Category: Life in lockdown
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Building Asterisk from Source
Today is Sunday. I am building Asterisk 18.9 from source patched with cisco call manager features. See this website for more details: https://usecallmanager.nz/patching-asterisk.html
I’m doing this on a proxmox Linux ubuntu container. This is so I can get my Cisco 9971 phones to work with Cisco call manager features like voicemail button support and BLF (busy lamp field). Why am I doing this? Well, my Cisco phones have been laying dormant for many months while my gaze has been elsewhere. On a lark I plugged them back in and low-and-behold I had 5 voicemail messages. All were from my healthcare service provider trying to sell me stuff. I deleted all the voicemails but it got me thinking that the voicemail button doesn’t work and that’s a shame — I can fix that. Anyways, this is my attempt to fix by building Asterisk from source in a Linux container that has been patched from usecallmanager.
So I finally set myself up on Twitch tonight and streamed for an hour of Mega Man 2; I had zero viewers… Listen, I wasn’t expecting a following and primarily I did it to push myself. I’m using a 100% open-source platform for twitch streaming using OBS (open broadcast system studio) running on Pop OS Linux. I’m using an open source live split software called flitter. It’s within an xTerm (don’t use alpha channel enabled terms in OBS) and it uses a simple text file for configuration. I’m using Higan for my NES/Famicom emulator with a rom of Mega Man 2 that runs at 60 frames per second. And I have a camera on me while I’m playing to capture the reactions. All on one computer (not a particularly powerful one btw) running Linux and streaming the output to Twitch. I now have one follower, my son.
My son imparted some of his hard earned wisdom on Streaming to me. He said make sure your audio quality is good. Get a good mic, test the levels and make sure I’m speaking over the game (but you can still hear the game audio). He said this is really important. The video can be sorta crappy but the audio quality better be good. He recommended a few good quality mic’s and he uses an external audio mixer to set the mic levels. He also recommended I record, not stream for the first few sessions and then watch it back to make sure it sounds and looks good.
Why am I doing this? A few reasons. One, I like Mega Man 2 and the challenge of playing it well and getting a decent speedrun appeals to me. I’ve watched some of top speedruns and they so some crazy stuff. Two, I want to prove that you don’t need Windows 10 to do streaming/speedrunning — Linux and open source software is perfectly viable for Twitch streaming. Three, I wanted to prove to Cam that he can do all his creation/streaming/broadcasting if he switched to Linux. What do you think? Any games you’d like me to play? Leave a comment to let me know. My Twitch handle is rpavlovsky but I might change it, I don’t know…
So much has happened in the last few weeks. Texas was hit with the worst snowstorm I think in recorded history. The snow in Houston didn’t look that bad via photographs but trust me. It was icy, heavy sleet and snow — not that fluffy stuff you ski on. Of course it cause havoc on our electrical grid and our water pipes. Thankfully all in my neighborhood are well and the weather is now in the 70’s! I’ll post a few more pictures when I have some time.
I lost power along with most Texans for large parts of early last week. Power has been stable since last Thursday. The last snow and ice melted last Saturday (so it was on the ground for a good 5 days). The worst days for me were Tuesday and Wednesday when we have the rolling power outages.
Lastly, I needed to update my SSL cert for this website which I’ve now done. Silly me for taking so long to do that; I had a bit on my plate.
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Horse Riding Lessons
A new year of horse riding lessons for Ella. I decided to bring along the Canon DSLR’s with a standard lens and the telephoto and challenge myself to shoot in Manual (M) mode. The cameras were my EOD 50D and EOS 30D cameras that I purchased from Goodwill (secondhand). It was dark in the barn which is no problem for the human eye but quite a challenge for the budding photographer.
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The Last Day of 2020
As I type this, 2020 is approximately 11 hours from finishing (at least in my part of the world). My upstairs air conditioner decided to fail in the last few days of the year and guess what? It’s not under warranty. Effe you 2020! Ugh.
Here is hoping for a brighter 2021; I mean it’s always darkest before the dawn, right!?!
I setup a photo studio in my office. I have a green screen, Cameron’s recording lights and the Cannon 50d on a tripod tethered to my computer. It’s a complex setup. I’m using FOSS called entangle (to capture) and the Gimp with Darkroom plug-in to open the Canon RAW image files. I’m learning about f-stop and ISO speed. It’s all complex and I’m out of my depth a bit but it’s fun. It’s been a while since I’ve messed around with Adobe Photoshop. I’m trying to relearn a skill on Gimp and it’s a bit different. I’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.
I recently purchased a Bose Wave Radio from Goodwill for $76 + shipping. It had no remote so add on $10 for a new remote (no battery included grumble, grumble). I’ve always wanted a Bose Wave Radio, but the price always kept me from them ($499 USD retail). Here is a legitimate review from cnet, so many reviews seem so fake or paid for.
https://www.cnet.com/reviews/bose-wave-music-system-review/2/
My review is simple — the Alexa doesn’t hold a candle to Bose in terms of sound quality. The base and drums are deep and rich on the Bose compared to my Mono Alexa. I did three experiments playing the same song Alexa and the Wave Radio. Two of the experiment use Plexamp connecting to my NAS to play an Apple Lossless (ALAC) rip of the physical CD — One via Alexa connected by Bluetooth, the Second the Wave Radio connected via AUX port and cable. The third experiment is using the physical CD as control. I wasn’t expecting Alexa to win, it’s Mono for gosh sake. I can configure an Alexa pair with both a left and right channel but it’s honestly a pain to setup and use so why bother.
Conclusion is go out and buy yourself a good quality Bose Wave Radio at Goodwill and pickup some physical CD’s while you are there. Audio quality is much better than streaming IMHO but YMMV!
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Are we human, or are we dancer?
Tomorrow marks the very gradual lifting of restrictions on daily life for England (Scotland and Wales having made different choices).
On reflection, so far the lockdown hasn’t been all bad. People have made sure to look at for one another and a sense of comaradrie is present.
That said, there still have been tough times. It feels very normal and yet not normal sometimes. Seeing the number of people who have died each day makes sobering reading and I find myself switching between seeing small troubles at home and work disappear into insignifance and at other times, those same annoyances loom large as they are ever present.
Anyway, for now, I hope tomorrow marks the path forward. I took a walk this evening and listened to music. The streets were deserted. I danced, let go of my self consciousness and reminded myself that life is indeed, very precious.
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Cast Iron Dutch Oven
I’ve wanted a cast iron Dutch oven for a long time. I saw this Kelty Ridgeway on goodwill for a good price. It was in sad shape. Rust and crud really made this one a mess. I cleaned it using a method of lye and elbow grease and a steel wool pad. That for the piece to more or less bare metal but I still had to deal with the rust. I soaked her in a vinegar and water bath for 72 hours which returned her to bare metal. I quickly rinsed and dried and seasoned to restore her. Looks good if I do say so myself.
