Asterisk (complete n00b)

[Derek Neighbors]

Kevin wrote:
> I know we have some Asterisk gurus on the list.  I'm wondering if it might
> fill a simple need (or maybe it's overkill).  I want to create a simple
> greeting on my home phone number during overnight hours that says "we're not
> taking calls right now, call back during the daytime" or something similar.
> I also need to have a whitelist of caller ID numbers that can always get
> through for emergencies (family, neighbors, etc.)  From what I have read, it
> seems like the dialplan features can do this.
>   
You could do easily do this with Asterisk.
> I do something similar today with my Cox phone service.  I created a
> whitelist of numbers that can always ring-in, then at night I dial a *
> command to activate it.  The trouble is that I often forget to dial the
> (same) * command in the morning to turn it off.
>   
You could do a combination in Asterisk.  You could have a cron job 
automatically turn on and off on a set time, but you could override it 
by turning on earlier or later.
> I thought about using a modem in one of my linux boxes (maybe even my Tivo)
> with a bash script that sends AT commands in the evening and again in the
> morning.  Trouble is Cox uses the exact same * command to toggle on/off.  It
> would easily get messed up if one of the dial attempts missed.
>
> Sooo... enter Asterisk.  Maybe.  Since I'm not interested in VOIP phones,
> would I need a digium board to connect analog phones?  Thoughts?
>   
There used to be a developer kit for pretty cheap that got you a digium 
board and FSX, FSO modules for about $150.
http://bsdmall.com/asdekitrepa.html

--
Derek Neighbors
Integrum Technologies