How to configure Ekiga to connect to Asterisk on Ubuntu Desktop

In my previous article I used X-Lite 4 to connect to Asterisk. One of my commenter asked me to help installing X-Lite on Ubuntu. I started to investigate the problem, and I faced with an interesting problem: the X-Lite installer available on Macintosh and Windows platforms only. So I useed Ekiga Softphone on Linux systems. If you interested in a step by step guide for Ekiga installation and configuration with Asterisk, then press More below.

There are two way available at least, to install software on the Ubuntu Desktop; you can use the command line, or the GUI.  At the command line type this:

apt-get install ekiga

On the GUI run the Ubuntu Software Center under Application menu.

Than search for Ekiga, at the right top part of the window.

Click on Ekiga Softphone, then press Install button.

You need to provide the superuser password for install it.

During the installation you should see the following progress bar.

If the installation progress finish, a green pipe will be appear on the Ekiga icon.

Let’s run it, you can find it under the Application | Internet menu.

Before the firs use, we must to configure the program, so the Ekiga Configuration Assistant will be start automatically. On the first page press Forward.

The second page goes to the Personal Information, type your name.

The third page goes to the Ekiga.net Account. We don’t need to configure, because we connect only to the Asterisk.

The fourth page goes to the Ekiga Call Out Account. We don’t need this service, because we connect to the Asterisk.

The fifth page asks our connection type.

The sixth page goes to the Audio Devices.

The seventh page goes to the Video device section.

The eighth page goes to the summary page, press Apply.

After the Configuration Assistant finished, the Ekiga will appear.

Let’s configure our Asterisk connection. Go to Edit menu, and choose Accounts, or press Ctrl+E.

In the Accounts go to Accounts menu, and choose Add a SIP Account.

Provide the user data, that configure on the Asterisk side, and press OK.

When all data is correct, you can read information about the registration on the bottom line.

Let’s call User One from Ekiga. The following picture shows the established call between User One and User Two.

And last but not least the troubleshooting.

The Asterisk has a helpful feature, the CLI, that can show our mistakes or successful connection.

That’s all Folks!