[OT] Re: [Asterisk-Dev] Technical and hardware specifications

[Benjamin on Asterisk Mailing Lists]

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 08:41:03 +0800, el Flynn <el_flynn at lanvik-icu.com> wrote:

> I'm not sure if this is the right list to post to, but since the
> questions are not really in the "user" space i thought the Dev list
> might be the best place to post it. I apologize in advance if i'm wrong.

You are right in saying that hardware type approval doesn't exactly
belong into the "user space", but the consensus in the Asterisk
community is that the development list should be strictly confined to
the development/further-development of Asterisk so the developers
don't get bogged down wading to irrelevant postings; Consequently
there is a kind of unwritten rule that says "If in doubt, then post it
in Asterisk-Users". I guess adding the an "OT" to the subject to mark
the thread as off-topic will be helpful.

Anyway ...

> In order for me to use or sell an * solution using the Digium cards in
> my country, I need to get them type approved. I could do so illegally,
> but that would incur a humongous fine and/or a 6-year jail term. So I'd
> really like to do this the right way and get the card(s) type approved.
[snip]
> So would any of you, who've had to get the card type approved in your
> respective countries, have these type of specs available to help me out?
> I haven't been able to get any response from Digium, I think their guys
> might have been a little busy with the Astricon stuff.

Indeed, that will be the case.

But even without Astricon, type approval in other countries is a
strain on Digium's resources that is likely to make it a second
priority for the time being because Digium's manufacturer can't seem
to keep up with the demand for the cards as they are (with type
approval in only a few countries) or so it would seem (they're always
on backorder).

You should also know that the hardware and the associated Zaptel
driver software started life as an enthusiast's project. Jim Dixon,
the creator of Zaptel, designed the original cards and released both
the drivers and the hardware design and blueprints as open source
under the GPL. Digium picked it up and produced them, making
improvements and eventually develop their own Zaptel hardware.

This means that Zaptel is a bit like an adoptive child for whom there
are situations where it is unclear whether the biological parents, the
foster parents or the community are/is responsible for the child. This
also means that if you are looking for hardware that matches the
original free Zaptel cards, you can get the specs from Jim Dixon's
site

http://www.zapatatelephony.org

Another interesting piece of hardware in respect of type approval is
the single span FXO card, Digium sells as X100P. This is a winmodem
with a particular chipset (Intel 537) which becomes an FXO interface
only because of the Zaptel driver software Digium released. If you can
find a modem in your country which has the Intel chipset and which has
already got the type approval, then you can use that instead of the
Digium X100P.

Keep in mind though that the money Digium makes on the X100P cards
buys you installation support and I can assure you that when it comes
to support you will find Digium to be very responsive. In this respect
the seemingly high cost of the X100P compared to the cost for an
equivalent winmodem is still a very good deal. Further, since Digium
is the main developer/sponsor/contributor of/to Asterisk, the revenue
from X100P sales directly benefits Asterisk development. So if you
must use non-X100P cards to get type approved hardware, you may want
to find some other way to contribute something back to the Asterisk
community.


Finally, I believe that we (the community) need to start thinking
about establishing a platform to further the type approval process of
Zaptel hardware for use with Asterisk in other countries than the ones
on Digium's radar. Perhaps we should set up a mailing list and/or a
website/Wiki-page for sharing information on the topic and then see if
we can set up some kind of donation/sponsorship instrument to allow
people in key locations to undertake the type approval.

Anybody any thoughts comments on that?

rgds
benjk

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