[TriLUG] DirecPC and VoIP (Kinda OT)

[Brian McCullough]

On Tue, Aug 03, 2004 at 11:39:12AM -0400, Tarus Balog wrote:
> 
> On Aug 3, 2004, at 11:04 AM, Aaron Caudle wrote:
> 
> >Background:
> >I installed a VoIP phone down in Haiti last October and was  
> >successfull in getting it running.  It connects back to a gateway in  
> >Asheville at the company I work for.  Its connected by a Huges  
> >Satellite connection (DirecPC).  The satellite has a built in gateway  
> 
> I was a DirecPC sufferer for three years, so mebbe I can help.

I used it reasonably successfully for four or five years, until I got
DSL.


> When I used DirecPC, you had to have a Windows box running the DirecPC  
> software. In other words, the satellite had coax that ran to the  
> "modem", and the "modem" connected to the Windows box via USB.

I come from an earlier incarnation of DirecPC, when there was a card in
the PC, with a 75-ohm coax connector, which connected directly to the
dish hardware.  This was the version that used a dial-up "uplink".  I
ran that version from a Linux box, using software provided by the Hughes
/ Caldera people in Utah.

I'm not sure that my experience would help any, since I'm sure that you
aren't trying to use dial-up for one direction.  I did find, however,
that if you managed to penetrate the first ring or two of Tech. Support
you will find people who actually know what they are talking about.

I suspect that to properly do diagnostics, you are going to have to be
"behind" one of the DirecPC systems.  Do you have a system "locally"
that you could use to determine where the "filter" might be, rather than
actually doing a road trip?

I have recently been noticing some port blockages that I haven't in the
past, including those related to VOIP.


Brian