no Asterisk now sticky?

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NoDaddy

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#27630 2-Nov-2008 12:20

this seems like a delightful place to discuss one's favorite Asterisk implementation..

sbiddle

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#175238 2-Nov-2008 12:45

I'm still a trixbox fan.. IMHO AsteriskNOW was a product that was a very poor attempt by Digium to compete with trixbox/elastix distros that had effectively stolen their customers.

The current 1.5 beta of AsteriskNOW is a vast improvement but IMHO still pales compared to both trixbox and elastix however. If Digium do now put some serious effort into AsteriskNOW however things could be interesting.

freakalad

231 posts

Master Geek

#177603 12-Nov-2008 17:25

What would you recommend as a board for a VoIP n00b?
Getting into VoIP & all that is telephony, so I need to learn some nitty-gritty about the protocols & stacks, PSTN, VoIP, fax, PBX, etc.

I have some rudementary understanding, but I need to dive into the deepend.

I'll propably be workig in Asterisk & FreeSwitch

Got recommedations of sangoma & digium boards (nicegear seem to be a pretty big local reseller)

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sbiddle

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#177604 12-Nov-2008 17:28

Freeswitch in particular will be a big learning curve if you have no VoIP knowledge.

freakalad

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Master Geek

#177608 12-Nov-2008 17:34

some IRC blokes reckon Asterisk vs FreeSwitch address 2 different markets, but that FS possibly has better future prospects. Seems to be a bit more stable too. But Asterisk has better market dominance

I have to start somewhere, so that's why I'm doing a bit of background

I have a couple of distro's (incl trix), so now i need to do a bit of shopping for some PCB's

Will keep digging.
thanks 4 the info

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sbiddle

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#177610 12-Nov-2008 17:57

Freeswitch is a cool product and certainly does address some fundamental design principals with the Asterisk core product that some people consider to be flawed.

It's still in it's early stages and configuration for somebody who is new to VoIP would probably be a fairly challenging task!

hads

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#180206 25-Nov-2008 14:13

If you're talking manual configuration, FreeSWITCH is no harder to configure than Asterisk, I'd argue easier actually.

If you're talking GUIs then yes, Asterisk has a major head start here. There are a few GUI options for FreeSWITCH which should be coming around the corner.

In my opinion FreeSWITCH is a far superior product, it's more stable and consistant and can also scale further.

These days with it's default configuration you can install, change a couple of config variables and be up and running.

hads

nicegear.co.nz - VoIP, DVB and other Linux compatible hardware

freakalad

231 posts

Master Geek

#180207 25-Nov-2008 14:15

Thanks for the info, guys.

You got recommendations foe PCB's to start out with (makes & models)?

Entry-level, eventually I'd like to get to grips with VoIP, fax, etc, etc.
I understand that it's different technologies, but I need to start somewhere, so I'm looking for something fairly "universal" to learn the ropes.

There's simply too much to choose from at the moment, but hads NiceGear site seems to be the NZ shot to shop from

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hads

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#180209 25-Nov-2008 14:29

I tend to recommend external SIP gateways to people who aren't sure what systems they want to run. They are generally compatible with most things which gives you the most flexibility. Getting business grade kit can be expensive but you can pick up cheaper consumer grade gear for testing.

As for faxing, it's often a bit of a headache for people so if you can do without it then do it.

hads

nicegear.co.nz - VoIP, DVB and other Linux compatible hardware

freakalad

231 posts

Master Geek

#180211 25-Nov-2008 14:42

hads, when you say "External SIP gateway", do you refer to an external SIP gateway service provider, or a standalone box?

In either cases, I already have that sorted out @ home, in terms of my ISP providing me the SIP gateway service & I have Linksys router/quasi-modem device that supports the capability.

What I'm referring to instead, is setting up my own (somewhat) closed-off environment, in order to learn the technology, as I've been tasked @ work with providing workable FOSS solutions to phase out our current proprietary systems.

At present I'm more interested in getting my hands dirty & building Asterisk & FreeSwitch boxes to learn the ins & outs of the technology, protocols & systems.

I've tried quizzing some guys in VoIP IRC's, but there seems to be as much differences in opinions as there are products, and from what I can tell, it differer from country-to-country

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hads

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#180216 25-Nov-2008 14:49

I was referring to a SIP gateway device. i.e. an analog to SIP, or ISDN to SIP gateway device, a hardware appliance that converts one to the other so you don't require analog/ISDN hardware in your server.

hads

nicegear.co.nz - VoIP, DVB and other Linux compatible hardware

freakalad

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Master Geek

#180219 25-Nov-2008 14:54

yip. got that covered: Linksys WAG54GS
Works a charm (near idiot-proof, so suits me fine ;) ), and will be my fallback *when* I regularly break my would-be asterisk/trix/freeswitch box, but unfortunately I'm not going to learn much that way

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