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JUST RELEASED: Visit the Incredible PBX WikiIncredible ChatGPT: Artificial Intelligence For Your Phone
Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, you already know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform every aspect of our lives. The reasons are fairly obvious. AI can process and analyze massive amounts of data in seconds that humans could spend months and years collecting. AI is being used to develop new drugs and treatments, diagnose diseases, and provide personalized care to patients. It’s being used to develop self-driving cars and trucks, optimize traffic flows, and improve public transportation. It can be used in manufacturing to automate tasks, improve quality control, and reduce costs. And AI can be used in the financial world to detect fraud, assess risk, and make investment decisions. Because of AI’s encyclopedic prowess, it can also write a mean term paper with human-like prose. That’s the good news. The bad news is that not everything AI regurgitates is accurate so be extremely careful relying upon AI exclusively to make decisions. See if you can spot the problem in this ChatGPT response:
ChatGPT is a large language model chatbot developed by OpenAI, a company backed by Microsoft®. Within two months after launch, ChatGPT had over 100 million subscribers. It is trained on a massive dataset of text and code and is able to generate human-like text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way. The knowledge cutoff date for the gpt-3.5-turbo version of ChatGPT is September 2021. For users of Incredible PBX, today we’re pleased to bring that ChatGPT model to a telephone near you.
To get started, you’ll need three components. First, you’ll need an Incredible PBX 2027 platform with Debian 11 or Ubuntu 22.04 running on Windows, a Mac, or Linux. Turnkey versions are available for dozens of virtual machine and cloud-based platforms. If you’re using Incredible PBX 2027 on the Rocky 8 platform, you will also need to install the gTTS text-to-speech engine from here. Second, you’ll need to obtain a free OpenAI_KEY here using your Google, Apple, or Microsoft email account. And, third, you’ll need to obtain a free Speech-to-Text API_KEY and API_URL from IBM. Once you have the three pieces in hand, you’re ready to proceed with the installation for your Incredible PBX platform. After installation, you can make ChatGPT queries using any telephone connected to your PBX. Simply dial 2428 (C-H-A-T) and speak your query.
Installing the ChatGPT Telephone Interface
Not every ChatGPT response is suitable for use with a telephone. You wouldn’t want ChatGPT reading you a term paper or spouting out some Asterisk® dialplan code. Nor can most telephones display photos. So our deployment for Incredible PBX today provides two ChatGPT solutions: (1) a command-line interface that is accessible from a terminal or via SSH: chatgpt -p "your query". (2) The telephone interface is accessible by dialing 2428. For the telephone interface, be careful what you ask. You don’t want a 10,000-word response. For example, a good query might be "What are the five best Atlantic coast beaches in the United States." A not-so-good query would be "What are the best restaurants in the world."
To get started after installing Incredible PBX using one of the numerous tutorials available here, log into your server as root and issue the following commands:
cd / wget https://filedn.com/lBgbGypMOdDm8PWOoOiBR7j/ChatGPT/incredible-chat.tar.gz tar zxvf incredible-chat.tar.gz cd /root
Once the components have been downloaded and installed, navigate to the /root folder.
Enter your ChatGPT and IBM STT credentials in the following files:
- Edit chat and insert your OPENAI_KEY in line 6
- Edit chatgpt and insert your OPENAI_KEY in line 15
- Edit chatgpt.sh and insert your OPENAI_KEY in line 12
- Also insert your IBM STT API_KEY in line 16 of chatgpt.sh
- Also insert your IBM STT API_URL in line 17 of chatgpt.sh
Complete the install by issuing the following commands:
cd /root sed -i '/\[from-internal-custom\]/r chat.code' /etc/asterisk/extensions_custom.conf chmod +x chat* mv chat /usr/local/sbin mv chatgpt /usr/local/bin mv chatgpt.sh /var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin asterisk -rx "dialplan reload"
NOTE: The chatgpt command-line tool does not work on the Rocky 8 platform because of a bug in their fold implementation. However, both our chat command-line tool and the 2428 telephony interface work fine once the gTTS text-to-speech engine is installed for Rocky 8.
Making a Test Call with ChatGPT
Now that all the pieces are in place, let’s make a test call. From a phone connected to your Incredible PBX server, dial 2428. At the prompt, enter the following query: What Are the Five Best Gulf Coast Beach Resorts in the United States? Within a minute or so, ChatGPT will provide the answer using the gTTS text-to-speech engine included in Incredible PBX. Enjoy!
A Cautionary Note About ChatGPT
We’ll close today with this cautionary note about ChatGPT… from ChatGPT:
Originally published: Friday, October 20, 2023
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info Forum.
Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
A Walk on the Wild Side: Meet Incredible PBX for MX Linux
This week’s adventure is just for fun. It’s a VirtualBox® Beauty featuring Incredible PBX®, Asterisk® 18, FreePBX® 15, and MX Linux 21.1. If you’re unfamiliar with MX Linux, it is one of the slickest Debian aggregations because it seamlessly integrates a desktop GUI featuring Xfce Desktop, KDE, and fluxbox into a Debian 11 platform with native support for LibreOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, SAMBA, and some awesome games and music utilities including Clementine. If all of these apps sound like Greek, then you owe it to yourself to spend an evening or weekend exploring MX Linux while enjoying most of the integrated functionality of the Incredible PBX 2021 platform. Did we mention that printer integration is seamless with most of the major brands so you can enjoy the office suite without missing a beat by abandoning your Mac or Windows desktop.
