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Asterisk Open Source PBX 1.0 Release 208

Posted by michael from the linux-phone-home dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Today at Astricon (the first Asterisk conference), Mark Spencer announced the release of version 1.0.0 of Asterisk. For those of you that don't know: Asterisk is a complete PBX in software. It runs on Linux and provides all of the features you would expect from a PBX and more. Asterisk does voice over IP in three protocols, and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware. Asterisk users can be up and running, making phone calls in under an hour using the various guides found at the VoIP Wiki. Connectivity to the PSTN is provided by companies like VoicePulse, Nufone, Gafachi and VoipJet."
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Asterisk Open Source PBX 1.0 Release More

Asterisk Open Source PBX 1.0 Release

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  • Enjoy your IAXy... (Score:5, Funny)

    by kasparov ( 105041 ) * on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:33PM (#10331861)
    Anonymous User...

    (Mark offered to give a free IAXy [digium.com] to the person who got this slashdot story posted) :-)

  • Linux Journal did an article on Asterisk... (Score:5, Informative)

    by tcopeland ( 32225 ) * <tom AT thomasleecopeland DOT com> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:33PM (#10331869) Homepage
    ...right here [linuxjournal.com].

    It's a bit out of date - it suggests you check out the code from CVS - but lots of good info there nonetheless.

  • Great for new businesses (Score:4, Interesting)

    by erick99 ( 743982 ) <homerun@gmail.com> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:34PM (#10331882)
    The features section of the website is certainly impressive. If I were starting a new business or, for some reason, had to get out of a current PBX contract, I would give this a try. Having worked in large companies with large PBX systems, the money saved would not be insignicant. I didn't see in the article or the features list if there was any sort of limit to the amount of phones that this would support. For example will it work with 400 employees? 4000? 40,000?

    -erick

    • Re:Great for new businesses (Score:5, Informative)

      by Scott Laird ( 2043 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:47PM (#10332079) Homepage
      It depends on your needs. There have been suggestions that some CLECs are using Asterisk internally, and there are certainly a ton of VoIP startups using it. The general impression that I get is that you don't want to run more then 100 simultaneous connections through a single Asterisk server. If you want more, then add more servers and share the load. If you're doing a lot of compression on the server, the number may drop below 100.

      Fortunately, Asterisk does a decent job of sharing information between multiple servers, but setting up a large multi-system PBX still isn't going to be trivial.

      If you're using VoIP phones (Cisco, Polycom, etc), then there's no real limit to how many employees you can service with a single server. If you're using analog phones, then you should probably limit yourself to around 4 T1s worth of phones per server.

  • IP phone recommendations? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by otis wildflower ( 4889 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:38PM (#10331955) Homepage
    Any recommendations for IP (ethernet) phones to use with Asterisk? We've got Lucent/Avaya fones with power over ethernet (convenient) but the PBX backend is a proprietary piece of shite.

    Also, is LDAP supported in Asterisk?

    • Re:IP phone recommendations? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Akai ( 11434 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:42PM (#10332020) Homepage Journal
      By far my fav are Cisco 7960 (I haven't tried the 7970) the only problem is they need things like DNS entried and tftpservers to work optimally.

      For lower-cost alternatives, I really like the SNOM phones. I've used an snom 200 for quite a while and it's a very nice phone.

      I also have a Pulver WiSIP which is nice but not exactly featureful, and the audio quality goes down when WEP is used.

      For ATA's the SIPura, and the Linksys models there of ($50 or so) are a good bet, and the dirt-cheap Grandstreams work okay too.

      Use the voip wiki to find optimal phone and sip.conf configs for a bunch of different phones.

    • Re:IP phone recommendations? (Score:4, Informative)

      by ldspartan ( 14035 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:45PM (#10332052) Homepage
      In my apartment, I've got a Cisco 7960 and Budgetone 100 both connected to * via SIP. They're at opposite ends of the cost spectrum, the 7960 being about $400 MSRP and the BT about $100. Both work fine.

      See http://www.voip-info.org/ for more.

      --
      Phil
      • We're picking up 7970's for under $400, so methinks you might want to try shopping around a little more. I'm willing to bet you could save yourself quite a few bucks. The only reason to switch to a 7970 for me was just the cool touchscreen, and being able to add a background image on the phone.

