I made these frequently as a young boy, they are easy to make, parts are very cheap (if not free) and you can spend hours tweaking it!

What you need :

• About 1M (3′) Thin gauge enamel copper wire – thick enough that about three inches could support the weight of a pencil.
• Small magnet – many fridge magnets will do.
• 1xAA Battery (1.5v)
• Push pins or small finishing nails.
• Small square block of softwood (about 12 cm wide will do).
• 3cm (1.5″) diameter cylindrical object (large magic marker or C cell battery is about the right diameter.)

The Build :

Begin wrapping the copper wire around the cylindrical object 10 to 20 times leaving about 10cm (3-4″) free on each end- this will be used for the armature.  Wrap the wire a few times within the coil itself to keep the arms in place – you want to make sure they are exactly 180 degrees from each other and centered as they will be supporting the weight of the coil.  Strip the enamel off the arms  using some scissors or something sharp – they need to be totally free of enamel.

Cut two additional 10cm long pieces of wire and strip the enamel off completely – these will be the brushes and will support the armature / coil.  Now wrap each one a few times around each push pin and insert into the softwood block.  Create a small loop at the top of each brush for the armature to slide into.  Consult the (shaky) video if my writing doesn’t make any sense.

Attach the battery to each push pin with wires – it is really handy if you can find a battery chassis with the wires already attached.

I will take some steadier photos and maybe draw up a diagram if anyone wants further instruction.  All of the parts above I found at my favourite store Active Surplus for less than three dollars.  Enjoy your super fun DIY motors and feel free to submit your masterpieces – I will post them in a new article.

The good news is that we have gathered a team of developers to write a totally web based app for provisioning your endpoints with ease.  To start we will support the devices that we actually have and can test.  Within the week we plan to support the following models :

• Grandstream GXP XXXX & Budgetone Models
• Cisco 79XX series
• Several Aastra models (53i, 9143i, 480i)
• Linksys SPA94X
• Sipura SPA2102 (AKA Linksys PAP2)
• Whatever else can be found or generously donated.

We began development on the frontend which has two modes – wizard (basic) and advanced.  We have also constructed working templates for many models listed above which is probably the most tedious task.  We will offer HTTP and TFTP provisioning totally free! as well as the option to download your entire endpoint configuration to place on your own network (if you so choose).

A word on security :

Any and all data you submit to this application will be passed through an extensive encryption / decryption process and stored in the database – thus no one but you will have access to the private information.  You will actually have the ability to set your own security salt and change it if you suspect foul play (which is very unlikely).  We may also buy a CA for that extra peace of mind.

We will be adding this functionality as a module at ENUMPlus so sign up to catch first glimpse.

Anyone looking to help either with a donation of hardware or Paypal is of course much appreciated.  The more devices we can get our hot little hands on – the more we will be able to support.

Setting up your environment

Using a SSH client such as Putty – connect to your web server and create a directory in your users home named “bin”

$ cd ~
$ mkdir bin
$ cd bin

Next we need to download a stable copy of Zend Framework via subversion using the following command :

$ svn checkout http://framework.zend.com/svn/framework/standard/branches/release-1.10/

If svn (Subversion) is not installed you can download via wget using the following command :

$ wget http://framework.zend.com/releases/ZendFramework-1.10.3/ZendFramework-1.10.3-minimal.tar.gz

Next we need to untar (decompress) the framework :

$ tar -zxvf ZendFramework-1.10.3-minimal.tar.gz

Rename the decompressed folder :

$ mv ZendFramework-1.10.3-minimal Zend

** Note if you used subversion to acquire Zend Framework – you probably have downloaded the release directory – use the command above replacing the first argument with the release directory name.

Move the scripts from the Zend/bin directory into the ~/bin directory; make them executable; rename zf.sh to just zf (for simplicity) :

$ mv Zend/bin/* .
$ chmod +x zf.sh
$ mv zf.sh zf

The next step is to add the zf script to the users include path, this allows us to use the zf command without having to specify the absolute path. Copy and paste the next 6 lines into your shell :

cat << EOF >> ~/.bashrc
if [ -d ~/bin ] ; then
PATH=~/bin:"\${PATH}"
fi
export PATH
EOF

You must now log out and back in to activate this path. Once you are logged back in you can test the zf command by typing :

$ zf show version

If you see “Zend Framework Version: 1.10.3″ you are ready to start your first project.