What would we use this for? The short answer is not for production. The long answer is it’s a perfect complement for a traveling Chromebook where you want to connect back to your PBX mothership while retaining full functionality of a desktop computer back home at zero cost. VirtualBox is free. Incredible PBX is free. MX Linux including our bundled .ova image is free. And an 8GB Chromebook with 64GB of eMMC storage is dirt cheap. So what’s not to like?
Installing Oracle VM VirtualBox
Oracle’s virtual machine platform inherited from Sun is amazing. It’s not only free, but it’s pure GPL2 code. VirtualBox gives you a virtual machine platform that runs on top of any desktop operating system. In terms of limitations, we haven’t found any. We even tested this on an Atom-based Windows 7 machine with 2GB of RAM, and it worked without a hiccup. So step #1 today is to download one or more of the VirtualBox installers from VirtualBox.org or Oracle.com. Our recommendation is to put all of the 100MB installers on a 4GB thumb drive.1 Then you’ll have everything in one place whenever and wherever you happen to need it. Once you’ve downloaded the software, simply install it onto your favorite desktop machine. Here’s a link to get VirtualBox running on a Chromebook. Accept all of the default settings, and you’ll be good to go. For more details, here’s a link to the Oracle VM VirtualBox User Manual.
NOTE: The Incredible PBX for MX Linux VM requires a VirtualBox 6.x platform. Adjust screen size in View -> Virtual Screen.
Installing the Incredible PBX for MX Linux Image
To begin, visit our SourceForge page and follow the steps to assemble the 8GB+ .ova image of Incredible PBX with MX Linux.
Next, copy it to your VirtualBox desktop machine and double-click on the Incredible PBX .ova image. Then click Import. Once the import is finished, you’ll see a new Incredible PBX for MX Linux virtual machine in the VM List of the VirtualBox Manager Window. Let’s make a couple of one-time adjustments to the Incredible PBX configuration to account for possible differences in sound and network cards on different host machines.
(1) Click once on the Incredible PBX virtual machine in the VM List. Then (2) click the Settings button. In System tab, verify Hardware Clock in UTC Time is checked. In the Audio tab, check the Enable Audio option and choose your sound card. In the Network tab for Adapter 1, check the Enable Network Adapter option. From the Attached to pull-down menu, choose Bridged Adapter. Then select your network card from the Name list. Then click OK. That’s all the configuration that is necessary.
Running Incredible PBX for MX Linux in VirtualBox
Once you’ve imported and configured the Incredible PBX for MX Linux Virtual Machine, you’re ready to go. Highlight the Incredible PBX virtual machine in the VM List on the VirtualBox Manager Window and click the Start button. The standard Linux boot procedure will begin and, within a few seconds, you’ll get the familiar Linux login prompt. Choose Other from the pull-down list and enter root for your username and password for your password.
During the bootstrap procedure, you may see a couple of dialogue boxes pop up that explain the keystrokes to move back and forth between your host operating system desktop and your virtual machine. Remember, you still have full access to your desktop computer. Incredible PBX is merely running as a task in a VM window. Always gracefully halt Incredible PBX just as you would on any computer.
Here’s what you need to know. To work in the Incredible PBX virtual machine, just left-click your mouse while it is positioned inside the VM window. To return to your host operating system desktop, press the right Option key on Windows machines or the left Command key on any Mac. On Linux desktops, press the right Ctrl key. For other operating systems, read the dialogue boxes for instructions on moving around. To access the Linux CLI, login as root with the default password: password.
Once the Xfce Desktop displays, click on the Xfce Terminal Emulator icon in the left menu bar which will drop you into the Linux CLI.
First, create a new end-user account which we will explain in a minute. Just enter the following command: adduser nerd.
Next, update your admin password for Incredible PBX web access: ./admin-pw-change.
Then update your admin password for web applications: ./apache-pw-change. You’ll need these admin passwords to access the web GUI to manage your PBX as well as to use the AsteriDex and Reminders web apps.
Finally, run ./timezone-setup to set the correct time zone for your virtual machine.
Make note of your virtual machine’s local IP and time by typing pbxstatus. You’ll need this IP address to log into the Incredible PBX GUI using Firefox on the Xfce Desktop.
Setting the Date and Time with VirtualBox
If pbxstatus still shows an incorrect time, manually set the date and time and then update the hardware clock. Here’s how assuming 05160709 is the month (May), day (16), and correct time (7:09 a.m.) of your server:
date 05160709 clock -w
Returning to the Xfce Desktop
Now let’s return to the Xfce Desktop and close the terminal window. Type exit and press ENTER.
MX Linux won’t let you run many of its desktop applications while logged in as root. To switch to the nerd user we created above, do the following. Click on the Application Menu icon in the bottom left column. Then click the Lock Screen icon at the top of the applications menu. When the familiar login screen reappears, log back into your virtual machine as nerd using the password you set up when you created the account. Now explore all the fabulous features that MX Linux offers. And follow our Incredible PBX tutorial to get up and running in minutes.
Originally published: Monday, May 16, 2022
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info Forum.
Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
- Many of our purchase links refer users to Amazon when we find their prices are competitive for the recommended products. Nerd Vittles receives a small referral fee from Amazon to help cover the costs of our blog. We never recommend particular products solely to generate Amazon commissions. However, when pricing is comparable or availability is favorable, we support Amazon because Amazon supports us. [↩]
Amazon’s Alexa Now Available for Incredible PBX
Loyal readers already know that voice recognition applications occupy a special place in the Incredible PBX® toolchest. Over 8 years ago, we introduced Wolfram Alpha integrating the world’s largest almanac into Asterisk®. And today we’re pleased to add Amazon’s Alexa to the Incredible PBX fold for our latest Incredible PBX 2021 for Debian, Raspberry Pi and CentOS 7 builds. Just dial 5555 and tell Alexa what you’d like to know or do. If you’ve been sleeping under a rock these past few years, Alexa provides not only a thesaurus but also current news and weather, cooking tips and recipes, calendars, movie showtimes and data, Amazon purchasing, shopping lists, reminders, maps, music.everything, home automation control to turn on your lights, lock your doors and adjust your thermostat, sports scores and scheduling, grocery shopping, and almost anything else you can imagine asking for. And our special tip of the hat goes to Russell Grokett for his creativity in bringing the Alexa platform to the Asterisk community. Here’s a simple graphic showing the call flow in a typical Alexa call from any SIP phone connected to Incredible PBX:
Before we get started, let me offer a few words of caution. You’ll need to be a careful reader and follow the instructions below carefully to get Alexa working. Amazon uses OAuth 2 authentication which is secure (and tedious) by design. The good news is you only have to go through this setup exercise once after which Alexa will be available at any time without further tweaking. We’ve made some changes in Russell Grokett’s original design to hopefully simplify the OAuth procedure and to adjust some of the configuration to correctly interface with newer releases of the open source components including sox which handles the audio translations between Asterisk and Alexa. All of the code is licensed pursuant to GNU GPLv3.
Prerequisites. Before you begin, you’ll need a working Incredible PBX 2020 platform running CentOS 7, or Incredible PBX 2021 running Debian 10, or the latest Incredible PBX release for Raspbian preferably running on a Raspberry Pi 4 with at least 2GB of RAM.
Overview. There are four steps in today’s installation procedure. First, we will download and install a number of open source components on Incredible PBX by running a simple script. Second, you’ll need to sign up for both an Amazon account if you don’t already have one AND an Amazon Developer Account. Third, we’ll create an Alexa Voice Service application and set up the Alexa Security Profile for the application. Finally, using the credentials obtained during this setup process, we’ll configure the components on your PBX to talk to Alexa. Be advised that the Amazon license we will be using authorizes only private, non-commercial use. Today’s design does not meet Amazon’s terms for commercial and/or public use!
1. Installing Alexa Basics for Incredible PBX
Log into your server as root and issue the following commands to download and install the basic components to support Alexa integration into Incredible PBX:
cd / wget http://incrediblepbx.com/incredible-alexa.tar.gz tar zxvf incredible-alexa.tar.gz rm -f incredible-alexa.tar.gz ./install-alexa
2. Creating an Amazon and Amazon Developer Account
If you don’t already have one, you can create an Amazon account at amazon.com. Write down your email address and password. You’ll need them in the following steps. Next, navigate to the Amazon Developer Portal and set up a free account using your Amazon credentials.
3. Creating Voice Service Application & Security Profile
After creating your Amazon developer account, we’re ready to create a product and security profile. Begin by logging into the AVS Dashboard. Click GET STARTED to begin.
Click PRODUCTS. Then click ADD NEW PRODUCT. Fill in form as shown below. Click NEXT.
- Product Name: IncrediblePBX
- Product ID: IncrediblePBX
- Product Type: Application with Alexa built-in
- Product Category: Communications
- Brief Product Description: Alexa for Incredible PBX
- User Interaction: Hands-free
- Distribute Commercially: NO
- Children’s Product: NO
In LWA Security Profile dialog, click CREATE NEW PROFILE. Fill in template. Then NEXT.
- Security Profile Name: IncrediblePBX
- Security Profile Description: Incredible PBX security profile
In the second LWA Security Profile dialog, copy your Security Profile ID, Client ID, and Client Secret to a text file so that you can use them in the following steps.
In the Allowed return URLs field, create two entries clicking ADD button after entering each:
- http://localhost
- https://actual-Incredible-PBX-IP-address:5000/code
Check the I Agree checkbox and then click FINISH.
Your Product should now appear as successfully configured in Alexa Voice Service overview.
Next, navigate to: https://developer.amazon.com/lwa/sp/overview.html.
Click Select a Security Profile and choose your IncrediblePBX profile. Click CONFIRM.
In the Consent Screen dialog, enter the following and then click SAVE.
- Consent Privacy Notice URL: http://dummyurl.com
- Consent Logo Image: leave blank
Verify your ClientID and Secret that you wrote down above.
Cut-and-paste the following as a single line of code into your favorite text editor. Or you can simply edit /root/Alexa-URL which contains the same code.
https://www.amazon.com/ap/oa?client_id=YOURCLIENTID&scope=alexa%3Aall&scope_data=%7B%22alexa%3Aall%22%3A%7B%22productID%22%3A%22IncrediblePBX%22,%22productInstanceAttributes%22%3A%7B%22deviceSerialNumber%22%3A%2212345%22%7D%7D%7D&response_type=code&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost
Replace YOURCLIENTID in the above code substituting your actual Alexa Client ID.
Next, select the entire block of code that now includes your actual Client ID and paste it into the Address URL of your favorite browser. You should be prompted for your Amazon user credentials. Once you sign in, click ALLOW. You then should see an Unable to Connect error message. This is fine. What we actually need is the Token which now is shown immediately after code= in the Address URL of your browser. Copy everything after code= up to the &.
http://localhost/?code=YOURTOKEN&scope=alexa%3Aall
With YOURTOKEN, Client ID, and Client Secret in hand, proceed to the next section.
4. Activating Alexa in Incredible PBX
Log into Incredible PBX as root and navigate to the /root directory. Make a copy of grant-token.sh in case you make a mistake. Now edit grant_token.sh. Replace YOURTOKEN with your actual Token. Replace YOURCLIENTID with your actual Alexa Client ID. Replace YOURCLIENTSECRET with your actual Alexa Client Secret. Save the file and then run the script: ./grant_token.sh.
