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

[Atis Lezdins]

On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Tzafrir Cohen
<tzafrir.cohen at xorcom.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 08:34:48PM +0200, Atis Lezdins wrote:
>> On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 7:07 PM, Jeff LaCoursiere <jeff at jeff.net> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > 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?
>> >
>>
>> A small shell/perl/whatever script that takes care of minimized
>> asterisk config could really kick ass.
>
> What asterisk configuration exactly?

Well, take minimal list of modules, write dialplan of few lines, make
all incoming calls to ring speaker/other configured device.
Probably somebody has done this already, i just haven't seen anything public.

>>
>> I wonder does anybody feels up to the challenge to create/maintain it,
>> and push to common distros.
>
> Both chan_oss and chan_also tend to be disabled by default. This is
> because both can't be loaded (which would generate an error message).
> Asterisk also thinks that it has all the sound channel for itself. Even
> with chan_alsa, IIRC, it is not possible to play any other sound while
> asterisk uses the speaker/microphone.
>

Script could take care of it, load corresponding module (specified by
command-line arg) etc etc..

Generally i'm thinking to create something like "Asterisk Softphone"
which is full featured softphone, usable from shell.

# asph start alsa 222 at provider.com
# asph add 333 at provider2.com
# asph dial 123 at abc.com
# asph answer
# asph hangup

etc

Regards,
Atis





-- 
Atis Lezdins,
VoIP Project Manager / Developer,
atis at iq-labs.net
Skype: atis.lezdins
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