I've been doing some things with Asterisk that have been causing me headaches. However, this is probably due to my inexperience and the fact that I'm still learning. I can do a lot of stuff already but there's tons more that I know can be done and I'm probably not doing.
My dilema is that if I were to take a course, as far as I can tell, they tend to cover the basics. All the things that I know will be repeated. Now, will I lean something new? Maybe. Will is be worth the £XXXX that I have to pay for the course? I don't think it will.
I am going to see what else I can do that will help me learn - other than trying to implement things, I don't know what I can do that will make me discover ALL that Asterisk can do.
-P
Monday, 24 November 2008
Sunday, 9 November 2008
iPhone 3G - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
I got an iPhone 3G and I must admit that I like it. It's not much of a surprise, however I did find quite a few things that go wrong.
One thing that I noticed it doesn't do well is SMS. I use to be able to write several SMSes with my old phone even when there wasn't a signal available. I'd "send" the message and write another one and once the phone had a signal again, it would send all the messages. Well, I wasn't able to do that with the iPhone. It kept on complaining that there wasn't a signal and it couldn't send. (Yes I KNOW, save it for later!)
The other issue I've had it that it's gotten "stuck" with a few applications and I've had to force reboot it. One was just trying to write into a large text field on a website. It started slowing down and finally I wasn't able to do anything. I couldn't go back to the home screen or anywhere.
One time that actually happened with an email. Speaking of email. I also have a lot of problem sending emails. It keeps on complaining that the email address I'm sending to is incorrect, even though I know it's right. I'm still working on that one and to see if I find a solution.
However, I must admit that the user interface is great and the other day I saw someone using the Samsung touchscreen phone. They went to send an SMS and what did I notice? They got a NUMBER KEYPAD as if it's a regular phone instead of a full keyboard. This meant having to use the number to select the letters which makes me thing that these manufacturers don't understand what the purpose is for the touchscreen. Anyway... lets see what they come up in round two.
Well, all-in-all the iPhone isn't a complete disappointment. I hope they can fix those stability issues, but I think they still have the best interface in town. Let's if what Blackberry's phone does can compete.
-P
One thing that I noticed it doesn't do well is SMS. I use to be able to write several SMSes with my old phone even when there wasn't a signal available. I'd "send" the message and write another one and once the phone had a signal again, it would send all the messages. Well, I wasn't able to do that with the iPhone. It kept on complaining that there wasn't a signal and it couldn't send. (Yes I KNOW, save it for later!)
The other issue I've had it that it's gotten "stuck" with a few applications and I've had to force reboot it. One was just trying to write into a large text field on a website. It started slowing down and finally I wasn't able to do anything. I couldn't go back to the home screen or anywhere.
One time that actually happened with an email. Speaking of email. I also have a lot of problem sending emails. It keeps on complaining that the email address I'm sending to is incorrect, even though I know it's right. I'm still working on that one and to see if I find a solution.
However, I must admit that the user interface is great and the other day I saw someone using the Samsung touchscreen phone. They went to send an SMS and what did I notice? They got a NUMBER KEYPAD as if it's a regular phone instead of a full keyboard. This meant having to use the number to select the letters which makes me thing that these manufacturers don't understand what the purpose is for the touchscreen. Anyway... lets see what they come up in round two.
Well, all-in-all the iPhone isn't a complete disappointment. I hope they can fix those stability issues, but I think they still have the best interface in town. Let's if what Blackberry's phone does can compete.
-P
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
A few issues resolved with new drivers...
After struggling with some of the wifi networking issues on my MacBookPro in Ubuntu -- I had to use ndiswrapper -- I got an update today that seems to have fixed those issue.
Basically, I could connect to my WAP/WAP2 protected wifi network, but I'd have problems with the card not getting a DHCP address. I looked further into it and realized that my DHCP server wasn't actually receiving the request. I figured it was the wpa_supplicant application that wasn't working quite right. Well, all of a sudden it's all working right.
BTW -- Ubuntu showed those drivers as being the restricted drivers (not open source) -- but they actually work great.
