On Tuesday 31 March 2009 08:09:39 Fred wrote: > Considering how cheap PCI modems are compared to even the cheapest > PCI hardware from Digium, OpenVox, Sangoma, etc.... I was wondering > why Zaptel can't be used with those to connect an Asterisk server to > a POTS line for low-level use? It just seems overkill for SOHO users > who only get a few calls a day.
If half-duplex audio is good enough for you, sure. That is, if you can deal with audio flowing in only only direction, it would work. This is usually a hardware limitation that cannot be overcome by changing the driver. Only a fraction of the hardware available is actually capable of full duplex audio. > Is it because those modems are usually Windows-specific, and it would > be too much work to have a working driver for Linux? It's not a matter of too much work. It's a problem of having the right information from the manufacturer and a problem of finding a person skilled enough to write the driver. > What about a Windows port of Asterisk and some glue to connect > Asterisk to the modem driver? This has been done before, in theory. Asterisk certainly compiled on Windows, although from what I understand, it did not work particularly well. You would also need people to maintain the port, as bitrot is what happened to all of the previous efforts, after the porter went on to other projects. What it really comes down to is a value proposition: if you are not willing to spend the money to purchase a hardware card for a little over $100 for a single port card, then are you willing to invest your time into writing and testing either a driver or a port of Asterisk to Windows? Remember that either proposition is likely to need weeks (or months) of your time. Is your time better spent on that task, or is your time better spent working on other jobs that would earn you the money to purchase a card from a company that is willing to maintain the drivers and the software, to ensure that both continue to work? -- Tilghman _______________________________________________ -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
