So I've been on the Asterisk list for a long time. Mostly looking to set it up as a cheap alternative to a commercial MeetMe bridge, as a for-fun project. I keep noticing the Wildcard FXO X100P sorta seems like a Winmodem. Winmodems are basically a sound card chip tied to a pots port, where the Winders driver takes on the MO/DEM functions in software. I've always despised them as a data communications device but the other uses of the cards do seem good. It would seem like this kind of board would be exactly what was needed to provide a FXO port, assuming it can do full duplex operations, which it should since data calls are full duplex.... The picture isn't quite high enough quality to read the chip specs... It sorta looks likea Winbound or Connexiant silkscreen.... So is that thing a winmodem with a different PCI identifier? -- Ethan (Tele Monster)
> I keep noticing the Wildcard FXO X100P sorta seems like a Winmodem. > Winmodems are basically a sound card chip tied to a pots port, where the > Winders driver takes on the MO/DEM functions in software. I've always > despised them as a data communications device but the other uses of the > cards do seem good.Check the archives, this has been brought up NUMEROUS times. The X100P is essentially a PCI serial port with a POTS SLIC chipset wired to it. It can play noises out to the PSTN, listen for noises from the PSTN and detect PSTN state. That is it. The Tiger320 chip (PCI to parallel/ serial bridge, really) also provides a stable 1000Hz time reference for TDM functions, but that is all the card does. There is _no_ onboard DSP, _no_ onboard help for anything really. That chip reminds me a LOT of the PLX PCI-ISA "converter" chips. So to answer your question, it is essentially a controllerless "winmodem" -- I don't know of any winmodems that use the Tiger320 chip, so I think this thing is something relatively obscure in this part of the world, anyway. I think it's main feature as a PCI-parallel/serial bridge is the fact that it lets you set PCI ID through pullup/down resistors instead of an EEPROM, reducing cost even more. Regards, Andrew
Yes, a winmodem has all the hardware you need to do the job - however that is not the entire picture. Unless the card happens to contain a dsp, or interface chip whose specifications are public you might as well give up. This is a similar problem to having an ethernet card and a driver, but expecting a different card with a different chip on it to just work with your driver. (Obviously you totally missed out on this sort of fun in the early days of Linux/FreeBSD) Having hardware I would say is not even half the battle - whether it is commercial or custom, often the designs are based closely on the manufacturer's app notes, so designs using the same core chip are often interchangable. Having software that makes the hardware work for your application is the hard part since often there is no reference design at all for this from the manufacturer, let alone one that will work with Linux or FreeBSD. Over the summer Atheros (makes the radio modules in the dlink and linksys wireless stuff) took the groundbreaking step to release a "sort of" open source driver for their hardware, but this is not the norm at all. Take another example of ATI vs NVidia and compare the driver availability. So in summary, unless you happen to have some pipeline of information coming from a winmodem manufacturer, making it into a linmodem let alone another specialized telephony device is anything but trivial, unless it happens to be based on exactly the same chips and reference designs as the software you have is for. At 06:16 AM 10/22/2003, you wrote:>So I've been on the Asterisk list for a long time. Mostly looking to set >it up as a cheap alternative to a commercial MeetMe bridge, as a for-fun >project. > >I keep noticing the Wildcard FXO X100P sorta seems like a Winmodem. >Winmodems are basically a sound card chip tied to a pots port, where the >Winders driver takes on the MO/DEM functions in software. I've always >despised them as a data communications device but the other uses of the >cards do seem good. > >It would seem like this kind of board would be exactly what was needed to >provide a FXO port, assuming it can do full duplex operations, which it >should since data calls are full duplex.... > >The picture isn't quite high enough quality to read the chip specs... It >sorta looks likea Winbound or Connexiant silkscreen.... > >So is that thing a winmodem with a different PCI identifier? > > -- Ethan (Tele Monster) > > > >_______________________________________________ >Asterisk-Users mailing list >Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com >http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
YES, the X100P is in fact a soft-moden card. If you have a Digium X100P card you can dump the PCI card's configuration registers and look up the vendor and device IDs to see exactly what it is. (see "man lspci" for details, assuming you have Linux PCI tools installed) The Intel chip used in this card is very well documented and Intel even supplies example source code for Linux drivers. The card does have built in DSP so it is a bit more than a sound card but I don't think (could be wrong) that Asterisk takes advantage of the DSP hardware. (It _would_ be ideal place for echo supression.) Here is one source for X100P cards. They work but do require one triveal change to zaptel/wcfxo.c I'd say if you can't figure out what needs to be changed, pay the $100 to digium http://www.accupc.com/itemDetail.jsp?pid=fmint56vs/w&refer=PriceWatch Just last night I both made and acepted PSTN calls with the above card from a SIP phone through Asterisks. It would not be total rocket science to write another zaptel driver for just about any softmodem card if you had the specs for that card. and there ARE quite a few with published specs and wcfxo.c does provide a nice example driver. --- Ethan <telmnstr@757.org> wrote:> So I've been on the Asterisk list for a long time. Mostly looking to > set > it up as a cheap alternative to a commercial MeetMe bridge, as a > for-fun > project. > > I keep noticing the Wildcard FXO X100P sorta seems like a Winmodem. > Winmodems are basically a sound card chip tied to a pots port, where > the > Winders driver takes on the MO/DEM functions in software. I've always > despised them as a data communications device but the other uses of > the > cards do seem good. > > It would seem like this kind of board would be exactly what was > needed to > provide a FXO port, assuming it can do full duplex operations, which > it > should since data calls are full duplex.... > > The picture isn't quite high enough quality to read the chip specs... > It > sorta looks likea Winbound or Connexiant silkscreen.... > > So is that thing a winmodem with a different PCI identifier? > > -- Ethan (Tele Monster) > > > > _______________________________________________ > Asterisk-Users mailing list > Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users====Chris Albertson Home: 310-376-1029 chrisalbertson90278@yahoo.com Cell: 310-990-7550 Office: 310-336-5189 Christopher.J.Albertson@aero.org KG6OMK __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com
What I see are two types of Asterisk users:
1) People running Telco consulting firms who are charging
thousands to install and maintain Asterisk based systems.
