Using Google Calendar, Thunderbird and Lighting to full effect

Using Google Calendar, Thunderbird and Lighting to full effect

One of the best apps available on Windows is MS Outlook, as a complete suite of apps to organize your life, with Mail, to do lists and a calendar application, which allows for scheduling of meetings, and your time, which will communicate happily with your Windows Mobile or Smartphone Device. Allowing you to know what you are doing while both at your PC or away from it. However, being a commercial application, this can be quite a pricey solution, especially, if your are looking for these features to manage yourself, or maybe just a few others.
However it is possible to archive similar results using Windows, or Linux for free.
Being the owner of an Orange M600 Smartphone, and a Linux user, I spent a long time looking over the Internet, as the best way to get the information shared between my Desktop and my PDA phone. and although there are projects out there , SynCE springs to mind, they are not easy to setup.
So I thought i would look at a different way of resolving the issue.. As always, this is not the only way, its just my way.
Issue
  • Cross Platform Calendar Connectivity Windows, Linux, Windows Mobile
  • Easy to use
How I managed it.
The key to my resolution is Google Calendar, which can be accessed easily enough, especially if you already have a gMail account. If however you don’t have a gMail account, you can create your self a Google Account here, which will give you access to the Calendar functionality. Its pretty self explanatory. Once this is setup, its time to look at your mail client, obviously you could just use google calendar, via the web browser in Windows or Linux, but it doesn’t display to well on a PDA.. Also the aim here, is to emulate some of the functionality of Outlook, which allows you to have access to multiple mail accounts in one location.
The Email Client
The software I use is Thunderbird, Its my preferred Mail client, as i use both POP and IMAP based mail accounts, this mail client doesn’t however come with any built in calendar function, which is a reason, so many people berate it, and state that “calendar functionality is required before this app can move forward”. One of Thunderbirds strengths however, is, like its cousin Firefox, it works on a plugin system. That is, people have written third party modules, which can be used to enhance the functionality of Thunderbird. And I use 2 of these pluginfrom has an old version, Try downloading Lightening from

Lightning Plugin for Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/lightning/
Google Calendar Provider: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/4631

Quote:
Note: The version of the google provider at this time, requires Lightning version 0.7 or higher, and may not work with the one in the Gutsy repository under add/remove, so use the link above to download the latest version.
Quite simply, Lightning provides a calendar interface for Thunderbird, its part of the Mozilla Sunbird project, and helps provide the Schedule interface which standalone Thunderbird is missing.
Setup The Plugins
The magic here, however is the Provider for Google Calendar plugin, which, unlike just adding the necessary links to Thunderbird, to access Google Calendard, not only provides read access, it provides write access as well..
Install both plugins, and restart Thunderbird, you will then be shown, a Calendar in the left pane, this calendar has 3 tabs Agenda, Todo and Calendars. To setup Google Calendar, click on the Calendar tab.
Click on the New Button, in the Calendar Tab, and you will be given a choice, you need to select, On the Network. Click on Next, there is an option for Google Calendar, select this.
In the Text bar under the Google Calendar you will need to enter the Link URL which allows you to write to your Account, you can find this, buy logging into the Google Calendar account you created earlier.

Create a new Calendar, or if you already have a celedar created, click on the down arrow next to the calendar. And click on Share this Calendar.
You will be taken to a new page, where you will need to click on Calendar Details on the top of this page.

Then Select the XML button, next to the Private Address, this will allow you the read/write access to the calendar, if you need read only access, or wish to share calendards with read only access, use the XML button next to the Public Tab.

When you click on the XML button a URL will be displayed (i’ve edited the whole strin below for security reasons) Copy this URL , and paste it into the Thunderbird Text box, then click on Next.

Give the Calendar a name which you will use in Thunderbird to identify this calendar, and choose a colour, this is the colour which will identify your Google Calendar, if you are using multiple calendars. Then CLick on Next and then Finish.
You will then see your calendar listed as available. you should now be able to add an event in either Thunderbird, or the wEb Interface, and both will update to show the events. You can set reminders, repeat events, and all the usual type of Schedule details.
Sync the PDA

The next step is to sync the Calendar with the PDA, this is done using the GMobileSync app for Windows Mobile or Smartphones. it requires .NET CF 2.0 which is available for download from the site, and provides not only read access to they Google Calendar, it also provides write access. This means as well as having PDA based access to your existing schedule, you can provide updates from your PDA to your calendar too. The application requires your login ID and password for the Google Calendar site. and works as far as i’m aware over both Wifi and GPRS networks, however i will confess, with UK prices as they are for Data over GPRS i’ve only tried Wifi. The Sync is a manual operation, and not automatic (yet)

Youtube email confirmation error

I figured out how to fix this. I was having this problem, too. I was logged into my YouTube account, but I couldn't subscribe to video feeds or forums. I always got the error, "You must confirm your email address to create a subscription."

Try this:
1) Go to your own user page. For example, mine is http://www.youtube.com/user/MuggsMcGinnis
2) In the "Connect with " (for example, Connect with
MuggsMcGinnis), select "Send Message" button.

When I did this, I got an error that the email address was invalid.
The address shown on the screen was "muggsmcginnis", not my correct email address. So, I changed that to the correct address and sent the message. I received the message in my email account:

Hi MuggsMcGinnis,

Please click here to confirm your email.

Once you confirm that this is your email address, you'll be able to
upload videos to YouTube.

Once I'd done that, the problem went away.
One of the odder aspects of this YouTube bug is that the system already had my correct email address. I used the option to reset my account password and it sent the confirmation email to my correct email address. Obviously, their account database could use some normalization"

Fix remote desktop connection error "The connection was ended because of network error"

Source Link

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Trouble:

One of our reader Rameshwar reported us a problem regarding remote desktop connection on windows XP. When he tries to connect to a specific machine on LAN, rather than getting connected Windows xp gives the following remote desktop connection error - “The connection was ended because of network error”

Let’s see how can we fix this remote desktop connection error.

Fix:

The main cause behind this problems is some problem in the registry entries at the following path:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermServices\Parameters
Follow the procedure below to fix it.

1. Open Start >> Run and type regedit and press enter.

2. Navigate to the following path:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermServices\Parameters

3. Now delete registry keys named Certificate, X500 Certificate and X509 Certificate ID values. (These keys will get auto generated after system restart with system default values, which is actually needed)

4. Exit Registry editor and restart your computer.

5. Try to establish a remote desktop connection by typing mstsc at Run Prompt.

Note: Always back up the registry before making any changes that may damage your system configuration.

