[asterisk-users] Looking for starting point?

[Patrick]

On Sun, 2007-02-18 at 14:05 -0500, Gary H. Thompson wrote:
> Hi,
[snip]
> 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.
[snip]

Welcome Gary. A few suggestions. Get the Asterisk book. You can either
order it online (support the cause) or download it for free at
http://www.asteriskdocs.org

If you don't have prior experience with Linux than you should probably
download a Linux distribution that is relatively easy to start with. Two
of such distributions that come to mind are Fedora Core 6 and Ubuntu.
The advantage of Fedora Core is that there are ready made Asterisk
packages available from atrpms.net and laimbock.com/asterisk/
I don't know if that is also the case with Ubuntu.

Prepare for a bit of a steep learning curve. If you need help, read the
Asterisk book, read pretty much every article on voip-info.org, ask on
irc (server freennode.net channel #asterisk) and browse the asterisk
mailing list archives.

Good luck!

Regards,
Patrick