feature inside Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and possibly others, called Microsoft Loopback Adapter.

To add one of these virtual adapters do the following:

1. Go to your Control Panel then choose Add Hardware.
2. In the Add Hardware Wizard, click Next.
3. Wait for the wizard to fail on finding new hardware attached to your PC but not added
4. Choose, Yes I have already connected the Hardware. (No will exit the Wizard).
   
5. Go to the very bottom of the list and choose "Add a new hardware device" then click Next.
   
6. Choose "Install hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)"
7. Choose Network Adapters
8. Under Microsoft, choose "Microsoft Loopback Adapter"
9. Click Next, then Next.
10. Then after it completes, choose Finish

Now if you go to your Control Panel then Networking Connections, you now have a "new" network card that you can use with Virtual PC or VirtualBox. You can also use it for various tests you need to perform, but don't want to screw up your actual Network Card. The list of what you can do with Microsoft Loopback Adapter is just so long, that if I tried to even list all of them, I couldn't and even if it was attempted, the list would be extremly long.

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

I recently bought a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet that basically is the size of a Smartphone yet it's actually a mini-computer. I can do everything that is vital to me on the go, as long as their is WiFi Internet available somewhere around me, which there always seems to be.

I use my N810 for everything from just browsing the web to look up quick information to remoting in to various PCs using VNC.

The tablet runs Maemo as it's OS, which is based on Linux and it contains a bunch of free and open-source software.

I can even listen to Shoutcast streams, so I can basically even listen to 2pac all day long or the NYPD SOD (Special Operations Division) if I feel so inclined, which I normally am.

I also sent Instant Messages (IMs) out with my N810. It has Pidgin as it's addon, which is really nice. Though, since I run my IMs through Pidgin on only one machine now so that I have universal logs, I do not do this anymore. How to do this is what I will discuss in another post soon.

I love how this device does not rely on a cell phone plan. It relys soley on WiFi, which is free in a lot of places but sometimes not avaible in the current place you are. Though, how can you complain about a free service?

I use my device as a navigator through various places, because it has GPS included and maps included, so I can help navigate myself through various cities. Also, I can even load PDFs on to it, so I can save public transit maps and schedules for easy access. That beats carrying all that paper around.

Only problem I have is, I hate having a device so small for fear it can get easily damaged, but I got 2 years of accidental issurance on it anyway.

Anyway, I love my device and I am glad that I bought it.

Open-Source (and free) software that is a must for any user!

Open-Source software is software that is "free as in speech" and it can be edited to take out bugs, make a spin-off piece of software, or just to modify the software slightly to better fit what it is needed for. Often you can redistribute your changes as long as you somehow offer or link to the original source code. Though check the software license to make sure.

I am taking "free as in beer" software, which means it necessarily doesn't have the source code available but it may, but it is at least completely free for the user to use.

Though the software I am talking about here is open-source and free meaning it's free as in both speech and beer.

My list of great Open-Source and Free software is as follows:

OpenOffice.org - This is a complete Microsoft Office replacement suite. It is based on Sun's StarOffice which in turn is based on OpenOffice. StarOffice is essentially the same except it has a different spell checker, clipart, you have to pay for it, and some other various differences. This suite has a word processor (called Writer and replaces Microsoft Word), slideshow creator (called Impress and replaces Microsoft Powerpoint), spreadsheet program (called Calc and replaces Microsoft Excel), and a database program (called Base and replaces Microsoft Access). This program is so advanced that it even opens and saves Microsoft Office formats. So you can easily and without much effort, share between users who use Microsoft Office, while you use OpenOffice.org. This program runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and UNIX.

Mozilla Firefox - The popular web browser that is slowly replacing Internet Explorer. This web browser has proven to be less annoying and more secure then it's rival. It has so many addons that make browsing fun. CoolIris, which allows you to see your news or YouTube videos in 3D is just cool. It even has ad filtering addons to even make your web browsing cleaner and safer. This program runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and UNIX.

Mozilla Thunderbird - This program is a really nice replacement for Microsoft Outlook Express or even Microsoft Outlook. It supports more then the two previous mentioned in the sense that it does RSS feeds and make it easily to add GMail email accounts. This program runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and UNIX.

Linux - Linux it self, the operating system is free and open-source software itself. Linux is technically the kernel and the distributions are collections of the Linux kernel and other software mixed together in to one nice working system.

UNIX - UNIX it self, the operating system is free and open-source software itself. It comes in various flavors says as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. This is a truly great OS just like Linux. Since they both basically do very similar things, it's up to you to decide with OS you truly want to use all the time.

If you have any other software that you believe that should be added to this list, please add a comment or get a hold of me, and I will see what I can do about adding it.