http://www.bullcityrising.com/2009/09/att-offers-durhamites-better-cellular-coverage-if-you-buy-your-own-little-cell-site.html
Yes, this is a high-speed Internet connected 3G to IP gateway. Why not on an iPhone just turn the phone into a VoIP phone that connects to an AT&T gateway device I do not know but this is a step forward to better 3G coverage on the fringes. Oh yes, I like it very much.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
a VoIP question (ahem.. Mark?)
Ok, how many concurrent phone calls can "fit" in a full-duplex 100 megabit connection? For that matter how much bandwidth does a VoIP call require?
This is the scenario I'm picturing: an Asterisk server connected via 100 meg/fd to a T1 via Digium card of some kind. VoIP to analog server (as mentioned) connected to a 100 megabit LAN. Other Asterisk servers talk to the VoIP to analog gateway across the larger LAN/MAN (dedicated bandwidth, mostly across a fiber network with a good deal of bandwidth).
So, I'm thinking of the Asterisk/Digium server being what one could consider a VoIP/analog gateway of sorts much like a firewall or VPN concentrator would function as a IP input/output for a, well, IP network.
Hence.. how much bandwidth does one VoIP require to the voice gateway?
UPDATE..
Also, does it help to have a VoIP server that talks to the Asterisk gateway? Should the phones all talk to the gateway themselves? Can an IP only Asterisk server compress traffic to the gateway? Is that more efficient or less?
This is the scenario I'm picturing: an Asterisk server connected via 100 meg/fd to a T1 via Digium card of some kind. VoIP to analog server (as mentioned) connected to a 100 megabit LAN. Other Asterisk servers talk to the VoIP to analog gateway across the larger LAN/MAN (dedicated bandwidth, mostly across a fiber network with a good deal of bandwidth).
So, I'm thinking of the Asterisk/Digium server being what one could consider a VoIP/analog gateway of sorts much like a firewall or VPN concentrator would function as a IP input/output for a, well, IP network.
Hence.. how much bandwidth does one VoIP require to the voice gateway?
UPDATE..
Also, does it help to have a VoIP server that talks to the Asterisk gateway? Should the phones all talk to the gateway themselves? Can an IP only Asterisk server compress traffic to the gateway? Is that more efficient or less?
Monday, September 21, 2009
dealing with Cougars
I've been living the not-so-exciting life of a (nearly) 40 year old man for a bit now and I just read some bullet points from an article that I'd like to pass along. File these under "Dealing with Cougars".
Although cougars will normally avoid a confrontation, all cougars are unpredictable - good point. Granted I've not been single for very long but so far I'd have to agree.
Always give a cougar an avenue of escape. Nobody likes feeling trapped. This seems like common sense.
Stay calm. Talk to the cougar in a confident voice. It sounds easy. But when you haven't dated in nearly 15 years, well, that 'confident swagger' doesn't immediately come back.
Pick all children up off the ground immediately. I remain forever mystified why people bring children to bars in the first place.
Do not turn your back on the cougar. Face the cougar and remain upright. Unless, of course, you are invited back to her place to get horizontal. I hear this does happen.
Do all you can to enlarge your image. I think this helps regardless of age bracket.
Oh, wait.. this article was not talking about the dating scene at all. Ok, move along, nothing to see here.
Although cougars will normally avoid a confrontation, all cougars are unpredictable - good point. Granted I've not been single for very long but so far I'd have to agree.
Always give a cougar an avenue of escape. Nobody likes feeling trapped. This seems like common sense.
Stay calm. Talk to the cougar in a confident voice. It sounds easy. But when you haven't dated in nearly 15 years, well, that 'confident swagger' doesn't immediately come back.
Pick all children up off the ground immediately. I remain forever mystified why people bring children to bars in the first place.
Do not turn your back on the cougar. Face the cougar and remain upright. Unless, of course, you are invited back to her place to get horizontal. I hear this does happen.
Do all you can to enlarge your image. I think this helps regardless of age bracket.
Oh, wait.. this article was not talking about the dating scene at all. Ok, move along, nothing to see here.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
vacation plans 2010
Ok, I'm putting together some odd ideas.
