I fixed the incomming calls issue in asterisk - for whatever reason
it didn't like the pattern matching switchpi uses by default.

Fixed by simply adding:

    exten = s,1,Goto(default,[internal ext],1)

... in the appropriate context.

I also went and did the fun task of tracing which phone port maps to
which pair in the box outside, and wired up the entire thing to the
phone house wiring.

This means that the payphone no longer needs to live next to the
pi board, which also means that the pi doesn't have to use wifi,
which is nice.

I was originally slightly worried about the house long loop would
be too much of a current draw for the pi, but the ring booster i got
also fixes that problem, which is also nice!

So, now if you dial SDF's voip system (+1 206-299-2120) and 
use ext. 2067 you will reach the payphone in my living room!

This morning I also had a bit of a chat with xwindows (no, not the 
software, but the person on ~tilde) who kindly did the math for why
my homebrew cobbled-togeather ring booster didn't work, and it seems
his numbers support my theory that my transistors were too puny for the
task. He kindly provided this handy little list of generally useful 
transistors to always have around in the junk drawer:

	* 2N3904/2N3906 for digital switching.
	* BC548/BC558 for modest-current generic analog amplifying.
	* BD139/BD140 for low-end of power lifting.

I had the 2N* series (and S* series, I had used an S9018) but none of the
BC/BD's around - so it might be a wise thing to stock up on for next time!

( 
  You should also check out his wonderful art 
  on his gopherspace!! 
  gopher://tilde.club/1/~xwindows/ 
)