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Thanks for the information!
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I need to install Asterisk open source software onto a PC for testing purposes. &nbsp;I downloaded a recent version of asterisk and it comes in a tar.gz file. &nbsp;I also read the following paragraph from a website that is supposedly giving instructions on how to set Asterisk up. &nbsp;It says:<br />
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&quot;Asterisk requires a system running with kernel 2.6 and the header files must be present to compile asterisk on our system. Asterisk is written in c; we require gcc with the supporting libs such as termcap, and openssl. Asterisk add-ons require the mysql header files so please install mysql lib, mysql client and the headers to compile asterisk-addons.&quot;<br />
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A &quot;system running with kernel 2.6&quot; is required, so I assume I can't install Asterisk on a Windows based machine. &nbsp;Is Kernel 2.6 some sort of operating system? &nbsp;Or some sort of Linux distribution? &nbsp;Also, is a tar.gz file just another sort of compressed (zipped) file structure?<br />
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Thanks
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I need to install Asterisk open source software onto a PC for testing purposes.  I downloaded a recent version of asterisk and it comes in a tar.gz file.  I also read the following paragraph from a website that is supposedly giving instructions on how to set Asterisk up.  It says:

"Asterisk requires a system running with kernel 2.6 and the header files must be present to compile asterisk on our system. Asterisk is written in c; we require gcc with the supporting libs such as termcap, and openssl. Asterisk add-ons require the mysql header files so please install mysql lib, mysql client and the headers to compile asterisk-addons."

A "system running with kernel 2.6" is required, so I assume I can't install Asterisk on a Windows based machine.  Is Kernel 2.6 some sort of operating system?  Or some sort of Linux distribution?  Also, is a tar.gz file just another sort of compressed (zipped) file structure?

Thanks

Asterisk PBX server questions

Linux is a UNIX-like open source operating system with hundreds of distinct distributions, including: Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, Gentoo, CentOS, and Arch Linux. Linux is generally associated with web and database servers, but has become popular in many niche industries and applications.

Linux

Voice over IP (VoIP) is a methodology and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. Other terms commonly associated with VoIP are IP telephony, Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service. The term specifically refers to the provisioning of communications services (voice, fax, SMS, voice-messaging) over the public Internet, rather than via the public switched telephone network (PSTN).  Examples of the VoIP protocols are H.323, Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), H.248 (also known as Media Gateway Control (Megaco)), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP), Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), Session Description Protocol (SDP), and Inter-Asterisk eXchange (IAX).

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IP telephony (Internet Protocol telephony) is a general term for the technologies that use the Internet Protocol's packet-switched connections to exchange voice, fax, and other forms of information that have traditionally been carried over the dedicated circuit-switched connections of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Using the Internet, calls travel as packets of data on shared lines, avoiding the tolls of the PSTN. The challenge in IP telephony is to deliver the voice, fax, or video packets in a dependable flow to the user.