First: Aokigahara Forest, Japan
If you've heard of this place you probably have because it is a noted destination for Japanese who wish to commit suicide the woods are reported to be haunted. Don't read to much into that. I want to go because once past the first mile or two it is supposed to be one of the more incredible places in the world, as far as scenery goes.
Things I don't know that I have to figure out:
a) how to get from Narita Airport to Aokigahara.
b) I'd like to find a place to stay close by where I could check in one day, head off into the woods, take a boat-load of pictures then check back in four days later. Yup, that's right I wan to camp in the woods for four nights and emerge back on the 5th day (then fly home on the 6th).
c) is camping even allowed in the forest? Are permits required? If so how do I get them?
d) is this as nutty as it sounds to me as I type this?
Plan B: This one is so ridiculous I best not even mention it yet. I'd probably chicken out in the first place.
First: Aokigahara Forest, Japan
If you've heard of this place you probably have because it is a noted destination for Japanese who wish to commit suicide the woods are reported to be haunted. Don't read to much into that. I want to go because once past the first mile or two it is supposed to be one of the more incredible places in the world, as far as scenery goes.
Things I don't know that I have to figure out:
a) how to get from Narita Airport to Aokigahara.
b) I'd like to find a place to stay close by where I could check in one day, head off into the woods, take a boat-load of pictures then check back in four days later. Yup, that's right I wan to camp in the woods for four nights and emerge back on the 5th day (then fly home on the 6th).
c) is camping even allowed in the forest? Are permits required? If so how do I get them?
d) is this as nutty as it sounds to me as I type this?
Plan B: This one is so ridiculous I best not even mention it yet. I'd probably chicken out in the first place.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thoughts of 9/11
It was a Tuesday morning eight years ago today. I had arrived at work in Greensboro after my daily hour plus commute. At the time I was employed by Lucent Government Operations and I worked for the group that managed the Video Teleconference gear for the US Government, primarily the US Dept. of Defense.
I booted the PC, logged in and left to go to the drink machine in order to pick up a cold can of Coke as was my usual custom. Arriving back at my desk I brought up CNN to check the news and was shocked to read a "breaking news" headline that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I immediately checked the weather for the New York area and saw clear conditions. "A small plane", I told myself.
A minute later a picture was on the CNN front page. The damage to the building was enormous and it was clear a large plane had struck the WTC. The CNN front page had a typo calling the hole in the building a "gas" instead of a "gash". Funny the details that stick with you.
We all know how the story goes from here. A second plane struck the other tower and it was clear we were under attack. I watched the towers fall, the Pentagon on fire and heard many confusing stories about what was happening with Flight 93 which would later go down in Pennsylvania.
Cell phone and public phone systems crashed. Some people in the office thought some kind of cyberattack was underway against the phone system but we techies explained to them about oversubscription and this was a natural part of so many people trying to get on the phone at the same time.
As luck would have it we had some serious HAM radio operators, old school guys and they had a club in the company itself. In a small room near the back the techie group gathered as the old masters fired up the shortwave radios. This is where I was when the Pentagon was hit. One guy was operating the Morse code paddle while another transcribed what was being clicked across the airwaves so we non-HAMs could understand what was going on. Few facts and a lot of rumors, but it was still nice to hear the raw first-hand reports from various locations.
Work ended that day for me around 4. On the way home I pulled over to fill up my tank. Across from me a young black man pumped gas into his car. Both our heads hung low and he asked "how you doin?" "Not good" I responded. "Naw man, me either but we'll get through it" he said. "Yes, you're right, we will" I said and we both finished fill our tanks in silence. I gave the man a slight wave as I put the cap back on and drove home.
That was was spent with Kelly in front of the TV watching video of the towers collapsing over and over, the second plane striking the tower from a thousand angles and all the other terrible footage. Our Congress men and women walked out on the steps where a speech was read and a spontaneous rendition of God Bless America was sung.
The rest of the week was s a blur. I only remember the next morning I saw the first plane striking the tower. Reports came in about causalities, heavy losses of fire fighters and civilians. Kelly and I left town that weekend with the dog and tent and headed to the woods of Virginia. I just remember wanting to get away.
Now, eight years later, I'm still learning what happened that day. Today, for instance, I learned I had lost a co-worker from a former company in one of the towers. She left behind two children and a husband. No remains were ever located. Another employee from then Concord Communications was lost on one of the airplanes, someone I may well have met during one of my many trips to visit the company to test new releases.