"

Detailed Instructions on How to Jailbreak Ipod Touch (itouch) 1.1.4

Good article on jailbreaking if you still intent to use firmware 1.1.4

Source Link

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Update: If you have an iPod Touch with the latest 2.0 software you will need to downgrade your software from 2.0 to 1.14 before using this tutorial.

In my previous ZiPhone post, I was not as explicit with directions as my other jailbreak method. I am sorry. To make it up to you, here are DETAILED instructions for Jailbreaking your iPod Touch. For those of you curious, it takes up as much space as ONE song. So not a lot at all.

WARNING: If anything goes wrong, hold the home button and the power button until it turns off. Keep holding it until it shows the connect to iTunes image. Then try again. It should work the second time if the first doesn’t.

1. Restore your iPod to firmware 1.1.4

  • Plug in your iPod and run iTunes.
  • When your iPod shows up in iTunes, click the restore button
    • This will erase everything on your iPod, but you can sync it later
  • Do not restore from a backup

2. Download ZiPhone

  • Download ZiPhone
  • Click on the downloaded file and let it install
  • If it doesn’t install, you need to download and install this .net microsoft file

3. Run ZiPhone

  • With your plugged in iPod and ZiPhone running, click Jailbreak (the second action)
  • Wait a minute, and your iPod will be jailbroken with installer on your home screen.

4. Get it Running

  • In installer, go to the Install tab, click all packages, and install BSD Subsystem
  • To get the January apps, go to the sources tab and click edit, and add http://ipodtouchmaster.com/files/repo.xml OR http://repo.applerepo.com
  • In the Install tab, go to iPhone 1.1.4 Applications and install iPhone 1.1.4 Apps
  • Add the source
  • In Installer, go to Install, All Packages, then install BossTool
  • Once installed, click home and let the iPod refresh
  • Click BossTools, Free Disk Space, then Relocate Fonts
  • You can then uninstall BossTool in Installer in the Uninstall tab

5. You are done

  • Sync with iTunes and enjoy your Touching
  • Keep reading ipodtouchhacks.com to see what the next steps are and what you can actually do now with your hacked device.
"

Error "Windows Fax and Scan cannot run as it cannot access your documents folder" when launching Windows Fax and Scan


Symptom

When you attempt to launch Windows Fax and Scan, the following error may occur and Windows Fax and Scan does not open:

Windows Fax and Scan cannot run as it cannot access your documents folder. Please ensure that Windows Fax and Scan can access that folder

Cause

This behavior is observed if:

  • You've relocated the Documents folder to a network or removable drive earlier, and the path is currently unreachable.

(or)

  • The Documents folder is pointing to a Root folder of a fixed drive (example, D:\). More information...

Resolution

For Case 1: See article Nothing happens when you click on a shell folder link in the Windows Vista Start menu to know how to fix the shell folder path manually.

For Case 2: Revert back the Documents folder to its original location, or relocate it to a folder which is at least one level deep from the Root folder (Example: D:\Documents, or D:\Users\Documents etc). To do so, follow these steps:

  • Create the destination folder first
  • Click the Start button
  • Right-click Documents, and choose Properties
  • Select the Location tab
  • Click Move and select the target folder
  • Click Apply
  • Click Yes when you're prompted to move the files to new location
  • Click OK

How To change the display language for vista interfaces like welcome screen, wizards, menus, dialog boxes, Help topics etc. ?

Change the display language for vista interfaces upon completion of installation of Windows Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1) Multilingual User Interface Packs (MUI) for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) versions or windows vista language Interface Packs (LIPs).

How To change the display language for vista interfaces?

  • Go to Start Menu –> Control Panel.
  • Choose Clock –> Language –> Region option. In classic view, click on “Regional and Language Options” icon.
  • Click on “Change display language” under “Regional and Language Options“.In classic view, choose the “Keyboards and Languages” tab and then choose a display language from the drop down under “Display language” section. Note that the “Display language” section will be visible only on Windows Vista Ultimate and Enterprise editions that support Multilingual User Interface (MUI) Packs or only if windows Vista language Interface Packs (LIPs) are already installed.
  • If your desired display language is not listed in the drop down make sure that have installed the vista additional language pack files (.cab files) for your 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) vista versions.
  • Click “OK”.Then log off and login again to use Windows Vista with the newly chosen display language


Note that the chosen display language set is applied only for your user account .The chosen display language may not apply to the Welcome screen or for other user accounts. To effect the chosen display language in Welcome screen and/or other user accounts, follow these steps:

  • In the “Regional and Language Options” window, click on Administrative tab.
  • Click on Copy to reserved accounts button under “Reserved accounts” section.
  • If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation by UAC, type the password or provide confirmation, as appropriate.
  • In the “Regional and Language Settings” dialog box, check to select “System accounts (local system, local service, and network service)” check box. The system accounts are special accounts used by Windows services. This setting allows administrators to specify a display language and keyboard layout for the Welcome screen. It also sets the display language for users who have not specified a display language.
  • Optionally, to copy the current settings to the default user account, check the “Default user account (new users)” check box. The default account is used as a template for creating new user accounts. This setting allows administrators to set the default format, keyboard layout, and display language for new users. Any user account created on the computer after the settings have been copied to the default user account, will have these settings applied to it. However existing user accounts are not affected.
  • Click “OK” to apply the change.

Move the cache in Opera Mobile 9.5

Another great tips

Source Link

"

The safe way to change your cache location

  1. Connect your phone to your computer, and connect to ActiveSync.
  2. Open the ActiveSync window, then click the Explore Device button.
  3. Navigate to \Application Data\Opera 9.5. opera.ini
  4. Find the opera.ini file (If you don't have file extensions enabled, it should just show as "opera".)
  5. Copy the file to your desktop.
  6. Open the file in a text editor, such as Notepad. Immediately do a File>Save as and rename the file to something other than opera.ini. This is your backup, just in case.
  7. Now open the original opera.ini file. Scroll down to the [User Prefs] section and insert the following line: Cache Directory4=\Storage Card\operacache\. (Note: "operacache" can be renamed to anything you want.) Save and close the file.
  8. Copy the new file back to your device, into the same \Application Data\Opera 9.5.

The quick and dirty way

You can, if you want, do all this directly from your device. But we'll be doing so without making any backups, so be forewarned.

