Anyone still using mISDN for OpenBSC / OsmoBSC / OsmoMGW ?
Dear Osmocom users, the Linux kernel developers are considering to remove mISDN from the kernel, as can be seen in posts like https://marc.info/?l=linux-netdev&m=163636911918302&w=2 They are aware that Osmocom still supports mISDN, but it would of course be interesting if anyone is actually still using this approach. I've switched to DAHDI a long time ago (4- and 8-port cards for PCIe available) and only used mISDN very early on with the HFC-E1 in the 2008-2011 timeframe. These days, I'm using both DAHDI and icE1usb. IMHO, mISDN based interface cards are becomming less and less attractive, as the chips only support parallel PCI bus and I've never seen cards with more than two ports. So the point of this post is to find out if anyone still is using [or planning to use] mISDN. If so, please let me, netdev + Anrd Bergmann know about it. Basically it is kind of a "speak now or forever hold your peace" kind of moment, as mISDN would then likely be phased out from mainline Linux. Even in that case I think libosmo-abis should keep mISDN support, as there will be Linux systems on older kernels for many years to come, and the mISDN support doesn't hurt the rest of our code base in any way. Regards, Harald -- - Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/ ============================================================================ "Privacy in residential applications is a desirable marketing option." (ETSI EN 300 175-7 Ch. A6)
Hi Harald, I don't see why mISDN should be removed from Kernel. Beside talking to TDM based GSM equipment, it can be used to connect ISDN phones and gateways to make regular phone calls. I use 'osmo-cc-misdn-endpoint' in conjunction with 'osmo-cc-sip-endpoint' as a new gateway application to replace LCR. (https://osmocom.org/projects/osmo-cc) And there are other users that have some kind of gateway setup to interconnect their ISDN equipment to SIP. Some of them use LCR, a few others use osmo-cc-*-endpoints. If there is trouble with current kernel API, I would help to fix it. Feel free to forward my opinion to netdev and Arndt Bergmann. Best regards, Andreas Harald Welte wrote:
IMHO, mISDN based interface cards are becomming less and less attractive, as the chips only support parallel PCI bus and I've never seen cards with more than two ports.
So the point of this post is to find out if anyone still is using [or planning to use] mISDN. If so, please let me, netdev + Anrd Bergmann know about it.
Basically it is kind of a "speak now or forever hold your peace" kind of moment, as mISDN would then likely be phased out from mainline Linux.
Even in that case I think libosmo-abis should keep mISDN support, as there will be Linux systems on older kernels for many years to come, and the mISDN support doesn't hurt the rest of our code base in any way.
Hi Andreas, I think it is best if you wold reach out to netdev and/or Arndt Bergmann yourself. I think the main problem they are trying to solve is that nboody seems to be maintaining mISDN anymore. If I remember correctly it was stated that Karsten Keil is not acive anymore, for example. If there still are users out there, it should be brought to the attention of netdev folks. Regards, Harald On Wed, Nov 10, 2021 at 07:11:46AM +0100, Andreas Eversberg wrote:
Hi Harald,
I don't see why mISDN should be removed from Kernel. Beside talking to TDM based GSM equipment, it can be used to connect ISDN phones and gateways to make regular phone calls.
I use 'osmo-cc-misdn-endpoint' in conjunction with 'osmo-cc-sip-endpoint' as a new gateway application to replace LCR. (https://osmocom.org/projects/osmo-cc) And there are other users that have some kind of gateway setup to interconnect their ISDN equipment to SIP. Some of them use LCR, a few others use osmo-cc-*-endpoints.
If there is trouble with current kernel API, I would help to fix it. Feel free to forward my opinion to netdev and Arndt Bergmann.
Best regards,
Andreas
Harald Welte wrote:
IMHO, mISDN based interface cards are becomming less and less attractive, as the chips only support parallel PCI bus and I've never seen cards with more than two ports.
So the point of this post is to find out if anyone still is using [or planning to use] mISDN. If so, please let me, netdev + Anrd Bergmann know about it.
Basically it is kind of a "speak now or forever hold your peace" kind of moment, as mISDN would then likely be phased out from mainline Linux.
Even in that case I think libosmo-abis should keep mISDN support, as there will be Linux systems on older kernels for many years to come, and the mISDN support doesn't hurt the rest of our code base in any way.
-- - Harald Welte <laforge@osmocom.org> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/ ============================================================================ "Privacy in residential applications is a desirable marketing option." (ETSI EN 300 175-7 Ch. A6)
participants (3)
-
Andreas Eversberg -
Harald Welte -
Harald Welte