After playing with Mythphone for a bit and also receiving an ADSL router that supports SIP I decided that I should maybe consider running our own Asterisk server at home. Asterisk will let you run your own telephone style PBX system with nice things such as call groups and all the normal things that PBX functionality gives you. All of this of course, for FREE and running under Linux! This page will document my experience with the install & setup of Asterisk under Debian Lenny.


(root@homer:~)# apt-get install asterisk
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Reading task descriptions... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
asterisk asterisk-config{a} asterisk-sounds-main{a} libc-client2007b{a} libpri1.0{a}
libradiusclient-ng2{a} libtonezone1{a} libvpb0{a} vpb-driver-source{a}
0 packages upgraded, 9 newly installed, 0 to remove and 73 not upgraded.
Need to get 6047kB of archives. After unpacking 13.3MB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
Writing extended state information... Done
Get:1 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main libpri1.0 1.4.3-2 [120kB]
Get:2 http://security.debian.org testing/updates/main libc-client2007b 7:2007b~dfsg-4+lenny1 [754kB]
Get:3 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main libradiusclient-ng2 0.5.5-1 [36.4kB]
Get:4 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main libtonezone1 1:1.4.11~dfsg-2 [72.7kB]
Get:5 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main libvpb0 4.2.36-1 [187kB]
Get:6 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main asterisk-config 1:1.4.21.2~dfsg-2 [478kB]
Get:7 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main asterisk-sounds-main 1:1.4.21.2~dfsg-2 [1897kB]
Get:8 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main asterisk 1:1.4.21.2~dfsg-2 [2419kB]
Get:9 http://ftp.uk.debian.org testing/main vpb-driver-source 4.2.36-1 [81.2kB]
Fetched 6047kB in 34s (177kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package libc-client2007b.
(Reading database ... 176156 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libc-client2007b (from .../libc-client2007b_7%3a2007b~dfsg-4+lenny1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libpri1.0.
Unpacking libpri1.0 (from .../libpri1.0_1.4.3-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libradiusclient-ng2.
Unpacking libradiusclient-ng2 (from .../libradiusclient-ng2_0.5.5-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libtonezone1.
Unpacking libtonezone1 (from .../libtonezone1_1%3a1.4.11~dfsg-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libvpb0.
Unpacking libvpb0 (from .../libvpb0_4.2.36-1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package asterisk-config.
Unpacking asterisk-config (from .../asterisk-config_1%3a1.4.21.2~dfsg-2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package asterisk-sounds-main.
Unpacking asterisk-sounds-main (from .../asterisk-sounds-main_1%3a1.4.21.2~dfsg-2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package asterisk.
Unpacking asterisk (from .../asterisk_1%3a1.4.21.2~dfsg-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package vpb-driver-source.
Unpacking vpb-driver-source (from .../vpb-driver-source_4.2.36-1_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up libc-client2007b (7:2007b~dfsg-4+lenny1) ...
Setting up libpri1.0 (1.4.3-2) ...
Setting up libradiusclient-ng2 (0.5.5-1) ...
Setting up libtonezone1 (1:1.4.11~dfsg-2) ...
Setting up libvpb0 (4.2.36-1) ...

Welcome to the VoiceTronix Configurator 4.2.36.
This will scan the PCI bus to determine what cards you have
and create the default config files they require.

Scanning PCI bus....
Failed to read hardware config: Cannot find any VoiceTronix boards!

Setting up asterisk-config (1:1.4.21.2~dfsg-2) ...
Setting up asterisk-sounds-main (1:1.4.21.2~dfsg-2) ...
Setting up asterisk (1:1.4.21.2~dfsg-2) ...
Adding system user for Asterisk
Adding user `asterisk' to group `dialout' ...
Adding user asterisk to group dialout
Done.
Adding user `asterisk' to group `audio' ...
Adding user asterisk to group audio
Done.
Starting Asterisk PBX: asterisk.
Setting up vpb-driver-source (4.2.36-1) ...
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done
Reading task descriptions... Done