[asterisk-users] RAW asterisk!

[Bill Andersen]

Barry L. Kline wrote:
> My first deployment was TrixBox.  The two I am currently working on are
> "Plain Old Asterisk".  Keep in mind that I'm an old Linux jock, and a
> 30-year veteran of programming, so the only thing I had to learn was
> Asterisk.  If you pick that route, you'll need to learn Linux (or BSD,
> or whatever you're going to us as an OS) as well as Asterisk.

Well, I'm no Linux guru by any means, but I've been working with it
for 7-8 years.  I'm not an "RPM" guy.  I always compile from source.
Apache, MySQL, qmail, etc.  I configure manually and don't even have
KDE or Gnome on my boxes.  I compiled asterisk about 5 years
ago and have to admit, without any telephone background, I had a
hard time getting into it.  Now, after administering a commercial
asterisk box that was already set up, I at least understand the
terminology and see how to get what I want - asterisk is pretty cool.

> As far as tutorials, just pick up a copy of "Asterisk:  The Future of
> Telephony."  Most of the "howto" for compilation is there, albeit
> somewhat dated until the newer version of the book hits the press.

Thanks.  I'll get my hands on a copy.

> I will say that I don't ever intend on using a GUI again.  I'm so used
> to text files for configuration of everything else I use Linux for that
> the manual configuration seems so much more natural.

Well, that's good news to me.  I'd rather edit config files than use
a GUI anyway.  That way I understand what is going on and if things
break, that "understanding" is what helps me figure out what is wrong.

Bill