today we had a small gathering at citos. i was the first one arrived at thai express, around 01.10 pm, after attending bukrie’s marriage ceremony. opened my ibook, and found two hotspots, one belongs to indosat m2, the other is biznet, starbucks’ provider. tried the indosat m2 connection, and i was greeted with a login screen, and a helpful information on how to purchase a prepaid voucher via sms for the internet connection. the strange thing is, that information wasn’t easy to find except you’re connected to indosat m2 hotspot, i can’t even find it on google. oh well, since the connection speed is very fast and cheap, i might do some good to relay that info here.
to purchase an indosat m2
prepaid voucher, and if you use matrix or mentari GSM service, you can
send an SMS to the number 6789 with the message (case insensitive):
im2pre 10000
or
im2pre 25000
and then wait for the reply. the reply is 3 messages long, containing
your username and password and extra information on how you can use
your prepaid voucher you just bought.
i bought the 25.000 nomination, and it still can be used after 5 hours of usage! the speed is awesome, downstream can reach 35 KBps, and 73 KBps upstream. that is FAST, in indonesian condition anyway, when you are so used to dial-ups and the (s)lowly GPRS connection.
oh yeah there is also cbn hotspot in the ground floor, and it is free for cbn subscribers.
anyway, not too long after i arrived, dicky arrived, and then amen, followed by edwin, and the last one to arrive was iip. after having lunch, the fun begins!
the G4 ibooks had an internal USB connection, made to connect with apple’s internal bluetooth module. amen was successful installing an ordinary USB Bluetooth internally in his G4 ibook. now, disassembling an ibook is not a small feat. i’ve already done that, and i prefer not to do it again. fortunately amen is so eager in cracking open ibooks, so we had this arrangement, he’ll help me and dicky install the USB Bluetooth in our G4 ibooks.
well, my ibook was the first one to undergo amen’s cool hands. i was a little embarrased when we found out that the metal sheet inside my ibook was wrinkled, no doubt it was done by me when i was installing a new harddrive in my ibook. the USB Bluetooth installed without a hitch, and it worked just like it should. i had a brief moment of panic though, when i found out that i can’t find any network on my airport. dicky nailed the problem, the internal airport antenna was not properly connected, a little nudge and everything worked perfectly.
dicky’s ibook was not so fortunate though. after minutes of soldering, even until the internal plastic connector burnt by the heat, dicky’s USB Bluetooth just won’t turn on. turned out dicky’s USB Bluetooth needs a 5v voltage, when the internal USB only provides a 3.2v voltage. probably it needs a higher voltage because it has a longer range, about 100m. mine is only 10m.
well, all is not lost, amen still could reassemble dicky’s USB Bluetooth, and we learn to check the needed voltage first before disassembling anything. :)
oh yeah, you can see for yourself how a disassembled ibook looks like.