As long as I live I will never forget that day and I assume that is the same for most people.
I booted the PC, logged in and left to go to the drink machine in order to pick up a cold can of Coke as was my usual custom. Arriving back at my desk I brought up CNN to check the news and was shocked to read a "breaking news" headline that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I immediately checked the weather for the New York area and saw clear conditions. "A small plane", I told myself.
A minute later a picture was on the CNN front page. The damage to the building was enormous and it was clear a large plane had struck the WTC. The CNN front page had a typo calling the hole in the building a "gas" instead of a "gash". Funny the details that stick with you.
We all know how the story goes from here. A second plane struck the other tower and it was clear we were under attack. I watched the towers fall, the Pentagon on fire and heard many confusing stories about what was happening with Flight 93 which would later go down in Pennsylvania.
Cell phone and public phone systems crashed. Some people in the office thought some kind of cyberattack was underway against the phone system but we techies explained to them about oversubscription and this was a natural part of so many people trying to get on the phone at the same time.
As luck would have it we had some serious HAM radio operators, old school guys and they had a club in the company itself. In a small room near the back the techie group gathered as the old masters fired up the shortwave radios. This is where I was when the Pentagon was hit. One guy was operating the Morse code paddle while another transcribed what was being clicked across the airwaves so we non-HAMs could understand what was going on. Few facts and a lot of rumors, but it was still nice to hear the raw first-hand reports from various locations.
Work ended that day for me around 4. On the way home I pulled over to fill up my tank. Across from me a young black man pumped gas into his car. Both our heads hung low and he asked "how you doin?" "Not good" I responded. "Naw man, me either but we'll get through it" he said. "Yes, you're right, we will" I said and we both finished fill our tanks in silence. I gave the man a slight wave as I put the cap back on and drove home.
That was was spent with Kelly in front of the TV watching video of the towers collapsing over and over, the second plane striking the tower from a thousand angles and all the other terrible footage. Our Congress men and women walked out on the steps where a speech was read and a spontaneous rendition of God Bless America was sung.
The rest of the week was s a blur. I only remember the next morning I saw the first plane striking the tower. Reports came in about causalities, heavy losses of fire fighters and civilians. Kelly and I left town that weekend with the dog and tent and headed to the woods of Virginia. I just remember wanting to get away.
Now, eight years later, I'm still learning what happened that day. Today, for instance, I learned I had lost a co-worker from a former company in one of the towers. She left behind two children and a husband. No remains were ever located. Another employee from then Concord Communications was lost on one of the airplanes, someone I may well have met during one of my many trips to visit the company to test new releases.
As long as I live I will never forget that day and I assume that is the same for most people.
Latin
*WARNING*
There is really no point in the following gibberish. You can stop reading right now and not have missed a single thing. I just wanted to warn you.
As the saying goes "Latin is a dead language, as dead as it can be. First it killed the Romans now it's killing me." I read an article a while back about dead, dying and endangered languages. At first thought I would have assumed Latin was in the list but it was not. I had forgotten about all the medical professionals that are required not to speak conversational Latin but know the words related to their profession. Fair enough.
But what about Latin amongst the general population? If any linguists read this post I'd be curious to know how sharp of a decline was there after the Roman Catholic Church ended Latin requirements in services. That was, I think, part of Vatican II in the early or mid 1960's. I could be totally embarrassing myself and probably am as I am talking about something of which I know almost nothing. I might have to check to see if any higher education institutions still require Latin as part of a religious degree in higher education. I wonder about that too.
Why? I don't know, beats me. Just something I was thinking about.
So what are the dying languages that I referenced in the first paragraph? There is a long list, at least globally. Vanuatu seems to be the most endangered, or at least in a tie, with only a single native speaker left alive. That can't bode well for that language. In American Yiddish has practically disappeared as a conversational language despite being a language spoken widely enough to have Yiddish Newspapers in print in major US cities at the turn of the last century.
