Raspberry Pi as a PBX and a Miner.

 

Hello and thank you for your attention once again. I'm Toll a proficient technology advocate. I enjoy calculating how to use different devices in diverse ways. Today I will discuss various ways to use a Raspberry Pi which is a tiny and affordable computer.

A few years back I was introduced to the Raspberry Pi by a friend on IRC. He sent me a picture of this tiny computer board, and told me that he had been mining various cryptocurrencies with it. I was immediately interested and ordered a Pi for myself to become more familiar with. I used the Pi with Gridseeds to mine a few different cryptocurrencies like PPC, BTC, and LTC but this was only temporary. I had a few Antminers going already so I decided to find another application for my new Raspberry Pi.

Being that I am end to end Solutions Architect for a telecom provider I have great access to carrier grade hardware along with end user costumer accounts. My role is as it sounds, I solve problematic opportunities all the way from D/C power to splicing fiber to Junos configuration. I decided to see if I could find another application for the Pi trying to integrate it into my network and I certainly did...

I solve and offer enterprise/business class VoIP services(to name one), so I decided to see if I could run my PBX software across the Pi. It took a bit of time to finally load the software but the Pi took it and seemed to reboot just fine(except for the password issue).

I assign the address, I add the number, add the inbound and outbound routes, add the ring groups, add the IVR, add the extensions, basically finish my configuration making the Pi compatible with a few Polycom IP phones. Well, it works like a charm! As long as the network latency isn't over 150ms then voice services are achievable even over a little cost effective computer. I essentially turned a tiny computer into a phone server.

I added about 10 Raspberry Pi to our network at medium sized medical offices with less than 10 extensions. Each Pi worked well(with a few ticks) for about 18 to 24 months. Then they started crapping out one by one. I then replaced them with a cloud based solution, but I did really enjoy finding other applications for these cool little computers we call Raspberry Pi...

*Cases are from Etsy and they are more than the Pi itself!