VOIP Tech Chat → [Asterisk] PlugPBX system, unboxing and updates!

Woo Thanks for the pictures. I can't wait to hear all about it.

m.

IIRC, this device has a built-in of 256/512MB RAM/Flash (NAND). Plenty of RAM to host an Asterisk PBX system and among other applications.

Do they make wireless models of these? You could plug one in anywhere in range of your router/ap without the hassle of running wires.

I believe they do.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but I fail to see the attraction of the Sheeva Plug as an Asterisk host. In fact, there are a few reasons why you might not want to use it.

It's based upon an Arm processor. Not a big deal if plain vanilla Asterisk is all you need to run. However, you won't be able to run any related code that cannot be compiled from source for the Arm. For example; Digium's G.729 codec or Skype-For-Asterisk. These modules are available only as binaries for x86, so you can't recompile them for the Plug.

IMHO, you're way better off looking to a net-top like the Acer Revo. The Intel Atom has more than enough grunt for anything you might do. Probably more than the Arm CPU in the plug. You can find these for well under $200 if you shop wisely.

It may also be more convenient to use a platform that has a VGA output so you can monitor it directly during development.

It's really just a matter of taste. I still think that an embedded Asterisk systems is a great idea. I ran it on a Soekris board and HP thin client for several years. There was a time when things like the Soekris boards were kinda costly for what they were, but now ALIX boards are --
Michael Graves
Houston TX
»www.mgraves.org

I'll be following with interest. Do you plan on running any particular distribution?

I've been running on "real" servers for a while now. The noise, space, and power consumption have been a concern. I was really considering the Acer Revo route (maybe having one as a spare).
I think the only nice thing I can say about the old Proliant is the reliability (redundant everything).

If a little plug unit like this could foot the bill for less than 10 users, I'd certainly give it a go. I'm pretty addicted to pre-packaged * distributions though.

The device will actually be running Jaunty Jackalope when I am done with it.

Yes, this is my feeling also. I'm building a similar system to host my blog using the Turnkey Linux WP appliance distro on a Fit-PC2.

Actually, the site will be hosted at a provider, with the Fit-PC2 providing a local host at my office. It will failover to that device should the hosting provider have an an issue.

Thus far I've been impressed with Turnkey Linux, and thinking that they could have an Asterisk version, too.

5 watts is a good reason

BTW, it appears the current models have heat problems due to bad design and they're coming up with newer designs. The guy at plugpbx.com also came up with a version of the install that uses flashybrid to reduce read/write stress on the SD card. I'm definitely interested as well once all the kinks are worked out with the hardware. Too many complaints for now and Globalscale only provides 30-days warr.

I am having trouble getting it to boot from the SD card at this point. It seems the data isnt writing properly to the card, so when it tries to boot it cant find what it needs.

USB 0: host mode
PEX 0: interface detected no Link.
Net: egiga0 [PRIME]
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
SDHC found. Card desciption is:
Manufacturer: 0x1b, OEM "SM"
Product name: "00000", revision 1.0
Serial number: xxxxxxx
Manufacturing date: 1/2010
CRC: 0x00, b0 = 0
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Bad ext2 partition or disk - mmc 0:1 **
Failed to mount ext2 filesystem...
** Bad ext2 partition or disk - mmc 0:1 **
## Booting image at 00400000 ...
Bad Magic Number

You need to format your external USB partitions with an ext2 format.

There is no external USB drive on this device, would I need to format the SD card that same way?

Yes.

If that's the major reason then you're much better off to choose one of the various Atom based net-tops. Their power consumption is similar but they can run any x86 based modules, too.

I'm using a Fit-PC2 (»www.fit-pc.com/web/) which draws about 7 watts. It costs more than a Plug or net-top, but has a 2.5" SATA HD and a nice array of ports and decent VGA, making it more generally useful.

