I created a new diskless 2.6 vmware image and started it,  up pops debian install bootsplash.  I was so satisfied with the lack of configuration on my behalf that I started reading more documentation about creating menus for PXE booting.  I came up with a fairly clean solution comprised of :

Ubuntu : Jaunty, Intrepid, Gutsy

CentOS : 5.2, 4.7

Mandriva : 2009

Fedora : 9

Debian : Lenny, Etch, Sid

All of the above worked perfectly so I am now researching iSCSI for diskless clients, unfortunately I am out of hard drives so I will attempt it on a USB thumb drive.

If you are interested in a copy of my /tftpboot and a quick tutorial how to set it up leave me a comment and I will post a link, otherwise I am guessing no one cares.

They guys at Cisco are good for one thing: making administration a nightmare.  A friend left me his Cisco 7940 last year and I was finally able to track down a cheap power adapter for it ($17 CDN w/shipping from Hong Kong).  So I get super excited to play with my now usable toy and it turns out the SIP IOS for this device does not include a web interface!

I have a some experience with TFTP from my Grandstream GXP2000 and Trixbox makes it easy with its endpoint manager however I like Elastix better for faxing so I decided to configure TFTP on my NAS box.  I tried a few different TFTP daemons including tftpd-hpa and tftpd via xinetd though the easiest to use was atftpd.  The reason for this is (in Debian) you can just run dpkg-reconfigure atftpd and it gives you a nice “wizard” to configure the daemon, so no file editing.

Once I hunted down the latest IOS (no thanks to Cisco) I got the phone booted up with P0S3-08-8-00 and I was happy.  Next was configuring an extension, this part sucked ass.  I am not going to explain how to do it, if you can’t figure it out yourself just use the Trixbox Endpoint Manager, though I will give you a hint : disable nat for the extension in your extensions.conf.

On to the review

The phone is huge, nice big screen and the tilt is awesome.  The handset feels solid and rests on the shoulder quite nicely, by far my favourite handset.  Audio quality is no better than my Grandstream however surpasses my SPA2102 hands down.  The buttons are quite satisfying to the touch though the navigation button (up / down) feels cheap (it is a rocker type).  I absolutely love the Message / Ringing lamp built right into the handset and the extension selection is simple to use.

Geekery - Customization

Though the provisioning is stupid to set up, once it is done configuration is a breeze.  This phone supports XML menus using the little globe button, these services are super awesome to play with.  With a bit of PHP / XML knowledge it is easy to write a simple RSS feed reader (useless but fun) as well as email reader (using php-imap) and phone directory services.

There are a ton of good ringtones for this thing, I am currently using the infamous “24″ ringtone (the one mocked in South Park) and I smile every time I get a call.  The background is also customizable, I cureently am using the one below and I love it (supports BMP).

Overall I give this phone an 8 / 10, only because for the price I would expect either an LCD screen or at least better font selection.  If you are looking for a good enterprise ready IP Phone the Cisco 7940 is a great choice.

Here are your promised Links (I may mirror these, this stuff is precious)

Wicked firmware mirror - no stupid Cisco registration or $$$

Where I found my 24 ringtone (other great ringtones too!)

I had this happen to me three times within the past month and as a result I have three times the music collection (from duplicates being copied without me noticing).  Here is a simple way to get your nice clean library back without having to buy anything.

First you need a copy of fdupes (Linux).  It can identify unique files and tee or > them to a list.  For that you would change to your music directory and run :

fdupes -rf | tee duplicates .

This process may take a while depending on how many files you are comparing. Next you would have to remove them however bash doesn’t like spaces in file names so lets toss this in a little script.

#!/bin/bash
IFS=$'\n'
for x in `cat duplicates`; do rm -v $x; done

And there you have it, no issues with spaces and a nice clean library although beware - you may want to run fdupes twice. Here’s why :

When you issue the -r flag it scans directories recursively.
The -f flag says “keep the first one you find from being piped to the duplicates list”

You should probably run -r and -rf (piped into two individual files) then use vimdiff to compare what you have against what you will potentially be deleting.  I had so much crap in there I just run -rf and deleted.

Happy organizing.

Set aside plenty of time to learn, switching before writing a thesis = FAIL.

Every article I have read  recommends learning over a holiday or while unemployed - I am in neither situation, I am just pushing myself really hard to learn quickly.

Do not switch back and forth between QUERTY and Dvorak (while learning)

Make the commitment and just do it.  If you keep changing your mind about it - it either means you have poor self control or it is just not your time.

Avoid a root shell!

When accuracy is limited - don’t even think about it - it could end in server homicide.

Expected proficiency time

Studies show experienced QWERTY typists catching up to their previous WPM in roughly 56 - 60 hours.  For those living in a shell who have never used a keyboard, expect ~ 20 hours.