What gets me on these wild tangents? That's probably the real question here. As far as I can tell with today's tangent I started to think about language and my odd ability to pick them up rather rapidly - at a cost. See I seem to only be able to squeeze English as my native tongue and one other language, spoken only functionally, never mastered, in my head at one time. For instance I picked up Korean well enough to awkwardly convey what I wanted to a native speaker in about eight weeks. Not bad. But in doing so I seemed to have pushed Spanish totally out of my brain. Sure, I can still say, in Spanish, "where is the bathroom?", "how much is this?", "check please.", "another round of drinks, please sir!" and basic things but I can't communicate any longer, not one bit. My Korean is slipping too as I don't have anyone to talk to that speaks the language (at least not until I joined the Korean Language Group on meetup.com, we'll see how well that goes).
Other languages I wanted to learn, but never have, are Dutch, I just like the sound of it, German and French. But it seems my brain could never let me know the them all, just one at a time. And how much fun is it to learn something just to forget it after starting a new language? Sheesh. Sounds like a waste of time to me as I now rarely travel outside the US and besides, I could probably make best use of Spanish anyway.
I'll shut up now.
There is really no point in the following gibberish. You can stop reading right now and not have missed a single thing. I just wanted to warn you.
As the saying goes "Latin is a dead language, as dead as it can be. First it killed the Romans now it's killing me." I read an article a while back about dead, dying and endangered languages. At first thought I would have assumed Latin was in the list but it was not. I had forgotten about all the medical professionals that are required not to speak conversational Latin but know the words related to their profession. Fair enough.
But what about Latin amongst the general population? If any linguists read this post I'd be curious to know how sharp of a decline was there after the Roman Catholic Church ended Latin requirements in services. That was, I think, part of Vatican II in the early or mid 1960's. I could be totally embarrassing myself and probably am as I am talking about something of which I know almost nothing. I might have to check to see if any higher education institutions still require Latin as part of a religious degree in higher education. I wonder about that too.
Why? I don't know, beats me. Just something I was thinking about.
So what are the dying languages that I referenced in the first paragraph? There is a long list, at least globally. Vanuatu seems to be the most endangered, or at least in a tie, with only a single native speaker left alive. That can't bode well for that language. In American Yiddish has practically disappeared as a conversational language despite being a language spoken widely enough to have Yiddish Newspapers in print in major US cities at the turn of the last century.
What gets me on these wild tangents? That's probably the real question here. As far as I can tell with today's tangent I started to think about language and my odd ability to pick them up rather rapidly - at a cost. See I seem to only be able to squeeze English as my native tongue and one other language, spoken only functionally, never mastered, in my head at one time. For instance I picked up Korean well enough to awkwardly convey what I wanted to a native speaker in about eight weeks. Not bad. But in doing so I seemed to have pushed Spanish totally out of my brain. Sure, I can still say, in Spanish, "where is the bathroom?", "how much is this?", "check please.", "another round of drinks, please sir!" and basic things but I can't communicate any longer, not one bit. My Korean is slipping too as I don't have anyone to talk to that speaks the language (at least not until I joined the Korean Language Group on meetup.com, we'll see how well that goes).
Other languages I wanted to learn, but never have, are Dutch, I just like the sound of it, German and French. But it seems my brain could never let me know the them all, just one at a time. And how much fun is it to learn something just to forget it after starting a new language? Sheesh. Sounds like a waste of time to me as I now rarely travel outside the US and besides, I could probably make best use of Spanish anyway.
I'll shut up now.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
I want to go home
I wanna go home, I want to go home,
Oh Lord, I wanna go home,
Last night I went to sleep in Detroit city,
And I dreamed about those cotton fields and home,
I dreamed about my mother,
dear old papa, sister and brother,
And I dreamed about that girl,
whose been waitin' for so long,
I wanna go home, I wanna go home,
Oh Lord, I wanna go home,
Home folks think I'm big in Detroit city,
From the letters that I write they think I'm fine,
But by day I make the cars,
by night I make the bars,
If only they could read between the lines,
I wanna go home, I wanna go home,
Oh Lord, I wanna go home,
I rode a freight train north to Detroit city,
After all these years I've been wasting my time,
I'll take my foolish pride,
on a southbound freight and ride,
Go on back to the ones,
The ones I've left waitin' so far behind,
I wanna go home, I wanna go home,
Oh Lord, I want to go home.