  1. Opera_ini_notes Using your favorite file explorer (Note: the stock Windows Mobile file explorer won't work here; I like Resco File Explorer), navigate to the \Application Data\Opera 9.5 folder.
  2. Click on the "opera" file. When it asks which program you want to open the file, choose "Notes."
  3. Scroll down to the [User Prefs] section and insert the following line: Cache Directory4=\Storage Card\operacache\. (Again, "operacache" can be renamed to anything you want.)
  4. Click "OK" and you're done.

Here's a quick video of this procedure.

That's it. All the files collected by the browser will now take up room on your storage card, and not directly on your device.

"

How to make Opera Mobile even better - Mobile Minute

Great Article on Opera Mobile that i found:

Source Link

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Opera MobileOpera Mobile is already hands down one of the best, if not the best web browser for Windows Mobile devices. It loads pages faster than almost any other browser, has excellent support for VGA screens, runs on Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 6, and supports tabbed browsing.

An upcoming release will support zooming in and out of web pages, similar to the way Opera for the Nintendo Wii works.

Yes, there are some other browsers that handle some of these functions, including NetFront, Microsoft's DeepFish and ftxBrowser, Opera combines just about every feature you'd ever want in a mobile browser into one package.

While Opera has made its desktop browser a free program to compete with Internet Explorer and Firefox, the company charges $24 for Opera Mobile, because there's really no other program that can perform as well on Windows Mobile devices. Opera Mobile 8.65 beta is currently available as a free download, but the program will expire on June 1st. this provides an excellent opportunity for anyone who wants to play around with the browser for a while before deciding whether to make a purchase.

Now, the other exiting thing about Opera Mobile is that it's extremely customizable. It would be nice if there were a few more options built into the program's Settings feature. But if you're willing to edit a few .ini files, here are a few ways to customize and improve Opera Mobile.Making a page down button, and other navigation settings

Probably the biggest complaint users have about Opera Mobile's default configuration is that pressing down on your navigation pad or scroll wheel doesn't cause the browser to scroll down an entire page. It just scrolls to the next link. While this is great if you plan to click on every link on a website, it's kind of annoying if you're just trying to read a news item.

What you need to do is edit the input.ini file, located on your device in the Application Data\Opera folder. The easiest way to edit it is probably to copy the file to your desktop and open it with Notepad or a similar text editor.
  1. Look for the section titled [Browser Widget]
  2. Change the entry that says "Down = Navigate down" to "Down = Page down"
  3. While you're at it, change "Up = Navigate up" to "Up = Page up"
  4. You can also change left and right to "page left" and "page right"
Here's a few keyboard shortcuts that you can reconfigure under the [WinCE Application] group in the input.ini file:
  • Bring up a list of open windows by changing "2=Show window list" to whatever number, letter, or action button you'd like
  • Flip through open windows by changing"8 = Cycle to next window" to whatever number, letter, or button you'd like
  • Bring up Opera's help file by changing "0=Show Help" to whatever number, letter, or action you'd like
  • Toggle Fullscreen mode by changing "F8 = Enter fullscreen | Leave fullscreen" to a key you actually have on your mobile device
  • Toggle Fit-to-screen by changing "F9 = Enable mediumscreen mode | Disable" to any key you'd like
Tweaking your cache settings and saving space

Browse cache lets Opera Mobile save copies of images, websites, and other data that you've obtained. Next time you visit those websites, the pages will load faster if their information is stored in your cache. But space is limited on mobile devices, so you have to decide whether you want quicker page loads or more free space. Here are some browser cache tweaks.

Change the size of your data cache:
  1. Find the Opera.ini file in \Application Data\Opera
  2. Copy it to your desktop to edit
  3. Find the [Disk Cache] group
  4. Change "Size=2000" to a larger or smaller size (measured in KB)
Move your data to a storage card:
  1. Edit Opera.ini
  2. Find the [User Prefs] group
  3. Change "Oper Directory=\Application Data\Opera" to another directory, such as "\SD Card\Opera\" or "\Storage Card\Opera," depending on how your device names your storage card
  4. Change "Help Directory=\Application Data\Opera\Help" to another directory
  5. Move all of the files and folders from your Opera directory to the new directory you've created, except:
    • Skin folder
    • browser.js
    • english.lng
    • input.ini
    • opera.ini
    • opera6.adr
    • search.ini
    If you're looking for a less painful way to move your data, Windows Mobile guru Menneisyys has a tutorial involving a registry file change.
    Change your history length (Opera normally remembers the last 10 websites you've visited):
  6. Edit the Opera.ini file
  7. Under [User Prefs], change "Max Direct History lines=10" to another number such as 0, 20, or 372
Change your download directory:
  1. Edit the Opera.ini file
  2. Under [User Prefs] change "Download Directory=\My Documents\" to another directory on your device or storage card
Importing bookmarks
  1. From the desktop version of Opera:
    • Use the desktop export bookmarks tool under File\Import and Export\Export Opera bookmarks to export your bookmarks
    • Replace the opera6.adr file in the \Application Data\Opera directory on your mobile device with the opera6.adr file exported from your desktop version of Opera
  2. From Pocket Internet Explorer:
    • Copy the \Windows\Favorites folder from your mobile device to your PC desktop
    • Open the desktop version of Opera
    • Click File, then Import and Export, then Import Internet Explorer Favorites and select the Favorites folder on your desktop
    • Open the bookmarks panel in Opera and find the Folder titled "Internet Explorer Favorites"
    • Highlight all of the files and folders within that folder (do not just highlight the "Internet Explorer Favorites" folder
    • Right click to "save as" opera6.adr
    • Save the file on your desktop and then copy it to \Application Data\Opera on your mobile device to replace your existing bookmarks with the new file
A few other tricks
  1. Type Opera:cache into the address bar to see the contents of your cache
  2. Type Opera:history into the address bar to see your link history
Thanks to Munk at Aximsite, Research Wizard, who have very useful tips for further customizing Opera, including customizing your start page and editing the default skin.
"

Firefox most useful and common keyboard hotkeys

Ctrl-W or Ctrl-F4 (Close Tab)
Instead of click red icon on the tab, just pres Ctrl-w.

Ctrl-Tab (Move to next Tab)

Move to the next tab use Ctrl-tab without using your mouse.