-P
Basically, I could connect to my WAP/WAP2 protected wifi network, but I'd have problems with the card not getting a DHCP address. I looked further into it and realized that my DHCP server wasn't actually receiving the request. I figured it was the wpa_supplicant application that wasn't working quite right. Well, all of a sudden it's all working right.
BTW -- Ubuntu showed those drivers as being the restricted drivers (not open source) -- but they actually work great.
-P
Thursday, 4 September 2008
C&C: RA1 and Ubuntu
So who said you can't play games on Linux? I've just downloaded the ISOs for Red Alert 1 from the EA website. Yes, it's a free download as the franchise has turned 13 years old (or maybe it's just that game.)
I installed it on my MacBook Pro - in Ubuntu - using wine.
There were a few issues but these were issues that were mentioned in the WineHQ website and were seemingly easy to overcome.
One issue I still have though is that the menu entry didn't get created, but I'll just add it manually. Also, you have to set the emulation mode to Win95 or Win98 for it to work well, but I'm not complaining.
Red Alert is a classic - I still have the CDs somewhere in storage!
RA 3 looks really kewl - wish they'd made a Linux version...
-P
I installed it on my MacBook Pro - in Ubuntu - using wine.
There were a few issues but these were issues that were mentioned in the WineHQ website and were seemingly easy to overcome.
One issue I still have though is that the menu entry didn't get created, but I'll just add it manually. Also, you have to set the emulation mode to Win95 or Win98 for it to work well, but I'm not complaining.
Red Alert is a classic - I still have the CDs somewhere in storage!
RA 3 looks really kewl - wish they'd made a Linux version...
-P
Google Chrome
I don't know anything other than what I've read in other blogs, articles and on the Google page. I'm just trying to see if by putting this in the title I'll get more hits!
Why? Just because...
Move on... Nothing to see here...
-P
Why? Just because...
Move on... Nothing to see here...
-P
Monday, 11 August 2008
64-bit Ubuntu on MacBookPro and Google Earth
Well, I managed to get the last thing that wasn't quite working to work.
I like to use Google Earth. It's a great learning tool and it helps to make you realize how small you really are. But I was running into problems the first time I installed this. This isn't specifically a Mac problem, it's a 32-bit vs 64-bit problem. I had several 32-bit libraries installed but the one that Google Earth was missing and therefore causing my headaches turned out to be lib32nss-mdns. Once I installed it, I was going around the world in 2 seconds.
I found the solution in a Google Groups posting.
So now, everything works. I can suspend, hibernate, wifi, voip, VPN, google earth, browsing the web, email, sound, IM, VNC, scanning and printing from my HP printers (the office and home printer using HPLIP toolbox.) I even got desktop recording to work which will help with tutorials.
I also use Skype, my Vodafone data card, dual screens, project management, development, Asterisk monitoring (using gastman) oh, and lets not forget games! There's a ton of OpenSource games out there that I found thanks to another site and I've just had to "sudo apt-get install" them. The iSight works too with Cheese although I hope they improve that app a little. I can burn DVDs and ISOs of the different server images we have for work.
Right clicking is done by using the right "cmd" button instead of ctrl-click.
The only thing I haven't tried to do yet because I haven't had the necesity to is to use Bluetooth. I haven't paired my Plantronic 509B Headphones or my Sony Ericsson phone.
I'll try that later and post about it.
So in conclusion ... MacBook + Ubuntu is a win-win situation. You get great hardware and great software with a little bit of hassle if you've never set things up. I'm sure if I had to do it again, I would have less trouble doing so and I'd still be very happy with the outcome.
-P
I like to use Google Earth. It's a great learning tool and it helps to make you realize how small you really are. But I was running into problems the first time I installed this. This isn't specifically a Mac problem, it's a 32-bit vs 64-bit problem. I had several 32-bit libraries installed but the one that Google Earth was missing and therefore causing my headaches turned out to be lib32nss-mdns. Once I installed it, I was going around the world in 2 seconds.
