Hi again, Just as an update to those who are curious, I've gotten the card working on a Soekris running Asterisk 1.6.0.9 and Dahdi 2.1.0.4. It's not using AstLinux though, I just ported it to the embedded distribution we maintain internally.
I did some stress testing by having one client running 'sipp' call through the Soekris with a pre-recorded g729 sample, and have it transcode to g711 to another Asterisk box, which was running MusicOnHold for each incoming call. My results show it can do up to 15 concurrent calls without any noticeable audio degradation (CPU sits around 20%-40%. I could get about 25 concurrent calls out of it before the audio gets a bit chippy (CPU generally around 50%-60%), and after 35 or so it gets unresponsive. Overall I'm quite impressed by the capability of both the net5501 and the TC400B - sure it's a bit expensive, but I doubt I can get more than a couple simultaneous channels with the software codec. Thanks from those who responded. I'll keep an eye on this list and the project and would be happy to test out future releases. Josh Josh Mahonin wrote: > Hi Michael, > > You raise a good point. I have previously been using a 1200Mhz VIA-board > as the basis for a media gateway, which has been more than adequate for > what I need. Unfortunately, it's running Asterisk off of a hard drive, > and we've had stability issues with this series of boards in the past. > We want to start using these things in places where technical expertise > is low and reliability is a must, so an embedded solution is the only > way, ideally on a Soekris platform. > > I haven't found any information regarding maximum call capacity with > hardware transcoding on the net5501, but my hope is it can deliver at > least 10 concurrent calls with transcoding. The writeup at > http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/Asterisk+dimensioning suggests this > should be possible. > > My organization is both technically and morally reticent to use the > software codec (Asterisk has enough issues, we'd rather not introduce a > binary blob into the mix), but don't mind paying a bit extra for > hardware that works, even if it has more capacity than we will use. > > I haven't heard back from Digium yet, but I've had a ticket open for 3 > days now. I'm hoping I'll hear from them sooner rather than later. I'll > let the board know if we find a solution. > > Josh > > > > > Michael Graves wrote: > >> On Wed, 27 May 2009 10:18:28 -0500, Lonnie Abelbeck wrote: >> >> >> >>> Interesting... >>> >>> TC400B - Voice Processing - Data Sheet >>> http://docs.digium.com/TC400B/tc400b-datasheet.pdf >>> >>> It would be cool if of a lower than 120 G.729a Transcodes option was >>> available for a lower cost for embedded applications. >>> >>> Lonnie >>> >>> >> One wonders at what point you'd be better off just using a moer >> powerful host platform over the TC400 card. If you don't need 120 >> channels then maybe the card is not appropriate. >> >> I've never actually reached the limit of transcode capability on a 1 >> GHz Transmeta CPU since I don't have that many G.729 licenses. If the >> Net4801 could do two, then I'd guess that the T5700 can do six. Any >> reasonable modern CPU even more. So for small embedded installations >> maybe a faster host is enough. >> >> Michael >> >> >> >> >>> On May 27, 2009, at 10:00 AM, Darrick Hartman wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>>> I've not used the transcoder hardware card. Looks interesting though. >>>> Udev should handle creating the correct devices, but it's likely that >>>> Digium won't officially support the card unless it's on a system with >>>> Dahdi. We're working towards that, but won't officially support Dahdi >>>> until after the 0.7 release. It's a major interruption which will >>>> cause >>>> changes to several parts of the system. >>>> >>>> Please let us know what reply you get from Digium. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> >>>> Darrick >>>> >>>> On 05/27/2009 09:51 AM, Josh Mahonin wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>> Hi all, >>>>> >>>>> I've been using the Digium TC400 G729/G711 transcoder card in various >>>>> Asterisk installations for a while with great results, but I'd like >>>>> to >>>>> start using it on an embedded platform, such as the Soekris net5501. >>>>> >>>>> I grabbed AstLinux 0.6.5, and with some symlinking (/dev/ >>>>> zaptranscode => >>>>> /dev/zap/transcode) and firmware copying >>>>> (/lib/firmware/zaptel-fw-tc400m.bin), got the 'wctc4xxp' transcoder >>>>> module loaded with Asterisk recognizing it. During a call however, >>>>> the >>>>> transcoding thread doesn't seem to be able to read from the device, >>>>> and >>>>> subsequently no audio is passed between the endpoints. I've tried >>>>> with >>>>> two known working cards, one of which is back in production. An >>>>> strace >>>>> is included the end of the message. >>>>> >>>>> I'm pretty sure this isn't strictly a problem with AstLinux, because >>>>> I've installed Asterisk 1.4.24.1 with Zaptel 1.4.12.1 on a new >>>>> machine a >>>>> stock Linux install and had exactly the same results. Normally I'd >>>>> just >>>>> change versions and be done with it, but I'd like to start using >>>>> AstLinux for this project, and it doesn't look like upgrading >>>>> versions >>>>> is a trivial task. :) >>>>> >>>>> I've already put in a ticket with Digium support, but I'm emailing >>>>> the >>>>> board because I'm hoping someone else here might have run into a >>>>> similar >>>>> problem and might know a workaround. Unfortunately I haven't found >>>>> any >>>>> forum postings or bug reports to date about it. >>>>> >>>>> Here's a snippet of an strace between a call from a phone in G729 >>>>> (172.20.33.73) and another Asterisk box in G711 (172.20.32.10). >>>>> >>>>> -------- >>>>> recvfrom(33, >>>>> "\200\0Vu\353\246\250F*\202rC}}~~\377\376\376\376\376}~"..., 8192, 0, >>>>> {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(25862), >>>>> sin_addr=inet_addr("172.20.32.10")}, [16]) = 172 >>>>> gettimeofday({1243434707, 29870}, NULL) = 0 >>>>> time(NULL) = 