    • Re:IP phone recommendations? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Scott Laird ( 2043 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:54PM (#10332181) Homepage
      The Polycom IP300/IP500/IP600 line seems to be the best combination of price and performance right now, at least for a business environment. You can get cheap phones (the Grandstream Budgetone is around $70), but they're cheap and missing some features.

      Asterisk doesn't have native LDAP support, but it's not very hard to write a script that produces a set of Asterisk config files out of LDAP data. With a bit more work, you could script Asterisk to do LDAP lookups, but it'll take too much work to be worth it for small (100 users) sites.
      • Asterisk doesn't have native LDAP support, but it's not very hard to write a script that produces a set of Asterisk config files out of LDAP data. With a bit more work, you could script Asterisk to do LDAP lookups, but it'll take too much work to be worth it for small (100 users) sites.

        With LDAP you can get interesting stuff like injecting voicemails to IMAP mailboxes, having group extensions (like helpdesk) inject voicemail to group mailboxes, etc..

        I'm just thinking how neat it would be to have a voice

        • Re:IP phone recommendations? (Score:5, Informative)

          by Scott Laird ( 2043 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @03:15PM (#10332486) Homepage
          Well, Asterisk already lets you send voicemail via email, with the message attached as a WAV file. It can suck its VM config out of MySQL or Postgres, or it can use text files. It'll also send mail to a pager email address; I get a SMS message on my cell phone whenever I get new voicemail at home. The message includes the caller ID information as well, which makes it a snap to return calls.

          There's a patch out there somewhere to tie Asterisk into Request Tracker. Done properly, you could build a really interesting support phone system--it'd record calls, stick them into the ticket queue as needed, and give you a great way to keep track of who's bugging you the most.
    • Cisco 7940 (same as the 7960, but only 2 line instead of 6)
      AVOID THE CISCO 7905G/7912G AT ALL COSTS!!!!
      I recently did an asterisk deployment, and was planning on goin with the 7912G, but they are a BITCH to configure - the 7940/7960 is substantially easier.
      Your existing Avaya phones may be compatible with Asterisk - what protocol do they support?

  • Asterisk... (Score:5, Informative)

    by juuri ( 7678 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:40PM (#10331987) Homepage
    ...is quite nice and easy to get going with a cheap $40 FXO card. With that and a decently powered machine you can easily replace your home answering service or machine with something a bit more complex. As great as Asterisk is though it definitely is a 1.0 product, hopefully now that the functionality has stabilized somewhat, more work will be put into rearing the myriad of control files into something more managable and some work will be put into better troubleshooting tools. Odd or weird problems can be a real PITA to diagnose on your Asterisk setup.

    My dialplan (which works all but the analog portion 100% of the time) is that a call comes in -> rings the analog line a few times -> asterisk then picks up and gives the user a menu, from there one can pick my sip client or my girlfriend's or a global that rings the analog line and the sip clients at the same time. In case of no answer voicemail then picks up and fires off an email to us containing the message. Eventually I hope to have it sharing functionality with some friends in different states so we can all have free local dial-ins for family and friends who are scattered.

    • Re:Asterisk... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by bastion_xx ( 233612 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:54PM (#10332187)
      Agreed. There was a lot of "discussion" when the 1.0-stable and 1.0RC1 branches were put in place... then abandoned in favor of HEAD.

      Hopefully the discipline is in place to keep bug fixes on the 1.0 branch while new features can be put into HEAD or another branch completely.

      Happy * user in 3 continents, 1 Carribean island, and at home too!

    • Re:Asterisk... (Score:3, Informative)

      by walt-sjc ( 145127 )
      I think most of the problems are due to quality of the cards, varying quality of phone lines, quality of the DSP code, etc. CallerID has been quite unreliable (external callerID devices work every time.) The stock single FXO card is just a winmodem at heart - the quality of the telco interface portion is suspect. Other FXO devices (channel bank, SIP FXO boxes, etc) may have better luck on questionable lines.

      In addition, interupt conflicts are a constant plague for many newcommers. The X100P generates HUGE

    • Eventually I hope to have it sharing functionality with some friends in different states so we can all have free local dial-ins for family and friends who are scattered.