2) Hobbists who are installing these systems in their
homes for self educaton and entertainment.
If digium's bussines plan is based on making money off #2 above
they got big problems as these folks can't justify spending money
The #1 users however can. I would think a good plan for them would
be to sell to the #1 guys while doing everthing they can grow the
size of the #2 type user base. That is how Linux took off,
Geeks (likeme) loved it and it was free so they took it to work.
It was
great because a low level technician could get Linux because it
did not require that a PO be cut or approved. Basically the
hobbyists took Linux in through the back door. Digium would
be smart to follow that model.
If I were Digum I'd sell FXO card with bootable Linux CD, asterisk
preinstalled for $20 a bundle. What I'd really like to see is
multi-line fxs cards at $10.00 per line. When that happens Asterisk
will _really_ take off. They'll make money on consulting, feature
requests that come with payment and hardware aimed at the
office with more than two incomming lines.
As for contributing, I do software for a living, my time is billable
at something like $125/hr. I'll contribute many hours of time,
don't worry. I've written many thousands of GPL'd lines of code.
--- John Todd <jtodd@loligo.com> wrote:> I have no financial interest in Digium, nor do they pay me for
> anything. That being said, I am a strong proponent of the work that
> Digium has done with Asterisk, and I recognize that there would not
> be an Asterisk project without Digium.
>
> I have done the same research as you have, and I figured out that the
>
> X100P cards are not terribly difficult to duplicate if one is
> suitably clueful and finds the information out by themselves. There
> is an unwritten rule that those people who have clue on this
> particular topic should not go out of their way to make that data
> available to anyone who happens to read the list.
>
> Digium is barely able to make ends meet, and anything that threatens
> Digium's well-being is a threat to my customers, since if Digium's
> contributions to Asterisk cease, the project will most likely
> languish and die. This would be bad for you, me, and everyone else
> on the list.
>
> I would appreciate it if you could let this topic drop, so that the
> other members of the list don't start producing and selling cards
> which undercut those of Digium, as we have seen with some people on
> eBay already. $100 is a completely reasonable price to pay for such
> a card, considering that the "profit" on that price is going to
> funding the software, and I encourage everyone to spend the $100 and
> keep the project alive. As soon as an alternative becomes widely
> known, I suspect most users will not send any kind of
"contribution"
> replacement fund to Digium for the time spent on the project. This
> method of OSS funding works for the moment, so please try to keep
> things in their current state as best you can by not outlining
> specific methods to implement non-Digium cards as X100P replacements.
>
> JT
>
>
>
====Chris Albertson
Home: 310-376-1029 chrisalbertson90278@yahoo.com
Cell: 310-990-7550
Office: 310-336-5189 Christopher.J.Albertson@aero.org
KG6OMK
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
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On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 09:52:20 -0700 (PDT), Chris Albertson wrote:>http://www.accupc.com/itemDetail.jsp?pid=fmint56vs/w&refer=PriceWatchFor the Aussie users who saw this an rang me, yes I knew/know about it and there is no A-tick version. Gary
Totally awesome, sounds like something I want to do myself :)! -----Original Message----- From: Robert Hajime Lanning [mailto:lanning+asterisk@monsoonwind.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 11:21 PM To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Is the X100P a WinModem? <quote who="Steve Sobol">> Ok. And the guy who started Cleveland's first ISP (former friend of > mine) used to have two dozen phone lines running into his basement. > > What exactly is your point? > > How many hobbyists/hackers/etc. would have any NEED to have T-1 > hardware in their house?I would. My full T1 to the internet is being installed in two weeks. I currently have Asterisk running on a VIA C3 machine with a T100P card, connected to a CAC AB1 channel bank. I am currently installing the wiring to have two line phones in each bedroom, kitchen and familyroom. Plus one to the Direct/Tivo. I will be ordering some analog trunk lines for my PSTN access with DID. I am giving out BT101s to my family (and maybe close friends). With long distance calls to be routed through NuFone.net. And this is just hobby stuff. My mom doesn't understand it, but my friends do. In fact, I have gotten one of my friends to install Asterisk at his place. Though, he won't be doing the channel bank stuff. He lives in a loft, so there really isn't a need to "wire up the house", like me. But, he has received his two X100P cards and is planning on using the Cisco 7960 and ATA186. -- END OF LINE _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
thisemailaddressisbogus@risehigh.com wrote:>Greetings everyone. > >Anyone knows about a GUI that can spit out various config files without me >having to know every syntax? Please let me know. > >Thanks. >Ricky > > >There are a few being worked on but none are really complete yet... Although I would still recommend you learn the syntax.. Later..