(2024-08-26) Helping retro meet modern
--------------------------------------
I have reinstalled everything on my main PC, the Asus PN41 nettop. Now,
instead of Arch + OpenBSD, it's only running Alpine Linux. That's what I 
spent the main part of the week on, and the results satisfied me. By the 
way, I've migrated from WindowMaker to Fluxbox and it still is perfect for 
my needs. My weekend though has also been rather interesting, and that's 
because of two things. First, I got a VoIP ATA gateway, namely Grandstream 
HT802. Second, my 12-watch waxed canvas roll by Bertucci finally arrived, 
alongside the watch I'd been hinting about before: Seiko SBDC091 (aka Seiko 
Prospex Alpinist Green). And yes, that's SBDC091, not SPB121, although one 
couldn't probably tell any difference without the original packaging. What 
do these things have in common? They bridge modern and retro technologies.

As for the HT802, I'd been planning to purchase something like this for some
time. It's only powered by micro-USB, drawing 1A of current at most, hence 
its maximum power consumption is 5W. But it's capable of serving two phone 
lines via different SIP accounts simultaneously, and more importantly, it 
supports pulse dialing. Yes, one can hook an old rotary phone to this small 
box and have it talking to the Internet in no time. This is how I got 
interested in the purchase. I was initially planning on buying an even older 
version (HT502), but it turned out to be out of stock when I ordered it, so 
I got this one. And didn't regret it.

The firmware upgrade process (the recent version is 1.0.55) wasn't as
straightforward: Grandstream had changed the main update URL to 
firmware.grandstream.com, so it had to be adjusted in the admin dashboard, 
making sure plain HTTP is being used. Afterwards though, even an option to 
configure routing all traffic through OpenVPN appeared, and I might put it 
into some use in the future. But what am I using this device for? Well, I do 
have a SIP number reachable from normal PSTNs, and I do have some old wired 
phones lying around. With this device, I can create a fixed line phone for 
my room that would be using that SIP number, and actually use it for calling 
instead of any of my cellphones, since I've been spending most of my time in 
this very room anyway. And yes, I'm going to get an old Tesla rotary phone 
from a friend of mine within this week, so the process is going to be much 
more fun than I can imagine.

Now, to the Seiko SBDC091. I've immediately put a different strap on it
(dark-green canvas with quick-release bars) but, other than that, it looks 
much cooler than it costs. Time will tell how accurate it is out of the box, 
but, unlike the Certina DS Action Diver (which still had been running well 
under +1 spd, by the way), the 6R35A in this one is regulatable, so it 
shouldn't be a problem in the long run. I probably will write a separate 
post with my impressions about this watch some time into the future, but for 
now I can say one thing: those who keep comparing it to the SARB017 are 
doing so in vain. In fact, SARB017 had no _real_ advantages over this one 
besides probably a white-on-black date window. SARB017 didn't even have 
anti-reflective coating whereas this one has. Here though, where they 
returned the date magnifier (and I say returned, not added out of nothing), 
I understand why they implemented a black-on-white date: this new model is 
all about improved legibility under any conditions. And believe me, all of 
us start appreciating this when we grow older. Again, the only thing I'd 
really like to see is a titanium cased version of the very same watch.

Finally, the Bertucci watch roll. I must admit, that's one of the things one
can never understand until trying it out. The concept is so simple yet so 
efficient that I wish I had bought one before even buying any of the 
"traditional" watch boxes. It's extremely convenient for securely packing 
the entire watch collection into a bag or backpack without taking a lot of 
additional space or weight. As I only have 13 watches left in my entire 
collection (including SBDC091), this roll perfectly fits my purpose: twelve 
watches packed and one on the wrist. And the collection is probably gonna 
shrink even more in the years to come, so it's future-proof enough for me.

--- Luxferre ---