asterisk users - Nov 2004 - How to emulate a multiline phone in Asterisk

I have a client who currently has a Toshiba PBX.  We are trying to
replace it with an Asterisk system.  One of the features that they have
on their current PBX is the ability to select a POTS line by pressing a
button on their phones.  They have 10 POTS lines and they can select any
line by just pressing the corresponding button on their phone.  They can
also join an existing call by just picking up the handset and pressing
the button for the call they want to join.  This isn't like a conference
call because you have one outside line coming in and 2 or more people
inside the office on that call.

I've looked through documentation and searched the Wiki, but I can't
find a way to do that in Asterisk?  I could let them select a POTS line
by setting up an extension on each of their 10 lines, and letting them
dial that extension.  But can you do that when someone else is already
on a call on that line?

Also, related to that question: Are there any SIP phones out there that
have 10 programmable buttons that could be programmed to select one of
their 10 POTS lines - so they don't have to dial the extension number or
some key sequence like "*99"?

TIA

Sorry if this has been discussed before.  I'm fairly new to Asterisk.
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On Mon, 15 Nov 2004, Jim Dossey wrote:
> I have a client who currently has a Toshiba PBX.  We are trying to
> replace it with an Asterisk system.  One of the features that they have
> on their current PBX is the ability to select a POTS line by pressing a
> button on their phones.  They have 10 POTS lines and they can select any
> line by just pressing the corresponding button on their phone.  They can
> also join an existing call by just picking up the handset and pressing
> the button for the call they want to join.  This isn't like a
conference
> call because you have one outside line coming in and 2 or more people
> inside the office on that call.
This is commonly referred to as a "key system". Asterisk is not
terribly
well suited as a key system since it is a pbx. The difference is 
(leaving out all the subtleties) that a key system is based on the concept 
of pstn lines while the pbx is based on the concept of extensions. Even 
the whole pstn cloud can be thought of as extensions. 

You could possibly make something similar if you really _really_ want to 
using agi scripts and redirects through the manager port to a meetme 
conference. Before going down that road I suggest you first consider if 
your client is best served by this solution or if it is just an artifact 
of their old system.

Peter