      Are there any guides to setting this kind of thing up? I'm utterly new to PBX technology, but I like the idea of having an Asterix box here connected to a phone, and one on the other side of the continent with the rest of the family. I assume that it would then be relatively easy to phone back&forth to one another freely, share

  • Mirrors (Score:3, Informative)

    by lowlands ( 463021 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:42PM (#10332006) Homepage Journal
    Mirrors can be found at http://asterisk.paperwork.com [paperwork.com]

  • best and worst of open source (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MrShoop ( 621273 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:42PM (#10332014)
    Asterisk exemplifies the best and worst elements of an open source project. The best being this is an awesomely powerful, infinitely configurable robust piece of software that is free and can replace otherwise extremely expensive proprietary systems. It is power to the masses in that a small company can have a comparable phone system to a big corporation that spends tens of thousands of dollars.

    The worst is that there is a very steep learning curve. Configuration of both hardware and software is complex. While the documentation is thorough, it is not oriented towards the first time set-up.

    Taken as a whole, though the good outweighs the bad, and it is worth investing in learning about it. This is great package. Tanks to the people who have been working on it, esp Mark at Digium.

    • Re:best and worst of open source (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Scott Laird ( 2043 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @03:09PM (#10332381) Homepage
      In many ways, Asterisk reminds me of Sendmail, circa 1996 or so. It's complex, it's sort of hard to configure (although Asterisk doesn't use line noise for config files, unlike Sendmail), but it's insanely flexible. In the early and mid 90s, you needed the flexibility, because email standards were in flux. SMTP was common, but so was UUCP and BITNET and a handful of other protocols. Gateways into non-RFC822 systems were all over the place. You needed a mail program that could handle all sorts of weird issues or you'd never be able to hack together a config that could handle your weird mail needs.

      Asterisk is similar. It's complex because it's designed to be able to tie together clumps of incompatible phone systems and act in all sorts of ways that the programmers didn't really intend. You can use it as a pure VoIP system, a gateway between different VoIP systems, a plain PBX with analog phones, a VoIP extension for an existing PBX, a voice-mail system for a PBX, a dialer for a call center, or a centrex-style virtual PBX for multiple companies. It's flexible enough to let you configure it to be any of these and a thousand other things. And today, we need the flexibility because we have so many weird little phone systems that we need to tie together.

      For email, things eventually changed. SMTP is king, and RFC 822 is the gold standard for email formats. Modern mailers are a lot less complex because they *CAN* be. Will the future hold something similar for telephone service? Who knows. Check back in a decade, but for now, use Asterisk.
      • For email, things eventually changed. SMTP is king, and RFC 822 is the gold standard for email formats. Modern mailers are a lot less complex because they *CAN* be. Will the future hold something similar for telephone service? Who knows. Check back in a decade, but for now, use Asterisk.

        I predict that the ILECs will be merged into one unified operating company, call it...oh I don't know, say AT&T, thus providing a unified body of specifications for interconnection and call processing.

        But seriously fo
    • Something like this isn't really aimed that your grandma is it?
    • The worst is that there is a very steep learning curve. Configuration of both hardware and software is complex. While the documentation is thorough, it is not oriented towards the first time set-up.

      Sure, but have you ever tried to configure a "traditional" PBX? It's not a trivial task to be undertaken by a first timer, either.

  • cheap, turnkey asterisk systems? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by timothy ( 36799 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:44PM (#10332043) Journal
    I know at least one technically skilled computer programmer type (ruling me out on two counts) who had a lot of pain setting up asterics. (Brian will remain completely anonymous.)

    Considering the ludicrous (low) prices for which one can buy a complete system far-more-than-capable of running asterics, the relatively cheap price of the phone interfaces, etc, it seems like a plentifully adequate Asterics box could be made for a lot less than $500, and perhaps sold for that amount (just one or two lines, more could cost more). This isn't *dirt* cheap like future, hypothetical home PBX appliances ought to be from Linksys and similar companies, but considering you can also use it as a home server and other things on the side, strikes me as at least a plausible, reasonable price to aim for.

    Has anyone done this? Does anyone sell a shoe-box PBX for a few hundred dollars that can be accessed via web, so new voice messages and menus can be dropped in via clicky-clicky drop-down menus?

    On this front, Isaac from MythTV and Marc from Asterics should get together and forge an unholy alliance, integrating two home-automation tasks in a nice, non-monolithic, package. I noticed that MythTV has *some* kind of new addition involving phones, but I have not read the linked bits yet ;)

    timothy

  • I just had a funny thought.. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Havokmon ( 89874 ) <rick@h[ ]kmon.com ['avo' in gap]> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:46PM (#10332071) Homepage Journal
    As I clicked on the Asterisk link, I imagined a GNU HURD stampeding across the internet to the Asterisk server.

