asterisk users - Jan 2004 - 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)