Welcome to Tech for Non-Profits, the unplugged version of Microdesign Consulting. Part lab-notebook, part brain-extension, it is a repository for new and half-baked ideas that we run across as we provide software and database development, network support, and R&D for a growing list of clients in education, health care and non-profit organizations.

Ongoing projects this month include our small office phone system using TrixBox and Asterisk. We’re finally installed the production version of Office 2007, and are evaluating several different web-based programs that, for want of a better term, I call “collaboration platforms”.

Regular features include Tech Friday, which may include code(!), our (mostly) annotated VoIP resource guide, Stuff That Works for hardware and software items that have passed the Five Minute Test, and Chron This Week, which is synopsis of technology articles of interest in the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Topics on grantwritng and fundraising appear as we seem to have one or more grant application in progress most of the time.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. They are moderated, so they may not show up immediatly.

Gabcast! Techfornonprofits Gabcast Channel #1



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The Gizmo Project now has a web-based version of their soft phone which works with Firefox or I.E. I was a little confused about this, as it requires the Adobe 9.0 Flash plugin. So if you go directly to the Gizmo Call website and get an error, download and install Adobe 9.0 and then try again. You’ll also be asked to install a Firefox plug in if you are using Firefox.

You can test this with up to 10 minutes of free calling each day. It works also if you already have a Call-Out (pre-paid) account for 2 cents per minute.

Not quite sure when I’d use this…since I already have the normal Gizmo softphone installed on my laptop. But if you want to make calls from a “foreign” computer, in an internet cafe, for example, this would be a way to do it, and be able to connect to your own account.

Microsoft is planning the officially introduce the successor to Windows XP this evening, Windows Vista. There is little in Vista to justify the hassles of upgrading a working XP system. Better to deal with it when it shows up, inevitably, on new computers, which presumably will have the optimized memory and graphics capability.

Recommendation: Sit this one out.

Over on Slashdot there is a note that reminds us of the fact that Dell will sell desktop machines without an Windows operating system. These are called the ‘n’ series. They’ve actually been doing this for a long time; maybe in fits and starts; but my three-year old workstation was also an ‘n’.

For non-profits, this may be something to look into. If you run Windows, and you are already eligible for discounted Windows licenses thorough Tech Soup or you can get academic licenses, do a quote with and without Windows, and see if you can save a hundred bucks on a machine.
Of course, if you are running any of the Linux operating systems, (current favorite is Kubuntu) then this might also be the way to go.

Robert Bruce Thompson, and Barbara Fritchman Thompson’s Building the Perfect PC has come out in a second edition as of December 2006. It is also available for reading online on Safari. The second edition is another fascinating building-block appoach for putting together a variety of desktop and server computers from parts. The range goes from a $350.00 email-reading machine, to a full-blown server, to a no-holds-barred gaming workstation. Virtually all the hardware suggestions from the first edition (circa 2004) have been superceded by new motherboards, processors, memory and cases.

I built a “pizza box” “Pundit” machine using an ASUS case and motherboard and ideas from their first edition, and it came out very well. The box is in constant use as a terminal server and testing platform for both Windows and Linux. Details are in the TFNP archives.

Jeff Dunteman has just posted an update about the Dell SX-270 that he (and I) was enthusiastic about. Seems like there is a capacitor problem. Dunteman is the author of the Degunking Windows series.

Finally David Pogue has found a possible solution for lack of eye contact when desktop videoconferencing.

From Seth Godin, marketer extraordinaire, a pointer to the 59 smartest nonprofit organizations online.

Nice preview of Office 12. (aka Office 2007). This was from the early Beta 1, but if you want an overview of the feature set, this is a good place to start.

Over at Daily Cup of Tech they’ve talked about the PC Repair System which fits on a single USB bootable USB drive.

Just received a new book: Microsoft Access Data Analysis by Michael Alexander. This is a wonderful book that starts where almost every other Access book ends, and makes you think that yes, Access really can be used for serious querying, reporting and analysis. Part One is a basic description of Access and a discussion of why you would use Access instead of Excel for data analysis. Part Two includes basic analysis techniques with a thorough discussion of how to deal with dates. Part Three, Avdvanced Analysis Techniques has a discussion of SQL and SQL subqueries, descriptive statistics, and pivot tables. In all situations he also discusses why you would want to use these tools. Chapter 10 includes a discussion of Visual Basic for Applications, and indeed why you woudl like to use this. Chapter 11 comes back full circle and describes how to automate Excel from within Access.

All in all a great book. I’ll be working through much of this one.

Do you really need to run processes that automatically look for updates to the QuickTime player, Adobe Acrobat and Quickbooks? Me neither, and the solution was in the latest PC Magazine. PC Magazine is almost the only dead-tree magazine that I pay for these days. Bill Machrone’s column mentions What’s Running, a free program which shows all of your running processes, programs, services, and IP connections. Fascinating, and a useful tool for ferreting out superfluous garbage.

I upgraded to QuickBooks 2007 Pro from QuickBooks 2004 Basic. This was precipitated by being forced to upgrade to maintain compatibility with the payroll function; Intuit, the creator of QB will no longer support QB 2004. This, even though I pay $199 or so for payroll “support” (they supply three numbers in the propriatary format so that I can accuratly calculate state payroll rates). It might be one thing if I had a payroll. But I usually use subcontractors, so my payroll consists of one person.

