[asterisk-users] Which Asterisk version to use?

[Eric B.]

Hi,

I'm a complete newbie to Asterisk and have been reading through 
documentation and sites for the last couple of hours trying to understand 
what to do to start my learning curve with Asterisk, and am very confused.

For starters, what is the difference btwn the 1.2 and 1.4 branches of 
Asterisk?  I can't seem to find a document that describes the changes.

Secondly, what is the best way to start off with Asterisk?  Should I install 
a Linux distro from scratch and then install Asterisk on top of that, start 
with AsteriskNOW and go from there, or start with Tribox?  What advantage do 
I get installing Linux/Asterisk vs. installing AsteriskNow or Tribox and 
starting my learning curve from there?  It would seem as the most reasonable 
to start with a prepackaged "appliance" installation - no?

Can someone please explain the difference between AsteriskNow and Tribox? 
They seem to be filling the same need - a one-step easy installation of 
Asterisk on a brand new PC.  Am I missing something?  Both have GUIs, but 
TriBox seems to be more complete with more features.  Is this not correct?

Thanks so much for any information to help set me on the right path.  As you 
can see, I am extermely confused and lost in the maze of Asterisk docs and 
struggling to find a little headway here.

Eric