Ctrl-Shift-Tab (Move to previous Tab)

Move to the previous tab…

Ctrl-Shift-T (Undo Close Tab)
You can visit closed tab again…

Alt-D (Select Address Bar)
Alt-d and type the address..

Ctrl-K (Select Search Bar)
Like Alt-d, but this select search bar.

Ctrl-D (Bookmark current tab)
I think most of you known this hotkey

Ctrl-Shift-D (Bookmark all tabs)
Tired bookmark all tabs one by one, try this hotkey.

Ctrl-F (Search Word)
Maybe this is the most keyboard hotkeys that i used. It is very useful to find a word in a webpage.

Alternative to Microsoft Office

Not wanting to be tie down with paying astrocious amount of money on Microsoft Office license Fee?

Well i guess the only reputable challenger would be OpenOffice.



The latest release version is Open Office 3.0.

In the new version: native Mac OS X compatibility, support for version 1.2 of the OpenDocument format, and compatibility with Microsoft's OOXML format.

The latter feature is particularly useful, given that Office 2007 saves .docx files by default - something that's confused many a hapless user as they tried to send stuff to people using older versions of the office suite.

Here's the link to it.

http://www.openoffice.org

Disable Windows Mobile (WM) 6.1 SMS sent notification


For anyone wanting to disable the SMS sent notification you need to change a registry entry:

Use this program to change the registry: http://pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=1399

Change the following dword:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Inbox\Settings]
"SMSNoSentMsg"=dword:0

Remove Windows Mobile (WM) 6.1 Threaded SMS

For anyone wanting non-threaded SMS you need to change a registry entry:

Use this program to change the registry: http://pocketpcfreewares.com/en/index.php?soft=1399

Change the following dword:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Inbox\Settings\OEM]

"SMSInboxThreadingDisabled"
=dword:1


NOTE!!! Do not use the below setting to disable the threaded sms cause it will resulted in sms receive without sound.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Inbox\Settings]
"SMSAvailable"=dword:1

Change from 1 to 0

Using MSInfo

Do check out msinfo32.exe. Virtually everything that you would want to know about the system configuration of a Windows machine will be revealed with this command. Msinfo32.exe is located under /Program Files/Common Files/Microsoft Shared/MSInfo (at least on our system). If you wish to dump the report to a file, use:
msinfo32 /report reportname.txt
It takes a while for the report to run, so be patient. If you run the application with no options, it will bring up a GUI so you can view the information. To view the information of another machine, use:
msinfo32 /computer \computername

Restore the Windows Vista "Show Desktop" Icon

Compared to Windows XP, restoring Show Desktop in Windows Vista is less of a problem



Source Link

"
If you are like me, then you too are dependent on the functionality of the Show Desktop icon. I typically work with a multitude of applications, and Show Desktop manages to bring order to my desktop instantaneously, letting me streamline a formidable amount of simultaneously opened windows. It's as much an integer part of my workfow as Alt Tab, and I simply could not manage without it. This is why
losing the icon manages to generate a decent amount of headaches. The fact of the matter is that Show Desktop is a unique presence on the Taskbar. Unlike all other icons in Windows Vista, managing Show Desktop is somewhat of a tricky business, long time Windows XP users know what I am talking about.

Well, in comparison to Windows XP, restoring Show Desktop in Windows Vista is less of a problem. All you have to do is know your way around the operating system. But not too much, since the new search functionality in Windows Vista will highlight a compelling result for Show Desktop. So the scenario is as follows: Show Desktop is lost and you are trying to find a solution. Open up an advanced search window, and on the Vista partition look for "Show Desktop". Just make sure to include non-indexed, hidden and system files. Alternatively, you could make your way to the Quick Launch folder in "C:UsersDefaultAppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick Launch."

The 1 KB Show Desktop icon will be in the Quick Launch folder in all its splendor. What to do next? Well, it's rather simple and you have two ways of completing the task of restoring the icon to the Vista taskbar. First, you can copy the shortcut and navigate your way to C:Users and then to the folder with your user name followed by AppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick Launch and paste the icon here. Sounds too complicated? Well, you will also be able to select the icon and drag and drop it on the Quick Launch area on the Vista taskbar.
"

Open multiple firefox tabs using a batch file

If you need Firefox to open more than one URL and in tabs, say to Google, just add the URL like this (make sure you use a space in between URL's):

start /d "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox" firefox.exe -new-tab http://ricotroubleshooting.blogspot.com http://neonovation.multiply.com http://www.google.com

Now you're probably saying "that's great, but how do I create a batch file?".

That's the easy part.

  • Just open up Notepad or your favorite text editor.
  • Copy the commands from above and modify them to use which ever program or Office files you want open. Make sure when you copy file and folder paths that have spaces, to use quotes.
  • Then save the file with any name and a .bat extension (make sure it's not saved using .txt as the file type extension)

How to Upgrade IPOD Touch

To upgrade your ipod touch you have to have iTunes 7.7 +

Download the file > Open iTunes > Connect your Ipod Touch > Navigate to Ipod Touch and HOLD Shift Key and press Upgrade with your left mouse > Browse to the file you download and upgrade will start.

If you are Mac user HOLD Option button!


Cheers,

kerberos KRB_AP_ERR_TKT_NYV

Windows Event Error:
kerberos client received a KRB_AP_ERR_TKT_NYV error

- This is due to a time mis-sync between the client PC and the Domain Controller.

Solution: Run this command to do a force sync
net time /DOMAIN:domainname /set /y

Good Article on RAID Levels

Good Article on RAID Levels

Source Link

"

A brief summary of the most commonly used RAID levels (The SNIA Dictionary also contains definitions of the RAID levels that have been vetted by major storage industry players, and is referenced below as applicable):

