[Asterisk-Users] Absolute Minimum Installation Packages

[Chris Albertson]

I think the goal here is not to save the cost of
1GB of disk space but to par down the system to the point
where it can run with ZERO disk drive and save the space,
power and heat and the risk of it failing.

You can set up a firewall using a cheap PC and Linux for
a few hundred bucks OR.. you could install a little Linksys
box that actually has Linux inside a 2MB flash ROM.

I think the goal of this "minimum size linux" is to
put Asterisk inside a little box and sell it for $100
a pop, complete with web server based admin, just like
Linksys did with the firewall

I don't see any reason why someone couldn't make a little plastic
box with Ethernet, and two each FXO and FXS ports and sell it as
pre-configured 2x2 PBX for say $250.  It could use any local
file server for voice mail storage and could keep config in
flash rom.  There would be a big market for these in homes
and very small offices.  

If you loose the Intel CPU, the
PCI bus, most of Linux, you have left a small box
that can be powered by a "wall wort". The example is the
Linksys wifi router that runs Linux and sells for about $150



--- David Gomillion <dgomillion at eyecarenow.com> wrote:
> I can understand the size concerns for putting it in an appliance or
> what-not.  However, my opinion is that, due to the low cost of hard
> disk
> space, it is cheaper for the company to go out and buy another hard
> disk
> to replace the extra 500 MB they wasted on a sub-optimal installation
> than to pay me to try to get the installation as small as possible.
> 
> What are the benefits to a really tiny installation, aside from
> possible
> appliance applications?  Moreover, won't you still need a sizable
> hard
> disk for voice prompts, voicemail messages, sound file to direct
> people
> to dial the correct extension, etc?
> 
> Again, I may be WAY off track, but one of the things I really like
> about
> * is that I can update it easily.  Wouldn't you lose some of the
> beauty
> by putting it in an appliance?  
> 
> Moreover, I HATE Nortel because they have a user-unfriendly
> interface,
> proprietary controls, non-standard connections, and the like.  It
> seems
> to me that by appliance-izing we would be inviting the same abuses
> that
> the current systems enjoy.  I could see it becoming an issue of
> open-source software on extremely proprietary hardware, meaning the
> user
> can modify their system if they can figure out how to get in it.
> 
> Of course, all of this is in the assumption that the end-user wants
> to
> own their PBX.  I know I do.  I think that we should be focusing on a
> useful administrative interface, database-based extension
> definitions,
> and other features that will advance the power, flexibility, and
> usability of * instead of shrinking the distro as much as possible.
> 
> What am I missing?  I see many people much smarter than I am excited
> about this, so I am sure I simply failed to consider how it will
> revolutionize everything.
> 
> Awaiting your enlightenment (preferably sans-flame),
> David Gomillion
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com
> [mailto:asterisk-users-admin at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of
> Brancaleoni
> Matteo
> Sent: Friday, October 31, 2003 8:48 AM
> To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Absolute Minimum Installation Packages
> 
> Hi.
> 
> Il ven, 2003-10-31 alle 02:31, JR Richardson ha scritto:
> > I'm trying to get the total Linux/* installation size as small as
> > possible.  I'm wondering if anyone has looked at the installed
> > packages list from the Redhat installation [rpm -qa] and has parsed
> > out all packages not needed for * to run.  I follow the custom
> install
> > guide from Andy Powell but the installation yields 948+ Meg with
> 340
> > installed packages.  I'm sure most of those packages can be
> > eliminated.
> 
> I have a very little RedHat 9.0 installation that's about 504 MB,
> with asterisk+sounds+some voicemail installed. Also devel
> tools installed. Also apache+mysql+db, since we have many things
> of asterisk moved onto a mysql db...
> stripping away devel tools, I can manage a to have 450Mb RedHat 9.0.
> surely big, but very small to be a RH ;)
> 
> 
> -- 
> Brancaleoni Matteo <mbrancaleoni at espia.it>
> Espia - Emmegi Srl
> 
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=====
Chris Albertson
  Home:   310-376-1029  chrisalbertson90278 at yahoo.com
  Cell:   310-990-7550
  Office: 310-336-5189  Christopher.J.Albertson at aero.org
  KG6OMK

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