[asterisk-users] Looking for a good lightweight Linux softPhone

[Jeff LaCoursiere]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2008, Gordon Henderson wrote:

> On Fri, 14 Nov 2008, Tilghman Lesher wrote:
>
> > On Friday 14 November 2008 09:19:22 Gordon Henderson wrote:
> >> On Fri, 14 Nov 2008, Tzafrir Cohen wrote:
> >>> On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 02:02:14PM +0000, Gordon Henderson wrote:
> >>>> I used to use IDEFISK, but since it was taken over/renamed into Zoiper
> >>>> it's been really hard work - now I'm told that they won't support my
> >>>> chosen distribution - Debian Etch - the current stable version of Debian
> >>>> I prefer.
> >>>
> >>> Ekiga is a bit nicer for an end-user. Twinkle is probably what you'd
> >>> want for testing and such.
> >>
> >> What I really want is a command-like dialer. Call me a boring old fart,
> >> but I'm utterly fed-up with the current bloatware out there.
> >>
> >> So with the IAX library and some time I might just come up with something.
> >
> > Technically, you can use Asterisk as a softphone, by using chan_alsa or
> > another console channel driver.  The interface is nothing if not command-line
> > oriented.
>
> Maybe the word "bloatware" got lost in the trans-atlantic translation...
>
> If I had a command-line program where I could type:
>
>    call 07712191046
>
> then I'd be happy. Being able to use the arrow keys to adjust volume would
> be a bonus, but I already have a command-line mixer program.
>
> Gordon (the luddite)
>

Hmm, reading the thread I assumed you were already running asterisk, since
you did actually post on the asterisk user mailing list.  As was pointed
out you can use the asterisk command line interface to do just what you
are suggesting (assuming you have a compatible sound card), and you could
even wrap it in a simple shell script so you have what you say you want:

call <number>

Regardless, if you are planning to write an IAX lib based command line
tool you will need an asterisk server to connect to to place your calls.
I am not understanding where you think the bloatware is coming into play.

So are you sitting at the console of the machine running asterisk or is
this something that you would use from a standalone *nix workstation that
would use the net to route your call?

j