Rant

So, I've had a Nintendo Wii for about 3 months now. Somewhat unfortunately, for the past 3 months, I've also been fairly bankrupt and thus unable to afford any games for it. The novelty of the included Sports bundle is starting to wane, but when I read about the new game World of Goo there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel.

As soon as I read about it, I wanted it. With trembling hands I went online Wii shopping, only to discover that the WiiWare version is only available in the US. That would be great for me, IF I WAS LIVING IN THE US!!! But alas, I'm not, so have to wait until next year for my Goo-dness.

But I ask you, with gleaming eyes, in this time of globalisation and an ever-shrinking planet, HOW AND WHY CAN A GAME BE RELEASED IN AN ONLINE STORE AND ONLY BE MADE AVAILABLE TO ONE COUNTRY??? And yes, I did check my Wii options to see if I could tell it that I was living in the US, but the bastard killjoys were apparently one step ahead of me on that one as well.

Blackberry + Mobipocket Reader - SD Card Access

After unsuccessfully fiddling around with getting Mobipocket Reader to successfully transfer files to my Blackberry BES handheld (inside / outside firewall errors and memory errors), I found this recipe worked:

- Install the latest version of the handheld client software through the desktop Mobipocket Reader software

- On the corporate BES, I had to loosen the IT policy to "Allow internal connections" and "Allow external connections". Once this policy was applied, the client application on the handheld would start without the firewall error message. If you're unable to arrange this change, you're probably SOL.

DO NOT FOLLOW THE OFTEN RECOMMENDED INSTRUCTIONS TO WIPE YOUR BLACKBERRY HANDHELD POLICY - you will probably end up losing everything on the device, having to do a full re-install and pissing off your IT administrator(s). I cannot believe that this is an advocated solution to this problem. Also, don't go about downloading random policy files which are made available on the web as a solution to problems similar to these, unless the handheld is your personal posession and not under the control of a BES.

- Carefully follow these instructions: https://wwww.mobipocket.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7622&sid=d161b23c5aa511d560dbc0c6984057b0
Contrary to most of this instructions online, you need to have mass storage mode OFF on the handheld for the Mobipocket software to be able to access the SD card.

Unfortunately there is a lot of conflicting information on this topic, both on the web in general and specifically on the Mobipocket forums.

Project Asterisk - Part 1

[DRAFT] Introduction

I have implemented a few Asterisk installs at the office for various functions, including a conference bridge host with dedicated numbers for our various departments and Hylafax integration for an inbound fax server. These projects were in the earlier days of version 1.4. In order to integrate with our Avaya ACD at the office, it was necessary to use an H.323 trunk, which I could only get to connect using version 1.4.x. At that time, all the "packaged" Asterisk distributions I could find (Trixbox, FreePBX and others) were based on 1.2.x.

This was in Ubuntu 6.06's heyday, which also only included an older 1.2.x version in the package tree. This necessitated having to download and build Asterisk from source. Building Asterisk from source is a well documented affair. It is very satisfying when all the bits fall into place and you log into your first softphone and are able to successfully place your first test call. Establishing the H.323 trunk was the most difficult part - there is no particularly concise information on this topic and the various flavours of H.323 channel drivers exist in varying states of obscurity.

To cut what is turning into a long story short, through this process I got a bit of insight into the manual configuration aspects of Asterisk and was very impressed with how powerful the software was.

Installing Asterisk on Ubuntu 8.04 Edge Eft

$ sudo -i
# apt-get install asterisk
# apt-get install build-essential
# wget -zaptel-
# ./configure
make modules
make install-modules
modprobe ztdummy

Google is Cool

Search for "via nano motherboard cpu buy"

and the first link is to a Slashdot article on the Via Nano vs Intel Atom.

Cool.

Cisco SDM Not Launching

If Cisco SDM does not launch and you are instead presented with the contents of file "runAPP.shtm", you need to change your Internet Explorer settings as follows (this is for IE6):

Under Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced, place a tick next to "Allow active content to run in files on My Computer" (about 3 quarters of the way down the long and poorly organized list of options).

Cisco Routers - Disable Telnet

To disable Telnet on Cisco routers which already have SSH enabled, follow these steps:

# config t

(config) # line vty 0 15

(config) # transport input ssh

(config) # quit

# copy run start


Detailed info on SSH configuration here:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk583/tk617/technologies_tech_note09186a00800949e2.shtml

Windows 2000 KB923810 Failing

If when doing your patching routine on Windows 2000 machines which have Kodak Imaging installed, you might find that KB923810 fails to install. If you like a clean and successful patch run, you can force an uninstall of the offending Kodak software by following these instructions:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923810

Manually Configure WSUS Through Registry

GPO's playing up? Testing WSUS? Here's the official steps to manually configure WSUS clients through the registry (as opposed to AD Group Policy):

http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/75ee9da8-0ffd-400c-b722-aeafdb68ceb31033.mspx?mfr=true

Outlook Sync VPN Problems

Having difficulty syncing Outlook when connected via VPN? It could be related to Windows default behaviour of sending Kerberos information via UDP. Try this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/244474

Worked for me!

Annoying Adobe Acrobat Reader 8 Automatic Updates?

Had to go back to Acrobat Reader 8? Foxit not cutting it any more? Being plagued by annoying Acrobat Reader 8 automatic updates without any apparent way of disabling them? Get your product up-to-date and then delete this folder without prejudice:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater5\

Enjoy the thrill of liberation!

Thanks to Omar and Overlord @ http://www.shahine.com/omar/DisableTheAdobeUpdater.aspx

Enable Windows Updates from WSUS Server via Group Policy

This example is for testing, so a dedicated testing OU is created:

- Create new OU in Active Directory Users and Computers
- Move test machine(s) to new OU
- Edit Group Policy for new OU, load latest wuau.adm administrative template from C:\Windows\Inf folder of WSUS server
- Configure at minimum "Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update\Configure Windows Updates" and "..\Specify intranet Microsoft update service location"
- To force application of new GP settings to test client, issue command "gpupdate /force" on XP clients (secedit /refreshpolicy machine_policy enforce on Win2K)

References: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/51c8a814-6665-4d50-a0d8-2ae27e69ca7c1033.mspx?mfr=true