The script will return a JSON message that includes both an access_token and a refresh_token. It will be a very long single string that you should cut-and-paste and save for a rainy day. The string can be parsed in an editor so that it looks something like this:
Access tokens expire every hour, but this refresh token never expires. We’ll use the refresh token to generate a new access token whenever Alexa is run from an Asterisk extension. So cut-and-paste the very long refresh_token and save it with your Client ID and Client Secret.
Next, change to the /var/lib/asterisk/agi-bin directory and make a copy of token.pl in case you make a mistake. Then edit token.pl and scroll to the my $post line (line 16). Replace YOUR_REFRESH_TOKEN with the refresh_token from above. Replace YOUR_CLIENT_ID with your actual Client ID. And replace YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET with your Client Secret.
Save the file.
TIP: If you decide to install Alexa on more than one of your PBXs, the setup process only takes a couple minutes. Complete Step #1 as documented above. Then copy the my $post line from token.pl that includes your credentials and replace the my $post line of token.pl script in your second PBX. Done.
Now you’re ready to try things out. From the command line, issue the command: ./token.pl
List the results like this: cat /tmp/token.resp
There should be no errors and the results should look something like this:
IMPORTANT: Don’t forget this step or future queries from Asterisk will fail since our test generated files with root permissions only: rm -f /tmp/token*
Now we’re all set to use Alexa from your PBX. From an extension on your PBX, dial 5555. When prompted, say "What’s the weather for today?" After receiving the response from Alexa, you can either hang up or say another query.
We’ve documented some Alexa queries and skills in this thread on the VoIP-Info.org Forum.
If you have problems getting all the pieces to work, check over the steps again. You may also wish to consult the original documentation. Ignore references to differing file locations.
Republished: Tuesday, August 3, 2021
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info Forum.
Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
Finding the Perfect Laptop: Meet the System76 Lemur Pro
While we’ve been hunkered down in Vero Beach dodging the Covid-19 bullets, we spent a little time searching for a turnkey Linux notebook computer that could do everything a MacBook Pro could do… and more. The machine had to offer PORTS WITHOUT DONGLES plus the added benefits that only a pure Linux platform could provide. For $1099, our dream machine has arrived. The Lemur Pro is custom-built which means you order the 2.2 pound base computer with its 14-hour battery and then choose your operating system, CPU, RAM, storage devices, and warranty period. Shipping in the U.S. is free. We ended up at $1,322.21. In addition to 2 USB 3.0 Type-A slots, an HDMI port, a USB 3.1 Type-C w/ DisplayPort 1.2a, touchpad, stereo speakers, an audio jack, a webcam, and a backlit keyboard, the icing on the cake was a microSD slot which made the machine perfect for Raspberry Pi development.
Software, of course, has always been what separated the Mac from the Linux desktops. No more! The System76 developers of the Lemur Pro have released their own flavor of Ubuntu. It’s a refined and open source desktop environment with most of the modern feature set available in either Windows or Mac OS. You can read all about Pop!_OS here. You can even download an ISO suitable for installation in VirtualBox if you just want to try it out for free.
In addition to a robust desktop solution out of the box, Pop!_OS also includes an Automatic Update Utility to push out security fixes and software updates. And they have a terrific Pop!_Shop, an apt front-end, which is similar to Android’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store. All of the apps in Pop!_Shop have been engineered to work within Pop!_OS seamlessly, and they do. We also encountered no issues installing a traditional LAMP stack, PHPmyAdmin, VirtualBox, OpenVPN, or Twinkle, a SIP client to connect to Asterisk® and IncrediblePBX®. Of course you also can run the VirtualBox image of Incredible PBX 2020 on the Lemur Pro. And, if you’re ever curious how we build Incredible PBX images for the Raspberry Pi, here’s our soup-to-nuts tutorial using the Lemur Pro. We’ve also built the images for CrownCloud and VirtualBox on the Lemur Pro. So life is good.
Booted up a Windows machine, or a Mac, or even an iPad Pro lately? Then you already know it takes about as long as making your own breakfast. Imagine our surprise with the Lemur Pro when the login prompt appeared in less than 10 seconds. There are other clever touches that are too numerous to mention. One that jumps out is our pet peeve about the MacBook Pro. Whenever your wrist happens to slide over the touchpad while you’re typing, the cursor magically jumps to some random place in your document as you continue to type. With the Lemur Pro, the touchpad is disabled whenever you are actively typing. Brilliant!
Did we mention the tutorials? They are equally brilliant. Here’s one of many examples. In addition to a Quick Start Guide, there’s even a service manual. Remember those?
System76 purchases come with a 30-day, money back guarantee. What are you waiting for?
Originally published: Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the VoIP-info Forum.
Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
Never Miss a Meeting: Google Calendar Alerts for XiVO
Today we’re pleased to dust off an oldie but goodie and to introduce Google Calendar integration for XiVO and Asterisk® 13.1 This gets you a reminder call at any number you choose based upon the Notification time that is set whenever you schedule a meeting or appointment in your Google Calendar. Our special thanks to Terry Wilson for his pioneering work at Digium® on the calendaring API. Together with the flexibility that XiVO affords out of the box, it made this incredibly easy, and the new design makes it simple to support as many Google calendars as you would like.
Calendar Design Methodology. The design of contexts in XiVO makes it easy to keep separate development projects separate. In this way, adding and changing code is straight-forward without having to worry about breaking some other working application in Asterisk. In keeping with this design, Incredible PBX for XiVO separates out different applications into different configuration files in the /etc/asterisk/extensions_extra.d directory. For calendar reminders, we’ve created the calendars.conf template which tells Asterisk what to do when an appointment reminder is triggered for the default myGoogleCal calendar.
