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The Raspberry Pi as a $35 VoIP PBX

The Raspberry Pi as a $35 VoIP PBX

August 28, 2012
By David Delony, Contributing Writer
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If the Raspberry Pi—a complete, ARM (News - Alert)-based computer for $35—already sounds irresistible, then the ability to use it as a small PBX would be even better.


That's what Ward Mundy thought on his blog Nerd Vittles, as he documented his attempt to set up the Raspberry Pi as a small, cheap Asterisk (News - Alert) system. Mundy uses his Incredible PBX, a full distribution of Asterisk as a starting point. In addition to Asterisk, Incredible PBX also includes Google (News - Alert) Voice.

The Raspberry Pi already runs several Linux distributions. One of them includes both the popular open source packages Asterisk and FreePBX. The distribution, created by someone using the name Gernot, is appropriately enough called Asterisk for Raspberry Pi.

“Trust us when we say the performance of this $35 computer is nothing short of amazing,” the blog post said “Can it do everything a $200 dual-core Atom PC can do? No. Can it do 90 percent of everything for someone whose requirements do not exceed a few simultaneous calls at a time but still wants a full-blown PBX (News - Alert) for call routing, voicemail, IVRs, music on hold, and text-to-speech and speech-to-text apps for a home, a SOHO office, a Little League team, or a dorm room? Absolutely.”

Users who are intrigued are invited to call the number on the blog post to hear how the PBX performs in real use.

The size of the four gigabyte memory card that comes with the Raspberry Pi board might be a bit cramped for a full installation, so Mundy recommends using a 16 gigabyte card instead. The Raspberry Pi uses either an HDMI TV or the composite inputs on a TV for the display, and USB peripherals. Users can also log in remotely to the machine via SSH. The board also requires a power adapter.

An existing Linux server is needed to flash the memory card and install the software. The detailed instructions can be found on Mundy's blog post.

The end result is a serviceable VoIP PBX with an initial investment of under $100.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.




Edited by Brooke Neuman

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