magicjack Inventor Plans Linux support, More Area Codes

northsun99 · Post by **northsun99** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 8:59 pm

Instead of spending time and money trying to write Linux drivers themselves, why doesn't MagicJack just get the Linux developers to do it for free?

There are a ton of Linux developers (including myself) who would gladly help write a driver.

http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/free_drivers.html

ice cold beer · Post by **ice cold beer** » Sat Aug 09, 2008 3:08 pm

Why wait for them to ask? Info for the chipset they use should be available, if not publicly then with an NDA.

hvengel · Post by **hvengel** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:59 pm

ice cold beer wrote:Why wait for them to ask? Info for the chipset they use should be available, if not publicly then with an NDA.

NDA does not work since anything "hidden" via NDA is exposed as soon as the code is released. In addition, I understand that the actual hardware vendor does have linux drivers. The thing that is missing is the interface software between the hardware drivers and the MJ servers as well as the UI.

MJ is keeping the server interface details to themselves and without that info it will be difficult for anyone to to write the needed software.

joevv · Post by **joevv** » Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:51 am

I don't think they will release linux drivers anytime soon..the reason I think is that it would be hard for them to hide the sip info in linux.

ice cold beer · Post by **ice cold beer** » Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:48 am

hvengel wrote:
ice cold beer wrote:Why wait for them to ask? Info for the chipset they use should be available, if not publicly then with an NDA.
NDA does not work since anything "hidden" via NDA is exposed as soon as the code is released. In addition, I understand that the actual hardware vendor does have linux drivers. The thing that is missing is the interface software between the hardware drivers and the MJ servers as well as the UI.

MJ is keeping the server interface details to themselves and without that info it will be difficult for anyone to to write the needed software.

I know a few Linux driver developers who've had to sign NDA's while working on open-source drivers. I think it's less about 'secrets' leaking via source code as it is knowing the real capabilities of the chip(s) because you've seen the documentation.

As long as you've got a means to communicate with the hardware (ie: drivers), then you should be able to fill in the blanks yourself. Things like UI are irrelevant.

idallen · Post by **idallen** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:29 pm

I'm waiting for MagicJack's Linux debut.
Also, sure would be nice to get specifications for the hardware so that we could use it for other things...

ddreggors · Post by **ddreggors** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:25 pm

Agent_86 wrote:Old post, but I like it anyhow

We want LINUX support weeeeeeee Please

I will second that motion, and I feel highly confident in saying that many others would as well. Just do a quick google search for "magicJack Linux" and you will instantly see WHY I feel so confident in that remark!

Come on if you can do it for BSD (MacOSX) you can do it for Linux just as easily!

robatino · Post by **robatino** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 6:39 pm

Anyone know if it could possibly be run in Linux using Wine? I tried googling, my question has been asked before, but never answered, and no one seems to have been successful in getting it running under Linux in any way. Someone in the following thread came close, though.

http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org ... p?t=511689

taflocks · Post by **taflocks** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 6:46 pm

robatino wrote:Anyone know if it could possibly be run in Linux using Wine? I tried googling, my question has been asked before, but never answered, and no one seems to have been successful in getting it running under Linux in any way. Someone in the following thread came close, though.

http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org ... p?t=511689

i personally have found that vodka works better and faster.

ddreggors · Post by **ddreggors** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:54 am

robatino wrote:Anyone know if it could possibly be run in Linux using Wine? I tried googling, my question has been asked before, but never answered, and no one seems to have been successful in getting it running under Linux in any way. Someone in the following thread came close, though.

http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org ... p?t=511689

I have seen a few answers but they have all been a "no", MJ does not seem to work on wine.

I have seen many claim that it DOES work on VMWare running a Windows guest and even ran across one who said he used ReactOS (Windows Clone) and had it working. I have tried VMWare (w/ WinXP guest), VirtualBox (w/ WinXP guest), VMWare (w/ ReactOS guest) and even wine... no luck on either!

Oddly enough in VMWare and in VirtualBox when I add USB to guest I can select to use my printer, and my external drive but NOT the MajicJack, it is listed in USB devices but it just shows as unavailable!

Guess I will just have to wait for the Linux Driver or give up completely on MJ. I already bought an XP license for my VM for software I still need that runs on XP, I refuse to buy a whole new computer and XP license to get a $20 device working!

StrobeWylan · Post by **StrobeWylan** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 1:37 pm

How can a user such as myself weigh in on this issue? I would love to see MJ work in Ubuntu. Does Dan or his crew ever see these comments?

robatino · Post by **robatino** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:02 pm

Here's someone who claims they got Magic Jack to work using a Windows XP virtual machine in VirtualBox. VirtualBox is really easy to install - they have .deb and .rpm packages - so I'm tempted to try it.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=705091

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:37 pm

I believe you will find the same or a similar post on this forum, with a bit more detail. If I can remember the name of the poster, I'll come back and edit my message here.

