Buddy watch in newer Polycom firmwares

Apparently, the sip.cfg file in newer firmware packages for Polycom phones do not have the presence feature enabled by default. That is why the phones do not have the buddy-watch option in the speed dial or directory.

This feature can be enabled easily by editing sip.cfg.

Change
    <feature feature.1.name="presence" feature.1.enabled="0"
to
    <feature feature.1.name="presence" feature.1.enabled="1"

The phone needs to be restarted for this change to take effect.

Asterisk DISA: no dialtone provided or DTMF collected

If you are getting no dialtone with Asterisk DISA, and no DTMF is collected either, probably you need to put an "Answer()" in the dialplan before calling DISA. Otherwise, the channel is not established where DISA is supposed to play the dialtone or collect DTMF digits. I found that The Definitive Guide did not have "Answer()" in their examples of DISA regarding SLA.

Asterisk crash on SLA call

I configured Asterisk 1.8.6.0 for Shared Line Appearance. But I was getting a crash when I called the shared extension. I found that this was happening because I had turned on the "DONT_OPTIMIZE" compiler flag (from make menuselect). After I turned it off, the crash problem was solved.

Lion on HP dv6 3060TX Laptop

Some notes from experiments:

• Laptop: HP dv6 3060TX (core i5, 4GB RAM, 1GB ATI, 15.6").
• HDD: Transcend USB 500GB.
• Get iATKOS L2 image.
• Burn the dmg file with Magic ISO.
• On the boot screen of the installer, type the following to avoid hang: "-v cpus=1 busratio=17"
• Install on portable USB HDD to keep existing OS on main HDD intact.
• Use MBR partition (does not boot after install if GPT is used). Use HFS Journaled.
• Have multiple other partitions for future because Single Mac partition for the whole disk disables any resizing of the partition later.
• After install, keep typing the boot options on every boot (later can be entered into a file).
• It does not work right away after install. Delete all files starting with "AppleIntelHD" and "ATI" from the location /System/Library/Extensions. Can do this from Windows using MacDrive.
• The keyboard and track pad do not work right away. Use USB keyboard and mouse for the time being.
• Need to install some kexts for keyboard, trackpad and Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi works but does not get IP correctly!).
• Use Champlist utility app to install the kexts (Applications > Utility).
• Search the net and install HP 8440p kexts for keyboard and track pad (ApplePS2Controller.kext, AppleACPIPS2Nub.kext).
• Search the net and install IO80211Famliy.kext for Wi-Fi.
• Modify the com.apple.Boot.plist file in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and in /Extra to include the boot options and resolution (no need to enter options on every boot after doing this):

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>cpus=1 busratio=17</string>
<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>1366x768x32</string>

• Use apps like TinkerTool and Cocktail to fine tune performance.
• To install Xcode 3.2.6 (with iOS SDK 4.3) on Lion, first make the dmg of Xcode writable with Disk Utility. Then find the file "iPhoneSDKSL.dist" in it. Open it and replace the string 10.7 with 10.8 (only one occurrence). Save the file. Now it should install properly.