[Asterisk-Users] New to asterisk? RUN... don't walk.

Wed Dec 31 19:17:32 MST 2003

Well, since everyone else is top-quoting on this message, so will I :P

I'm no veteran either.  As a matter of fact, I have had ZERO prior
knowledge to the telcom industry or more than 'user level' experience
with telecommunications in general.  I decided that I wanted to expand
my knowledge, and actually LEARN a few things, so I jumped into
asterisk.  I was, and quite frankly, IMO, still AM a 'n00b' to *.
However, after playing around, and learning what things do, by reading
the documentation that IS there, searching the archives, and just
trolling the list and IRC, I have learned more in the last 4-5 months of
having * than a lot of people I've noticed have learned in a lifetime of
experience.    I now have a fully functional (well, minus MOH, because
mpg123 isn't yet compiled on my new box), * implementation, serving
myself and my roommates strictly over VoIP, and a couple ata's and a
Internet PhoneJack card.  I love it.  And I'm STILL learning to this
date.  

Asterisk is not something you can expect everyone to just drop what
their doing and help you with.  Sure, it can be frustrating, but if you
are so dense that you can't sit down an play with it and learn what
happens when you type something in the cli, or change a few things in
your dialplan, then get out, I agree.  

If you liked taking apart mom's hairdryer as a kid and seeing how it
worked, and then later on, rewired up a few things to do what you wanted
them to, or even took a hex editor to command.com in msdos to change
what it says to suit your taste (mucho guilty on that one.. lol), then
you will have no problem finding out what you can and can't change
simply by editing files, and trying things out. 

Take off your training wheels, and just TRY IT.

- Josh R.
twisted at indigent.sytes.net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-
> admin at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of SW
> Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 4:13 PM
> To: Asterisk-Users at Lists. Digium. Com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] New to asterisk? RUN... don't walk.
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am not a veteran here, but would like to share my thoughts on this
> subject.
> 
> True, * is opensource and freely available, but it is not a computer
> program
> that you download and run. It is a very versatile telecommunication
> product
> you would otherwise pay at least 100 K to buy from a telecom vendor,
if
> not
> more based on modules and usage, license hash-codes etc.
> 
> Even to try * one would need some pre requisite knowledge in telecom,
if
> not
> many years in the field. I work for a large telecom company and my
> specialty
> is voice over broadband (or xDSL). I worked with asterisk for couple
of
> months now and I am amazed to see areas of telecom that * touch upon
with.
> Starting from Linux, to SIP, H323, DSL technologies (PPP, PPPoE,
PPPoA,
> DHCP, NAT), Call routing(Dial Plan), IVR, Transcoding, STUN are few
areas
> that one would have to master even thinking about *.
> 
> True one would know the syntax, and howtos etc, but also would have to
> have
> the ability to troubleshoot. For last two-three months in this list, I
> have
> not seen any newbi posting a sip trace (from a ethereal or a TCP dump)
and
> asking a question about it. I have seen many question for instance,
asking
> syntax of h.323 dial, but never seen a question asked on a h323 trace.
> 
> I think, having * openly available is like keeping an airplane openly
> available in a airfield, so that anybody can try flying. Tell me how
many
> of
> us would go try and fly that airplane if we do not know how to fly :)
> 
> Point that I want to make here is simple, please try to understand
what *
> is
> all about. If you like it's features and would like it to run in a
> production environment try to get some professional help. If you are
> learning these technologies for fun then get educated, use tools
available
> to troubleshoot. Hooking up couple of phones and making a call is far
from
> knowing *.
> 
> Asterisk is a great product (thanks Mark and many others) and if you
know
> what you are doing, you can do wonders with it. Don't put it down,
because
> you do not have the background to understand it or work with it.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> SW
> 
> 
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 12:37:24 -0800 (PST)
> From: Me <two_shoes_2002 at yahoo.com>
> To: Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> Subject: [Asterisk-Users] New to asterisk?  RUN... don't walk.
> Reply-To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> 
> As a newcomer to Asterisk, you will not be welcomed
> with open arms.  First, you will find almost no
> documentation on it's features.  Second, if you try to
> ask questions, you will be flamed and pointed to
> worthless how-tos and 'the wiki'.  These worthless
> documents can only be useful for explaining how things
> work to those already in-the-know.  Lastly, Asterisk
> is so bug ridden, expect frequent segmentation faults.
>  With a community so 'anti-n00b', don't expect your
> problems to be fixed anytime soon.
> 
> RUN!!! Don't walk... away from Aterisk.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
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