[olug] PC ringer for POTS phone

Obi-Wan obiwan at jedi.com
Thu May 8 19:33:35 UTC 2008


I enjoy listening to music at work.  Since I'm in a cubicle farm, I have
to use headphones.  I usually just use a single earbud so that I can hear
the phone ring with the other ear.  However, the audio quality of a single
earbud sucks.  I'd love to use some nice headphones, but I can't risk
ignoring the phone.

Do any of you know of any desktop app (for Linux, of course -- Ubuntu
8.04) that would provide an obvious visual indicator on my screen
whenever the phone rang?  Dumping a ring tone to the speakers would be
fine, too.  These are digital phones, but not VoIP.  I'm thinking maybe
something that I could either run through a modem (so the computer
could sense the ring) or split & run one line into a modem.  I don't
really have any need for caller ID, as the phone (which sits 90 degrees
to the left of my monitor) has that info on it.  All I need is a visual
ringer.

As common as VoIP and Skype are today, googling for something that works
with a simpler phone is difficult.

-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth                             obiwan at jedi.com
   The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the
     Giver of all good things, so if I stand, let me stand on the
       promise that You will pull me through.  -- Rich Mullins



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