TRY THIS BeagleBone Black Rev. C & Debian

[nunya]

I've been having a real bad time with a VPS and have decided to bring my PBX "in- house" again. I just ordered the BBB Rev. C.
It comes loaded with Debian. Would I be a fool to wipe Debian?
Is it possible to install PIAF on the BBB running Debian?

 

[tycho]

I'm pretty sure that Debian can be reinstalled on the BBB Rev. C without trouble. Check and verify, but if so you should have no qualms about wiping it. Or, do what I do when I get something like that: figure out how to mount the hard drive elsewhere and create a disk image of it. I use Clonezilla and other similar Linux-based applications, or WinImage on a WinBox

(Are you the same Nunya that frequents DSLR?)

 

[wardmundy]

nunya: Here's what we use.

 

[nunya]

So it looks like it's not at all difficult to re-install if that should ever be necessary. For some reason, I was thinking raspbx already ran on top of debian. I was close. I can't wait to get it and get going. The VPS isn't working out so well.
The Rev C comes with a 4 Gb flash instead of 2. I know I'm going to have to add storage because I record all calls on my business line.
Yes I'm also on dsrl.

 

[tycho]

You'll like the BBB! I have friend who has one and I have tinkered with it. Me, I use (for the moment) raw Asterisk on an old Seagate Dockstar. I've put my PC-based PIAF box off-line and am using it essentially as a code-generator. I create trunks, extensions and other things on the PIAF machine, examine the sip-whatever.conf and extensions-whatever.conf files that are created, and learn/cut/paste those elements into my Dockstar (which doesn't have FreePBX, and btw, runs on Debian).

I'm "brg" on DSLR.

 

[mbellot]

You'll like the BBB! I have friend who has one and I have tinkered with it.

Have you tried PIAF on the BBB? How about on the RasPi?

I ran off a Pi for a couple weeks (emergency use, my main PC went down). I liked the small footprint and low power usage, but the web UI was downright painful.

I'm wondering if the BBB has enough additional power to make using FreePBX/PIAF tolerable for maintenance...

 

[tycho]

I have no experience with the RasPi, but my friend with the BBB installed PIAF on it and it works fine as an applicance.

Web UI -- depends on what you are comparing it to. I had FreePBX and Asterisk on a Dockstar for a while and updating anything was painful. The BBB is faster, but of course nothing like a dedicated PC for speed and fluidity. It depends on how much you choose to tinker. I tinker a lot so that's why I ultimately dumped the FPBX/Asterisk off my Dockstar. I use it only with Asterisk alone (it's quite fast that way). PIAF is on an older 3MHz P4 PC.

If you are =constantly= making config edits/changes, I expect BBB would be a drag. If you get things to where you want and leave it alone after that, tinkering only infrequently, it would be fine.

 

[wardmundy]

Compared to a Raspberry Pi, the BBB is a rocket ship. You'll barely notice a difference using FreePBX on the BBB compared with a single core Atom-based PC.

 

[mbellot]

I have no experience with the RasPi, but my friend with the BBB installed PIAF on it and it works fine as an applicance.

Web UI -- depends on what you are comparing it to. I had FreePBX and Asterisk on a Dockstar for a while and updating anything was painful. The BBB is faster, but of course nothing like a dedicated PC for speed and fluidity. It depends on how much you choose to tinker. I tinker a lot so that's why I ultimately dumped the FPBX/Asterisk off my Dockstar. I use it only with Asterisk alone (it's quite fast that way). PIAF is on an older 3MHz P4 PC.

If you are =constantly= making config edits/changes, I expect BBB would be a drag. If you get things to where you want and leave it alone after that, tinkering only infrequently, it would be fine.

I typically make a couple edits (incoming routes) per day to thwart the scumbag telemarketers. Pull a CDR log, see who stayed on long enough to trigger the answering machine but not long enough to leave a message, then Google the number and if I get a positive telemarketer the number gets added to be Lenny list.

I know I would probably have to give up Lenny if I went to the BBB, but it might be worth it...

Compared to a Raspberry Pi, the BBB is a rocket ship. You'll barely notice a difference using FreePBX on the BBB compared with a single core Atom-based PC.

Thanks for the comparison Ward! I'm currently running on a USFF Dell 760 (Dual Core E5300 @ 2.6GHz) with 2GB DRAM. Overkill for sure for a home setup, but for $70 it was an easy choice to replace the Pi. I've had a couple outages with it because the rat dog bumps the power cord loose, that's why I'm looking into something much smaller and solid state again.

 

[tycho]

I typically make a couple edits (incoming routes) per day to thwart the scumbag telemarketers. Pull a CDR log, see who stayed on long enough to trigger the answering machine but not long enough to leave a message, then Google the number and if I get a positive telemarketer the number gets added to be Lenny list.

I know I would probably have to give up Lenny if I went to the BBB, but it might be worth it...

From what you've described a BBB should work swimingly for you.

I've never implemented forwarding to Lenny, and don't know enough about how to do so, but off hand I don't see why you couldn't still do so with a BBB...

 

[mbellot]

From what you've described a BBB should work swimingly for you.

I've never implemented forwarding to Lenny, and don't know enough about how to do so, but off hand I don't see why you couldn't still do so with a BBB...

Storage would be the obvious problem, but then again with the new 4GB model maybe not... Push comes to shove I just rework my incoming routes for telemarketers from Lenny to ring forever. Anything to keep them on the line longer.

I guess I need to keep my eyes open for a BBB now.

 

[nunya]

Next to a beer cap for size comparison. I'm waiting for the Mrs. to find one of her old phones so I can have the SD card.

 

[Jay Deal]

I'm waiting for the Mrs. to find one of her old phones so I can have the SD card.

Do yourself a favor and get a class 10 UHS-1 card like this http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-Adapter-MB-MP16DA-AM/dp/B00IVPU7KE/ref=pd_cp_e_2 before you get real attached to a particular load. The difference in response between a fast card like this and an old class 4 or 6 is very noticeable. Plus in the beginning when you make mistakes and have to reload the image (well at least I had to), the write speed is about 50% faster allowing you to get back to booting up quicker.

 

[wardmundy]

And the 32GB flavor is under $20 with free Prime shipping, about $6 more.

 

[nunya]

I just used the card to load the image to the onboard flash.
I've hit a new glitch, and it's name is exim. I've never dealt with it before. I followed the directions, but I cannot get it to send mail for anything. It looks like it's going to be the battle royal. DNS is working. It's hitting my mail server, but get rejected. I'm thinking maybe it's an SSL issue. It's quite clear from the log that my mail server is rejecting anything that comes from exim.
I may try my ISPs server tonight if I can stay awake.

 

[nunya]

1 cup of joe and 1 ISP mail relay, and I'm in business!
I'm not sure why my mail server hated it, but life is too short to putz around with it. My ISP's works fine.

 

[jeff.h]

I am looking at picking up a BBB Rev C and have never worked with one of these or a RasPI. I've already got some 5v 2A power supplies laying around from my Yealink phones. Do I need anything else? Does the mini HDMI work directly with an HDMI monitor? Do I even need it? Can I just SSH and use CLI for everything to get Incredible running? Do I need a local terminal?

 

[Jay Deal]

Re the PS, make sure the connector on the PS is 5.5mm OD and 2.1mm ID and you should be good to go. Get a micro-HDMI to HDMI convertor at amazon to have on hand for first boot and initial setup, you can SSH after that.

 

[nunya]

HDMI is not necessary. You can do everything through terminal. I use an old Linksys power supply. It's nice to recycle old stuff whenever possible.