QICBoy - LIFE category

Scott London pictures

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Scott London has some beautiful pictures of Burning Man 2008.

Missing water main

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 14:00:00 GMT

You might recall that, back in July, someone tried to rip off the water main. This weekend they were successful.

BRTC PBX with 7960

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:00:00 GMT

Once I had the soft phone working it was time to connect the Cisco 7960's to the PBX. The 7960's are wired (CAT5) to the Netgear router.

SSH to the machine 192.168.1.5 to install "P0S3-06-3-00.bin", "P0S3-06-3-00.sbn" and "brctc.bmp". The first two files contain the phone firmware. When the phone boots it will connect to the PBX system and download the latest firmware. The phones I have are running a really old version of the firmware so loading these files on the PBX will allow them to update themselves when they come online.

# cd /tftpboot
# wget http://www.qicboy.com/files/2007/10/14/P0S3-06-3-00.zip
# unzip P0S3-08-6-00.zip
# mv OS79XX.TXT OS79XX.TXT.rel
# cp OS79XX.TXT.rel OS79XX.TXT
# vi OS79XX.TXT
P0S3-06-3-00
# setup-cisco
# mv SIPDefault.cnf SIPDefault.cnf.rel
# cp SIPDefault.cnf.rel SIPDefault.cnf
# vi SIPDefault.cnf
image_version: "P0S3-06-3-00"
logo_url: "http://192.168.1.5/cisco/bmp/brctc.bmp" 
# cd /var/www/html/cisco/bmp/
# wget http://www.qicboy.com/files/2007/10/14/brctc.bmp

Follow the instructions in step 4 above and add the following options to the extension.

FreePBX
Ext	: 2001
Display	: Cisco
Secret	: 2001
Nat	: no

Configure the phone to point at the PBX.
1. Press "Settings" then 9 (Unlock Config). Ignore this step if option 9 reads Lock instead of Unlock. Enter the password (cisco). Press "Accept".
2. Press 3 to enter the Network Configuration menu.
3. Press 27 (Alternate TFTP: NO). Ignore this step if option 27 reads YES instead of NO. Press "Yes".
4. Press 7 (TFTP Server) then "Edit". Enter the IP address of the PBX (192.168.1.5).
5. Press "Back" to exit the "Network Configuration" menu.
6. Press 4 to enter the "SIP Configuration" menu.
7. Press 1 to enter the "Line 1 Settings" menu. Enter the following values.
8. Press "Save".
9. Press the three keys 6 + * + settings at the same time to reboot the phone.
```
Name	                : 2001
Shortname               : 2001
Authentication Name     : 2001
Authentication Password : 2001
Display Name            : 2001
Proxy Address           : 192.168.1.5
Proxy Port              : 5060
```

BRCTC PBX with soft phone

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:00:00 GMT

I have the basics of the BRCTC system working at home. The server I purchased to host the software came in on Friday. I borrowed a CD ROM from a friend, inserted the trixbox-2.2 CD and let it do its thing. It took less than 15 minutes to get the system installed and running. The PBX is presently wired (CAT5) to my Netgear router. I also have a laptop connected to the router using WIFI.

Purchase TK System from Ewayco ($342).
Remove cover from TK System, connect CDROM, insert CD, reboot, respond to a few brief questions, let the software install itself.
Log into the console as root. It will tell you the URL to access to administer the machine (e.g. http://192.168.1.5).
Configure an extension. Before you can connect to the asterisk server from an IP phone, you need to configure the extension on the server. Here are the steps to configure a basic extension.
1. Point your web browser at that URL (e.g. http://192.168.1.5). Click the link labeled "switch" in the upper right hand corner and use maint:password as the login:password combination.
2. Navigate to "Asterisk | FreePBX | Setup | extensions".
3. Add a generic SIP device and click submit.
4. Add the following options to the extension.
```
Ext	: 2000
Display	: SysOp
Secret	: 2000
```
Configure the IP phone. I prefer to use X-Lite because once it's installed, you can copy the folder onto a thumb drive and take it with you. Here are the steps needed to configure X-Lite to connect to the asterisk server.
1. Start X-Lite.
2. Right click on the application window and select "SIP Account Settings...".
3. Click on the "Add..." button and
4. Provide the following options.
```
Display Name 	: 2000
User name	: Sysop
Password	: 2000
Authorization..	: 2000
Domain		: 192.168.1.5
Proxy		: 192.168.1.5
```

That's all there is to it. Using the soft phone is a realy nice way to troubleshoot problems. Once soft phone is connected properly I can add any number of other extensions and place an inter PBX call.

Power Risers

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: I have every reason to believe that the company is bogus. Do not order from them!

A few years ago, I saw someone at Decom wearing a crazy pair of stilts. He was jumping through the air as I tried to take his picture. I still have the picture at my desk. Today I finally ordered a pair for myself. There are plenty of other videos on the stilts available elsewhere, just search on powerisers.

Arse Electronica, Bluegrass and Decompression

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:00:00 GMT

Arse Electronica starts tonight. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is also running in Golden Gate Park this weekend. Decompression is on Sun.

TV Free Burning Man

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:00:00 GMT

The series of videos by TV Free Burning Man shows an interesting glimpse into the different communities of the city. The video below explains 2007's theme: The Green Man.

What happened to the 60's

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:00:00 GMT

Larry Harvey, the founder of Burning Man, gives his thoughts on "What happened to the 60's" in this video.

Barbie Death Camp

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:20:00 GMT

Barbie Death Camp is one of the theme camps at burning man. I tried taking some photos of them a couple years back but none of the ones I took are as good as the ones on flickr.

Into the wild

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:44:00 GMT

I was anxious to attend the pre-screening of Into the Wild. They kept me there for nearly 2 hours before telling me and a group of others that we weren't going to be admitted. Needless to say, I was bummed. Still, it looks like it's going to be a worthwhile movie. Whatever you do, DO NOT read the intro to the book 1997 version. The 2007 cover contains the exact same text but has eliminated the spoiler last sentence.