Level Description Minimum # of disks Image
RAID 0 Striped set without parity/[Non-Redundant Array]. Provides improved performance and additional storage but no fault tolerance. Any disk failure destroys the array, which becomes more likely with more disks in the array. A single disk failure destroys the entire array because when data is written to a RAID 0 drive, the data is broken into fragments. The number of fragments is dictated by the number of disks in the array. The fragments are written to their respective disks simultaneously on the same sector. This allows smaller sections of the entire chunk of data to be read off the drive in parallel, giving this type of arrangement huge bandwidth. RAID 0 does not implement error checking so any error is unrecoverable. More disks in the array means higher bandwidth, but greater risk of data loss. SNIA definition. 2 RAID Level 0
RAID 1 Mirrored set without parity. Provides fault tolerance from disk errors and failure of all but one of the drives. Increased read performance occurs when using a multi-threaded operating system that supports split seeks, very small performance reduction when writing. Array continues to operate so long as at least one drive is functioning. Using RAID 1 with a separate controller for each disk is sometimes called duplexing. SNIA definition. 2 RAID Level 1
RAID 2 Redundancy through Hamming code. Disks are synchronised and striped in very small stripes, often in single bytes/words. Hamming codes error correction is calculated across corresponding bits on disks, and is stored on multiple parity disks. SNIA definition 3
RAID 3 Striped set with dedicated parity/Bit interleaved parity. This mechanism provides an improved performance and fault tolerance similar to RAID 5, but with a dedicated parity disk rather than rotated parity stripes. The single parity disk is a bottle-neck for writing since every write requires updating the parity data. One minor benefit is the dedicated parity disk allows the parity drive to fail and operation will continue without parity or performance penalty. SNIA definition 3 RAID Level 3
RAID 4 Block level parity. Identical to RAID 3, but does block-level striping instead of byte-level striping. In this setup, files can be distributed between multiple disks. Each disk operates independently which allows I/O requests to be performed in parallel, though data transfer speeds can suffer due to the type of parity. The error detection is achieved through dedicated parity and is stored in a separate, single disk unit. SNIA definition 3 RAID Level 4
RAID 5 Striped set with distributed parity. Distributed parity requires all drives but one to be present to operate; drive failure requires replacement, but the array is not destroyed by a single drive failure. Upon drive failure, any subsequent reads can be calculated from the distributed parity such that the drive failure is masked from the end user. The array will have data loss in the event of a second drive failure and is vulnerable until the data that was on the failed drive is rebuilt onto a replacement drive. SNIA definition 3 RAID Level 5
RAID 6 Striped set with dual distributed Parity. Provides fault tolerance from two drive failures; array continues to operate with up to two failed drives. This makes larger RAID groups more practical, especially for high availability systems. This becomes increasingly important because large-capacity drives lengthen the time needed to recover from the failure of a single drive. Single parity RAID levels are vulnerable to data loss until the failed drive is rebuilt: the larger the drive, the longer the rebuild will take. Dual parity gives time to rebuild the array without the data being at risk if one drive, but no more, fails before the rebuild is complete. SNIA definition 4 RAID Level 6

Recover lost wireless network key

Use this free software to recover lost wireless network key.

Source Link

"
WirelessKeyView recovers all wireless network keys (WEP/WPA) stored in your computer by the 'Wireless Zero Configuration' service of Windows XP and by the 'WLAN AutoConfig' service of Windows Vista. It allows you to easily save all keys to text/html/xml file, or copy a single key to the clipboard.


"

How to run PHP 4 and PHP 5 at the same time on Apache for Windows

A great article for running both PHH4 and PHP5 at the same time. :)

Article Source

"

Whilst the majority of web applications are hosted on Linux, most developers use Windows. Installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL on your Windows PC is recommended and has become much easier. However, few developers can test their pages in PHP 4 and PHP 5 on the same machine at the same time - but it is possible…

Environment overview

This article will not describe every step in detail, but it should give you enough information to create your own multi-PHP web development environment:

  1. We’ll define the domains http://test/ and http://test4/. Both will navigate to the same php files located in C:\WebPages\

  2. PHP 5 will be installed as an Apache SAPI module and will be used for pages in the domain http://test/.

  3. PHP 4 will be installed as a CGI binary. PHP files will be executed using PHP 4 by changing the domain to http://test4/ or accessing via port 81, e.g. http://test:81/

Note that the latest versions of PHP 5 run very slowly if you use the CGI binary. Defining it as a module solves this issue.

Installation ingredients

The freeware/open source software you’ll need is:

Both Apache and MySQL provide Windows installers, so just run them. All going well, you should then be able to navigate to http://localhost/ in your browser.

Extract PHP 4 to C:\php\php4 and PHP 5 to C:\php\php5. Follow the instructions for configuring your php.ini file, but ignore the Apache setup details for now - we’ll cover that below. One setting that may catch you out is extension_dir - for PHP 5 use:
extension_dir = "C:\php\php5\ext"

and for PHP 4 use:
extension_dir = "C:\php\php4\extensions\"

You can now uncomment any extensions you wish to use, e.g. extension=php_mysql.dll in PHP 5’s php.ini.

Windows system setup

Now all the files are in place, we’ll define the local domains test and test4. This is done by editing the hosts file, located in %WINDOWS%/system32/drivers/etc. Add the following lines:
127.0.0.1 test
127.0.0.1 test4

You can update your system using the command ‘nbtstat -R’, but you’ll need a reboot soon so don’t worry about it!

Now go to the Control Panel, open System, click the Advanced tab, and click Environment Variables. In the System variables section, click “Path” in the list followed by Edit. Add “;C:\php\php4;C:\php\php5″ to the end of the Variable value line.

Now reboot to make sure the settings are applied.

Configuring Apache

The Apache configuration file is normally located at %PROGRAMS%\Apache Group\Apache2\conf\httpd.conf You’ll need to locate and edit the following settings.

Set the server to listen on port 80 (the default) and port 81:
Listen 80
Listen 81

Ensure your root folder is set correctly (note the forward slash):
DocumentRoot "C:/WebPages"

Add php files to the directory index, e.g.
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php

Just before the Virtual Hosts section, define PHP 5 as a SAPI module:
# PHP5 module
LoadModule php5_module “c:/php/php5/php5apache2.dll”
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
PHPIniDir “C:/php/php5″

Finally, we’ll define the localhost, test, and test4 virtual domain settings for ports 80 and 81. Where PHP 4 is required (test4 domain or port 81), it is defined as a CGI binary that will override the PHP5 module.