As you can see below, this is standard Asterisk dialplan code so you can make it as sophisticated as you like. And you can add separate extensions to manage different calendars and do different things. To get you started, here’s what gets generated when you run today’s setup script. It tells XiVO to place a call to the notification number you have chosen and play a message using the Festival TTS engine that announces the time and location of a scheduled event from your Google Calendar:
[calendars]
exten => 225,1,Answer
exten => 225,n,Wait(1)
exten => 225,n,Festival("Here is an appointment reminder from your Google calendar: ")
exten => 225,n,Festival("${CALENDAR_EVENT(summary)} at ${STRFTIME(${CALENDAR_EVENT(start)},,%l:%M %p: local time %A)} at ${CALENDAR_EVENT(location)} ${CALENDAR_EVENT(description)}. Have a nice day. Good bye.")
exten => 225,n,Hangup
The Asterisk design for calendar reminders is equally intuitive. For each calendar, you create a context in /etc/asterisk/calendar.conf to identify the calendar, your credentials, and the Asterisk context, the extension and notification phone number which will be triggered when a calendar reminder (known as a Notification) is triggered. In the initial setup today, we will generate the [myGoogleCal] context with all of the required pieces:2
Once the setup is finished, you can run the following command to tell you the status of your Google Calendar upcoming events for the next two hours. These events get refreshed by Asterisk every 10 minutes based upon the current entries in your calendar.
asterisk -rx "calendar show calendar myGoogleCal"
Once you integrate Google Calendar into Incredible PBX, you can use it to alert you to upcoming appointments. You can also schedule and activate conference calls, and even log the date, time, length, and recipient of all your outbound and/or incoming phone calls. For today, we’ll get the basic pieces installed and functioning. And we’ll set up a simple reminder system based upon appointment entries in your Google Calendar. We’ll also give you some good reference materials so that you can take it from there. This is one of Asterisk’s most powerful features and one where a little study will reward you handsomely. And, as we said, XiVO makes it easy!
Prerequisites. As mentioned, you’ll need a Gmail account to which your Google Calendar is attached. NOTE: Gmail accounts with 2-Step Verification cannot be accessed using your regular Gmail password, but there’s a simple work-around covered in this footnote.3 You also need to first install Incredible PBX for XiVO. By default, you’ll need at least one outbound trunk that supports calls in the same format that you plan to use with your calendar alerts. For NANPA trunks, it will be a 10-digit number, but any other dial string is supported so long as you have enabled AND tested it in XiVO. Then just follow along in today’s tutorial. The entire setup process only takes a couple minutes, and the setup script is licensed as GPL code so knock yourself out and make any changes desired to meet your own requirements.
Installation. Once you have Incredible PBX for XiVO up and running, make a test call from any extension to the phone number you plan to use for Google Calendar notifications. When you’re satisfied that you can reach that number from a XiVO extension, then it’s time to download the installer and run it. Log into your server as root and issue the following commands. Plug in your Gmail credentials and the 10-digit (or other format) notification number when prompted. If you decide to change your Google Calendar or notification number down the road, simply run the setup script again. Be advised that it will always overwrite all of the existing contents of /etc/asterisk/calendar.conf and /etc/asterisk/extensions_extra.d/calendars.conf.
cd /root wget http://incrediblepbx.com/setup-xivo-cal.sh chmod +x setup-xivo-cal.sh ./setup-xivo-cal.sh
Test Drive. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. So set up an appointment in your Google Calendar that’s about an hour in the future, and set the Notification time to 30 minutes. You should receive a call in about 30 minutes assuming your Google Calendar and XiVO server are in the same time zone. For additional tips and tricks, start here. Enjoy!
Originally published: Monday, September 19, 2016
Don’t forget to List Yourself in Directory Assistance so everyone can find you by dialing 411. And add your numbers to the Do Not Call Registry. Or just call 888-382-1222 from your new number. Last but not least, set up the FCC’s BlackList on your server and kiss the RoboCallers goodbye.
Great News: It's #XiVO Upgrade Day. Nothing got broken and lots got fixed. https://t.co/ZYnZxR4AOg #asterisk #GPL pic.twitter.com/0VPCP6qDs8
— Ward Mundy (@NerdUno) September 19, 2016
Need help with Asterisk? Come join the PBX in a Flash Forum.
Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…
- We originally introduced this five years ago in the Asterisk 1.8 days. We’ve now upgraded everything to support Incredible PBX for XiVO with Asterisk 13. [↩]
- Note that you can set an AutoReminder to schedule a call for every appointment at the same preconfigured interval. This will override all individual Notifications that are set on a per-appointment basis. [↩]
- For Google accounts with 2-Step Verification, simply create an Application-Specific Password. Select the Application (Calendar), select your device (Other: XiVO), and click Generate. When setting up Google Calendar Alerts for XiVO, use your actual Gmail address and substitute the 16-character password that is generated for your standard Google password. [↩]
Don’t Hurry: A First Look at Google Glass with Google Glass Frame
It’s one thing to read about new technology, and quite another to actually try it out. We’ve been holding off on Google Glass awaiting support for prescription lenses. Well, it’s finally here. And Nerd Uno was one of the first to receive the new Google Glass Frames. Having spent the better part of a week with the new technology, here’s our review.
Let’s start with the price tag. Ours came to $1,868.75. That’s before you add the cost of prescription lenses, some of which are now subsidized by vision insurance plans. So the $2,000 question is whether you’re ready for that type of investment in order to assume the mantle of PIONEER. And, make no mistake, Google Glass is a beta project in every sense of the word. We’ll get to that in a minute.
