From SIP to speaker: Setting up a VOIP Zone Controller

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In many scenarios where you find a phone system, you’ll also find a PA system. Ideally, we want the audio from the phones to be able to reach the PA system when a special number is dialled:

Ideal VOIP Zone Controller setup

With analog phone systems, this is a common feature. IP-based systems can do this too, with the help of a VOIP Zone Controller.

I think of a Zone Controller as an “Ethernet to RCA” adapter. This article will show you how to get a CyberData controller set up with Asterisk.

The equipment

I settled on this CyberData 4-port Zone Controller, which is quite small, POE-powered, and is of course a reliable and configurable embedded SIP endpoint:

Front view - CyberData 4 port Zone ControllerBack view - CyberData 4 port Zone Controller

In a typical configuration, the controller would continually receive audio, such as background music, and then silence it when an announcement is made (this is called “night ringer”).

This device has 4 different audio outputs, and waits for a DTMF tone by default, which is then mapped to one or more outputs. I had a very simple use case, and disabled this, so that dialing the box simply caused audio output.

On the VOIP server

Hopefully, you’re using Asterisk to run your phone network! This is the usual platform for VOIP enthusiasts. If you’re dealing with a proprietary system, then you’ll need to skip this section.

First, sip.conf needs to have an entry for the zone controller. This should look like a regular phone. Without going into the intricacies of Asterisk’s SIP configuration, this snippet adds the zone controller as user 1234. It’s given the caller ID “PA System”, and is allowed it to connect from any IP address with the specified secret:

[1234]
type = peer
host = dynamic
context = users
hassip = yes
directmedia = no
fullname = PA System
callerid = PA System
secret = ... (something random here) ...
nat = no

In the extensions.conf, you can then make the device contactable by all phones by adding a line to the users context:

[users]
exten => 1234,1,Dial(SIP/1234)

Setting up the controller

First, you need to plug the audio out into some sort of speaker, and the Ethernet into a POE network with an IP phone system.

In operation - CyberData 4 port Zone Controller

The CyberData devices have a web interface, so you need to find it on the network. I suggest filtering the output of arp-scan -l eth0 on GNU/Linux, which will find the IP address corresponding to the MAC address printed on your device.

Once you’ve found it, the configuration is dead simple. Type the IP address into a web browser, and log in as user “admin”, password “admin”.

Main configuration- CyberData 4 port Zone Controller

The main configuration page of the zone controller.

The web interface is extensive, and shows the depth of options which are used in this niche application, such as custom audio snippets and test routines.

Of course, you may want to adjust the network configuration, which is on the “Network Configuration” page. Once you adjust anything, no changes will take effect until you save and reboot.

IP configuration- CyberData 4 port Zone Controller

IP configuration panel

Remembering the login and password you set up in sip.conf, you will need to fill in the SIP configuration as well.

SIP configuration- CyberData 4 port Zone Controller

SIP configuration panel

Once you reboot, you should see the device register from the Asterisk console, and it will then be reachable. More configuration options to explore include:

  • Tick “Bypass SIP DTMF Entry” in “Zone Config” if you don’t have zones.
  • Set the admin password (!)
  • Take a backup by exporting the configuration from the main page

Good luck!

Setting up an Epson receipt printer

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I recently picked up one of these networked thermal receipt printers.

Epson receipt printer
An open Epson receipt printer

Being Point-of-Sale equipment, these come from a different tradition of printing, and have only a few things in common with regular laser printers. This post will cover the basic steps to getting the printer up and running.

This one is model TM-T82II.

Setting up the printer

Firstly, this particular printer only has an ethernet interface, which comes configured with a static IP by default, rather than DHCP. Holding the button next to the network port prints out the settings:

Epson receipt printer network card.
Epson receipt printer network settings.

The IP address of the printer is shown 192.168.192.168, and subnet mask 255.255.255.0. To speak to it, we need a computer on the same subnet— in this case the last number of the IP address is the only part which needs to be different.

