Bay Area nerd/computer person. Found at https://www.roguelazer.com/ and primarily on the Fediverse at @roguelazer@hachyderm.io.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: February 15th, 2025

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  • Technically, a router is any device which routes traffic at the IP layer (layer 3; based on IP addresses like 10.1.2.3 or fe80::abcd:1234), as opposed to some other later (e.g., a device which routes at layer 2 is a switch; a device which routes at layer 7 is a load balancer).

    In colloquial usage, “router” usually refers to a home internet gateway, which is a device that does a few things:

    • serves as a masquerading gateway for your local network (allowing multiple devices inside your home to share a single IP address provided by your ISP)
    • serves as a traditional router for IPv6 if your ISP provides such access
    • contains an Ethernet switch allowing you to connect multiple Ethernet devices
    • often contains a WiFi access point, allowing you to connect WiFi devices and bridge them into your main network
    • has firewall/ACL systems to prevent the outside world from getting into your network

    It usually does this by being a single box containing a small Linux or BSD computer running some custom software, dedicated WiFi and Ethernet chips, and some antennas. No magic there; you can do the same thing with any computer if you put enough elbow grease into it.




  • There are still some of those that I’m familiar with, mostly entry-level white collar professional jobs like “receptionist” or “desktop IT”.

    Beyond that, the 9-5 is dead, though. A lot of the rest of American white-collar jobs are 24x7 where you’re expected to respond to slack or email within a few minutes all day, and probably also be in the office 8-10 hours per day. And working-class jobs have all moved to unscheduled part time nonsense where they’ll give you 29.5 hours a week (to avoid having to give you benefits), but won’t tell you which 29.5 hours until the last possible moment.