Pardon our morphing into a male chauvinist pig for a moment. Can you picture your significant other ever wearing a pair of these glasses? Seriously? If the answer is no, then put yourself in her shoes and ask the same question. Looks aside (and some of us need all the help we can get), much of the resistance to Google Glass boils down to the privacy issue. It’s one thing to carry a hidden pen camera when nobody knows they’re being recorded. It’s quite another to advertise what you’re up to. As Engadget put it:
It’s a headset with a projected display, a camera and a data connection that could revolutionize the mobile device industry. It could also cause a public uproar over privacy concerns.
People can and should be a bit concerned about someone walking in a public restroom with Glass on and, since you can’t fold them up and stick them in your pocket, finding something to do with them while you do your business is a challenge.
Take it from us. Your friends are going to disown you if you wear these things around them. Nobody (except people that work for Google or would like to) wants to be on camera all the time. And nobody except the Glass wearer knows whether the camera is on or off. Therein lies the problem. All it takes to send a photo to the Google Cloud is the wink of an eye. Ask yourself this question. Do you really want to live in a world like this? We haven’t even gotten to the way you can expect to be treated by strangers. Consider, for example, the poor guy that got dragged out of the movie theater because of a claim that he was illegally recording the movie. He wasn’t! But there was a parking lot full of police and FBI interrogators anyway. Then there are the restaurants and bars that will throw you out just for wearing a pair of wonder glasses. And finally we’ve got the Eager Beaver traffic cop that couldn’t wait to make his first Google Glass bust. So let me repeat the question. Do you really want to live in a world like this? Perhaps the better question is this. Do you think other folks want to live in a world with people like you wearing Google Glass? You can probably guess our answer, but the world does not stand still. So… we will see what we see.
Google Glass Setup and Operation
If you’ve set up an iPhone or Android phone with Gmail using your Google credentials, then you already know the drill for setting up Google Glass. It’s a breeze with the MyGlass app for your smartphone. In 5 minutes, you’ll be ready to tilt your head up and take Google Glass for a spin. The magic word to activate Glass is "OK, Glass." So far, so good. In the default setup, you can make phone calls, check the weather, participate in Hangouts (you can see them but they can’t see you), read emails, send dictated email messages, take photos and videos as well as perform Google searches and navigate to a destination with Google Maps. The ability to schedule reminders has been removed in the latest software release. Unfortunately, messages sent to Gmail accounts (with or without a photo) go to Hangouts, not to Gmail.
You can take photos by blinking your right eye after enabling the feature. The photos are immediately uploaded to your Google account in the sky. There also is an option to forward a photo to an email address. But choosing a recipient was problematic. If you have an extensive list of Contacts as we do, it’s almost impossible to navigate through the list or to use it reliably with the Glass speech-to-text function. Oftentimes you will find yourself inadvertently sending something to the wrong person with no notification as to who that person was. And there’s no quick way to cancel delivery. That is a major shortcoming of virtually all the Glass features presently. There is no "go back" or "never mind" or "hangup" voice command to cancel an activity. We often found ourselves tapping, swiping, and yelling at Glass in order to cancel some action. Painful is the kindest adjective we can muster. Do you have any idea how stupid you look tapping on the side of your head all the time? People really will think you’ve lost your marbles. Let’s put it this way. If the Google self-driving car worked as well as Glass, you’d be in a ditch or dead in a matter of minutes.
There are a whole host of additional features you can add to Glass. Google calls them Glassware. The process is straight-forward, much like adding an app to a smartphone. Here’s a partial list to give you some idea of what’s already out there:
With all these potential applications, you’re undoubtedly asking yourself about battery life. In a word, it’s HORRIBLE. If you get a half day out of Glass even with minimal use, count yourself among the lucky ones. If the idea is that folks should wear Glass instead of glasses, you’re not going to be a happy camper. While Google has taken steps to shut off Glass when you’re not actively using it, this is an uphill battle. Glass depends upon Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and regularly communicates with your cellphone and the closest WiFi access point. That’s a battery-consuming activity that is not going to be easily remedied without a bigger battery or better battery technology. As someone described it in the Google forum, "It’s like watching the gas gauge on a Ford Expedition with a 454 engine going up a mountain." There’s a reason that over half the inside of a smartphone is reserved as a battery compartment. Unfortunately, Glass doesn’t have that luxury of space.
In conclusion, we were tempted to keep Glass only because of its novelty. Everybody likes to play with the latest toy. And we have a reputation to uphold. But the battery life and privacy issues are truly dealbreakers for us. Before it’s over, we suspect there will be overwhelming public demand for a little red blinking light on Glass to tell others when you’re doing something that might affect them. If you’ve seen the way people react when you point a movie camera at them with a blinking red light, you’ll at least know what you have to look forward to. There has been no bigger Google Glass evangelist than Robert Scoble. Check out his comments on why Google Glass is doomed. Then read today’s comments from Jeff Jarvis before you take the plunge. We’re saving our money for the self-driving car. Here’s hoping the people that make ours don’t read this review.
Originally published: Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.
Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…
The Ultimate Android Tablet: Meet the Microsoft Surface Pro
We were fully prepared to hate the Microsoft Surface Pro. After all, it was designed and produced by Microsoft, and we haven’t seen many flashes of brilliance from Redmond since the XBox. That was more than eleven years ago! Yes, Microsoft has new smartphones, but they’re too little, too late in our opinion. So why is the Surface Pro different? For openers, it runs pure Windows 8, not the Windows RT crippleware. While we’re not much of a Windows cheerleader any more (we were for the first 25 years), it is worth noting that Apple has one operating system for desktops and notebooks and a different (crippled) one for smartphones and tablets. And Google has one operating system for its notebooks and a very different one for its smartphones and tablets. Microsoft, on the other hand, had a better idea. The same operating system runs on both its desktop computers, its notebooks, and its latest tablet, the Surface Pro. What that means is the same application that runs on your desktop computer can now perform equally well on a tablet. And it can do it with or without the Surface’s revolutionary, portable keyboard. Application portability is huge especially if your company happens to still be a pure Microsoft shop. And it’s especially important if you or your employees happen to travel for a living.
It Just Works. So much for the theory. The bottom line for us was whether our existing PBX in a Flash, Incredible PBX, and Android platforms could live and breathe on the Surface Pro. The short answer is a resounding YES. This is not the crippled, proprietary Windows RT platform found in the original (klunky) Surface. This is a fully functional Windows 8 machine with an Intel processor, blazing performance, and both microSD and USB 3.0 slots, nice additions that you won’t find on a lot of tablets. If an app will run with Windows 7 or Windows XP, it works just as well or better on the Surface Pro. And with BlueStacks, you can run 750,000 Android apps on your Surface Pro as well. We quickly downloaded our favorite Android VoIP app, Groove IP, from Google’s Play Store using BlueStacks. Then we performed a couple of quick calls using a Google Voice account. The calls were flawless even with our shaky DSL connection on a very snowy day in the mountains. Adding BlueStack’s Cloud Connect will let you push existing apps from your Android phone or tablet to your Surface Pro. Pretty cool.
For a complete technical review of the Surface Pro, visit ZDnet or TechRadar. Just pray you never need repairs.
The only thing we’ve found missing hardware-wise on the Surface Pro is a PrintScreen key on the awesome keyboard which is a must-have, by the way. To print screens, you’ll need to use the tablet trick: VolDown + Home. But, as you can see from the screenshot above, it works fine. Because of the high resolution screen however, you lose something shrinking the images down to 650 pixels. On the software front, there were few surprises. WiFi is rock solid, and links to MiFi devices make the Surface Pro truly portable. If ass-backwards scrolling with the touchpad drives you crazy, use RegEdit and search for the mouse entry for FlipFlopHScroll. Change the decimal value from 0 to 1. The Chrome browser works fine with the keyboard and mousepad, but you’ll be using Internet Explorer to work with the touchscreen in tablet mode. Hopefully, that will get fixed shortly.
SAMBA connections work fine after the usual tweaks to the Windows Registry and a reboot. NeoRouter as a VPN client or server functions just as you would expect after telling Windows 8 to run the main programs as Administrator. Windows 8 is a bit more picky about this even when you’re logged in as an Administrator. Oracle’s VirtualBox as a virtual machine platform for Linux appliances works swimmingly, and performance is AMAZING. We built an Incredible PBX server using the latest .ova template in under 5 minutes, and we were making free calls and sending out faxes through Google Voice in under 10 minutes. Amazing!
Family Feud. There’s only one major shortcoming worth noting. Microsoft has taken their feud with Google to a whole new level with Windows 8. It’s not so much the Bingification of every Windows utility that bothers us. It’s what appears to be a conscious effort to banish Google from the Windows platform entirely. Think Apple! Those using two-step authentication for Google services are S.O.L. when it comes to Gmail. You’re left having to deploy Gmail as an IMAP mail service to get your mail at all. Giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt, you could give them a pass on this if it had just been the initial Windows 8 release. But there have been plenty of patches and updates since Day One, and two-step authentication for Google services remains MIA. If the United States is going to retain its lead in the software development arena, Microsoft and Google and Apple had best bury the hatchet and learn how to work together to make their offerings complimentary. Consumers aren’t going to tolerate this kind of seventh grader nonsense in this day and age. So, wake up, Microsoft. Ruining an otherwise promising platform while trying to shaft Google is a lousy business decision, and it’s going to backfire. Consumers will simply move exclusively to their platform of choice, and guess what? That platform isn’t going to be Microsoft. More importantly, this article is a testament to what actually can be accomplished in Googlifying a Surface Pro with a little Yankee ingenuity. For all practical purposes, our Surface Pro is the best Android tablet we’ve ever owned, and we’ve owned a few. So here’s a little tip for Microsoft: Remember what made Windows a hit! Ubiquity, not exclusivity!
Originally published: Monday, February 18, 2013
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.
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Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…
Introducing PBX in a Phone: Grandstream GXP2200 featuring Incredible PBX
One of the long-term goals of the PBX in a Flash™ Project has always been the desire to integrate a full-featured PBX directly into a desktop phone. For those that travel or support small branch offices, this would be the best of all possible worlds. We never quite achieved it with PBX in a Flash, but thanks to the Raspberry Pi™, Grandstream’s new GXP2200, a couple of screws, and a power drill, we’ve found the perfect couple. Imagine managing a virtual private network with your branch office PBX whirring away beneath your desktop phone and nothing more than a touchscreen browser built into your phone. And now you can appreciate what a milestone this is for the VoIP telephony community.
We introduced the GXP2200 in our Black Friday roundup last week, but here are the highlights for those of you that may have missed it. While there have been other VoIP phones built around Android, this is the first affordable unit (under $200)1 that also includes access to Google’s Play Store thanks to Grandstream’s firmware update released last week. This is significant because proprietary app stores mean the phone manufacturer keeps total control of what you can install on your phone while access to Google’s Play Store makes available virtually all of the Android software in the commercial (and free) marketplace.
