[Asterisk-Users] Newbie - getting two local phones to communicate would be a good start :)

[Rich Adamson]

> This is hard work :) I have read the Asterisk Handbook, BudgeTone User
> Manual, Andy Powell's useful notes, Zac Sprackett's Asterisk Resource Pages
> and more.
> 
> I am not a linux newbie but am new to Asterisk. I have failed to find any
> docs that explain how to get a very very simple, minimal, system up and I am
> trying to get the following to work:
<snip>
> I've been at this off and on for two weeks ....   Linux admin and firewalls
> seem trivial compared to this so I must be missing something pretty basic :)

Careful, that's the wrong thing to say on this list; but, the exact same
thing has been reiterated at least several thousand times (minimum) in 
the last few months. The underlying problem truly is that even for those of 
us that have been professionally involved with telephony (for years), the 
initial learning curve for * is far steeper then the average implementor 
can begin to comprehend. 

Please folks, let's not start the _weekly_ read the code/docs war once
again; for the experienced ones that really want to click on reply, 
"please don't"!!!!

The bottom line is that unless you can read/comprehend code rather quickly, 
the technical documentation does not exist in any reasonable form. Lots 
of very good people are trying very very hard, but the fact is that far more 
technical doc exists only in the code then one would expect from such an 
excellent application. (The subject really has been covered in very negative 
terms many times, if one can find it. One of the better choices for newbie
research really is http://www.voip-info.org/tiki-index.php , but even this 
is very much a 'work-in-progress'. That's a Good Thing!!! There is also a
fair number of folks on the list that are trying to earn a living via * 
that won't take the time to respond to even the most basic questions for
obvious reasons. Their signatures will become very apparent.)

Not all of the documentation problem is really related to *; there really
is a lot of interpretation/advancement/research going on with SIP vendors
that frequently initiate postings related to problems/comments on the list.
Once you get a basic * system working, you'll find significant issues with
the SIP standards in terms of NAT and many many other items. That's not
putting * down, its just the nature of non-commercial internet standards.
I do believe that most implementors find the /usr/src/asterisk/README.*
to be helpful, and some other directories that contain sample configs
(of which the directory names are so unobvious I can't find them after
a couple of beers. ;)

You will find that not all SIP vendors interpret the exact same standards
in the same way. For those of us that have tried, software/hardware SIP
phones vary dramatically in terms of interoperability with * (and other
telephony apps). Some get it reasonably right, and other vendors try to
advance the standards with their own interpretations. And, a few are 
obviously basement operations with minimal informed staff.

There really are only a few _aggressive_ responders that will abrasively
tell you to read the docs, but what they really mean is read the code. If
that's not appropriate, then simply delete their replies; they really won't
mind even a little tiny bit. It's just the nature of this list.

But, keep the faith, asterisk is really very good and stable once past
that initial vary-steep learning curve.

Rich