Oh Lord, I wanna go home,
Last night I went to sleep in Detroit city,
And I dreamed about those cotton fields and home,
I dreamed about my mother,
dear old papa, sister and brother,
And I dreamed about that girl,
whose been waitin' for so long,
I wanna go home, I wanna go home,
Oh Lord, I wanna go home,
Home folks think I'm big in Detroit city,
From the letters that I write they think I'm fine,
But by day I make the cars,
by night I make the bars,
If only they could read between the lines,
I wanna go home, I wanna go home,
Oh Lord, I wanna go home,
I rode a freight train north to Detroit city,
After all these years I've been wasting my time,
I'll take my foolish pride,
on a southbound freight and ride,
Go on back to the ones,
The ones I've left waitin' so far behind,
I wanna go home, I wanna go home,
Oh Lord, I want to go home.
what to buy?
I have an opportunity to do some extra work and hence make some extra money. I can't really call the money "disposable" but I do need a new computer as the 1.5 Ghz mini just lacks necessary umph to get anything useful done in a reasonable amount of time.
So, my options are as follows:
1) use my existing 15" MBP as my desktop, connect said MBP to a monitor and pick up a used Macbook Air as my "floating around the casa, take on the road" laptop.
a) monitor in question: possibly a 24" Apple LED Cinema Display. Cost $899.00
b) monitor in question 2nd place: 30" Apple Display. Cost $1799.00 (OUCH!!!)
c) cost of used Macbook Air: somewhere in the $1000 - $1200 range
d) so, minimum, $1900, maximum (I hope), $3000.00
2) keep the MBP as my laptop and get a 24" iMac. Cost: $2168.00 (base with upgraded graphics and Applecare)
In addition the 24" LED monitor has an eyesight camera built-in and that's a nice feature while the 30" monitor does not. I was hoping that new 30" monitor with a reduced price and a built-in camera would have been mentioned at the latest Apple meeting, but no. A guy can hope, can't he?
Regardless of which path I select I'm going to have to work a LOT of extra hours on extra projects, but as I've stated prior, I now have the time.
So, my options are as follows:
1) use my existing 15" MBP as my desktop, connect said MBP to a monitor and pick up a used Macbook Air as my "floating around the casa, take on the road" laptop.
a) monitor in question: possibly a 24" Apple LED Cinema Display. Cost $899.00
b) monitor in question 2nd place: 30" Apple Display. Cost $1799.00 (OUCH!!!)
c) cost of used Macbook Air: somewhere in the $1000 - $1200 range
d) so, minimum, $1900, maximum (I hope), $3000.00
2) keep the MBP as my laptop and get a 24" iMac. Cost: $2168.00 (base with upgraded graphics and Applecare)
In addition the 24" LED monitor has an eyesight camera built-in and that's a nice feature while the 30" monitor does not. I was hoping that new 30" monitor with a reduced price and a built-in camera would have been mentioned at the latest Apple meeting, but no. A guy can hope, can't he?
Regardless of which path I select I'm going to have to work a LOT of extra hours on extra projects, but as I've stated prior, I now have the time.
Monday, September 7, 2009
IBM T42 vs Dell Latitude D630
As many of you have read I more or less despise my work-issued laptops mostly because I forced to run a horrendous excuse of an operating system, XP, while enjoying technology that can only be described as "more inspired" while at home (OS X and Linux (and BSD for the record)).
But what about the lesser machines? Can there be a "king of crap"? I think so. Here is what I like and dislike about my two work-issued laptops:
T-42: The Likes: IBM built a small LED light into the lid of the laptop that could illuminate the keyboard and other buttons at night. It sounds like a cheap excuse for a back-lit keyboard but it was somehow more than that. I just loved that little night light. I am on-call quite a bit for work and it was nice to leave that little light on and if I was called to do something there was my little T-42, sitting awaiting me in a warm glow of light on the table. It was a nice touch that was more than the sum of the parts. Very nice.
The T42 had built-in 802.11b/g which was nice. Draft N did not exist so I can't fault it there. 802.11a would have been nice to have, though. The optical drive was DVD+RW and that was acceptable as Blu-Ray was so new it was not expected to have been supported. The built-in screen was acceptable, but nothing to write home about in today's standards. The keyboard was beautiful, nearly as good as my MacBook Pro. It was clear someone put a lot of thought into that keyboard, how it felt, the placement of the keys and how the mouse worked. Kudos for that.
