Garrett Kelley

I managed to configure the Asterisk server to make and recieve calls thorough VoicePulse yesterday afternoon. I only had enough time yesterday between work and class to get it working. I have a few things such as caller id to tweak out. It is however a big step towards making the system actually useful.

Hello all, let me apologize in advance for my lack of posting as of late. A number of things have been occupying my time. Most notably of course is school. Let me just say that I am not a fan of online classes. They are more work then they are worth.

Last Friday the renovation work on my Mom’s kitchen began. Which means I have been assisting with that project. I went shopping with Mom on Saturday for a new over the range microwave and dishwasher. Several hours and 4 stores later we settled on a Kenmore dishwasher and GE microwave from Sears. Overall, it is a pretty large project. The kitchen is being gutted with the wall between the kitchen and dining room being removed. The sink and dishwasher will now be in an island. New cabinets along with a pantry and broom closet will be installed. The carpet in the dining room is going and the hardwood floor beneath will be resurfaced. All in all it should be an excellent change for her.

My latest project has been the configuration of an AsteriskNOW server. I’m hosting the Asterisk server inside a VMware Server virtual machine. The server is configured to use SIP and I currently have 5 extensions configured for myself and a few friends. I’m using a Cisco 7970, my roommate a Cisco 7960, and another friend is using the X-Lite soft phone. The project has presented a couple of challenges. One is configuring phones outside of my local network to work properly with NAT. Secondly, the configuration for a 7970 is different than that of a 7960. The 7970s now use XML files for all of its configuration. Nonetheless the 5 extensions work and can call each other. The next phase of this project is to integrate the Asterisk box with my VoicePulse account. This will allow us to make calls on the PSTN and also receive calls from the PSTN. I’ll provide another update as to how that goes.

Sorry for the long post, I needed to bring you all up to speed on what I’ve been up to.

Do you use Steam? If so, know that Valve is collecting precious data regarding the hardware in your computer! The upside to this: Steam publicly releases this information each month. I highly recommend taking a look at these stats, it is quite the interesting read! Intel/Nvidia are stomping AMD/ATI in terms of market share.

I certainly feel better knowing that my computer is way ahead of the curve in regards to the hardware stats!
Link: Steam hardware survey

NVIDIA has released today version 180.48 of its drivers for GeForce 200-series, 9-series, and 8800-series desktop GPUs. The new drivers add mulit-monitor support for SLI configured GPUs, along with PhysX, and SLI support for Intel X-58 mainboards. Full details from NVIDIA.com are below.

This is a WHQL-certified driver for GeForce 200-series, 9-series, and 8800-series desktop GPUs.

Exciting New Features:

• Enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with the following GPUs: GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 9800 GTX+, and GeForce 9800 GTX. Learn more here.
• Enables NVIDIA SLI Multi-monitor support, giving you the ability to use two monitors with your GeForce graphics cards in SLI mode. Now you can easily switch between multi-monitor desktop mode and full screen 3D gaming mode. Learn more here.
• Enables NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. (Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory. This driver package automatically installs PhysX System Software version 8.10.13).

Blazing Fast Performance:

• Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. The following are some examples of improvements measured with Release 180 WHQL drivers vs. Release 178 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
  • Up to 10% performance increase in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
  • Up to 13% performance increase in Assassin’s Creed
  • Up to 13% performance increase in BioShock
  • Up to 15% performance increase in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
  • Up to 10% performance increase in Crysis Warhead
  • Up to 25% performance increase in Devil May Cry 4
  • Up to 38% performance increase in Far Cry 2
  • Up to 18% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID
  • Up to 80% performance increase in Lost Planet: Colonies
  • Up to 18% performance increase in World of Conflict

And More:

• Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way and Quad SLI technology.
• Supports CUDA.
• Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs here and join the NVIDIA team: #131015.
• Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
• Includes numerous 3D application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.

I recently purchased a second EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX SSC to run it in a SLI configuration with the first EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX SSC I already had. It was when I installed the new video card and enabled SLI that my heart sank. Only 1 display can be used when SLI is enabled, I have 3 displays. Moving from 3 displays down to 1 was something I came to terms with. After all, I wanted SLI.

I decided to perform some further investigating. What I found: NVIDIA currently has drivers in beta that support multiple displays when is SLI is enabled. Hurray! I now have a dual display configuration once again. I can live with 2 displays, but 3 displays are REALLY nice. The second display gives me a place to throw things which I like to keep an eye on. Applications such as the Trillian Astra chat client, the Windows Vista sidebar, and twhirl all find a home on the second display.

Edit: Here is a great article regarding the new 180.xx beta drivers from NVIDIA over at PC Perspective.