chuma.org

Author: chuma

  • Home network re-wire project

    I drew four network diagrams before finally figuring out how I was going to hook things up at home. I really wanted something to provide QoS to the VoIP phone adapter, and ended up borrowing a Linksys wired router (BEFSR81) that does port-based QoS. Doing QoS in Linux is really, really scary, and I wasn’t prepared to spend the time to wrap my head completely around it. On this router I just say “port 1 has high priority over everything else” and that should work just fine.

    So last night I spent an hour installing the new router, reconfiguring my old Microsoft wireless router to be a bridge (but also a wireless access point at the same time), running an Ethernet cable in the ceiling to connect one router to the other, moving the UPS over to the wiring cabinet, and then re-wiring everything and tidying up. But now the networking part of this project is… done!

    The final part will be wiring the security system up to the VoIP connection, testing it, and then when our Bell phone line is gone, hooking up the house phone jacks to VoIP.

  • Flying free without a dial tone: it has begun…

    Bell finally showed up at 3pm and wired up my second pair in about 30 minutes. Boy, did the tech really not want to talk to me at all. Thanks Bell, for wasting an entire day of my time. I figured I wouldn’t have to be around, and the tech only knocked on the door to give me the “workorder completed” paperwork.

    An hour or two later (I was making dinner at the same time), I wired up the new pair into the basement, installed a jack on it, and had my TekSavvy 3Mb DSL service up and running. Sweeeet. 3Mb service seems pretty darn stable already. I faxed in my cancellation to TFNet today. They gave me solid years of service though, I’ve got no complaints about them.

    Then it was time to activate my Vonage retail kit, which I picked up at Best Buy. This is that little PAP2 phone adapter thing. Well… I had an issue. The signup website told me that my device was not configured for Canadian service, and to call Vonage to get it fixed. Great. So I called, and spoke to many people in India for a while. At first, I couldn’t find anyone who would believe me: they took me for some kind of ‘merican idiot I guess and made me check and re-check the device address I was typing in, etc. I almost went nuts from it. Also twice they transfered me to a Vonage USA representative even though everytime I started with “Hi, I’m calling from Canada…”

    My fourth time trying to get some help, I got it right off the bat. Turns out someone screwed up at some warehouse somewhere, and put a bunch of phone adapters that were programmed for the US into Canadian-marked boxes. So they took my details and a few hours later called back to say I could activate it in Canada now. Great. So now it’s active! But I have to wait 15 days for Vonage to transfer my number from Bell to my VoIP. But that’s fine, it will give me a chance to finish the rest of this project, which is:

    • finish phone wiring so that security system is routed through VoIP, with proper line interruption, and then test it out
    • configure my Linux server back into a router, and my wireless router into a “dumb” bridge
    • setup QoS on the Linux box using WonderShaper, to make sure that VoIP traffic gets priority over other stuff.

  • ADT did something right…

    Now that I no longer fear the big, bad world of security systems, I opened up the box in my basement with the security system’s guts. And looky looky, what did I find but the ADT default programming sheet the installer left, all nicely folded up (click for larger, readable version):

    ADT Installer Sheet

    While it doesn’t tell me my installer code (which they didn’t leave as the default, but isn’t my phone number either… grrrr), it does tell me that they are supposed to setup the system to use the SIA format – one that should work with Vonage.

    I’m still waiting for Bell to arrive and wire up a demarc box and jack for my new dry DSL. 🙁

  • Movie roundup

    We’ve been slowly catching up on some outstanding movie watching.

    • Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – A pretty funny, quite quirky Hollywood murder-mystery. Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer take turns trying to steal the show from each other. They’re both quite excellent in this flick, which kept me laughing throughout.
    • Everything is Illuminated – 10 out of 10. This was a frickin’ awesome film, a seriously good story that only comes around once in a while. I especially enjoyed the ‘premium’ Ukranian-English translations, and the very nice Eastern European scenery (it was shot on location in the Czech Republic).
    • Underworld Evolution – Just as good as the first one, if you enjoyed it. It picks up immediately after the first film and gives you more of the same, and a little more. Plus, come on, who doesn’t want to see Kate Beckinsdale in skin-tight leather all the time?

  • Check up on your MP before they vote!

    How – I say – How did I ever live without How’d They Vote? These awesome, amazing, wonderful people keep track of how MPs vote and what they say in the house! It’s as if CPAC had a searchable index. How else would I know that my current MP spoke and voted against the same-sex marriage act, and seems to be a shill lately for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation?

