<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16414" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<P>Hi,</P>
<P>I am a retired telephone tech/manager who recently had a bad experience with
a local company offering digital phone service (VoIP). I have spent the last
thirty years in the PSTN network, switching, PBX and key system field and am
interested in learning more about VoIP. My background also includes programming,
mostly specialized applications to interact with the PSTN network. Most of my
experience in this field have been with Borland products, specifically Delphi. I
also have been involved with database programming, same platform as the
communications.</P>
<P>My computer experience started with the operating system CPM (I’m not really
that old, only 56). The best platform now seems to be Linux so now since I am
retired now, it seems a good time to learn something new. I also have been
looking at Asterisk which most companies seem to be using for a PBX platform. I
found out by accident that the local company I had the problem with uses this
PBX software.</P>
<P>Could someone steer me in the right direction as to where to start? I spent
most of my career in the telephone industry in a ‘bush’ area of Alaska so pretty
much had to teach myself what I needed to know about computers but I can learn
almost anything from a book and by asking questions when I get stuck. Most of my
experience was before the Internet so I plan on using this avenue to advance my
knowledge. </P>
<P>I understand what a broad scope I am asking about so would appreciate any
tips to help me get started. Since there are many ‘brands’ of Linux what is the
best one to start with? Which Linux will be better when I get to the point of
working with Asterisk? Any tips or ideas on books, online tutors, discussions or
anything of this nature would be much appreciated.</P>
<P>I hope to add to this group if I can be any assistance from the ‘other side’,
the PSTN network.</P>
<P>Thank You,</P>
<P>Gary H. Thompson</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>