Just a couple stupid questions...

[thatcrazyperson123]

Hey, I'm new here (if you haven't noticed).  I understand how to set up a Linux MCE whole-house system, I just have some questions.
1. For the phone system, I have an analog POTS line direct into my house.  To integrate this into the Linux MCE system would I need an FXO card? Is it even possible?
2. We are getting the heating redone.  I want Z-wave, X10, or any other Linux MCE controllable thermostats, but I want ones that don't cost too much (and don't point me in the direction of setback controllers!), but if you have any suggestions that would be totally awesome.
Thanks!

[bulek]

Hey, I'm new here (if you haven't noticed).  I understand how to set up a Linux MCE whole-house system, I just have some questions.
1. For the phone system, I have an analog POTS line direct into my house.  To integrate this into the Linux MCE system would I need an FXO card? Is it even possible?
...
Thanks!

One option is FXO card, another interesting is using Sipura standalone SIP FXO/FXS/SIP gateways... You can use them on other setups quite easily... I use 3000 and 3102...

HTH,

regards,

Bulek.

[Marie.O]

Hey, I'm new here (if you haven't noticed).  I understand how to set up a Linux MCE whole-house system, I just have some questions.
1. For the phone system, I have an analog POTS line direct into my house.  To integrate this into the Linux MCE system would I need an FXO card? Is it even possible?

as bulek pointed out, either a plugged in card, or IMHO a better solution, an external box. The external box does not have any interrupt problems, no driver problems.

2. We are getting the heating redone.  I want Z-wave, X10, or any other Linux MCE controllable thermostats, but I want ones that don't cost too much (and don't point me in the direction of setback controllers!), but if you have any suggestions that would be totally awesome.

It would help, if you detailed where you are living, and what kind of a/c or heating system you have.

rgds
Oliver

[tschak909]

Honestly, I don't see why you don't just go VOIP in the first place. Cheaper in the long run by a long shot. And certainly easier to configure with this system.

-Thom

[skeptic]

Is there a list of compatible voip services?  Can you keep your same phone number (in the US)?  And is there a way to use your existing phones/fax machine if you go to voip?  I'm sure these are answered elsewhere, but whenever I search I end up going in loops and just get all confused.  Too many new terms for me to follow.

[tschak909]

There are a number of services that we have built into the setup wizard. I use Broadvoice. and Yes, broadvoice supports all the things you're asking. Very good price, and excellent service.

-Thom

[skeptic]

There are a number of services that we have built into the setup wizard. I use Broadvoice. and Yes, broadvoice supports all the things you're asking. Very good price, and excellent service.

-Thom

Cool, I'll check into Broadvoice.  Is there a way to get a list of the services with built-in support?  If there isn't a list somewhere, I'm guessing it's possible to go into setup as if I already have service and see the options there?

[tschak909]

Yes, if you go into the setup wizard into the phone section, you'll see buttons for the services we support natively. If you go into the web admin, and set up phone lines, you'll see a pull down to select a service, there too.

-Thom

[colinjones]

Skeptic - be aware that if your core has a private external IP address, eg 192.168.x.y or 10.x.y.z, in other words it isn't directly on the Internet, then getting SIP to work for VoIP is a bit of a bitch unless you know what you are doing!

Let me know if you want help with that. In the meantime, I am going to see if I can find a logical place for a wiki page on this and add it in. Will post back here with the link once written.

[thatcrazyperson123]

It would help, if you detailed where you are living, and what kind of a/c or heating system you have.

rgds
Oliver

Thanks everybody who has posted so far !
I'm living in the U.S., and I have electric central heating.  As for A/Cs, we have individual ones in every room, and I figure that would be pretty hard to integrate into Linux MCE...

[tschak909]

Not really, we can control pretty much anything, we just need to know what you HAVE climate-wise. Can you describe it for us?

-Thom

[thatcrazyperson123]

Not really, we can control pretty much anything, we just need to know what you HAVE climate-wise. Can you describe it for us?

-Thom

The thing is I'm getting a new heating system, thermostats and all, because our old one is very... inefficient.  I'd just like to get some opinions as for what would be the most cost-efficient and usable with Linux MCE.  As for the air conditioners, some of the rooms have newer remote controllable frigidaires, while some have air conditioners with knobs to control them  ...

Thanks in advance for everything

[tschak909]

I would suggest looking at a Z-Wave thermostat.

-Thom

[skeptic]

Skeptic - be aware that if your core has a private external IP address, eg 192.168.x.y or 10.x.y.z, in other words it isn't directly on the Internet, then getting SIP to work for VoIP is a bit of a bitch unless you know what you are doing!

Let me know if you want help with that. In the meantime, I am going to see if I can find a logical place for a wiki page on this and add it in. Will post back here with the link once written.

I don't know what the issues are, here is my setup:

After I switched ISPs I had to switch from the unrecommended 1 NIC, static Internet IP setup to the more typical recommended 2 NIC, NAT dynamic IP setup.  I am using dynamic dns so my domain name always resolves correctly (for my e-mail/dns servers) if that helps.  I also seem to have a lease time of at least a day, if not much much longer.  I haven't really looked into it, but I haven't seen any problems associated with stupid short lease times such as 6 minutes that I've heard about.

If the issue is that of port forwarding, not changing IP, that shouldn't be a problem either.  I have full control over my router, and I'm familiar with port forwarding which I already do.  My core has a static 192.168.1.x IP so no worries about the port forwarding getting messed up from the core IP changing.

My main motivation is to dump the $45 a month POTS line and replace it with a sub-$20/month VIOP, so I'm not in a huge rush.   Integration into LinuxMCE is just a nice side benefit.  I can wait for the wiki, then be happy to guinea pig it for you.

[colinjones]

skeptic - I need to do a bit more research to remember how I did it! So I will just outline the issues and the general approach I took to fixing them

There are 2 basic protocols involved, one is SIP itself and the other is the real time media protocol that actually carries the voice traffic.

Getting SIP working is relatively easy (although having a dynamic address may cause a few stability issues - theoretically Asterisk can handle it by using the DNS name and dynamic DNS like you described, but I haven't tried it so I don't know how successful it is) Essentially you just need to port forward in the way you would expect.

The voice traffic is the hard bit, because SIP is only used to initiate the session and signal. The voice session is not fixed to well-known ports on either end. There is an Asterisk config file somewhere that defines the port range used, and the recommended range is 10000-20000 (wow!) The way I set it up is to forward all those ports to the core and it worked straight away. It feels uncomfortable, but it is certainly true what someone said on a board somewhere, that if someone is port scanning you, they will scan all the ports so opening 10000 ports isn't really any more exposed than just one. They can't attack the external LAN as long as your router has antispoofing (pretty much most do I think)

I also created a core input rule to cover those ports, but I don't know if that is actually necessary. There is also an Asterisk config file option somewhere that tells it to tell the peer to discover the IP address itself, but embed the internal IP address in the SIP message - i think that option is needed as well.