1) The Dell SC440’s onboard ethernet card is eth1. If you try to configure a static IP address with netconfig, this will fail because netconfig only modifies eth0. Use system-configure-network instead.

2) Your installation does not come with a pre-configured DHCP server. Follow the instructions here: http://nerdvittles.com/index.php?p=212

3) After resolving both of those issues, my Aaastra 57i still doesn’t have full connectivity. It has the correct extension as assigned via TFTP, and can generally operate (eg, can access voicemail), but call services (1-2-3-4, 5-1-1) fail, and the phone screen displays "No Service". I hope to figure it out tomorrow, but this has been anything but a pain-free installation so far.

4) I’m not sure what’s going on with this one. I used PuTTY to ssh into my old PiaF installation and work on the system with no problems whatsoever. On my Dell SC440 new installation, I get lots of odd refreshes and character jumps when editing a text file with nano.

5) FreePBX has the following error: /var/lib/asterisk/bin/module_admin listonline (255)(cron_manager.EXECFAIL)

[WM: Sorry you’re having trouble. Let me try to respond to the issues in the order you have listed them above. Let me also add that, if your machine was not purchased from Dell USA recently, anything is possible. There may be a different motherboard or other significant differences in the machine even though Dell labels it an SC440. That’s a Dell design issue which has caused problems over the years.]

1) We have two new Dell SC440’s which are less than a month old. Both were configured with onboard ethernet as eth0. The entire build assumes eth0. The card can be reconfigured, and we would suggest you do that before proceeding. You’ll find loads of tutorials with a little Googling. If you have added additional Ethernet ports or cards to the machine, remove them and try reinstalling. Footnote: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 was moved to ifcfg-eth0 and DEVICE was changed from eth1 to eth0. This seems to have worked.

2) We typically recommend installing our systems behind a hardware-based firewall/router which usually provides DHCP services. That’s the reason that DHCP is not enabled by default in our builds. Because all of the extensions are prebuilt in the Orgasmatron II build, there was little need for the DHCP approach outlined in the article you cited.

3) I would guess that this is related to the lack of eth0. The entire design assumes you have a working eth0 network card. Once you address that, the "No Service" issue should go away. Footnote: It turned out that the SIP extension secret in the /tftpboot file did not match the SIP secret set up in FreePBX for the extension.

4) It’s possible you had a bad install disk. We’ve tested the build, and SSH works fine using the standard install.

5) I suspect this, too, is related to the missing eth0 or a bad install disk.

Will the Orgasmatron work on any other dell system? Does it require a specific processor or chip set to work? Just wondering if there are any other options other than the specific scc440. I realize that you can’t say specifically Ward if you haven’t tested it. Wondering if anyone else has tried it on any other dull system.

[WM: Processor, drive controller, drive, and RAM matter with Mondo Rescue. You might want to consult their web site for details on restoring a backup using different hardware. Unfortunately, it can get very complicated.]

[WM: Hi, Jason. Thanks for the offer. We do custom builds for a consulting fee of $1,000. It is the customer’s responsibility to ship and insure the desired system to us for configuration. We then return the system at the customer’s expense when the build is completed. These builds obviously are at the customer’s risk. If the build cannot be completed because of hardware issues, then the consulting fee is waived. The customer still is responsible for shipping and insurance costs in both directions. If successful, customer agrees to make the custom build available to others through our DreamHost download service at no cost other than the $5 download fee which is payable to us to cover the costs of the downloads. If this service would be of interest, you can contact us at this link.]

[WM: I thought the article made clear that the $199 pricing was last week. The Orgasmatron II build came out today. Both the PBX in a Flash and trixbox forums alerted users the day this became available. Just keep checking back. It will reappear in due course. The best current price with a Celeron processor is $349 at this link. Once you click on the "Entry Level" system option, there’s a free upgrade option to the dual core processor. So the former $199 system is really only $349 today, not $616. To get an alert the next time the SC440 goes on sale, go to techbargains.com and search for SC440. Then click on Send Email Deal Alert. Be sure to confirm the alert by replying to the email. These units have gone on sale roughly every two weeks since early September.]

[WM: Dell changes their pricing almost daily. Just keep checking back, and it will miraculously reappear one day.]

I’m so waiting for the Acer Mini One image or any USB version of Pbx-in-a-Flash (I tried making a usb bootable version of the iso with fedora live-usb creator, but when installing it make somehow a problem… what a shame 🙁 )

Thanks for everything…