Linux: Why Windows Dominates Desktops <Rant> <Rave>

The right tool for the right job: Windows for desktops, *nix for servers. I'm sure some *nix fanboys would disagree, but let's face it, despite the world-wide contempt for the behemoth that is Microsoft - its questionable business ethics and abuse of monopoly - Linux is never going to get a foothold in the desktop-of-choice market unless things work "out-of-the-box".

Here's an example: I'd consider myself fairly tech savvy - I code in multiple languages across multiple platforms. I've tried OpenBSD and NetBSD - my preference is still FreeBSD; tried various flavours of Linux - SUSE was sh*t (never got past the installer: it switched off the VGA card) and RedHat wasn't bad.

Bombarded with even more telejunk calls than ever, I recently decided to purchase an Asterisk PBX system from Digium. I ordered my TDM11B (a TDM400P, 1 FXS Module and 1 FXO Module) on a Sunday afternoon, Digium shipped it the next day and I received it the morning after that - very impressive! My only gripe: the FXS module required a spare 12v power cable, which didn't reach across without considerable effort/re-jigging. I put my concerns into email and 7 hours later, Digium CS acknowledged my suggestion of including one in their retail starter packs. Perhaps I've become desensitised to bad ecommerce customer service over the years - my last internet purchase before this one was from geeks.com and it took them 3 days to ship my order, plus another 2 weeks to receive it via the USPS (without any tracking numbers to check the progress). The online "purchase" before that was this sorry episode over a year ago. So, all in all, Digium exceeded my expectations. Anyway, I digress...

Although Asterisk is supposed to work on multiple *nix platforms, it's officially supported on Linux. So, I downloaded and burned the 5 Fedora C6 ISO's from Red Hat. Attempted a full install on a spare hobby server (IBM PL300, 600MHz P3, 128MB RAM, 10GB HD). Installer craps out halfway through with kryptic error messages. Tried again with a minimal install (no X windows). Success. Fedora Core 6 does not recognise my TDM400P at boot up. So then I download and burn ASTLinux. It works, but is so bare bones, I can't do anything like download and compile Pico/Nano. So I download and burn the AsteriskNOW LiveCD ISO from Digium. Boots up fine - recognises my TDM400P, but PC locks up when it gets to the main menu. So I download and burn the AsteriskNOW installation disc. 8 CD's later, it figures that the last thing I try works 100%! Some custom Linux distro called "rPath Linux". I have Asterisk up and running within 20 mins of using the config web interface.

I have an idea about how to expand the functionality. Actually, someone else had the idea before me, hence a successful search on Google for "Asterisk talking caller ID". I download and install Festival, an open source text-to-speech engine. Doesn't work, but doesn't give me any error messages - just no audio. Should've realised that audio support, despite using relatively old hardware, would be a challenge.

The rPath kernel recognises both the onboard (ESS Maestro3) and SB Live (PCI) soundcards, but there's no /dev/dsp or /dev/audio or anything that remotely looks like a sound device. So I waste a whole day (no exaggeration) visiting the ALSA website, downloading and trying to install the drivers for the Maestro3 and SB Live (AKA emu10k/emu10k1) cards. Running "./configure" works; running "make clean" appears to work; running "make install" returns dumb error messages, such as "cp: cannot stat `snd-page-alloc.ko': No such file or directory". Seems like ALSA is the only source for Linux audio drivers, yet their bull$hit configure script doesn't "make" the .ko files needed to copy to the modules directory. I can't even RPM them in, as rPath doesn't support that package manager.

Well, at least my Asterisk is working - just need to work on the config to send telejunkers to the "Torture Menus". Googling around, it appears that Asterisk works on FreeBSD, but now that I've finally got it working, I don't want to change back to FreeBSD - besides, the support appears to better for Asterisk on the Linux platform.