Why the hell would I want to learn a new layout when I already type 40 WPM?

I really do not want to answer that as hundreds of other articles have written it better - basically reduced fatigue, the possibility of substantially increasing your WPM and of course 1337 status.

Dvorak is an investment

If I told you that struggling for 50 hours this week will guarantee a 30% increase in typing proficiency for the rest of your life would you do it?  Well that IS  what I am telling you, so get cracking. After 2 days I have already noticed a huge increase in comfort and I cannot wait to see how I progress over the next month.

More Tips

• Try not to switch your keys around - if you are not a touch typer now, switching your keys will only hinder your learning and you will probably remain a hunt and peck - Besides, you aren’t supposed to look at your keys anyway.
• Use a floating sticky with the image below to always have a keyboard to look at.
• When you are feeling stressed, take a walk - do not give up! Giving up feels worse than the struggle, I know from experience.

This works on any platform and is a very powerful tool - I will explain the *nix method of accomplishing this - Windows users will have to Google “SOCKS Putty How To” or something like that.

Basically what we are doing is tunneling all of the traffic from a remote server (American in this case) through an encrypted pipe to a local port.  It is easier than it sounds, here’s how.

On a Mac open Terminal app (in Linux you can use xterm, gnome-terminal etc.. whichever you prefer) and type :

ssh -D 9090 <username>@<server ip / hostname>

If you select a port < 1024 you will require root privileges.

We can then set Safari or Firefox to use a SOCKS proxy on local port 9090 (Safari) by clicking Safari -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Change Settings

Check off SOCKS proxy and enter localhost for the server and 9090 for the port.

To check if it worked you can visit http://ipchicken.com to see if you are sending requests from the remote servers IP.

Firefox has a similar configuration - just look under the advanced tab for Proxies and set it up the same as you would for Safari.

This does require a server running SSH and it will have to be in the united states however it works a charm and can be used for MANY other applications.

Have fun with it though make sure it does not go against the terms of service of your host (which it very well could be) - also remember with great power come great responsibility.

I created a video to demonstrate its capabilities and I hope to have even more powerful features inculded soon.

Take a look at the video and send your feedback.

Todays show featured a wicked little how-to video for setting up your Fon router with Jasager - I must say it was very well put together, entertaining and interesting.

Well done guys, excited to see part two!

An Asterisk box I had set up for a client with ~ 10 extensions was compromised this morning at about 12 AM… and they really did a number on it.  I apologize if you were a victim of this attack however there was really no way of telling it was happening until it was too late.

Over 2000 “phishing” calls were placed over the past 20 hours, majority of them during extremely late hours and to only a small group of numbers - meaning a lot of repeat calls…  My inbox quickly filled with pissed off voicemails from Texas residents - once the server was taken down.

Now a DDOS attack is bad, but can generally be fixed - A web site’s content being compromised is worse - but when hundreds of people are being called late a night asking for their VISA card numbers : That’s a tragedy!

I have taken down the server and have a feeling it was compromised via the Flash Operator Panel which no one ever uses, but the last logs were not cleared and the bash history looked like mine - so it must have been some type of web based attack.  I am downloading the VM to test locally so I can figure out exactly what happened and why, so it will never happen again.

A word of warning to people hosting any type of streaming application / telephony service - LOCK DOWN your shit to the max! A website is visited by choice - a phone call while you are asleep is intrusion, BE CAREFUL!

On a positive note - VoipYourLife is a super wicked VoIP provider for home / business - they had no problem shelling out 2000 calls in < 20 hours - I strongly recommend them!

The show could be awesome - they have a great setup and occasionally hint on neat new ideas however I have a couple problems with it.

• Darren talks too much and is extremely repetitive.
• The beer drinking looks forced, plus it’s overdone.
• No one cares about Windows… or its limitless insecurities/vulnerabilities. This seems to be the topic of every show.
• Everyone looks so uncomfortable, and they try WAY too hard to be funny… FAIL.
• I think Shannon was hired as an equal opportunity employee, that or to get female viewers, regardless she is misinformed (I am not trying to be mean).
• The “Hamster Dance” song should not be played anywhere but the deepest reaches of hell.

I could go on forever but there is something about it that makes me watch every week, I can not explain why (so they must be doing something right).  I really wish these guys would cover more interesting topics such as Asterisk, IPTables, Bind or NAS and stop trying to be funny! It is not working.  Otherwise it is a lot of fun.

I made a quick screencast last week to show a friend what it can do, but since you are all friends I thought maybe I should show you all as well.  Like I said it is a new born, but it will grow!  I have the help of a fellow developer if he can ever find the time away from C++ and ASP.

Click here to watch out the demo video (quicktime .mov).

Hopefully we will have an open version available to you guys to experiment with within the next few weeks.