VoIP client for Ubuntu

Having used IP Telephony for a number of years I need a workable SIP client for all of the devices I use. I have found a very capable client for my Android phones (SipDroid) and on Windows/MacOSX I generally use X-Lite (as well as it’s paid version EyePhone) from Counterpath.

Having tried several different Linux SIP clients (Ekiga, Twinkle, …) but all discarded them because of weird UI’s and/or problems with stability I noticed that there is a Linux version of XLite available. Unfortunately on current versions of Ubuntu (10.04) it needs a deprecated version of a library.

Download XLite Linux: http://www.counterpath.com/x-lite-3.0-for-linux-download.html

Dowload libstdc++.so.5: http://packages.debian.org/lenny/i386/libstdc++5/download

[you will need root permissions for all of the below]

Enjoy calling from your Ubuntu machine !

Huawei K3765 on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)

Since I have switched my 3G data network from Hutchinson Three to Vodafone AU recently I also upgraded the USB modem from a Huwaei E220 (which used to work fine on recent Ubuntu NBR releases on my trusty old ASUS EEE 900)

Unfortunately the new Huawei K3765 would not be recognised as a valid modem by the network manager. After a fair bit of searching it turns out that you only need to install one additional package (usb-modeswitch) to make this modem work (be recognised) on the current stable 10.04 release:

sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch

For the command-line challenged here is a quick screenshot on how to do it using Synaptic Package Manager:

Hope this might save some time for people trying to make this modem work on Lucid.

Happy roaming !

Ubuntu – Google Mail (GoogleApps) as default mail client

Since Ubuntu 9.10 NetbookRemix has been released I am again finding myself using my trusty old ASUS EEE when on the road.  And  finally it seems I have found a vanilla Linux distribution that is reasonably responsive and works ‘out of the box’.

One thing I don’t need on the road (as a matter of fact on none of my equipment) is having to install & maintain some client/server mail client. Here is a workable solution to have your browser default ‘mailto:’ links to Google Apps.

Howto

System –> Preferences –> Preferred Applications

Chrome:

perl -MURI::Escape -e '$to = shift;$to =~ s/^mailto://i;exec("chromium-browser", "https://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.tld/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&cmid=22&to=".URI::Escape::uri_escape($to) );' '%s'

Firefox:

perl -MURI::Escape -e '$to = shift;$to =~ s/^mailto://i;exec("firefox", "https://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.tld/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&cmid=22&to=".URI::Escape::uri_escape($to) );' '%s'

Note: do not forget to replace ‘yourdomain.tld’ with your actual Google Apps domain

Here is the link to the original blog entry by David Davis (xantus77): http://xantus.vox.com/library/post/howto-use-gmail-for-mailto-links-linuxubuntu.html (Kudos !)

m-learn: Mobile evidence gathering using GoogleDocs

This one nearly escaped my attention yesterday. Google has just announced the ability to edit Google Docs on your mobile device via their Google Mobile Blog.

Just point your mobile browser to m.google.com/docs and start editing.

Along with the use of 2D barcodes this will open a few interesting m-learning possiblities for educators that would previously have required custom coding to achieve. I can see this being very useful in situations where you have students being in the field and allowing them to enter data gathered using a standard mobile phone. The barcodes could point students to the location of the spreadsheet (avoiding the need to type the information)

The screenshot below shows a spreadsheet that I just made up for demonstration purposes.

The data gathered can easily be used embedded into LMS course pages for review in the classroom. The (quite capable) graphing tools in Google Spreadsheets can be used to visualise the results gathered. For some of our clients that use Moodle and GoogleApps for Education this is a very interesting combination as would allow for the authenticated entering of mobile data into the LMS.

It would be interesting to look at how you could easily geo-tag the information gathered for mapping purposes. But that’s probably a topic for another post.

BESPIN – another nice one from Mozilla.org

Getting excited about a new text editor of all things is not something I like to admit to easily, but in my line of work (although less and less is actually doing hands on coding) text editing is an important part.

That’s why I checked out the BESPIN project as soon as I heard of it. The prospect of being able to edit your files from anywhere is very appealing to me since I spend a lot of time away from the desk and on devices that not always have good text editor (let alone all the files necessary). The thought of being able to edit files from a netbook while on the run is coming to mind straight away.

So far (even though this is a 0.1 ‘techo-preview’) I really like what you see. Not something that the average word processor crowd would find appealing or easy to use, but for somebody that is familiar with (specially *NIX) text editors it is easy to pick up and I can definitely see lots of potential there.