NameVirtualHost *:80
NameVirtualHost *:81

# localhost:80 - PHP5
<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot C:/WebPages
</VirtualHost>

# localhost:81 - PHP4
<VirtualHost *:81>

DocumentRoot C:/WebPages
ScriptAlias /php/ “c:/php/php4/”
Action application/x-httpd-php4 “/php/php.exe”
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php4 .php
</VirtualHost>

# test:80 - PHP5
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName test
DocumentRoot C:/WebPages
</VirtualHost>

# test:81 - PHP4
<VirtualHost *:81>
ServerName test
DocumentRoot C:/WebPages
ScriptAlias /php/ “c:/php/php4/”
Action application/x-httpd-php4 “/php/php.exe”
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php4 .php

</VirtualHost>

# test4:80 - PHP4
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName test4
DocumentRoot C:/WebPages
ScriptAlias /php/ “c:/php/php4/”
Action application/x-httpd-php4 “/php/php.exe”
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php4 .php
</VirtualHost>

# test4:81 - PHP4
<VirtualHost *:81>
ServerName test4
DocumentRoot C:/WebPages
ScriptAlias /php/ “c:/php/php4/”
Action application/x-httpd-php4 “/php/php.exe”
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php4 .php
</VirtualHost>

You’ll now need to restart Apache. It may be best to use “net stop apache2″ followed by “net start apache2″ on the command line. This will allow you to see any configuration error messages, but several other helpful tools are provided in the Apache program group.

Testing your environment

Create a new file phpinfo.php in C:\WebPages\. Edit the file and add the line:
<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Save it, then visit the following addresses in your browser:

  • http://test/phpinfo.php - should show PHP 5

  • http://test4/phpinfo.php - should show PHP 4

  • http://test:81/phpinfo.php - should show PHP 4
And that’s all there is to it!

Obviously, you can now define further virtual domains - perhaps one for every website you create. "

Google Picasa 3 Beta Release

An outstanding image viewer by google.

There are the exciting new features in Google Picasa 3.

sync

Sync your Picasa 3 and Picasa Web Albums edits

Tired of having to manually re-upload your photos after making further edits? By enabling 'Sync to Web,' edits made to your photos in Picasa 3 are automatically transferred to your corresponding online albums.

retouch

Retouch your images

Always want to be airbrushed? Use the Retouch tool to remove unsightly blemishes and improve photo quality. It can also help you to restore old photos with marks, water stains, and scratches to excellent condition.

viewer

Preview image files with Picasa Photo Viewer

The photo viewer is a fast, lightweight application for viewing images on your desktop or through Windows Explorer. Installed with Picasa 3, it lets you to take a quick look at images without having to fully open the Picasa 3 program.

movie maker

Make a movie

Combine your photos, videos, and music into a movie, and create a Windows Media file. Share it with friends by uploading it directly to YouTube.

webcam

Capture your screen

Instantly take and import your screen captures and webcam captures into Picasa 3.

text

Add text or watermarks to your photos

You can easily personalize your photos using the Watermark and Text tools.

print

Print captions

Your captions are about to see a little more action. You can now print your captions or photo file names on or below your photos.

dropbox

Upload easily to Picasa Web Albums

Use the Drop Box to hold quick uploads and upload throttling to multi-task during your upload.

PWA settings

Control your Picasa Web Albums settings

If you have an online album in Picasa Web Albums, you can now control the online settings through the corresponding folder or album in Picasa 3.

move folders

Manage folders on your computer

It's now possible to move entire folders around on your hard drive from within Picasa 3.

exif

Get more information about your photos

We've added new icons and tools to the Library view to quickly communicate useful information about your photos.

Screamer Radio


Looking for a small in size and with recording capable internet radio player?

I recommend 'Screamer Radio'. It's lightweight and low in resources.

Hit the link below to take a look yourself. :)

http://www.screamer-radio.com/

How to get toshiba satellite m200 built in camera to work

A very detail article that i found from the Toshiba Forum.

"
SOLUTION FOR Chicony USB 2.0 CAMERA problem in TOSHIBA

A205-S7464 with Windows Vista Home Premium (English)

(be patient with my poor english, please)


The problem was in the .INF file of the camera driver named "casflr.inf". The "ClassGUID" is incorrect to register the driver. We need correct then manually.


The Problem:

1) Windows Vista Home Premium (ENGLISH) installed

2) After install OS, in Control Panel, Device Manager, appears under Another Devices / Chicony USB 2.0 Camera (to install a driver)

3) Trying to install or update the driver by Web doesn't work and trying by browser my computer for device driver.../ Let me pick from a list of device driver... USB Device... etc... doesn't work too.

4) After Installing the last software device driver from Toshiba Support Page:

http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/util_camera_26505A.exe

you have a error message, something like "Camera does not work. Restart camera or computer"...

5) And after you installed the Software Driver from Toshiba, trying update the driver on Device Manager, by browser my computer for device driver.../ Let me pick from a list of device driver... USB Device... choosing one of the Chicony USB 2.0 Camera we have a error message like...

"The Register Class for this device were incorrect" (may be different...)

If you have all this "problems" in sequence... you need to do 3 things. One in Windows Vista Register file, other in .INF file of the camera driver and them update the driver again. It's easy.


The Steps...

1) In Start Search digit "regedt32.exe", run the program to edit register.

2) Find this key below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\VID_04F2&PID_B008&MI_00

or

In Edit Menu, click in Find, digit "Chicony USB 2.0 Camera", press enter

you will find a sub-key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\VID_04F2&PID_B008&MI_00\6&298da7b3&0&0000


3) Immediately above of the first KEY, you have another KEY:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\VID_04F2&PID_B008


with another sub-key \SN0001, click them.

4) Find in the right window the GWord named "ClassGUID", click them twice and Copy the value in this window (in my computer is {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000} ), COPY THEN...

Here is the correct class ID to register the device driver for Chicony USB 2.0 Camera. Now we are going to correct it in .INF file. Remember that we had a incorrect class register error message trying to update the driver before.

You need installed the last version of Toshiba Support Software Driver for Chicony USB 2.0 Camera. In my case I download this in:

http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/util_camera_26505A.exe

5) Then Open the install folder of the software "C:\Program Files\Camera Assistant Software for Toshiba\driver\32bit\" and edit the file "casflr.inf". Just Open to Edit it.

In firsts line you have this:

Version
signature="$CHICAGO$"
Class=Image
ClassGUID={6bdd1fc6-810f-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}
Provider=%cec%
CatalogFile=casflr.cat
DriverVer=04/24/2007,6.2.208.0424
;LayoutFile=layout.inf

6) REPLACE the line or COMMENT it (put ";" in the beginning of the line) that contain "ClassGUID":

;ClassGUID={6bdd1fc6-810f-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}

7) Now put a new line after the older line with the correct class ID that we found in the register

ClassGUID={36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}

You will have something like this:

Version
signature="$CHICAGO$"
Class=Image
;ClassGUID={6bdd1fc6-810f-11d0-bec7-08002be2092f}
ClassGUID={36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}
Provider=%cec%
CatalogFile=casflr.cat
DriverVer=04/24/2007,6.2.208.0424
;LayoutFile=layout.inf

Press Crtl+S -> Save the file.

