[Asterisk-Dev] Windows

[matt.riddell at sineapps.com]

On 21 Sep 2004 at 22:40, list at asd-group.com wrote:

> I don't think I asked for anything other than expressions of interest
> regarding drivers, but thanks for your opinions anyway. 
> 
> To be honest, I don't care what you think.
> 
I know it may seem hard to believe, but his comments were actually 
thinly veiled help!

:-)

What he's getting at is that you can basically get a computer that 
will run Asterisk for less money than it would cost for say, a 
propreitry software licence.

Maybe your time is worth nothing to you (i highly doubt it), but if 
it's worth even a dollar per hour, it's going to work out cheaper to 
get some cheap box and install asterisk on it than it will take to 
port a linux driver to windows.

Without even going into the security concerns (why is it that 
everyone thinks that the app is the only entry point - i.e. what's 
the point having a firewall on windows when viewing a jpeg gets a 
hacker all the way in), the normal way to do things (in a windows 
environment) is to have a linux box doing Asterisk and then run soft-
phones/management software on Windows.

You can get some really amazing open source software for graphical 
interfaces to Asterisk, it's configuration and statistics, and with 
the choices between AGI, Dialplan and Manager interface you have the 
ability to program with whatever language you like (as well as being 
able to chose between TCP interfaces or STDIO interfaces).

The thing with Asterisk is that if you set it up right (or get 
someone to set it up for you) you shouldn't even need to deal with 
linux.

I think you'll find the reason some people get so upset is that it's 
like standing outside a movie theatre with tickets you're giving away 
for free and having people say to you "no thanks, that's okay, I'd 
rather pay".  If this were to happen more than a few times, it's not 
hard to see how some end up banging their heads pretty hard on walls.

Having said all this, the choice remains up to you, and all I ask is 
that you enjoy the Asterisk PABX and don't hold back from finding out 
it's full potential.

I wish you luck for your journey

Cheers,


Matt Riddell
http://www.sineapps.com/news.php (Daily Asterisk News - html)
http://www.sineapps.com/rssfeed.php (Daily Asterisk News - rss)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-dev-bounces at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-dev-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Benjamin
> on Asterisk Mailing Lists Sent: Tuesday, 21 September 2004 9:37 PM To:
> Asterisk Developers Mailing List Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Dev] Windows
> 
> On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 18:31:28 +0800, list at asd-group.com
> <list at asd-group.com> wrote:
> > buying more hardware is not an option unfortunately - on
> > long-term sick leave at the moment and am using this to occupy my
> > time and *avoid* spending more cash!! :-)
> 
> Well, I don't know where you reside, but I just picked up a PowerMac
> 8500 with 128MB RAM, 700MB HD and 3 PCI slots for 1500 yen here in
> Tokyo where I live, that's about 13.50 USD or 11 EUR. Something like
> this makes a fine Asterisk box for home or small office use. It'll
> take about two hours to install Yellow Dog Linux on it and another 30
> minutes for Zaptel and Asterisk.
> 
> Let's assume where you are such a box costs 5 times as much, that's
> still less than half of what you pay for a single Zaptel card, so it
> shouldn't make much of a difference. Let's further assume you will
> need 10 times as much time as I do to get Asterisk going, that's still
> going to ge far less effort than porting any kind of driver from Linux
> to Windoze.
> 
> To be honest, I think you are looking for excuses. If you want to
> waste your time on that excuse for an operating system of yours, don't
> make excuses for yourself - by all means, GO FOR IT! Just don't expect
> anybody here to nominate you for a medal or whatever it may be you
> expect of us.
> 
> rgds
> benjk
> 
> -- 
> Sunrise Telephone Systems, 9F Shibuya Daikyo Bldg., 1-13-5 Shibuya,
> Tokyo, Japan.