    What have we become?!

    • What have we become?!

      OK, bad joke, but that aside, I have a plea for anyone that want's to play. Before posting to the asterisk-users mailing list (it's already high-volume enough,) read the manuals, the Wiki, and the mailing list archives. 95% of questions asked have already been answered Many Many times.

      If you don't know anything about Linux, Asterisk (*) is the wrong project to learn it on. If you are not comfortable compiling applications, * is not for you. If you are not willing to spend the time wi

  • New Marketing Slogan... (Score:5, Funny)

    by GypC ( 7592 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:47PM (#10332081) Homepage Journal
    Asterisk 1, because when it comes to your job, you only have one "ass-to-risk"

    OK, that was bad.

  • Asterisk is great! (Score:5, Informative)

    by SendBot ( 29932 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @02:51PM (#10332135) Homepage Journal
    I've just barely started playing with it, but it's pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. It even comes with prerecorded messages such as "all members of our household are currently dealing with telemarketers", "somethings *terribly* wrong", and one that's just angry monkeys screaming for 20 seconds.

    Here are some great resources for getting started:
    http://www.digium.com/handbook-draft.pdf [digium.com]

    and a good soft phone (x-lite) at http://www.xten.com/ [xten.com]

    • Re:Asterisk is great! (Score:4, Funny)

      by Havokmon ( 89874 ) <rick@h[ ]kmon.com ['avo' in gap]> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @03:19PM (#10332532) Homepage Journal
      and one that's just angry monkeys screaming for 20 seconds.

      Oh sorry, I was trying to set the outgoing message, but the kids had just come home from school.

      Thanks, I'll fix that.

    • Sorry to pounce on such a tiny part of your post, but I feel the need to bitch about X-Lite. This "softphone" (aka VoIP client) seems to be the one everyone recommends to the point that it's hard to find any other. Still, it is the most annoying software I've ever had the displeasure to use. By trying to make the interface look like a phone they've created a UI with all of the limitations and annoyances of a phone UI.

      It took me ages to get the hang of operating the configuration "dialogs", which are made t

  • We are running it (Score:5, Interesting)

    by codepunk ( 167897 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @03:03PM (#10332293)
    We have been running it for quite some time to handle our order status system. We programmed a python interface to our oracle database, greatest thing since sliced bread. Very flexible system with alot of possibilities.

  • Music on hold (for any PBX) (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SnakeStu ( 60546 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @03:08PM (#10332372) Homepage

    Not that most will care, but I first heard about Asterisk via the HTTP_REFERER data in the Web server logs for the OMR [openmusicregistry.org], which was apparently referenced as a place to get no-cost, pre-licensed (open licensed) on-hold music.

    Now that the OMR has been shut down, the links to those songs are available in an XML dump of the music database that can be found on freality.org [freality.org] or my own site [just-stuart.com].

  • Long time user (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 23, 2004 @03:15PM (#10332483)
    I have been using Asterisk for well over a year, it has replaced the cisco call manager for my applications.

    It has provided robust functionality, and many features that would be cost prohibitive to implement from other vendors.

    If your looking to get into voice over IP on a scale larger than a single Vonage accout, or even want to have full pbx facilities for home..this is the way to go.

    Just my 2 cents
    -AC-
  • Anybody used this with a wireless LAN, either with soft phones or Wi-Fi handsets?

    How well did it work?
    • I've used asterisk since the first part of the year, and exclusively for all non-cellular telephony in my house since June. I can't be more impressed.

      As far as wireless goes, it works fine. I use X-Lite on my laptop and it works well, and I just installed SJPhone on my iPAQ h4155 with Wireless. The laptop functions flawlessly, no extra delays or anything like that. The occasional dropout if the Wireless LAN gets saturated by something else, but more than managable. I'd compare it to a decent cell phon
  • Someone (not me! not me! the monkeys!) should connect asterics with festival, an audio compression program, and a mail agent.

    Would be good to call one's landline (connected to an asterics box) and be given options like "press 7 to hear email."

    Would be annoying to hear everything, perhaps (and too slow, too), but an option like "play the first 10 words, then prompt for more, or to skip to the next message" would make it bearable.

    timothy

  • This is a shameless plug:

    Voop [www.voop.no] offers PSTN termination over IAX and SIP for Asterisk users in Norway. Both business users and private individuals welcome.

    Disclosure: I work for Voop.

  • Now all we need is a new release of their Web site that has some screen shots for those taking a passing interest!
  • get them here:
    http://photos.tropiano.org/gallery/astricon -2004
  • VOIP intrigues me, but being a newbie at this, I still get a little dizzy by all of this. So perhaps if someone can enlighten me. :)

    Ok so I install this thing on a Linux server. Then what? How do I make calls to say, someone in New York from LA? And who would I have to pay still? No one?

    Also, how would I interface my phone with this thing? Would I need to get a VOIP phone?

    • Re:Questions from a VOIP newbie (Score:4, Informative)

      by ModMeFlamebait ( 781879 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @05:20PM (#10334310)
      VOIP intrigues me, but being a newbie at this, I still get a little dizzy by all of this. So perhaps if someone can enlighten me. :)

      Ok so I install this thing on a Linux server. Then what? How do I make calls to say, someone in New York from LA? And who would I have to pay still? No one?

      You set up Asterisk servers in NY and LA and make them communicate (hint: IAX2 rocks). Now you pay for net connectivity for both servers and that's about it. If you want a normal phone number attached to your Asterisk server, you need to sign up with a VOIP provider (there are plenty of them in the US, I wish there was at least one here...) - check the Asterisk Wiki (link in the summary), there's a list somewhere.

      Also, how would I interface my phone with this thing? Would I need to get a VOIP phone?

      You can use:
      • a VOIP phone (just about any SIP/H.323/MGCP phone you fancy although some don't work with Asterisk) for about $70-$500 (from Grandstream to Cisco)
      • an ATA (analog telephone adapter, IIRC) which costs a little below $100 per port (check out IAXy and the Sipura gear) - it's a device to plug in your analog phone(s) which then lets it communicate via VOIP
      • a TDM400P card by Digium with an FXS module (1-4 on a single card) - you plug in an analog phone and it works with Asterisk
      • a softphone (X-Lite for example) but it feels somewhat weird
      If you want PSTN (public phone network) connectivity, you need either a VOIP provider account or a FXO interface card (check out X100P and TDM400P with FXO modules on Digium site).

      For a home installation I think I'd recommend a Sipura SPA-3000

  • We use it! (Score:3, Informative)

    by ajs318 ( 655362 ) <sd_resp2@@@earthshod...co...uk> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @03:53PM (#10333008)
    We use Asterisk where I work -- about 30 Zultys ZIP 4X4 phones connected to a dual Xeon server with a Digium ISDN adaptor card (4 x E1 spans). One span is used to connect to the outside world (the full 30 lines; was just 12) and another connects to our "old" Siemens HiPath exchange.

    We did have a problem with call quality which seemed to be related to recording calls; it turned out that it was due to having far too many files in the recording directory, and once we had that sorted, it was clear as a bell again.

    My boss has even set up an Asterisk server at home. I haven't, but I've a spare machine I might use for the job if I can scrounge a spare IP phone. I'm not using a softphone -- we tested every one we could get the source for and one we couldn't, and they were all lousy for one reason or another.

  • This is pretty cool stuff (Score:4, Interesting)

    by multiplexo ( 27356 ) * on Thursday September 23, 2004 @04:20PM (#10333512) Journal
    PBXs are expensive chunks of hardware, of course they're also pretty damned reliable, but for someone who isn't running a hospital switchboard or 911 call center this is a neat piece of software. I wonder if you could use this to set up some kind of free VoIP P2P phone network. You would have users who had an extra landline installed with long distance and 900 service blocked. They would then advertise this service on the net through the P2P network. If you wanted to call someone in the 425 area code who didn't have an IP phone you'd get on your IP connection, find someone with a system connected to a phone line in 425 and connect to their system. The phone number is dialed and the call is connected. It would cost 20 bucks or so for that extra landline but given that a lot of people are willing to make small sacrifices for collective projects, such as sharing their 802.11 access points, this might work. Or I might be on crack.

    • It's funny you mention that because on Mark Spencer's whiteboard in his office is a plan for global domination a la The Underpants Gnomes. This plan specifically mentions becoming the Napster of IP Telephony. Make it happen and Mark's dream will have come true.
  • apt-get install asterisk
    • except that apt-geting asterisk will get you a release candidate version (0.9.1+1.0RC1-8) and this news item is about the release of the actual version 1.0.0

      There was a version of the Debian package that was labeled as 1.0 a while back, but that was as a result of a versioning cock-up in the asterisk CVS.

