bamed.org

If you recall, I bouth an Asus Eee around Christmas time, and I ended up installing Ubuntu on it instead of the custom Xandros it came with.  I’ve been pretty happy with it.  When Hardy Heron came out, I upgraded, and then I started having trouble.  I think I already blogged about it, but basically my Eee was unplugged during the upgrade, which I didn’t know, and it powered off in the middle of the upgrade.  I managed to get everything working, finished the upgrade, went through all the tweaks to get the drivers working, etc., but it just didn’t perform the same anymore.  So I decided to reinstall Ubuntu when I found out about a special version of Ubuntu called Ubuntu Eee.  That’s right, a special version created just for Ultra Mobile PC’s like the Eee.  So I downloaded it today, copied it to a flash drive and installed it.

The install went smoothly, was really simple and quick and when it was done, I’m left with a fully working Asus Eee.  It’s performing very well, even Compiz is working well.  I’ve got wobbly windows and my desktop cube back.  I’ve got my /home partition mounted on an SD card, so after I installed it all my settings and personal data were right where I left them, I love the linux file structure.  So now it’s just a few apt-get install commands to get all my software installed and I’ve got my Eee working better than ever.  It was a bit too easy, almost disappointing.

I’ve recently gotten back into playing Diplomacy at http://www.phpdiplomacy.net.  I’ve actually been deeing fairly well.  I’ve won two games, lost several more, came in close second more than once.  At one point I was listed in the top 20%.  It would seem the key to winning is in your diplomactic skills more than your military tactics: finding a good strong alliance and trusting that person to the end, or almost to the end, or at least for as long as its useful for you.  Starting out as Austria or Italy is rather difficult.  You’re surrounded by enemies, and most see you as easy targets, so unless you can convince one that someone else is going to backstab them and then get them to join forces with you, you’re pretty much dead.  I’ve always done well as Russia or France, but it seems I seldom get those countries.

Anyway, if you haven’t played Diplomacy before, and didn’t bother clicking no the link that describes it, well… you should.  It’s a game “played by seven players, each controlling the armed forces of a major European power. Each player aims to move his or her units – and defeat those of others – to win possession of a majority of strategic cities and provinces marked as ‘supply centers’ on the map; these supply centers allow players who control them to produce more units.” (Wikipedia article)  At http://www.phpdiplomacy.net each turn lasts 24 hours, or until everyone has finalized their moves.  The first turn is the (Spring) “Diplomacy” turn.  You chat back and forth with other players forming alliances, trying to gain support then submit your moves.  When everyone has submitted their moves, or 24 hours has passed (whichever comes first) the move orders are carried out and battles are fought based on the rules of the game.  If someone manages to uproot someone else’s army/fleet, then there’s the “Retreats” turn where those who’ve lost territory have 24 hours to decide where to retreat to.  Then there’s another “Diplomacy” (Autumn) turn, “Retreats,” and then the “Unit-Placing” turn.  This is when you get to create new armies/fleets based on how many supply depots you’ve captured.  So this goes on and on until someone gets 18 supply depots.  It’s really quite fun, takes a lot of thought, and some good negotiation skills to do well, yet since each turn lasts 24 hours, it doesn’t really take a lot of time.

So, if you’re looking to engage your mind and have a little fun, check it out.

If you read my previous post you should know that I’ve ordered a new Dell server to host our Asterisk implementation.  I ordered it June 9 and was supposed to receive it around June 19.  I don’t have it yet.

Here’s the whole story.  I emailed my Dell rep to let him know I needed a new server that met certain specific requirements.  I got an automated reply saying he was out of the office and to contact this or that person to help.  So I picked someone from the list provided and emailed them, then I got an email CC’d from my rep to another rep asking them to take care of me.  Later I got a quote from a completely different person.  I used the link on the quote and ordered it.  The day after the server was due I got a call from Dell’s verification department saying my order was misdirected and that I need to call my rep.  I call my rep and get no answer so I leave a message.  I call again later that day and leave another message.  I email and get an automated message that he’s out again.  So I email his supervisor, don’t have an extension for him, and get no response.  So I go back through my records, and it turns out the guy who sent me the quote must have used the wrong customer number because the customer contact info on the quotes, and the order are all for some company in Oregon.  However, it was billed to our account, so it had the correct billing info, which must be why I didn’t notice; well, that and I was too busy looking at the specs and the price to make sure I was getting what I wanted.   The next day I get an email from my original rep that simply says, “I didn’t place that order… Status said is invoiced right now.”    So I ended up emailing the guy who sent me the quote.  The next day he emails me and says he was out of the office and he’s looking into it.   Then he emails me and says he’s getting conflicted info and isn’t sure what’s going on.  So I email him again and try to explain that the server was billed to the right customer, but shipped to the wrong one.  That was Wednesday, so today, Friday, I email him again and he emails me back saying he’s ordering me a new server since, “It will make the process faster.”  So here I am a week after I was supposed to get my server, and it will be at least another week, probably more, before I get it.

The good news is that the construction on the new office space hasn’t been going very quickly, so I’ll probably still have the system ready to go before the offices are ready to be moved into.

No, I haven’t died or anything. Just haven’t gotten around to blogging much lately.

I’m currently working on integrating Asterisk into our current phone system. I’ve outlined this plan in the past, and unfortunately it didn’t line out the way I wanted it to, but we are going to be using Asterisk, and the plan is designed in such a way as to allow expansion in the future. So maybe sometime in the next 5-50 years we can get rid of the old PBX and run everything off Asterisk. The current plan is basically an ugly hack that we have to go with for two reasons. One is cost. To replace our entire phone system would cost a significant amount more because it would mean replacing all 70 or so phones. At ~$150/phone you can see how that can be a factor.
We are getting ready to move some offices to a house across the street we own. So I’ve been asked to get phones and data working as cheaply as possible.  So here’s the plan in all its hacked glory:
I’m buying a new Dell server with an FXO card in it with enough ports to handle the users across the street (8). This card will be plugged into analog ports coming out of our current PBX. Those ports on the PBX will be given the extension of a user across the street, and Asterisk will be configured to ring that users phone when the port corresponding with their extension is dialed. Meanwhile, we setup a wireless bridge to the “remote” location. So the Asterisk box basically becomes a SIP gateway to our current system so we can get our phones at the new location over the wireless bridge.
Now I’m not just getting an 8 port FXO card, instead I got a 24 port FXO card. The extra 16 ports will also be connecting the Asterisk box to the PBX, and these will be used for voicemail. Our current voicemail server is a 486 SX25MHz with a 40MB HDD running DOS connected to the PBX via 8 analog ports. So all I have to do is disconnect those 8 analog ports from the 486 and plug them into Asterisk. Then configure those ports within Asterisk to automatically go to voicemail. That leave 8 ports left over on the 24 port FXO card to use either for future SIP phones, or more voicemail ports.
Now this won’t happen all at once. First I setup the phones across the street and once Asterisk has had enough time to prove itself, then we’ll see if I’m allowed to use it for voicemail. Then after that’s gone on for awhile and the powers that be feel more comfortable we can start adding more phones and eventually replace the whole thing. Yes I know there’s problems with this setup. Yes, I will be using a PRI to connect to the telco so yes, the expensive 24port FXO card will be useless to us when we transition.