kemal asad
2004-Jan-15 12:43 UTC
[Asterisk-Users] want suggestion to get hardware to learn
I know nothing about telephony ip phone etc.. however i have a few $$ that i am willing to spend to learn Asterisk . and i am very very curious, i believe in learning by doing( but with some hand holding) so i am looking for equipment suggestion . can anyone suggest a set of equipment i could get to check and test the cool functionalities of Asterisk. Computer , Phones, communication cards. i already have the following: ADSL static IP. a second phone line a router with dhcp a computer(RH9.0, 1 network card, one 56k PCI modem card) a small ethernet network. if you have any suggestion please be specific exact equipment description shopping location , estimated prices. Thanks a lot. any help in feeding my curiousity is very much apreciated. Kemal
On 15 Jan 2004, kemal asad wrote:> can anyone suggest a set of equipment i could get to check and test the > cool functionalities of Asterisk. Computer , Phones, communication > cards.Digium sell an "Asterisk Developer's Kit" - for about US$180 you get an FXO card and the 1-port version of their FXS card, or for a little cheaper you get a USB FXS device instead of a PCI FXS card. Good deal - plus you're supporting Asterisk development at the same time (by supporting its sponsor). You can get to the store via the Digium website at www.digium.com; select "Hardware Products" in the menu at the left, then follow the links. Note that this is just one hardware suggestion; others may work. For example, you could look at analog-VoIP devices like the Cisco ATAs or the Sipura SPA-2000 to bring analog handsets into your system. That's if you want to do PSTN/analog with your Asterisk learning: just your PCs with some soft-phones (X-Lite, gnophone, linphone, etc) will do if you just want to play 'software' VoIP for now...> i already have the following: ADSL static IP. a second phone line > a router with dhcp > a computer(RH9.0, 1 network card, one 56k PCI modem card) > a small ethernet network.There's another thread discussing potential problems with voice distortion on low-bandwidth ADSL connections. Keep that in mind during your testing. I'm currently running * for purely VoIP testing with soft phones at the moment -- that will change when the hardware I've ordered arrives ;-) Good luck! Regards, Vic (fellow newbie)