Creating your first project

Change to your web server document root, assuming you are using a Debian based server you can find it usually in /var/www (RHEL generally defaults to /var/www/html) :

$ cd /var/www

Create a project using the following command :

$ zf create project <project_name>

Where <project_name> is the name of your project in lowercase alpha numeric form (no symbols, spaces, uppercase letters (hyphens and underscores are OK))

Link your Zend library to your projects library directory as such :

$ ln -s ~/bin/Zend /var/www/project_name/library

Where /var/www is your web server document root and project_name is the name of your project.

If all went well – point your browser to your web server hostname or IP / your project name / public ( http://example.com/project_name/public ).

That is all for now – we’ll get into the actually writing some code next time. Leave me some comments below!

After completely rewriting ENUMPlus from the ground up (2 days total) we have come much closer to a universal ENUM lookup source.  The new module can be downloaded here so install it now! Here’s why :

• The module forms a HTTP request to our API which queries many other sources and returns the most accurate address.
• There is no longer a need to add multiple lookup sources to the old enumlookup AGI.
• It audibly notifies you when the call is made over ENUM.
• You can track your calls in the panel.
• White pages / search functionality (including avatars )
• Call validation is much more stable.

If you don’t have an account, get one – registration is quick and simple and you will be a happy geek.

Check out the project page / wiki / site / sourceforge / FreePBX / voip-info / piaf for more info.

The following information is from this site.  Please check it out for download link and changelog / usage.

Possible Uses

• Restrict access to certain outbound routes or feature codes by a particular extension or group of extensions.
• Give particular extension(s) priority access to certain outbound routes, such as a particular emergency route associated with their geographic location.
• Give certain outbound routes top priority for use during “free” or low cost calling periods, while making those same routes lower priority (or disallowing access entirely) during higher cost time periods.
• Disallow access to outbound routes (with possible exception of Emergency access) to certain (or all) extensions during particular time periods (don’t let night cleaning crew make long distance calls, or disallow outgoing night calls from telephones in children’s rooms, while still allowing emergency number calls).
• Allow two or more families/companies/organizations to use the same FreePBX box, while still allowing each to have access only to “their” outgoing routes and trunks.
• If you have a SIP provider that does not send DID (normally a pain to handle because you can’t create a normal Inbound Route), set up a new custom context (call it idiot-provider), give them no access to anything (deny all), and then specify where you want their calls to go in the Failover Destination. Then put context=idiot-provider in that provider’s trunk user details.

Module Description

One feature which was a bit lacking in Asterisk/FreePBX was the ability to easily create multiple tenants.

This module creates custom contexts which can be used to allow limited access to dialplan applications.

Now allows for time restrictions on any dialplan access!

This can be very useful for multi-tenant systems.

Inbound routing can be done using DID or zap channel routing, this module allows for selective outbound routing.

House/public phones can be placed in a restricted context allowing them only internal calls.

Custom contexts can now be used as destinations. An IVR menu, Time Condition, etc. can now send a caller into a custom context. This feature requires FreePBX 2.2.0rc2 (or the latest SVN version if prior to the release of rc2)

(The following are the module author’s comments, “I” refers to the module author, not the original creator of this wiki page).

A number of improvements have been made to freePbx to handle multiple tenants.

1) inbound routing based on zap channel – i used to have to hack it by putting each zap channel in its own context.

2) authtype = database allows for dividing extension ranges

the main problem for me was outbound routing…

I wanted some extensions to dial out one route, and others out another route.

I had to create a custom context for each, then place each in their own custom context, then include all of the contexts which they should have access to. This became a nuisance as each module added its own context to from-internal-additional which could not be included as it also contains outbound-allroutes.

The purpose of this module is to dynamically list all contexts included in any contexts you choose, and allow you to create custom contexts which can include any of these all without config editing.

As a sole proprietor and “freelancer” it is never easy wearing all of the hats, especially when I am knee deep in bugs and get a sales or support call.  One of the most troubling issues I have is with asking for money.  I never have a problem creating the invoice but it is that bloody send button that kills me.

Because of the above – I have decided to finally get organized and put together an automated invoicing application so I don’t have to worry about billing – the computer does for me.  Basically you point your browser to a web app and adda few items to a job list – then save.  Here’s a screencast that should demo it better than I can type it :

Here’s some of the functionality summed up in a brief list.

• Add / Edit / Delete Clients
• Add / Edit / Delete Invoices
• Add / Edit / Delete Jobs
• Add / Edit / Delete Taxes
• Add / Edit / Delete Services / Products
• Auto Email Invoice
• Download PDF Invoice

It probably does a lot more but I am too excited to complete the PayPal module.

Be sure to check back for updates – a version will be available for you shortly!