  • Pepper 2.1 software: livin’ it up in emulator land

    So I ended up on the pre-release list for the Pepper 2.1 software. The new apps and features are there, and the pad is a whole lot more responsive in general.

    But what I was really looking for were pre-build development libraries and include files, and I sure did get them. I compiled FCE Ultra, one of the premiere NES emulators, and also managed to build the Allegro library and then the FakeNES emulator without too much extra effort. They both run but a lot of frames are dropped. But still, I’m one step closer to my goal of using the Pepper as an awesome portable game system for emulation.

    Click any of these thumbnails to see my screenshots of FakeNES running on Pepper:

  • This I Believe: Penn Jillette

    Pretty much sums it up for me.

  • Collecting more information about my security system

    I’ve amassed a whole lot of information about my security system over the last few days. I’m starting to feel better and better about switching to VoIP and ensuring that my system will be able to communicate.

    First off. my “ADT Focus 32” system is really a close of the DSC Power832, which is very commonly deployed. After scouring some websites for a while I managed to snag the Programming Worksheets and the Installation Manual for this unit, which I’m going to need if I want to program the thing myself.

    Secondly, I finally found good information about what protocols exist for security system communication and what will work for VoIP.

    This report from the Canadian Alarm and Security Association (Google cache) shows that they did a little test of what protocols will work with VoIP. Here’s the Coles Notes edition:

    • The Contact ID protocol sucks, it won’t work with VoIP. DTMF Express didn’t work either. There’s too much echo coming back to the security system for it to receive signals from the monitoring station. In the case of Contact ID, your system won’t be able to receive the “OK” from the monitoring station, so it will keep on retransmitting until a counter is reached, and then your panel will display an error.
    • Pulse formats like 10, 20, or 40 pps should work fine. 4×2 and 1400Hz handshake seems to be the “standard”. However pulse is the slowest of all formats.
    • SIA format will work as well. Apparently this is because the VoIP hardware thinks that it sounds like a fax transmission, and switches the protocol for the VoIP signal to a type specifically for modem/fax type transmission. SIA is basicially bursts of modem transmission, so it works.

    This posts on dslreports is where I got some good info as well.

    So now from here, I’m going to call ADT and see if I can get them to program my panel remotely to use the SIA protocol. Then we should be hunky-dory when the VoIP switch happens.

  • Bumper sticker from GO Transit parking lot

  • Simpler Security Solution: dump ADT, get NextAlarm

    I’ve discovered NextAlarm.com. They can monitor virtually any existing security system, via phone OR internet, for $14.95/month or $8.95/month if you pay a year up front. Even though those prices are in US dollars, it sure beats the utter living crap out of my bloody ADT contract.

    Next step: find out whether or not I “own” my ADT system yet, and how I can get out of my monitoring contract with them.

    Sandy and I watched CBC’s Marketplace last night, which was entitled “Underdogs” and was all about consumers trying to get things fixed from big corporations. They focused on four people:

    • One couple had signed up for some all-in-one insurance company and were told their premiums wouldn’t increase for 10 years, and then had their premiums doubled after four months. They phoned and mailed the company and eventually CBC flew them to Toronto to speak with them, but instead of resolving the issue, the company’s lawyer contact them and told them their premiums wouldn’t go down, too bad.
    • One man was paying Bell Expressvu for satellite service yet Bell couldn’t find his payments, so they kept on cutting off his satellite TV. This happened for four months until they finally figured out the payments were going to the wrong Bell division. He didn’t get compensated. The phrase “super-pissed” doesn’t even begin to describe this guy either.
    • One woman had the transmission in her 1999 Dodge Caravan blow up, costing her $2200. Chrysler wouldn’t admit over the phone that they were aware of the problem, but with help from the CBC they discovered that Chrysler had since redesigned the part that had failed and literally blew a hole in the side of her transmission casing. They visited Chrysler in Windsor only to be told that Chrysler had made a corporate decision not to help out 1999 Caravan owners – in essence, her van was too old.
    • The final case was a couple whose Dodge truck caught fire due to a faulty headlight. They took Chrysler to court and won the cost of their truck plus $25,000 in damages because Chrysler was aware of the problem and did nothing. However Chrysler dragged them through the court system for seven years until the couple finally appealed to the Supreme Court, who ruled in their favour.

    I came out of that program with two thoughts:

    1. Don’t buy Chrysler.
    2. It might be one hell of an upward battle to break my contract with ADT.