I found the solution in a Google Groups posting.
So now, everything works. I can suspend, hibernate, wifi, voip, VPN, google earth, browsing the web, email, sound, IM, VNC, scanning and printing from my HP printers (the office and home printer using HPLIP toolbox.) I even got desktop recording to work which will help with tutorials.
I also use Skype, my Vodafone data card, dual screens, project management, development, Asterisk monitoring (using gastman) oh, and lets not forget games! There's a ton of OpenSource games out there that I found thanks to another site and I've just had to "sudo apt-get install" them. The iSight works too with Cheese although I hope they improve that app a little. I can burn DVDs and ISOs of the different server images we have for work.
Right clicking is done by using the right "cmd" button instead of ctrl-click.
The only thing I haven't tried to do yet because I haven't had the necesity to is to use Bluetooth. I haven't paired my Plantronic 509B Headphones or my Sony Ericsson phone.
I'll try that later and post about it.
So in conclusion ... MacBook + Ubuntu is a win-win situation. You get great hardware and great software with a little bit of hassle if you've never set things up. I'm sure if I had to do it again, I would have less trouble doing so and I'd still be very happy with the outcome.
-P
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
TTG - Text Traffic Grapher
Have you ever wanted to know how much bandwidth you were using this instant? Do you like CLIs? (i.e. Command Line Interfaces) Then this utility is for you!!!
I found this utility the other day and discovered that it's one of those tools that I don't know why it's not included in most distributions. It's actually at the very bottom of that page, but it's very good.
You provide the name of the router or switch you want to monitor traffic on, the RO community string (usually public) and then you can type "list" to see the interfaces you can monitor and their status. Once you know, use that and you'll see the most recent traffic utilization through that interface.
e.g.
ttg switch public gi1/0/1
Found "GigabitEthernet1/0/1" at index 10101:
[09:44:59] current throughput: in 411.9 kB/s out 218.8 kB/s
[09:45:00] current throughput: in 405.9 kB/s out 247.4 kB/s
[09:45:01] current throughput: in 485.4 kB/s out 342.4 kB/s
[09:45:02] current throughput: in 523.7 kB/s out 357.5 kB/s
[09:45:03] current throughput: in 538.3 kB/s out 350.8 kB/s
[09:45:04] current throughput: in 486.4 kB/s out 302.4 kB/s
---- ttg statistics ----
in out
maximum throughput: 538.3 kB/s 357.5 kB/s
average throughput: 475.3 kB/s 303.2 kB/s
minimum throughput: 405.9 kB/s 218.8 kB/s
Nice huh? This will definitely help me when trying to figure out bandwidth utilization over a short interval.
And there's loads of things it can do ... try the help.
-P
I found this utility the other day and discovered that it's one of those tools that I don't know why it's not included in most distributions. It's actually at the very bottom of that page, but it's very good.
You provide the name of the router or switch you want to monitor traffic on, the RO community string (usually public) and then you can type "list" to see the interfaces you can monitor and their status. Once you know, use that and you'll see the most recent traffic utilization through that interface.
e.g.
ttg switch public gi1/0/1
Found "GigabitEthernet1/0/1" at index 10101:
[09:44:59] current throughput: in 411.9 kB/s out 218.8 kB/s
[09:45:00] current throughput: in 405.9 kB/s out 247.4 kB/s
[09:45:01] current throughput: in 485.4 kB/s out 342.4 kB/s
[09:45:02] current throughput: in 523.7 kB/s out 357.5 kB/s
[09:45:03] current throughput: in 538.3 kB/s out 350.8 kB/s
[09:45:04] current throughput: in 486.4 kB/s out 302.4 kB/s
---- ttg statistics ----
in out
maximum throughput: 538.3 kB/s 357.5 kB/s
average throughput: 475.3 kB/s 303.2 kB/s
minimum throughput: 405.9 kB/s 218.8 kB/s
Nice huh? This will definitely help me when trying to figure out bandwidth utilization over a short interval.
And there's loads of things it can do ... try the help.
-P
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