Lew's blog

I've read through the Asterisk book, and feel ready to try my hand at configuring the IP04. The first thing I want to do is configure the device to answer my telephone, and transfer incoming calls to which ever extension picks up first. Simple, yes? Not so fast...

Today, I explored the IP04's Asterisk setup a little closer. I had my IP04 loaded with one FXO port (for connecting to the PSTN), and three FXS ports (for connecting to extension phones). The default configuration for Asterisk recognizes this configuration for the purposes of initializing hardware, but otherwise does not have settings to handle the FXO port. In fact, the default dialplans look on the device as containing up to eight FXS ports, and no FXO ports at all. Obviously, I will have to change this.

A bit of backstory first; about a week ago, I ordered an IP04 4-port PBX from rowetel.com. The IP04 uses a "Blackfin" microprocessor, ucLinux, and Asterisk to provide a fully "open source" (both software and hardware) PBX, for about CAD $500. Comparable commercial units usually price in the thousands (if not tens-of-thousands) of dollars, making this a really great deal... if it works.

So, I ordered one (with one FXO and three FXS ports), and about a week later, guess what shows up at my door. David Rowe (the guy behind rowetel.com and an integral part of the Village Telco mesh wifi voip project) had shipped the device to me via EMS courier. And that brings up to today.