8) Now repeat the update driver steps in Control Panel / Device Manager / Another Devices... Chicony USB 2.0 Camera... right mouse click... Update Driver... Browser my computer for device driver.../ Let me pick from a list of device driver... USB Device...

Will appear 2 or 3 devices to choose, one of these do not have an icon before it and the name is different like "Chicony USB Camera", these is the correct one. Click then! Install it.

An error message of "non sign driver" will appear. Click in Continue.

If a fail message appears, REPEAT THE UPDATE STEPS AGAIN.


Just It!!

Now we have a new "Universal Serial Bus controllers" named Chicony USB 2.0 Camera working!
"

T r u e C r y p t - Free open-source disk encryption

A very good and reliable Free open-source disk encryption.

Source Link: http://www.truecrypt.org/

Main Features:

Resize HTML Forms In Firefox

Great Firefox add-on

Article Source Link

"

Some web developers like to squeeze small html forms into their websites which are uncomfortable to use for the visitors of the website. Imagine a comment form that displays three lines that each can take only a few words. It’s problematic to write a comment of a hundred words or so in that box and nearly impossible to proofread it once you are done.

Text Area Resizer And Mover comes to the rescue; At least for Firefox users. The Firefox extension makes it possible to resize virtually any html form on the Internet. This is done in an uncomplicated manner.

Once a html form has been located that the user wants to resize he simply presses the right-mouse button after moving the mouse into the form. The mouse pointer changes to a resize symbol and the html form can be resized by moving the mouse.

The default html form at Ghacks for commenting on an article:

The altered html form at Ghacks:

It is possible to make it smaller or bigger although most users will probably stick with the latter. Text Area html forms are those that usually span across multiple rows. The extension cannot be used to increase the size of the Google Search form but as you can see in the images above it is possible to change comment forms and the like easily.

The forms only expand to the right and bottom of the screen but never to the left or upwards.


"

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - Singapore

I know this is not related to any troubleshooting or technical related post.

As a proud Singaporean, i would like to congrats SINGAPORE on it's 2nd OLYMPIC Medal.

It's been quite some time since our last medal at 1960. It's a 48years wait but it's worthwhile.

Congrats on making to the Medal table again

How to build and customize your own PBX with Asterisk

A very interesting guide to build your very own PBX system and with the lowest cost.

Article Source

"

This article demonstrates how easy it is to roll your own PBX in about an hour or two. Provided that the instructions herein are followed carefully, you too should be able to set up your very own switchboard/PBX system and all for the cost of the target hardware of your choice.

What is a PBX and why set one up?
A PBX or “Private Branch Exchange” is like a miniature phone company/switch in your own office/house. The PBX is responsible for making sure calls are routed properly. Situation: when Joe wants to dial Suzy in the office down the hall or downstairs in the TV room, he just picks up the phone in his room/office and dials a local extension just a few digits long. If he wants to call someone across town or around the world, he dials an “outside line” prefix (usually a 9) plus the desired number and the PBX routes his call to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) just like any other dialed call. Also, if Joe has four teenaged kids, instead of answering their calls and acting as the house receptionist, he can just setup a menu that allows callers to dial the person they want and then needs not be disturbed.

Most people are familiar with PBXs because they’ve used them in an office environment, but what if you wanted to use one in your house? Enter Asterisk.

The beauty of Asterisk (Asterisk.org) is that it is free and offers all this functionality right out of the box. Asterisk is a software implementation of a hardware PBX and can run on a variety of hardware platforms. The features and benefits of owning an Asterisk PBX are numerous, and seemingly only limited by the imagination of the person who sets up and uses an Asterisk PBX. Listed on the project page are just some of the many features that can be implemented. I encourage anyone to explore these features as it will give you some idea for setting up your system in a way that makes it more than worth your while.

Prepare for setting up your PBX
There are many ways of setting up an Asterisk PBX, with some being easier than others. The easiest manner in which to set up a fully functional Asterisk PBX is to download and install a precompiled/tuned distribution such as Trixbox, PBX in a flash, Asterisk NOW, etc. Just take your pick of those. These are great if you don’t care to learn about how your PBX operates or need to do a mindless “click and drool” install. The problem with precompiled asterisk distributions is, while they are simple, they are not as flexible and extensible as a home-brewed Asterisk installation from the source code. When you install one of these “distros”, it is quite often that important decisions are already made for you, and you must work within the framework of the distribution to keep the box “happy”. When you roll your own Asterisk from the sources, you get more say in what goes into the build and how it is customized/extended at the expense of a slightly more complicated planning and installation process. However, it’s not as hard as you might think and it’s quite worth it in the end to “roll your own”.

Asterisk installed from the source code enables you to pick your choice of underlying OS (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandrake, SuSE, etc) and also fine tune the installation for your OS environment and your hardware for best possible performance. In this article I will cover the steps needed to install Asterisk for the Ubuntu Linux operating system. This article assumes you know how to do a minimal command line only base system install of Ubuntu Linux. You certainly don’t want to run a GUI on your Asterisk box as it would consume unnecessary resources.

Step 1: prepare a minimal Ubuntu machine, wiht a command line only install

Step 2: download source packages
After you’ve prepared your minimal Ubuntu machine, you will need to download a few source packages from Digium (the maker of Asterisk). Please perform the following steps on your command line as the root user. (NOTE: on Ubuntu systems, the root account password needs to be set in order to login as root) To set your root password, log in as your regular user account you created during installation and type the following commands:

sudo passwd root

when asked for your password enter your regular USER password, hit ENTER, followed by the desired root password and then hit ENTER, confirm the desired password once more and then you’re done.

Logged in as the root user we’ll download the needed packages by running the following script in your terminal screen. If you are familiar with Putty, you can also do this remotely via a windows desktop or SSH into the box as root from any other Linux/Mac machine.

directories.jpg

NOTE: we will be using Asterisk 1.4 NOT 1.6 as 1.6 is the unstable release.

Source packages needed from Digium:

asterisk-1.4.21.2
zaptel-1.4.11
libpri-1.4.5
asterisk-addons-1.4.7
asterisk-gui

I have written a script file to simplify the process on an Ubuntu 8.04 system. Copy and paste the following code into a new file in a terminal window and save the file as “astsetup.sh”. Then when you save the file, make it executable by running this command: chmod +x astsetup.sh.

