[asterisk-users] Asterisk 1.6 dahdi only?

[Wilton Helm]

>New to Aserisk 1.6 and find the 'installation tutorials' seem low to non existent.


I first looked at * about four months ago and rapidly came to the same conclusion.  Even with the O-Reilly book, which I purchased in paper, although it is freely downloadable, I feel there is a huge dearth of information.  As I have become a bit involved, I find there is more than meets the eye, but it is spread across the entire internet!  So far I am not aware of anything that fits any of three categories I feel are essential:

    1.  A good tutorial with enough detail to allow a person with a CS degree, 
        years of telephony experience and limited Linux experience (myself) 
        to install and configure a reasonable * system (something more complex
        that an FXO or two and a couple of SIP phones.

    2.  A reference guide that lists all commands and options with explanations of why
        they are useful and how to use them.  Even the book doesn't attempt to touch
        this one.  Such a reference needs to include things like Dahdi and other pieces
        that aren't strictly part of * but without which few installations could exist.

    3.  A decent cross-reference that can quickly allow someone to find the scattered
        information available on the web.  Even this mailing list is so hopelessly linear
        in nature compared to most other newsgroups I am involved in as to be almost
        useless to me.

My conclusion after installing a worthless * demo (that actually does allow two SIPs to talk to each other) is that Asterisk is not of any value to anyone other than a person who makes a full time career out of running Asterisk systems.  I've installed and maintained several traditional PABXs and even wrote the control firmware (in 6502 assembly) for one, with sizes from 6 stations to 300 stations, including things like DID.  It was kindergarten compared to Asterisk, and primarily because of the huge information vacuum.

Wilton
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