There are some important features still missing to make it truly useful in practical conditions, but I am sure they will be addressed in future revisions and it should be fairly easy to host your own since it’s basically Javascript & HTML5 and an Open Source project.

Great work by these guys:

Keep it coming ! Soon …

Using Nokia Share Online to upload directly to Flickr

One of the nicest ways to get photos straight from your mobile to Flickr (without having to use e-mails) on Nokia devices is the Flickr Plugin for the Nokia Share Online application. Since a lot of my clients in the educational sector  are starting to use Flickr as part of their online teaching I decided to create a short HOWTO.

The application itself comes with the phone on most recent Nokia S60 devices (with recent Firmware – check Nokia Software Updater for new firmware). To check if your particular phone is capable you can check the Nokia Share Online Support site.

Nokia Share Online appears on the home screen of your device (screenshots are from a N95 8GB):

First time only configuration

On first use you will have to check the available services by choosing ‘Options’:

On a new device you will be prompted for your Flickr Username / Password. Since I have used the Flickr Plugin on this particular phone previously the Username was already saved (which is a bit of a worry – since deleting the account should have also removed the credentials I would have hoped).

Set the update frequency:

NOTE: Be careful with this setting as there could be mobile data fees involved depending on the method you use to connect to the internet on your device. Consult with your network operator on the fees if you are using the wireless data network of your phone provider.

After this step you are ready to connect to Flickr and sync your recent fotos:

Create Flickr Post

Once the service has been set up you can create post using the following steps:

Adding the Post Title and Description.

You can coose from a list of previously used tags (or create new ones).

Finally you can post to the web:

Your post is now being uploaded and should be available via your Flickr Photostream (mine is on http://www.flickr.com/photos/leogaggl/) soon. The upload time will depend on the size of the image and the speed of your data connection.

Enjoy !

Configuring the Nokia E-Series SIP for Nodephone (Internode)

This is Part 3 of the Nokia SIP settings. This time for NodePhone (Internode – Australia). It has been hard to find this information (particularily the Registrar Server settings). NOTE: The Realm setting in the Registrar Server are CASE-SENSITIVE. For some screenshots check the ENGIN Australia setup entry.

General

Profile name: nodephone

Service profile: IETF

Default access point: {Your WLAN Access Point}

Public user name: sip:{NodePhone Phone No}@sip.internode.on.net

User compression: No

Registration: When needed

Use security: No

Proxy Server (not required)

Proxy Server Address: none

Realm: none

Username: none

Password: none

Allow loose routing: none

Transport Type: none

Port : none

Registrar Server:

Registrar Server Address: sip:203.2.134.1

Realm: BroadWorks (Note:CASE-SENSITIVE)

User name: {NodePhone Phone No}

Password: *****

Transport type: UDP

Port : 5060

Configuring the Nokia E-Series SIP for sipgate.at

This is Part 2 of the Nokia SIP settings. This time for sipgate.at
(Austria), but it should also work for other SIPGate domains. It has
been hard to get this information from the providers themselves. For
some screenshots check the ENGIN Australia setup entry.

General

Profile name: sipgate
Service profile: IETF
Default access point: {Your WLAN Access Point}
Public user name: sip:{SIPGate UserID}@sipgate.at
User compression: No
Registration: When needed
Use security: No

Proxy Server

Proxy Server Address: sip:sipgate.at
Realm: sipgate.at
Username: {SIPGate UserID}
Password: *****
Allow loose routing: Yes
Transport Type: UDP
Port : 5060

Registrar Server:

Registrar Server Address: sip:sipgate.at
Realm: sipgate.at
User name: {SIPGate UserID}
Password: *****
Transport type: UDP
Port : 5060

Configuring the Nokia E-Series VoIP client for Engin Australia

Since I had to look all over for the correct settings and there was a
lot of trial and error involved (specially for the Realm). Thanks to Engin Support that finally provided this info after logging a support request.

The screenshots are from a Nokia E65, but should be applicable for similar Nokia phones.

General

Profile name: engin
Service profile: IETF
Default access point: {Your WLAN Access Point}
Public user name: sip:{phone number}@voice.mibroadband.com.au
User compression: No
Registration: When needed
Use security: No

Proxy Server

Proxy Server Address: byo.engin.com.au
Realm: mobileinnovations.com.au
Username: {your engin phone number}
Password: *****
Allow loose routing: Yes
Transport Type: UDP
Port : 5060

Registrar Server:

Registrar Server Address: byo.engin.com.au
Realm: mobileinnovations.com.au
User name: {your engin phone number}
Password: *****
Transport type: UDP
Port : 5060