Asterisk/astguiclient install from scratch. v.2.0.4

                 This document is meant to be a very in-depth step-by-step explanation of installing the Asterisk open-source PBX on a Linux system and also installing the astGUIclient suite. The instructions will assume starting from nothing and will try to give several side step instructions to account for some differences in choices of hardware and software.

The actual installation that I am doing as I write these instructions will be on the following hardware:

- Pentium 3 500MHz
- Intel motherboard D815BN
- 256MB PC133 RAM
- 80GB IBM deskstar 7200RPM Hard Drive
- Digium Wildcard Single Span T1 Card T100P
- 2U rackmount case with 250W power supply
- Phone hardware will be a Grandstream BT102 and a Sipura SPA-2000 because they are so cheap and readily available

All of these parts, aside from the Digium card and the two SIP VOIP devices, were purchased from ebay and the entire package(with the two VOIP devices and  all server hardware included) cost me about $1100 to put together including the
phones and Digium adapter.

We have many other Asterisk servers at our main office, but this one can be experimented with easily because it was so cheap to make and has a relatively small capacity when compared with a multi-processor server with a quad span T1
card.

This is our test Asterisk server and functions well for a dozen or so extensions in use if it were to be used in production. A size that is optimal for many small offices operating with a fractional data/voice T1 for instance.

For hardware you can use almost any Pentium-class processor(PII, PIII, Athlon, Xeon, etc), and you can use any digium telco interface card. Both of these choices will determine what the capacity of your Asterisk server will be. If you want to do simple IVR or conference calling and a few extensions, then a PIII with a single Digium T1 card will work just fine for you. If you want to use the VICIDIAL application, you will want to get as high-powered of a machine as you  can afford and get a digium quad-span T1 card.

The following is assumed for these installation procedures:
- You have access to a CD burner and 3 blank CDs
- You have some sort of broadband internet connection
- You understand basic linux commands and can use a file editor like vi
- You have all of the necessary hardware:
- a pentium-class computer
- a digium telco interface card with appropriate telco lines
- at least 1 SIP VOIP device
- a Local Area Network(LAN) with extra ports enough for the new server  and the number of phones you want