Good to see your project moving along steadily.

Cheers,

David

[I edited slightly your comment above in order to fix the closing HTML tag around the word "link"]

Once more, thanks a lot! This is a valuable contribution. After studying a bit the channel driver code at the link above, it seems to me that it could be very easily adapted to my board. It seems also that I could open the device file and initialize my board from userspace. Thus, I think I now have all the required tools to set out the Linux port.

David, I owe a million thanks (as usual ),

-Angelos

Cheers,

David

Thanks a lot for volunteering to help. It is great to meet people who are willing to contribute in any way to an open-source project like openusbfxs!

Please, let me first spare a few words on the project’s current state. Since June, I have made little progress, mainly due to the fact that we now have our second baby to take care of (trust me on this, a baby eats up all of the time that one could afford to a “pet-project” like openusbfxs — double that, if it’s your second child!).

As far as hardware is concerned, I have one working prototype that I am experimenting with, plus a second one that doesn’t quite work and needs debugging and fixing (but I have no time at all to debug or fix that myself). I also have ready PC boards and materials for two more prototypes (but no time at all to assemble and test them).

As far as the board’s firmware is concerned, there is still some work to be done. Mainly, I think that the best way to proceed there is to off-load some functions from the PC onto the board (for example, checking for on/off-hook status, DTMF input, etc.) and to pack the communication for these functions along with the PCM audio data on the USB isochronous stream. Thus, the PC will not have to poll asynchronously the board for such events. Another direction would be to develop an audio-class USB device, but I am quite convinced that this is not truly needed.

The main body of effort that is needed is in the area of software (read: Linux device drivers). Lately, I have peeked into the DAHDI drivers (this is what Zaptel is called nowadays). Halas, it seems that the only way I could make sense of the code in there would be to lock myself in my cellar for weeks and study fiercely in complete isolation. And that’s something that I am unlikely to find the time to do for the next few weeks — or even months. The idea is to duplicate the driver for a TDM-based board that uses the 3210 and substitute the PCI communication with USB. It shouldn’t be impossible, but, as I said, it requires exploring and understanding the existing code.

Bottom line: I am welcoming warmly any effort that could run in parallel with my own (more-or-less quiescent-state-) efforts. Which means, if you can and want to contribute in any way to the project in its current, early-stage state, please let me know. If, on the other hand, final-stage mass production sounds more like what you have in mind, I would say that this would have to wait until the project gets to a more mature state.

Cheers,

-Angelos

Thanks for dropping by and for your interest in the project.

My understanding about the potential real-life value of this project is exactly in applications like the one you are mentioning. However, in its current state, the project is just an experiment progressing at a slow pace. While showing some encouraging signs, there is lots to be done yet in order to make the thing work as intended. The MS VC project(s — now there’s two of them) files that you saw on the Google code site are just for a test driver program, which tests connectivity, sets up values for the various registers of the chips, rings the phone set and outputs an audio file. Still not quite what you had in mind, is it?

The roadmap of the project is to produce an Asterisk-compatible driver for the board (of course, to be run on Linux boxes), which sounds more like what you need. However, as of today, it is hard to tell how far ahead this target is. By all means, the project’s goal looks doable; however, I tend to get stuck into various details (like bad audio quality, which is what I am currently trying to resolve) for long periods of time — especially keeping in mind that Open USB FXS is not at all my primary occupation. Eventually, bugs seem to get resolved in a way or another, and I am confident that this will be the case with my current issues as well. My next step, btw, is to try out the same userspace “driver” program under Linux, to see if I can get any better audio performance.

So, to answer your questions: hang on, Linux is on the way, and yes, Linux will be the final project’s platform. Let’s say that in a way it’s just a matter of time .

Cheers,

-Angelos

I’m really interested in this project as it will help me to roll out inexpensive IP Telephony solutions in under-privileged communities in South Africa.

I have one important question though, will this device work in a linux box?. I have downloaded the project files and it seems to be MS VC project. I don’t think I will be able to help with the project in any way, but I will buy a lot of of them if they can work in a linux box and Asterisk without too much trouble.

Please let me know on which platforms I can use it.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Cheers,

Denver