Paul Tansom paul@aptanet.com wrote:
Has anyone tried these USB sound cards? For decent quality and a known brand I like the idea of the Lindy units, but they are much more expensive (that said they have a 2 year warranty and a mute button) and I haven't managed to confirm Linux compatibility. The cheap ones seem likely to work with Linux....
I haven't tried the USB sound cards but the USB variety of plantonics headsets work very well on linux and appear as a separate sound device.
That said given that our whole office phonesystem is now VOIP/asterisk based and despite trying I have yet to find a fully pleasing VOIP softphone for Linux or windows I have given up on softphones for all but emergency use and now have a "proper" desk SIP phone both at my office desk and another extension at my home study, I have fairly expensive (£90) Aastra sip phones which are nothing less than excellent but I hear that the cheaper Grandstream or linksys units are more than workable.
For me my primary interface to my clients is still via phone and I need it to work perfectly and I found that a softphone was no substitute for a "real" phone on my desk..YMMV of course