NX, Skype and Asterisk

I was using Skype a lot when I was travelling during April and May. I found it very useful when I was in a random airport, being able to find a hotspot and call whoever. I’ve been thinking hard how I can integrate voip solution in my companies infrastructure for a long time. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance, yet, to play around with Asterisk to understand it better.

One of the problems I’ve been thinking about is how to get thin client technology (NX/LTSP) to work with a headset arrangement if I put Skype on certain desktops. I haven’t yet move to NX, but its my next big project. Finaling moving from Win2K to Kubuntu.

I was googling at options today, and came to the realisation that my best option is not to put phones on the screen but on the desktop. Look at integrating my standard phone network into Asterisk. Then find some other ways to get some of the nice features of Skype, ie. SkypeIn.

Things like FWD and IAX will probably do the job.

I’d still like keep the option of Skype when I’m travelling. Its very useful tool. But say with kphone and openvpn or just something like FWD direct I can do the same thing.

2 Comments

  1. Mohsen Pahlevanzadeh Said,

    July 16, 2005 @ 7:03 pm

    Dear,
    Unfortunetly i can’t work with Skype in LTSP client.
    Please guide me,,,,,,,,,

  2. Nicholas Lee Said,

    July 17, 2005 @ 10:12 am

    I don’t think its really possible. Although clients like NX can forward sound back to the client, I’m not 100% sure they can forward sound from the client to the server. Second problem is network load cause by this audio traffic.

    I think the best solution is to run Skype on the client some how. Certainly might not work if you are using PXES. In case I’d be keen to know what solutions you come up with.

    Personally, at the moment I’m running NX on WinXP IBM R40 as I test various thin client setups. With the space I’ve saved using a LCD monitor I’ve got a Macmini next to my laptop running my skype client. Its all dev work which with obviously be different once I nail down the best setup for my office. As I said above, I’ll be using desktop phones with asterisk, maybe someone will put together a skype to asterisk gateway. Otherwise I suspect I’ll start using some other voip client for the various laptops I look after.

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