On GNU/Linux, this is best done with ifconfig:

sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.192.169 netmask 255.255.255.0

If you used the correct interface, address and netmask, then you should now be able to ping the printer:

$ sudo ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr ...
          inet addr:192.168.192.169  Bcast:192.168.192.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          ...
$ ping 192.168.192.168
PING 192.168.192.168 (192.168.192.168) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.192.168: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=1.09 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.192.168: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0.506 ms
...

The printer has a web interface, and is open on two ports for printing:

$ nmap 192.168.192.168
...
PORT     STATE SERVICE
80/tcp   open  http
515/tcp  open  printer
9100/tcp open  jetdirect

The web interface will let you set different IP settings, so that you can get the printer on your network. If you mess up and can’t connect, then do a factory reset: Hold the button used before, and then reboot the printer.

Using the printer

Epson provides drivers for several platforms, which may fit your use case.

However, these printers do support ESC/POS (See Wikipedia). making it quite accessible without installed drivers.

The printer will immediately print any regular text it receives over Port 9100, line by line: 

echo "Hello World" | nc 192.168.192.168 9100

ESC/POS commands allow you to to format the text, print barcodes, and cut the paper. A good resource for them is this PDF reference from Epson.

I’ve included a PHP script to produce the ESC/POS commands for the below receipt, showing how to use a few of the supported features:

Example receipt from an Epson receipt printer, printed using PHP

And the script which created it:

<?php
/* ASCII constants */
const ESC = "\x1b";
const GS="\x1d";
const NUL="\x00";

/* Output an example receipt */
echo ESC."@"; // Reset to defaults
echo ESC."E".chr(1); // Bold
echo "FOO CORP Ltd.\n"; // Company
echo ESC."E".chr(0); // Not Bold
echo ESC."d".chr(1); // Blank line
echo "Receipt for whatever\n"; // Print text
echo ESC."d".chr(4); // 4 Blank lines

/* Bar-code at the end */
echo ESC."a".chr(1); // Centered printing
echo GS."k".chr(4)."987654321".NUL; // Print barcode
echo ESC."d".chr(1); // Blank line
echo "987654321\n"; // Print number
echo GS."V\x41".chr(3); // Cut
exit(0);

This would again sent to the printer using netcat:

php foo.php | nc 192.168.192.168 9100

Good luck!

HP Mini 210 review

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I used a HP Mini 210 netbook for around 18 months. It costed just $329 AUD when I bought it, and had Windows XP and a 160GB hard drive.

I was originally interested in dual-booting Windows alongside Linux, but HP support proved to be very stubborn and would not provide recovery disks or the Windows licence key, so I ran it with only Linux instead.

Here are some features to note:

  • An SD card can be placed in the slot and stays out of the way.
  • The VGA port makes it suitable for doing presentations.
  • The battery life is not fantastic. Around 3 hours when new, and reduced to just 20 minutes or so by the first year.
  • Not particularly durable. The right-click stopped working on the mousepad after a while. I enabled mac-style gestures in Ubuntu to overcome this.
  • The ventilation is poor. It has no vents on the bottom at all, which is great for keeping the inside dry, but it has a very weak fan and does not handle heavy loads gracefully.

Some things you can do to improve it.

  • As soon as I found out how to open the case (video), I got an Intel SSD, which was quite expensive, but can be used in whatever netbook you have. It makes it quieter, faster, more power efficient, and removes the shock-sensitivity that plagues notebook hard-drives.
  • Consider getting a high-capacity battery. I replaced the dead standard size one with a cheap 3rd-party battery (link), but it could still do with more power.
  • The default install is filled with crapware. Either reinstall windows or run something else. GNU/Linux compatibility is great, and it also runs Windows 7 with no worries. It turns out your Windows XP key is inside the case, so open it up and use it.

It was a good laptop for the price, but not exceptionally fast, durable, or long in its battery life. This netbook should be purchased with the understanding that it will have a short life.