I introduced OzPLAR in my previous post. It’s an evolution of the telephone intercom design I had published in Silicon Chip magazine back in 1992.
With my 2021 collaborator Ross we deliberately designed the circuit and PCB to accommodate a range of variations and alternate components so as to make it as flexible and globally-appealing as possible.
This page documents some of those variations.
Continue reading ‘OzPLAR customisation’ »
My original telephone intercom project was published in Silicon Chip magazine here in Oz in May 1992. Photocopies of that original article are still available from Silicon Chip, and they kindly let me re-publish the circuit here.
The intercom unit powered two telephones, allowing you to talk between them. Lifting one handset automatically started the other ringing, and cradling both devices resets it.
Applications were the obvious “batphone” intercom between two locations, whether those be neighbours down a country road, or from the main house to the granny-flat. Service people could use it to test and repair telephones, telephone collectors used it to make static displays more interactive, and it saw use on stage and screen where a phone was required to ring on set. In a corporate environment it could be used to couple two phone systems or telephony gateway devices that only had FXO interfaces, or turn an FXO port into an FXS one. I’ve used it personally to make a “phone call” between my modem and our home burglar alarm, allowing me to reprogram the latter from within the building.
Continue reading ‘OzPLAR – the 2021 telephone intercom revamp’ »
It’s been three months since our last update to Skype for Business Server 2015, which was a rare security update that took us to 6.0.9319.606.
This is build 6.0.9319.619, and it’s a bit of a doozie. It updated seven components on my Standard Edition Front-End, and also uninstalled the now-defunct Skype for Business Online PowerShell module. Check out the scary one I’ve highlighted:
I note that the Web app and Mediation components received updates, but there are no kb’s listed explaining their contribution to this CU.
Nothing noted. No cmdlets have been added to the SfB module in this update.
Nothing noted.
This CU also uninstalls the skype for Business Online PowerShell module, given the product’s recent retirement.
The installer prompts: DONE: SkypeOnlinePowerShell.Exe was uninstalled successfully.
Please install Microsoft Teams cmdlets module for Windows PowerShell manually as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Windows PowerShell Module. Download it from: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/MicrosoftTeams.
Two commandlets have also been removed from the SfB PowerShell module:
This security update for SfBS 2019 (addressing a spoofing vulnerability) is build 7.0.2046.369, up from the previous 7.0.2046.367. It updated four components on my Standard Edition Front-End.
Nothing noted. No cmdlets have been added to the SfB module in this update.
Nothing noted.
Continue reading ‘SfB 2019 Server Security Update – May 2021’ »
This security update for SfBS 2015 (addressing a spoofing vulnerability) is build 6.0.9319.606, up from February’s security update version 6.0.9319.601. It updated only two components on my Standard Edition Front-End.
This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Skype for Business Server and Microsoft Lync Server. To learn more about these vulnerabilities, see Microsoft Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVE-2021-26422 and Microsoft Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVE-2021-26421.
Nothing noted. No cmdlets have been added to the SfB module in this update.
Nothing noted.
Continue reading ‘SfB 2015 Server Security Update – May 2021’ »
AAARGH! Everywhere I turn I see Australian phone numbers formatted in a mess of crazy ways.
Websites, auto-sig’s – there might even still be some printed business cards left in circulation.
PLEASE! IT HAS TO STOP!
As public switched telephony has evolved we’ve jumped through various stages.
We started with the manual switchboard where an operator connected your call.
Photo credit: The Hollywood Reporter.
Continue reading ‘Please format your Aussie phone numbers correctly!’ »
This latest update to SfBS2019 is build 7.0.2046.367, and it updated three components on my Standard Edition Front-End. (The last update was the security update to 7.0.2046.352 released in February).
There are no bugfixes named in this update.
The next phase of Modern Admin Control Panel has landed, adding several new tabs: voice routing, voice features & response groups.
There’s more information in this article: “General availability of Modern Admin Control Panel (MACP) for Skype for Business Server 2019“. (See also my MACP page for screen-grabs, installation steps and some debug tips).
Nothing noted.
No new commandlets have been added to the Skype for Business PowerShell module in this update.
I woke to a flurry of news this morning, with updates to the Windows TCP/IP stack, as well as security updates for Lync Server 2013, SfBS 2015 and 2019.
This update for SfBS 2019 is build 7.0.2046.252, up from the previous 7.0.2046.248. It updated only two components on my Standard Edition Front-End.
This security update resolves a denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Skype for Business Server and Microsoft Lync Server. To learn more about these vulnerabilities, see Microsoft Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVE-2021-24099.
Nothing noted. No cmdlets have been added to the SfB module in this update.
Nothing noted.
Continue reading ‘SfB 2019 Server Security Update – February 2021’ »
I woke to a flurry of news this morning, with updates to the Windows TCP/IP stack, as well as security updates for Lync Server 2013, SfBS 2015 and 2019.
This update for SfBS 2015 is build 6.0.9319.601, up from the previous 6.0.9319.598. It updated only two components on my Standard Edition Front-End.
This security update resolves a denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Skype for Business Server and Microsoft Lync Server. To learn more about these vulnerabilities, see Microsoft Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVE-2021-24099.
Nothing noted. No cmdlets have been added to the SfB module in this update.
Nothing noted.
Continue reading ‘SfB 2015 Server Security Update – February 2021’ »
I’ve long been fascinated by electro-mechanical devices – a contraption that uses electricity to make things move in the real world.
This explains my love of pinball machines, and of the wonderful mechanisms inside public telephones (“PTs”), both of which I have examples of in our home today. It probably also explains the drive to build crazy effects for our annual housewarming.
Had I realised this earlier in life I might have ended up in process control or industrial engineering, but telephony drew me in.
My ‘corporate mugshot’ for 2021 is the chunky, heavy handset from an Aussie “Redphone”.
Continue reading ‘2021 mugshot: a Victa Redphone’ »