Why Android Matters with a VoIP Phone
Using Android as the underlying operating system for a VoIP phone provides the best of all worlds with SIP access to your favorite Asterisk® server or Incredible PBX™ for the Raspberry Pi plus Skype, Google Voice, Microsoft Lync, YouTube, Pandora, Facebook, Twitter, and Angry Birds without leaving your chair. The GXP2200 supports six SIP lines, five-way conference calls, HD audio, Bluetooth, integrated PoE, and VPNs of many flavors. You also can add four 20-button sidecar expansion modules. GrooVe IP can be installed from the Google Play Store for plug-and-play Google Voice calling. That gives you the "VoIP Big Three" on a single desktop phone: SIP, Skype, and Google Voice. Plug in an SD card with your favorite tunes and videos, and they’ll play back flawlessly on the GXP2200. The PBX in a Flash RSS Security Feed can also be installed on the desktop of this phone. With the $5 IP Cam Viewer app, you can use your phone to monitor dozens of IP cameras in your organization or anyone else anywhere in the world. AsteriDex also can be used from the phone’s browser to provide click-to-dial calling with any SIP trunk you’ve set up on the phone. And, as we noted, the touchscreen browser lets you access FreePBX® to configure and manage Incredible PBX and your Asterisk server directly from your phone. Did we mention the 1,000-client phone directory and Google Calendar plus dedicated voicemail, call transfer, and conferencing buttons right on the phone? All of them work flawlessly with Asterisk as well as PBX in a Flash and Incredible PBX. While the version of Android is a bit long in the tooth, we haven’t found that to be a distraction when paired with a desktop phone. One of the consultants on the PIAF Forum mentioned that he had taken this phone to a customer site last week. The employees were so impressed with the GXP2200 that they told the boss they would subsidize the cost of the phones if he would purchase them for the office. When is the last time you had that conversation with your boss?
Hooking Up the Raspberry Pi with a GXP2200
The Raspberry Pi integration is accomplished easily because of the new design of the 512MB Raspberry Pi boards with two mounting holes (covered by the two brass-colored nuts above) plus the unique phone stand that is provided with Grandstream’s GXP2200. A quick trip to the hardware store for two one-inch screws and a couple minutes with a power drill, and it was easy enough for any fifth grader to mount the Raspberry Pi on the inner side of the plastic phone stand. Once you slide the stand into place on the phone, the Raspberry Pi is completely hidden inside the phone stand with plenty of ventilation to operate unobtrusively for years. A 6-inch CAT5 cable will let you take advantage of the spare network jack on the back of the phone to add network connectivity for the Raspberry Pi. Insert your SD card with Incredible PBX, power up the Raspberry Pi with a 5-volt adapter, and your branch office PBX comes to life. Fire up your phone’s browser, log in to http://incrediblepbx.local, and your entire PBX is quite literally at your fingertips:
By the time your GXP2200 is delivered, Incredible PBX 3.6 for the Raspberry Pi will be on the street featuring Incredible Fax.2 Then you’ll have everything any remote office could ever ask for, and it’ll all be neatly tucked away beneath your telephone with management convenience like you’ve never experienced. Enjoy!
Originally published: Monday, November 26, 2012
Need help with Asterisk? Visit the PBX in a Flash Forum.
Special Thanks to Our Generous Sponsors
FULL DISCLOSURE: ClearlyIP, Skyetel, Vitelity, DigitalOcean, Vultr, VoIP.ms, 3CX, Sangoma, TelecomsXchange and VitalPBX have provided financial support to Nerd Vittles and our open source projects through advertising, referral revenue, and/or merchandise. As an Amazon Associate and Best Buy Affiliate, we also earn from qualifying purchases. We’ve chosen these providers not the other way around. Our decisions are based upon their corporate reputation and the quality of their offerings and pricing. Our recommendations regarding technology are reached without regard to financial compensation except in situations in which comparable products at comparable pricing are available from multiple sources. In this limited case, we support our sponsors because our sponsors support us.
BOGO Bonaza: Enjoy state-of-the-art VoIP service with a $10 credit and half-price SIP service on up to $500 of Skyetel trunking with free number porting when you fund your Skyetel account. No limits on number of simultaneous calls. Quadruple data center redundancy. $25 monthly minimum spend required. Tutorial and sign up details are here.
The lynchpin of Incredible PBX 2020 and beyond is ClearlyIP components which bring management of FreePBX modules and SIP phone integration to a level never before available with any other Asterisk distribution. And now you can configure and reconfigure your new Incredible PBX phones from the convenience of the Incredible PBX GUI.
VitalPBX is perhaps the fastest-growing PBX offering based upon Asterisk with an installed presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. VitalPBX has generously provided a customized White Label version of Incredible PBX tailored for use with all Incredible PBX and VitalPBX custom applications. Follow this link for a free test drive!
Special Thanks to Vitelity. Vitelity is now Voyant Communications and has halted new registrations for the time being. Our special thanks to Vitelity for their unwavering financial support over many years and to the many Nerd Vittles readers who continue to enjoy the benefits of their service offerings. We will keep everyone posted on further developments.
Some Recent Nerd Vittles Articles of Interest…
- Some of our purchase links refer users to Amazon when we find their prices are competitive for the recommended products. Nerd Vittles receives a small referral fee from Amazon to help cover the costs of our blog. We never recommend particular products solely to generate Amazon commissions. However, when pricing is comparable or availability is favorable, we support Amazon because Amazon supports us. [↩]
- If you have that pioneering spirit, you can take the Preview Edition of Incredible PBX 3.6 for a spin today. [↩]
Free Asterisk Solutions
