Hi
I'm retooling an old PC for a couple of purposes. I will be using it to learn Linux and more specifically as a first project, set it up to run a PBX using soft phones and one ATA adapter. In addition, I want to run camera surveillance on it.
My initial research suggested using FreePBX and Zoneminder, but I have noted that they seem to clash. So, my questions are as follows:
- is there any particular distro suited to the above tasks?
- are there better alternatives to Zoneminder and FreePBX to achieve my aims which do not clash?
- is there an optimal way to run Zoneminder and FreePBX without clashing? I have seen conflicting ocmments about containers/VMs in this regard.

Any broad suggestions would also be appreciated.

Thanks

You don't mention the scope of each of these projects, in the past I've found that FreePBX/Asterisk ran better on a dedicated server, but then again we were using 64 phone lines provided by a VoIP provider and around 80 extensions, so your requirements may be considerably less.

Zoneminder I also found to be a bit CPU intensive when running with 4 cameras that were set to only record on movement detection, again, your use case may vary.

You say this is a project, so try it!! Let us know how you get on and if you have specific questions then start threads on them on here.

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I don't know about FreePBX but as far as camera surveillance, zoneminder is probably the best with the most options and most comprehensive system. If you do online searches on zoneminder, you will find the most documentation for Ubuntu and probably its major derivatives. Zoneminder is a pretty complex piece of software so, if you are not already familiar with it, read the installation and use documentation carefully. I've installed it and used it previously on Ubuntu (just a single camera) but can't seem to find the extensive notes I had. Good luck with it.

The two clash because the web server runs as use asterisk with freepbx but runs as apache with zoneminder. Supposedly people have gotten them to work together although the exact steps used were not real clear.

Define old PC. There are many factors that will affect performance. I would agree that both would work better on dedicated hardware although just for fun I did install freepbx in a virtual machine but only a single connection.

The comment about dedicated hardware is what I was thinking. Sadly my advice when retooling an old PC is to stick with a single primary application per physical system.

I feel this is less that two applications conflict, but instead that one or both are somewhat intensive for memory, processing power, or both.

I'd run only one of them for some time to see how well, or not, it performs. Meanwhile, as others have stated, you can down-configure each of these to not require as many resources. Things like fewer cameras, less record time, lower resolution, or fewer phones and lesser features, no voicemail, etc.

Thanks for the comments. Looks like it'll just be a matter of experimenting. Not sure what the spec of the PC is - it's about 8 + years old and it is hiding in a closet somewhere. Although I'll be playing (it's just for home) - I will need FreePbx to work fairly reliably so I'll probably start with that.

While it can be installed on just about any system, FreePBX does have its own distribution which is based on CentOS. That would be my recommendation.