I agree about Virtual Box being easy to use. I have Windows XP running under Ubuntu 8.04 and Ubuntu running uder Windows XP, just for the fun of it. However, I've never been able to get my MJ to work in the virtual Windows.

I have yet to drink the Linux/Ubuntu kool-aid.

CDNinKS · Post by **CDNinKS** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:27 pm

I have an EEE PC, the original 2g surf,so its resources are limited. I bought it as a back up to my regular notebook. I wanted something relatively inexpensive to be able to leave on 24/7 with Skype running. ( I live overseas)I then found out about Majicjack and purchased one.

I was disappointed that Linux was not supported and rather than try all the workarounds, elected to format my drive and install TINY XP. I am amazed at how well it works on a computer with such limited ram and processor power and all PnP peripherals such as bluetooth install with no problem.

Although I am not a big fan of MS, for my purposes Linux is just a bit too much of a hassle.

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:32 pm

CDNinKS wrote:<<snipped>>

Although I am not a big fan of MS, for my purposes Linux is just a bit too much of a hassle.

I'm with you. I like to tinker as much as the next guy, but so far, it's been too big of a challenge for me.

robatino · Post by **robatino** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 4:45 am

If Linux support is added in the future, will this capability be available as a software upgrade for existing MJ dongles? Also, do these devices have software for all supported OSes simultaneously installed? And how much memory do they have, and how much of that is taken up by the software currently installed on them?

robatino · Post by **robatino** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:44 pm

I ordered and received a magicJack, and have it working in Linux! (Well, actually, in VirtualBox with Fedora 9 host / Windows XP guest.)

After booting up in my "real" Windows XP, letting it download the software update, and completing the registration, I verified that it works properly there. Then I booted up in Fedora and started up VirtualBox as root, since it currently won't detect USB devices when run as an ordinary user. (I know it's possible to edit some config files to make this work, but I don't fully understand the changes, so have resisted doing it so far.) Then, starting up the Windows XP guest with the MJ plugged in, the MJ software loads and everything works, except that if I use a telephone, the phone rings at the other end, but neither of us can hear the other, and after 20-30 seconds we are disconnected. So I switched from the telephone to my USB headset with microphone, and that works. The sound quality is fairly good, though not perfect as with Vonage. Anyone have any ideas why using the telephone won't work?

In the Windows Control Panel, there are two magicJack entries, F: and G:. The second shows the MJ as a 17.5 MB Mass Storage device with only about 2% of the space used. Next time I'll examine the files to see if there's anything OS-specific or if it's just generic configuration info.

Edit: Sorry, meant "My Computer", not "Control Panel". I don't use Windows too often. I checked again and didn't see anything OS-specific in there, so I'm guessing that if MJ starts supporting Linux, existing MJ devices should be able to use it.

ddreggors · Post by **ddreggors** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:23 pm

I have it working right now in VMWare Server 2.0 (WinXP Guest).

I tried Virtual Box for a bit and it did work but the USB drivers kept getting disconnected.

Once I switched to the free VMWare 2.0 (on a Mandriva 2008.1 "Spring" server) all was well.

One note:

My server is running 2x Xeon Dual Cores (4 cpu's total) and 8 Gigs of RAM. I realize this is a bit more than the average user will have on hand at home, but I only give 1 CPU and 1024 MB ram to the guest XP VM.

While this works well and I see no issues, I would rather not have to run VMWare so I can free up resources for other tasks (multiple J2EE Appservers test installs running for testing purposes requires much ram/cpu).

robatino · Post by **robatino** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 11:48 pm

When running VirtualBox the Linux host gets disconnected from the USB devices and stays disconnected even after the guest OS is stopped, until the USB devices are unplugged/plugged back in (or the host is rebooted). This is an old VirtualBox bug. It's less of an inconvenience for me than the fact that it's necessary to run Windows virtually at all, instead of native Linux support.

I do experience some audio stuttering, but it's probably due to the virtualization since I had the same trouble when recording from the microphone and playing it back in the headset.

JohnnyFreightTRAIN · Post by **JohnnyFreightTRAIN** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:15 am

Magicjack inventor plans?
Plans what!?
Doesn't look like Dan does allot of planning these days.

More action, less talk!

mberlant · Post by **mberlant** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:27 pm

The Linux challenge is not technical, but financial. magicJack's service is so inexpensive because it is supported by advertising. Even though the ToS says that there is advertising both on the control panel and in the talk path, so far there is only advertising on the control panel.

If MJ cannot figure out how to inject advertising into the talk path (in a manner that does not cause subscribers to quit), they will not be able to offer service at the current price on any other platform (Linux, BYOD ATA, etc.)

robatino · Post by **robatino** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:47 pm

mberlant wrote:The Linux challenge is not technical, but financial. magicJack's service is so inexpensive because it is supported by advertising. Even though the ToS says that there is advertising both on the control panel and in the talk path, so far there is only advertising on the control panel.

If MJ cannot figure out how to inject advertising into the talk path (in a manner that does not cause subscribers to quit), they will not be able to offer service at the current price on any other platform (Linux, BYOD ATA, etc.)

They could support the same client, with the control panel advertising, on Linux. Since they already support OS X, which is similar, it shouldn't be too much work. And it would reduce the number of people getting the SIP info in order to use another client - which is much easier and more efficient than running the Windows client in a VM.

Edit: The same is true for any other OS, though it would require more work than Linux which is similar to OS X. Of course your point is valid for BYOD, since in that case there's no other way to deliver the ads.

jimisbell · Post by **jimisbell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:19 pm

I guess I am lazy.

I had one port unused on the router to which all my Linux boxes are connected. I bought a $4 computer at the thrift store, cleaned it off and installed XP. It runs my MJ and I have installed tightVNC on it and can bring it up on any of the linux boxes so the win machine just sits in the closet.

I will soon be replacing the $4 machine with a Thin Client that is already in the postal system to me. It will run XPe. I hope that supports tightVNC

henryr01 · Post by **henryr01** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:03 pm

sjinsjca wrote:
dmarinescu wrote:linux support will bring you three things:

1. total portability (beyond windows and mac / mac is a bsd unix, in fact)
2. universal respect! (especially from the open source folks)
3. proportional revenue increase! (you will be amazed how many new customers you will have, coming from linux!)

just my $.02
Daniel

That's just the beginning.

4. Linux makes more sense for machines that run 24/7. Windows misbehaves and needs to be rebooted after a few days, Linux doesn't. Reduces MJ's support costs!

5. Linux is ideal for small-footprint, low-energy-usage hardware like "thin clients" and solid, inexpensive little diskless machines like the Eee. Linux also breathes new life into old PCs, and you can eliminate the hard disk and boot as a LiveCD on just about any PC, providing a super-reliable, super-inexpensive solution. There would be a whole cottage industry emerging to implement MJ on small machines running Linux.

6. At the same time, Linux is the top choice for high-uptime servers in businesses large and small. An office's IT guy could stuff dozens of MJs into a powerful server, providing telephone service to the entire office.

7. MJ would bring telephony to pocketable, Linux-based "internet tablets" like the Nokia 800. Sure, they can already run things like Skype, but as we all know, MJ has significant advantages.

8. Three words: No Windows Updates! No consequently-broken software, no spontaneous reboots, no mysterious new incompatibilities.

9. You can bet that within a couple weeks of release of Linux native drivers, folks will get it working for direct connection to a USB port on Netgear's Open Source Router. I'd buy a new router just for that! (Are you listening, Netgear?) Similarly for Linux-based Network Attached Storage devices that people use for backup and sharing files.

...and on and on. Get MagicJack working natively on Linux, and get ready for an absolute explosion of innovation.

There are so many things WRONG with this post...never mind. I'm out of here. I can afford a real phone.

Agent_86 · Post by **Agent_86** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 8:50 am

henryr01 wrote:
sjinsjca wrote:
dmarinescu wrote:linux support will bring you three things:

1. total portability (beyond windows and mac / mac is a bsd unix, in fact)
2. universal respect! (especially from the open source folks)
3. proportional revenue increase! (you will be amazed how many new customers you will have, coming from linux!)

just my $.02
Daniel

That's just the beginning.

4. Linux makes more sense for machines that run 24/7. Windows misbehaves and needs to be rebooted after a few days, Linux doesn't. Reduces MJ's support costs!

5. Linux is ideal for small-footprint, low-energy-usage hardware like "thin clients" and solid, inexpensive little diskless machines like the Eee. Linux also breathes new life into old PCs, and you can eliminate the hard disk and boot as a LiveCD on just about any PC, providing a super-reliable, super-inexpensive solution. There would be a whole cottage industry emerging to implement MJ on small machines running Linux.

6. At the same time, Linux is the top choice for high-uptime servers in businesses large and small. An office's IT guy could stuff dozens of MJs into a powerful server, providing telephone service to the entire office.

7. MJ would bring telephony to pocketable, Linux-based "internet tablets" like the Nokia 800. Sure, they can already run things like Skype, but as we all know, MJ has significant advantages.

8. Three words: No Windows Updates! No consequently-broken software, no spontaneous reboots, no mysterious new incompatibilities.

9. You can bet that within a couple weeks of release of Linux native drivers, folks will get it working for direct connection to a USB port on Netgear's Open Source Router. I'd buy a new router just for that! (Are you listening, Netgear?) Similarly for Linux-based Network Attached Storage devices that people use for backup and sharing files.

...and on and on. Get MagicJack working natively on Linux, and get ready for an absolute explosion of innovation.
There are so many things WRONG with this post...never mind. I'm out of here. I can afford a real phone.

Nothing wrong here, exactly true.
I'm a computer technician and fix windows problem all day for people.
I also sell Linux computers and have not had (1) service call Did I say NOT (1) this speaks volumes.

And Yes Windows computers are known to have a problem with file degradation it's a known fact.
Search google on why windows files degrade.

And afford ability is not the point, it's the principal of the amount being charged. MJ has proven that there is a better way. And that it can be done.
Although not perfect, it has been done. And keeps getting better.

The only thing that can really make it better is linux support I agree.

Based on the principal again the cost to keep a Windows Computer Running, Virus Protection cost, Spyware cost and the fact that all this extra scanning of your windows computer continues to write data to and from the hard drive all day long just burning up your hard drive faster. And the huge cost of the OS itself and regular maint. if you don't know how to fix it yourself you have to pay for program and/or call ME a techincian to fix it.
Which I can't complain because I make money off of this big MS rip off. But I have been slowly converting people to Linux and guess what I've only recieved compliments and never get any service calls.
Thats right NEVER 1 service call.
Thats all I know

jimisbell · Post by **jimisbell** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 11:11 am

The reason you have received no service calls is that Linux DOESNT CRASH....Period....QED

robatino · Post by **robatino** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:08 pm

According to

http://blog.laptopmag.com/magicjack-sco ... -2009-2010

Linux support is planned for the 3rd quarter of this year, and should be available for both current and new magicJacks. Of course, in real life, that probably means sometime next year (assuming MJ is still in business, of course).

vszasz · Post by **vszasz** » Wed May 06, 2009 2:38 pm

I just installed ubuntu 9.04 on an old machine. It's incredible and this new version is going to be a Windows killer. The magicjack didn't work on it.

I think a lot of old PCs sitting idle or ready to throw out could be put to good use dedicated to magicJack on ubuntu or some linux flavor.

They already have linux boot CDs to turn your old computer into a dedicated firewall like Smoothwall Express and I'm thinking a boot CD to turn an old piece of crap computer into something dedicated to work with magicjack would be a possible.

You could build it with security so only the magicjack can get in and out to the Internet and just leave it to be useful again.

The combo personal firewall and magicJack boot CD for Linux would be a killer app IMHO.

sanderson_111 · Post by **sanderson_111** » Wed May 27, 2009 1:43 am

[quote="vszasz"]I just installed ubuntu 9.04 on an old machine. It's incredible and this new version is going to be a Windows killer. The magicjack didn't work on it.

I also run Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop and the netbook Version, very solid and nice.

You should also check out the latest PuppyLinux it also rocks and runs in under 100Meg. Very Fast and looks like Vista without the crashes or BS.

I would love to See MJ port MJ with the option to a USB bootable with the PuppyLinux as it takes almost no space <100MB. very easy to config also.

gnimsh · Post by **gnimsh** » Wed May 27, 2009 1:45 am

If the magicjack lights up, it works. Linux uses it as a soundcard that you can hook up to a sip phone like twinkle.

johnlvs2run · Post by **johnlvs2run** » Sat May 30, 2009 4:56 pm

gnimsh wrote:If the magicjack lights up, it works. Linux uses it as a soundcard that you can hook up to a sip phone like twinkle.

Would you happen to have very simple step by step instructions on how to do this.

I'm using linux sabayon.

gnimsh · Post by **gnimsh** » Sat May 30, 2009 5:07 pm

Yes. http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/linu ... -t739.html

johnlvs2run · Post by **johnlvs2run** » Sat May 30, 2009 5:21 pm

Thanks, that looks too complicated for me at this time.

I hope MJ decides to get working with Linux.

magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

magicjack Inventor Plans Linux support, More Area Codes

Why not release the specs?

waiting for Linux support

Re: magicjack Inventor Plans Linux support, More Area Codes

Re: linux suport

Re: linux suport