[Mac-telephony-list] Apple USB modem dongle

[Colin Anderson via List]

>All I want (and I believe I represent a LOT of Mac users) is a way to  
>eliminate my dependance on proprietary phone systems.  Let me  
>configure my phone system in an easy and user friendly way (GUI).

If you want to just get it done, buy a Dell 430SC and Xorcom's 8 port USB
Astribank, and download Trixbox. It'll cost you about $1200 total. Friendly
GUI and all. Unfortunately, once you throw Macs in the mix, hardware PSTN
interfaces have to be offloaded to a seperate device (such as a SIP/PSTN
gateway) because of driver issues. Once you let go of the notion that it
*has* to run on a Mac, things usually go so much smoother. I'm not
denegrating this project and Sunrise's work (in fact, I'm excited by it:
this is why I'm subscribed to the list), but the reality is that Asterisk is
written for Linux/x86 and any other implementation is going to be
problematic by it's very nature. This will most likely go away in time, as
Apple becomes more MacIntel but for now...

I'd sure like to try Asterisk on the new xserve. Should be able to plug in a
Digium and Sangoma card and off you go. Linux, of course.