My main objection to the http://www.asterisk.org way was the cost of the voice modems, but I guess $30 a pop isn't bad at all. The modems I happen to have now, are all un-supported in Linux http://free.hostdepartment.com/g/gromitkc/analog/ad1801.html 3COM 2526 with Analog Devices 1801 chipset. I have a bid in at eBay on a Zoom 2920 which is supported... Time will tell. And there is also the http://www.vocpsystem.com and vgetty which seem more "nuts and bolts" (thanks to Matthew Fries) I'm also following up on some old DOS software, mentioned by Jose Da Silva, but I'll do that in another post. For now, it looks like I have to play with *nix again. Sigh... ...oh I hate to ask this... Is there a MINIMAL, boots from a CD and just does the install without me, dist of *nix that supports asterisk's minimum requirements: WHICH AREN'T LISTED... As far as I can find. This is classic; I can see it now: "Asterisk will run on just about any *nix... Oh! Not THAT *nix." Here is all I can find about what it needs: "Asterisk is primarily developed on GNU/Linux for x/86. It is known to compile and run on GNU/Linux for PPC along with OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X Jaguar. Other platforms and standards-based UNIX-like operating systems should be reasonably easy to port for anyone with the time and requisite skill to do so. Asterisk is available in the testing and unstable Debian archives, maintained thanks to Mark Purcell." So what the heck is "GNU/Linux"? Googling for it comes up with http://www.debian.org/ so I guess that would be the best bet? Is there a minimal install of that? I only see I would just as soon NOT support networking (not needed and prevents hacking) and X (buggy, resource hog, etc..) but would want to provide really complete, bulletproof support for the hard drive (defrag, surface checks, etc...), sound cards, and for Perl scripting. I should also note that there is an outfit that is trying to provide voice mail for all the homeless people (thanks to Sean A. Walberg for letting me know). They are called Community Voice Mail: http://www.cvm.org and they are well funded (Paul G. Allen) yet, no one at the VA knows anything about them. I requested a voice mail box, via email and will see what they do. They have no real lists of what areas are supported, although it looks like they have offices in most major areas. The thing to note is that they expect you to be a local charity with about $60,000 per year in funding or pledges. They will help with the startup, but you have to prove you can cover the on-going cost. --- James. > -----Original Message----- > From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu > [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Ben Hencke > Sent: 2005 Jan 03, Mon 00:54 > To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. > Subject: Re: [OT] Can old PCs be used to provide voice mail > for the homeless? > > Asterisk.org, I have been using it a lot recently and find it > is really nice PBX software. The config is a little weird at > first, but is really not that bad once you get used to it. It > does full PBX capability with voicemail, call routing, VoIP, > etc, etc. Very well supported by an active community. > > It is Good Stuff. You will need to put linux or bsd on the > old machines. Depending on the vintage and available RAM, it > could be easy to install a newish distro on the old machines > (just leave out the GUI). Otherwise, Asterisk has only a few > newish requirements that can be built from source. IIRC bison > was the one I ran into when doing it on redhat 7.2. You > should be able to install this on any pentium class computer > with 32-64m of ram and 500m-1g drive without any problems. I > run redhat 5.1 on an old laptop with 16m of ram, I bet it > would run Asterisk with a little work. > > Check out > http://www.digitnetworks.com/store/ > I bought 2 of their $30 OEM x100p cards. These are basically > voice modems, but do the trick. These are cheapo cards, but > the only drawback I can find is that they take one line per > PCI slot -- not much of a problem in this scenario. If you > look them up on ebay, they sell for even cheaper (2 for $40). > They provide a CD with Asterisk and some other stuff and > install support for $5. > > I use Asterisk with VoIP to make _really_ cheap long distance > calls, around $0.02 a minute. This might appeal to the > homeless situation where it is hard for them to keep in touch > with family due to long distance charges. Before I set up a > softphone, I would dial into my local Asterisk machine and > dial from there, it then connects the call through the VoIP > carrier like a calling card. > > Check out voip-info.org for a lot of really good info on VoIP > as well as generic Asterisk & config info. > > I would recommend a 2 line system so that people checking > their voicemail would not block any incoming calls from > employers. Also, if they have access to computers, I have > seen configurations that will email voicemails as attachments > when they arrive. > > - Ben > > PS I think this is an outstanding idea. > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change > your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist