[asterisk-users] Looking for starting point?

Gary H. Thompson asterisk at wvlogging.com
Sun Feb 18 12:05:15 MST 2007


Hi,

I am a retired telephone tech/manager who recently had a bad experience with a local company offering digital phone service (VoIP). I have spent the last thirty years in the PSTN network, switching, PBX and key system field and am interested in learning more about VoIP. My background also includes programming, mostly specialized applications to interact with the PSTN network. Most of my experience in this field have been with Borland products, specifically Delphi. I also have been involved with database programming, same platform as the communications.

My computer experience started with the operating system CPM (I'm not really that old, only 56). The best platform now seems to be Linux so now since I am retired now, it seems a good time to learn something new. I also have been looking at Asterisk which most companies seem to be using for a PBX platform. I found out by accident that the local company I had the problem with uses this PBX software.

Could someone steer me in the right direction as to where to start? I spent most of my career in the telephone industry in a 'bush' area of Alaska so pretty much had to teach myself what I needed to know about computers but I can learn almost anything from a book and by asking questions when I get stuck. Most of my experience was before the Internet so I plan on using this avenue to advance my knowledge. 

I understand what a broad scope I am asking about so would appreciate any tips to help me get started. Since there are many 'brands' of Linux what is the best one to start with? Which Linux will be better when I get to the point of working with Asterisk? Any tips or ideas on books, online tutors, discussions or anything of this nature would be much appreciated.

I hope to add to this group if I can be any assistance from the 'other side', the PSTN network.

Thank You,

Gary H. Thompson
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