The bad? Not a lot. Even the battery was still going strong after nearly four years of daily use. All in all it was a great laptop. Even the monitor port could be used to extend the desktop (not just mirroring). Nice. The only thing missing was the nine pin serial cable.
The Dell: The good: Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the ability to install a lot of RAM (that XP can't use past 3.5 gigs so what's the difference?) The Dell also has a nine pin serial port which is more handy than you can imagine if you work with Cisco routers every single day. Oh, what's that? Just get a USB to serial converter? They don't always map key strokes correcltly and it's one more thing you can't forget. A nine pin serial cable comes with every Cisco product that needs one. If you work with Cisco gear as often as I do it's a huge plus.
The bad. The keyboard on this laptop sucks. The mouse is far worse. There is no back-lit keyboard or LED light. It's flimsy, and it feels cheap. Howso? Resting your palms on the case below the keyboard you can feel the plasic case "flex" and that just screams "cheap". Could be beacuse I so used to the nice, cool, metal case of my Mac. Probably is in fact. Heck, if I had never had a Mac I wouldn't know about better and could further debate the merits of Dell vs. Thinkpad. But that's all for naught. Why?
My Mac is a superior machine to both. I want to make a VMware image of my work laptop and put it on my Mac to use under virtualization and probably will very soon. I won't be able to use that machine at work but I could "deploy" the work laptop image anytime I liked when using the Mac. In fact I think I'll do that after this week (I'm oncall this week so it's best not to screw with the only interface you have to the corporate network while you are required to provide 24x7 support).
And that's that.
But what about the lesser machines? Can there be a "king of crap"? I think so. Here is what I like and dislike about my two work-issued laptops:
T-42: The Likes: IBM built a small LED light into the lid of the laptop that could illuminate the keyboard and other buttons at night. It sounds like a cheap excuse for a back-lit keyboard but it was somehow more than that. I just loved that little night light. I am on-call quite a bit for work and it was nice to leave that little light on and if I was called to do something there was my little T-42, sitting awaiting me in a warm glow of light on the table. It was a nice touch that was more than the sum of the parts. Very nice.
The T42 had built-in 802.11b/g which was nice. Draft N did not exist so I can't fault it there. 802.11a would have been nice to have, though. The optical drive was DVD+RW and that was acceptable as Blu-Ray was so new it was not expected to have been supported. The built-in screen was acceptable, but nothing to write home about in today's standards. The keyboard was beautiful, nearly as good as my MacBook Pro. It was clear someone put a lot of thought into that keyboard, how it felt, the placement of the keys and how the mouse worked. Kudos for that.
The bad? Not a lot. Even the battery was still going strong after nearly four years of daily use. All in all it was a great laptop. Even the monitor port could be used to extend the desktop (not just mirroring). Nice. The only thing missing was the nine pin serial cable.
The Dell: The good: Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the ability to install a lot of RAM (that XP can't use past 3.5 gigs so what's the difference?) The Dell also has a nine pin serial port which is more handy than you can imagine if you work with Cisco routers every single day. Oh, what's that? Just get a USB to serial converter? They don't always map key strokes correcltly and it's one more thing you can't forget. A nine pin serial cable comes with every Cisco product that needs one. If you work with Cisco gear as often as I do it's a huge plus.
The bad. The keyboard on this laptop sucks. The mouse is far worse. There is no back-lit keyboard or LED light. It's flimsy, and it feels cheap. Howso? Resting your palms on the case below the keyboard you can feel the plasic case "flex" and that just screams "cheap". Could be beacuse I so used to the nice, cool, metal case of my Mac. Probably is in fact. Heck, if I had never had a Mac I wouldn't know about better and could further debate the merits of Dell vs. Thinkpad. But that's all for naught. Why?
My Mac is a superior machine to both. I want to make a VMware image of my work laptop and put it on my Mac to use under virtualization and probably will very soon. I won't be able to use that machine at work but I could "deploy" the work laptop image anytime I liked when using the Mac. In fact I think I'll do that after this week (I'm oncall this week so it's best not to screw with the only interface you have to the corporate network while you are required to provide 24x7 support).
And that's that.
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