On the upside, the upgrade to Pro gives you job costing; which for fund accounting, or restricted accounting is an extra way for you to segregate income by project. This is not a bad thing and indeed is recommended, if not mandated by the Feds (US Federal Governement) when they fund grants directly to you.

My last upgrade to 2004 was a wrench which still gives me shivers; but this one went pretty smoothly, and the changes are not so radical as to cause a lot of problems. I still have that “over a barrel” feeling with Intuit though.

Welecome to Tech for Non-Profits, the unplugged version of Microdesign Consulting. We feel that non-profit corporations and NGOs deserve the same advantages that technology can bring to for-profit business. To that end, we’ve dedicated ourselves to finding cost-effective ways to bring the benefits of wide-area networks, computer databases, IP videoconferencing and Voice over IP and free and open source software to our clients and friends. Check out our (mostly) annotated VoIP resource guide.

Ongoing projects this month will include our small office PBX using TrixBox and Asterisk. This seems to have gotten off dead center as the past three days it has worked flawlessly with VoicePulse, or internet call provider. I have joined the outreach committee of the Vermont Software Developer’s Association, and we’re working on grant applications early this month to get this group some paid staff. We’re using Backpack for project management on this, and I wrote about Backpack a couple days ago.

It seems to be a personality quirk of ours that our default position is one of optimism and interest when confronted with a new product or new version of an older product. This is especially true if it passes the Five Minute Test(tm), i.e. if I can actually create or do something after fooling with the product for five minutes. The critical juncture is what happens immediately after the five minutes… Does it hold our interest? Does it get incorporated into our daily work? Is it something to recommend to others?

A little about our shop: If you look at previous entries, you’ll see we’ve dated Linux, but are married to Microsoft. We have two Windows XP desktops, 1 Windows XP laptop and a Windows 2003 Small Business Server as our production machines. These have to work every day, and they do. We use these for programming, database development, web development and general office stuff like accounting. We depend on several entities located in cyberspace, including Intermedia.net for our web site and eMail, and as host for a couple production web-based applications, and Logmein for remote access to clients for whom we have ongoing network management or software development projects. Oh, and our ISP, Comcast, (only recently changed from Adelphia).

Comments and suggestions are welcome and are moderated, so they may not show up immediatly.

I’ve been reading Smith on VoIP blog for some weeks now and found it to be informative.

So then I have to ask a few questions when I saw the following entry about advertising rates for his blog.

Product Reviews

Many believe the best advertising does not look like advertising. The best advertising is interactive and informative. Product reviews (hardware, software, and service) are both interactive and informative. Not only do you get a robust product review, I will also work with you to better understand how you can get others within the VoIP blogsphere to review your product.

* Product + $500

So, this means that as a vendor, I could send my box to Mr. Smith, and a check for $500. He’ll review the box. (robustly). Presumably he’ll post the review on his blog Ok….fine so far. But:

1. Doesn’t this represent a conflict of interest? Whose interests are being served here? Certainly not the reader’s.

2. What if there is a superior product that competes with the one reviewed, and he knows that… would he include a dicussion of the superior product even though they hadn’t signed up for a review? In other words, it seems quite possible that the “reviewer” could end up touting a piece of junk, just because the vendor paid for the review.

I dunno….when I find something that actually works as advertised, I’m so happy that I’m willing to praise it for nothing. Happens maybe a dozen times a year. Maybe some people need to be paid to try something, because it is indeed rare to find an item which does work as it should.

Update: Garrett Smith has commented.

I’ve talked about LogMeIn before, it is a web-based remote access application that works through firewalls; and is generally very easy to set up. It replaces programs like PC-Anyware, Windows Terminal Server and similar programs. LogMeIn is available in various flavors. There is a free version which just does the remote access, a “Pro” version for a monthly or yearly fee which inlcudes a file transfer function. There is the IT-Reach version, which combines the functions of Pro with some monitoring and computer management functions; indeed it does such a nice job on the latter that I use it when managaing my own server, (five feet away). The client piece can sit on your workstation with a memory consumption of about 9K of RAM.

Now, they have a new product LogMeIn Himachi which allows you to set up VPNs (virtual private networks) quickly over the web. At first I was thinking…Ok, this means I can map a data drive to my office server over the web, or even print to a printer on my office server when I’m sitting at home. But wait…there’s more!

Since the connections are encrypted, and they go through (most) firewalls this has the potential of being a component that can be used in situations where you would normally have to adjust a firewall manually. In particular, I’m thinking of a Voice over IP connection which requires ports 5060 or 4569 to be opened on the firewall. This means you could potentially have an encrypted phone conversation, that would traverse a local firewall between the home office and laptops in the field.

Himachi allows you to create a local peer-to-peer network over the Internet. You could use this for sharing ITunes (assuming your machines are all part of the registered ITunes 5-count for your installation), or use it for peer-to-peer gaming.
Unlike regular LogMeIn….

Himachi also works with Linux. There is a how-to for setting up the Linux version, and then running VNC to see the desktop.