      At present, you're probably better off grabbing the source [hands.com] and reading the README.

  • Tad of Trivia (Score:3, Interesting)

    by XaXXon ( 202882 ) * <xaxxon.gmail@com> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @04:27PM (#10333610) Homepage
    Mark Spencer (the guy who does asterisk), is also the original author of Gaim, and Cheops (nifty network tool).

    Anyways, that's it.. I knew him when we were both freshmen in college at Auburn.. He had ethernet in his room and I didn't, so my computer lived in his room most of that year..

    Haven't talked to him in years.. so if you're reading this Mark -- HEY!!

    --Zac

  • Reliability? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Thursday September 23, 2004 @04:27PM (#10333611) Homepage Journal
    I'm about to move into a new office, fed by both DSL and cablemodem (for 99.9999% uptime = 30s:y downtime). Has your use of Asterisk and its PSTN connection been reliable enough that your company can depend on it? What should keep me waiting for the next generation?

  • We run our office using Asterisk (Score:4, Informative)

    by Ocelot Wreak ( 203602 ) <ocelotwreak@me. c o m> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @04:55PM (#10333993) Homepage
    We love it and run our office using Asterisk!

    Only odd thing we had to correct was switching off the Linux screensaver, as it was causing voice quality to occasionally stutter under high network traffic volume.

    Support Hint: an office PBX is a mission-critical system for a commercial business. You can't run it on an old piece of leftover trash! You need to put it on a high quality 1U server racked in your air conditioned computer room behind a secure door where the night cleaner can't plug his vacuun cleaner into your power bar!

    You also have to ensure it's properly backed up to off site tape/CD-ROM storage, and that the disk is RAID so that it can be QUICKLY restored when the disk fails.

    Anything less than this level of proper support means your ass is grass when something bad happens and the office comes to a screeching halt!

    You have been warned.

    Ocelot Wreak

    • Er, and after doing all of that, kill X - it's a high priority process. That's why your screensaver screwed things up.
      • That's right -- I'm running it on a piece of junk that was about to be thrown in a skip by one of my customers --- stick two new & shiny 120GB drives in, with software raid, and make a mondoarchive backup on a CD and you have all the warm & cudly feelings that Ocelot Wreak was after for a cost of about 150 pounds (and that includes the 2 ISDN2 cards bought via eBay, and an FXO card).

        Of course, I'm using a minimal Debian install on it, so it's not got X windows, so no screen saver discomfort :-)

        P.S
      • Point taken. However, our office is short on Linux command line vi experts, so X helps us provide some easier to use mgmt tools that a larger number of staff can use. "Oooo, a mouse. It must be just like Windows!" ;-)

        -Ocelot Wreak.

  • We use it successfully (Score:3, Informative)

    by tarsi210 ( 70325 ) <nathan AT nathanpralle DOT com> on Thursday September 23, 2004 @06:32PM (#10335038) Homepage Journal
    <topical_yet_shameless_plug>

    My hosting business, Binhost Technologies [binhost.com], uses Asterisk behind its IAX/SIP Origination and Termination and wholesale VOIP operations. It works well -- the price is right and the features are many. Most phones work if they speak SIP, IAX, or H.323 and the system comes configured from the start in a pretty usable state.

    A few things we've found out: The scripting system is a bit of a learning curve. Also, the configurations are one of those Jenga configs -- breathe too hard and it falls down. You have to be really, really careful when messing with the configs because one place can easily mess up another thing. But once you get a good, working config, it just works.

    Processor usage is reasonable, too. A P-266 would do well for a couple of lines and maybe up to 10. After that you'll want a bit more horse.

    </plug>
  • I'd be interested in locating consultants that have implemented Asterisk and VoIP before. Preferrably ones connected to organizations, but individuals are okay too. I am in the Atlanta area if that matters.
  • I got iConnectHere service a while back and have been mostly disappointed with the connections sometimes working, mostly not working.

    But also, the phone has a lot of apparent features which their firmware (or service?) doesn't support - half the buttons don't do anything (I have to use a web page to get voicemail - the phone will not do it), and I wish the LED backlighting would stay on longer (oddly, if the phone doesn't succeed in doing DHCP then it stays on constantly; otherwise it only stays on a few s

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