[Asterisk-Users] some EICON Diva 4BRI questions

[Armin Schindler]

Hi Klaus,

> Thanks for the detailed answers and isdn for Linux basics.  I will take
> the opportunity to ask some more questions :-)
> 
> On Fri, April 21, 2006 12:24, Armin Schindler said:
> > On Fri, 21 Apr 2006, Klaus Darilion wrote:
> >> 3. Is the PIN layout for TE or NT mode?
> >
> > It is TE PIN layout, you need a crossed cable with 100Ohm termination for
> > NT-mode.
> 
> Why do I need a cable with 100Ohm termination? Shouldn't be the
> termination inside the DIVA Server? Until now (with quadbri and other isdn
> card) I only used CAT5 cables with BRI-crossover PIN layout. No resistors.
> Can you please explain this a little bit more or give me links to the
> wiring basics?

I must admit that I don't really know that. Maybe the quadbri has this 
termination automatically on board. Since the Eicon DIVA Server card has 
basically a TE port, the termination is necessary.
I always use the 100Ohm termination in my NT-cross-cables.

Here is a short description on Melware Wiki:
  http://www.melware.org/BriCrossCable
 
> >> 6. Difference between V-4BRI and 4BRI: As far as I understand the 4BRI
> >> is the
> >> better (more expensive) card which also offers FAX on/offramp.
> >> Nevertheless I
> >> can use V-4BRI for faxing when using spandsp. Both cards do support
> >> onboard
> >> echo cancellation. Are this assumptions correct?
> >
> > Yes.
> 
> This means all kind of B-channel data (human voice, modem, fax, data ...)
> can be handled in pass-through also with the V-4BRI card?

Yes. In bridge mode (CAPI calls that Line-Interconnect) the b-channels are 
connected together, no matter what kind of data is going through.
 
> >> - For the hardware part there are also 2 choices. Either use the Eicon
> >> drivers
> >> included in 2.6 and divactrl or use the source packages from eicon and
> >> the
> >> tools included. Here I'm not sure which method is better. Further I do
> >> not
> >> know how this is related with isdn4linux or other linux ISDN stuff.
> >> From:
> >> http://www.eicon.com/support/helpweb/slnxen/asterisk.asp
> >
> > The in-kernel driver in 2.6 is the so called v2 driver from Melware. This
> > driver works very good. But the driver from Eicons sourceRPM (Melware
> > calls
> > it v3) is the newer one with many more features, more supported cards,
> > newer
> > firmware... (like RTP support which is used with newer chan-capi-cm as
> > well).
> 
> On the Eicon homepage I find to source packages: version 7.7 (they call
> ist stable) and version 8.0 (they call it beta). To which one of these do
> you refer with "v3"? Or is there another version somewhere hidden on the
> homepage?

Melware's v3 references both. v3 is just the version of the drivers/firmware 
compared with the v2 which is the status of the driver in kernel 2.6.
But please don't be confused with this v3 naming. The Eicon source package
(7.7 or 8.0) is very good.
Melware will create a v3 driver package out of that driver status including
some open-source community changes/add-ons. But this is not finished yet.
 
> What is meant with "newer firmware"? Is there a new firmware available
> which must be flashed into the cards?

Not flashed, but loaded. When the Eicon DIVA Server cards are started, the 
tool divactrl will activate the card by loading the firmware automatically 
and configuring it (the ports) according to settings.
New firmware means: new features has been added!
Remember, these cards are active cards. A system is running on that card 
handling the ISDN protocol (the hosts CPU/the driver does not need to care 
about that) as well as the b-channel data processing for echo-cancel, fax, 
modem, RTP, etc.
 
> Is the new v3 ready to use in production environment?

As written above the Melware's v3 is not finished yet, but the Eicons source 
package is definately ready for that (we have it running in many production 
systems with different applications).

Also, if you find any problem or missing feature, we can help you very fast 
since we work very closely with Eicon. And even there is a change in the 
firmware needed, Eicons response time is excellent.

Armin