——> BEGIN COPYING CODE TO NEW FILE
######## Prepare Build Environment

apt-get install build-essential speex libspeex-dev gsm-utils \
libgsm1-dev libgsmme-dev libgsm1 libgsm-tools \
libncurses5-dev ncurses-term linux-headers-2.6.24-19-generic \
libncurses5-dbg doxygen subversion

######## Download Digium (Asterisk) Source Packages

wget http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asterisk/releases/asterisk-1.4.21.2.tar.gz
wget http://downloads.digium.com/pub/zaptel/releases/zaptel-1.4.11.tar.gz
wget http://downloads.digium.com/pub/libpri/releases/libpri-1.4.5.tar.gz
wget http://downloads.digium.com/pub/asterisk/releases/asterisk-addons-1.4.7.tar.gz
svn co http://svn.digium.com/svn/asterisk-gui/trunk asterisk-gui

######## Extract all packages for building

tar -zxvf asterisk-1.4.21.2.tar.gz && tar -zxvf zaptel-1.4.11.tar.gz \
&& tar -zxvf asterisk-addons-1.4.7.tar.gz && tar -zxvf libpri-1.4.5.tar.gz

######## Begin Building and Installing Source Packages

cd libpri-1.4.5
make
make install
cd ../zaptel-1.4.11
make clean
./configure
make menuselect
make install
make config
cd ../asterisk-1.4.21.2
make clean
./configure
make menuselect
make install
make samples
make progdocs
cd ../asterisk-addons-1.4.7
make clean
./configure
make menuselect
make install
make samples
cd ../asterisk-gui
./configure
make
make install
make samples
cd /root
mkdir packages
mv *.gz /root/packages/.
echo INSTALLATION COMPLETE PLEASE CONFIGURE WEB GUI

———-> END COPYING CODE TO NEW FILE

One final step remains in order to bring the GUI up and running. We must edit two files:

/etc/asterisk/http.conf and
etc/asterisk/manager.conf.

/etc/asterisk/http.conf:

[general]
enabled=yes
enablestatic=yes ; without this, you can only send AMI commands, not display
; html content
bindaddr=0.0.0.0 ; address you want the Asterisk HTTP server to respond on
bindport=9000 ; port you want the Asterisk HTTP server to respond on
prefix=asterisk ; will form part of the URI, similar to a directory name

/etc/asterisk/manager.conf:

[general]
enabled=yes ; you may already have AMI enabled if you are using it for other things
webenabled=yes ; this enables the interaction between the Asterisk web server and AMI
[admin] ; This is the manager username. You can name the user whatever you want
secret = password
read = system,call,log,verbose,command,agent,user,config
write = system,call,log,verbose,command,agent,user,config

———–

That’s it! Restart your PBX server and point your browser to:

http://ip-of-pbx:9000/asterisk/static/config/cfgbasic.html (where IP of PBX is the IP address of your PBX box)

You should then see the web GUI and should be able to logon and start creating extensions (users).

webgui-users.jpg

web-gui1.jpg

If you don’t see the GUI after restarting your PBX, login as root and just start Asterisk by typing asterisk on the command line. You can also set it to start at system boot by adding it to your /etc/rc.local startup script. Also, if you have an account with a VOIP service provider, you can setup your PBX to be the “gateway” to your office/home with ease.

Asterisk is very flexible, scalable, and limitless in its scope of use, so there is no way I can tell you everything that can be done with this amazing piece of software. It’s use is not just limited to communication and phone management and there are thousands of hacks that can be applied to Asterisk. Some of them are:

  • Home Automation using X10 addressable switches
  • Remote home/office alarm/lock control
  • Remote environmental/audio monitoring
  • Conference Rooms
  • E-mail reader (text to speech access to any email account)
  • Remote Dictation
  • Voice Recognition
  • Ability to run system commands by phone - Remote Control

Additional Materials
Because of the power and limitless flexibility of Asterisk, there is no available text that comes close to covering the broad scope of this software. The best guide I can recommend is the O’Reilly self-titled book “Asterisk”. That is a good step to begin to understand much of the power available to this platform. I would suggest this as the first guide to begin to learn additional features.

Phones and Extension Types
Asterisk supports any standards based SIP or IAX compatible voip phone. One of the best well known suppliers is www.voipsupply.com and they sell a wide range of voip phones that work with asterisk. Softphones and VOIP ATAs (Analog Telephone Adaptors) are also another way to interface with your Asterisk system. With an ATA you can turn your existing analog corded or cordless phones into VOIP phones. I have an old Western Electric Model 302 from the late 1920s that is now setup as a voip extension and it is a ROTARY phone! NOTE: Not all voip ata units understand pulse dialing, so be sure before you buy if you intend to use a rotary phone for nostalgic purposes. Good deals for voip phones and voip ATAs can be had online at various sites, but don’t overlook the possibilities that may exist at your local swapfest. Near where I live, MIT holds a swapfest during the summer season on the 3rd Sunday of the month and I’ve scored some real bargains there! Look for swapfests in your area, or even check Craig’s List.

Voip Service Providers/PSTN
Asterisk can connect with the world either directly with a voip service provider that allows a “byod” (Bring Your Own Device) plan, or directly with the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) via a Digium interface card. The Digium card is not required to interface with a voip provider over the internet though. Some voip providers that welcome Asterisk (and other devices) are: Broadvoice and Teliax. If you want to interface with Ma Bell, you might be interested in Digium’s line of cards. These can interface with standard POTS PSTN lines and provide outbound calling from extensions on your Asterisk system. Most of these cards feature built-in echo cancellation for best call quality. If you’re a business user, you can connect Asterisk to a T1/E1 or PRI digital telco offering via their digital cards.

Community Support
Asterisk is supported by Digium and the Asterisk Open Source community. There are numerous resources available for the taking on the internet that allow you to extend the flexibility and functionality of your Asterisk PBX. www.voip-info.org is one of many public voip forums where a wealth of information is available. Available resources can be anything from example configurations, scripts, feature enhancements, function modules, advice, and troubleshooting.

The intended purpose of this feature was to simplify a nice and lean sourcecode installation of Asterisk onto a pupular Ubuntu (or any other Linux) host system and to ease the new user or experimenter in wading into a huge pool of possibilities that are only limited by the imagination of the user. The door is open, just take your step through!

"