1243434707 >>>>> write(37, >>>>> "\370\377\360\377\360\377\360\377\370\377\10\0\370\377\370"..., >>>>> 160) = 160 >>>>> poll([{fd=37, events=POLLOUT, revents=POLLOUT}], 1, 50) = 1 >>>>> read(37, 0x81e31a0, 8000) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource >>>>> temporarily unavailable) >>>>> poll([{fd=29, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI, revents=POLLIN}, {fd=30, >>>>> events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=31, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=33, >>>>> events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=34, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=35, >>>>> events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}], 6, -1) = 1 >>>>> fcntl64(31, F_GETFL) = 0x800 (flags O_RDONLY| >>>>> O_NONBLOCK) >>>>> read(31, 0xbb7fa53c, 4) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource >>>>> temporarily unavailable) >>>>> recvfrom(29, >>>>> "\200\22\355\310\n3\326\273H\256A\233x\6\36\353\300\272"..., 8192, 0, >>>>> {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(2222), >>>>> sin_addr=inet_addr("172.20.33.73")}, [16]) = 32 >>>>> gettimeofday({1243434707, 47654}, NULL) = 0 >>>>> time(NULL) = 1243434707 >>>>> write(38, "x\6\36\353\300\272\316\314\rV\370~ >>>>> \271\270\250\232\326"..., >>>>> 20) = 20 >>>>> poll([{fd=38, events=POLLOUT, revents=POLLOUT}], 1, 50) = 1 >>>>> read(38, 0x81e5276, 1024) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource >>>>> temporarily unavailable) >>>>> poll([{fd=33, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI, revents=POLLIN}, {fd=34, >>>>> events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=35, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=29, >>>>> events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=30, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}, {fd=31, >>>>> events=POLLIN|POLLPRI}], 6, -1) = 1 >>>>> fcntl64(35, F_GETFL) = 0x800 (flags O_RDONLY| >>>>> O_NONBLOCK) >>>>> read(35, 0xbb7fa53c, 4) = -1 EAGAIN (Resource >>>>> temporarily unavailable) >>>>> -------- >>>>> >>>>> Thanks, >>>>> >>>>> Josh >>>>> >>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>> Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT >>>>> is a gathering of tech-side developers& brand creativity >>>>> professionals. Meet >>>>> the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing,& >>>>> iPhoneDevCamp as they present alongside digital heavyweights like >>>>> Barbarian >>>>> Group, R/GA,& Big Spaceship. http://p.sf.net/sfu/creativitycat-com >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Astlinux-users mailing list >>>>> Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net >>>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users >>>>> >>>>> Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to >>>>> pay...@krisk.org >>>>> . >>>>> >>>>> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>>> Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT >>>> is a gathering of tech-side developers & brand creativity >>>> professionals. Meet >>>> the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, & >>>> iPhoneDevCamp as they present alongside digital heavyweights like >>>> Barbarian >>>> Group, R/GA, & Big Spaceship. http://p.sf.net/sfu/creativitycat-com >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Astlinux-users mailing list >>>> Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net >>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users >>>> >>>> Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to >>>> pay...@krisk.org >>>> . >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT >>> is a gathering of tech-side developers & brand creativity professionals. >>> Meet >>> the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, & >>> iPhoneDevCamp as they present alongside digital heavyweights like Barbarian >>> Group, R/GA, & Big Spaceship. http://p.sf.net/sfu/creativitycat-com >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Astlinux-users mailing list >>> Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net >>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users >>> >>> Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to >>> pay...@krisk.org. >>> >>> >>> >> -- >> Michael Graves >> mgraves<at>mstvp.com >> http://blog.mgraves.org >> o713-861-4005 >> c713-201-1262 >> sip:mgra...@mstvp.onsip.com >> skype mjgraves >> fwd 54245 >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT >> is a gathering of tech-side developers & brand creativity professionals. Meet >> the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, & >> iPhoneDevCamp as they present alongside digital heavyweights like Barbarian >> Group, R/GA, & Big Spaceship. http://p.sf.net/sfu/creativitycat-com >> _______________________________________________ >> Astlinux-users mailing list >> Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users >> >> Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to >> pay...@krisk.org. >> >> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT > is a gathering of tech-side developers & brand creativity professionals. Meet > the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, & > iPhoneDevCamp as they present alongside digital heavyweights like Barbarian > Group, R/GA, & Big Spaceship. http://p.sf.net/sfu/creativitycat-com > _______________________________________________ > Astlinux-users mailing list > Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users > > Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to > pay...@krisk.org. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Register Now for Creativity and Technology (CaT), June 3rd, NYC. CaT is a gathering of tech-side developers & brand creativity professionals. Meet the minds behind Google Creative Lab, Visual Complexity, Processing, & iPhoneDevCamp as they present alongside digital heavyweights like Barbarian Group, R/GA, & Big Spaceship. http://p.sf.net/sfu/creativitycat-com _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list Astlinux-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to pay...@krisk.org.