Michael Graves
Houston TX
»www.mgraves.org

I thought about getting a FitPC, however I settled on this device instead. The Sheeva draws less power and generally fits my needs more. As compelling as the other ports are, given that I am using this for nothing more than a networked device I didnt need to spend the extra money. I never planned on doing anything other than setting up a new Asterisk box with this either, so right from the start it was a single use purchase. I kept looking at (and listening too!) the 10 year old PC that was my old Asterisk server. It was loud, hot, created dust, sucked down power and my dog peed on it (not kidding about that...), so it had to go. The Sheeva has no external power brick, and I simply plug it in behind my TV out of sight. Twelve inches of Ethernet cable later, it sits quietly there to do my VoIP bidding!

In case you couldnt see it in the picture, the device is now running FreePBX 2.5.2, Asterisk 1.6.1, and Debian Squeeze Linux. I am a happy camper, and it was a fairly simple weekend project.

Way to go. I am glad you got it up running with FreePBX.

BTW, be careful about not overloading the USB port. See the attached pictures and horror stories abt the heat issues and melted power caps. May be best to go straight with an external power adapter than wait for it to blow up.

»plugcomputer.org/plugfor ··· c=1318.0

Thats good to know, thank you. I hope they fixed that issue since February when those photos were taken. However, now that I have my Asterisk box up and running I dont think I will be doing much physical tinkering with this hardware.

So, except for the card incident, was it just a matter of writing PlugPBX to the card and letting her go? Did you have any other pitfalls? How much did everything cost?
How many physical extensions do you have right now?
Care to post updates?
Sorry about all the questions, I'm real interested in this, and like to get the "skinny" first hand from somebody who's actually doing it.

another interesting points to see would be

1) if g729 works on it
2) how many transcoding jobs it can handle at any time

You won't be able to run G.729 on the Sheeva Plug. Digium's G.729 codec is only released in binary form for x86 processors. The Plug is based upon an ARM processor.

What about this ITU G729 source code? Can someone port it to asterisk?

See »www.voip-info.org/wiki/v ··· icensing . The common open source code is built around the Intel DSP library, both for performance and ease of implementation. Using the raw ITU code would be quite inefficient and an ARM couldn't support more than one or two channels.

However, why is there such an interest? IMO, there is no need for a compression codec on most broadband connections. Where bandwidth is limited (smartphone running over cellular data, VoIP over dial-up Internet, in a hotel with flaky Wi-Fi, etc.), you are almost always using a softphone that can use codecs that are patent-free and perform better than G.729 for given bandwidth. »www.voip-info.org/wiki/v ··· w/Codecs

No, there was a bit more busy work involved. First you need to download a number of drivers so that you can get a serial connection to the Sheeva. This might sound basic, however you really need to find the right ones on the internet otherwise you cant connect, and the device does not allow access out of the box. After that is done, you connect via putty (or the program of your choice) via a serial connection and start configuring. Your next move is to enable the device to boot off of an SD card, as it does NOT come that way by default. To do this, you download yet another file and put it onto a USB drive. Following this, you force the Sheeva to boot from the USB drive and have it load a program called uboot. Once uboot is installed, you restart the device and login as root. Finally, you reboot the device (while still connected via serial), insert the formatted SD card, and if all goes well, you are off to the races.

The above is just a quick summary, there is a very good write up available here »www.plugpbx.org/Not really, other than hunting down all the required drivers and images. I spent a lot of time writing and wiping the SD card via my PC before I thought to try another machine, so I could have likely done this even faster.The Sheeva cost me $99, and I think I paid about $12 for the 8GB SD card.None yet, I will be copying all the extension and trunk info from my old Asterisk box this weekend. I will need another few hours to do that, and I get home too late from work to get it done during the week.I am happy to respond to all questions about the process during the week, and if I happen to configure some trunks/extensions prior to the weekend I will let you know.

1) Not at this time as far as I know
2) I am not sure, however it is really only meant for moderately light home or small office use

FYI you should also be able to do this on a Seagate Dockstar which goes for $30-40 on ebay. Lower memory specs at 128/256.