[HN Gopher] Raspberry Pi in Rotary Phone
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       Raspberry Pi in Rotary Phone
        
       Author : polm23
       Score  : 25 points
       Date   : 2021-09-05 04:41 UTC (18 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.instructables.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.instructables.com)
        
       | jesuslop wrote:
       | It could have been a hip IP phone also
        
       | lightstack wrote:
       | I did the same thing to a numpad phone (also old) about 2 months
       | ago. I squeezed a pi zero-w into the chassis and wrote some
       | software to bind each key from 0-9 to a song and then used the
       | Pi's Bluetooth module to play the sound on a speaker across the
       | room. I also have a button that reads out the current time and it
       | runs a website to upload new songs and change the bindings. It
       | was a really fun project and I am surprised someone had the same
       | idea!
        
       | pablodavila wrote:
       | I've been meaning to build a similar project for my SO. I want is
       | to be able to connect the rotary phone via bluetooth for calls
       | (only calls) and dialing if possible. Has anyone worked with
       | anything similar that can provide some pointers?
       | 
       | I'm guessing the dialer part should be "simple" as I could
       | probably connect an Arduino as if it were a keyboard but can't
       | find much on the audio part.
        
       | swayvil wrote:
       | I never realized what a perfect rpi case a rotary phone is. You
       | can even fit a usb hub on there. And it can be quite stylish. And
       | durable. And ez to cut the plastic for mods. And cheap. My eyes
       | have been opened. I'd probably strip everything off it tho.
        
       | spookylettuce wrote:
       | My child is old enough now to stay home alone during short
       | errands. Since we don't have an old school land line it would be
       | cool to take inspiration from a project like this and build her a
       | "red line" device that gives her immediate access to reach me
       | without breaking down and buying her a cell phone yet.
       | 
       | But what would I hack together for the software side of that?
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | If you're in the Apple ecosystem the homepods can intercom.
        
         | squarefoot wrote:
         | If you are within short range radio coverage, why not walkie
         | talkies?
         | 
         | Check PMR446 (EU), FRS (US) and similar services.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMR446
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service
        
         | opencl wrote:
         | The software could be pretty simple. Hook a button up to GPIO,
         | write a bash wrapper around one of the command line VoIP
         | clients, write a little program to call the script when the
         | button gets pressed, autorun that one on boot.
        
         | bellyfullofbac wrote:
         | If only Whatsapp/Signal/Telegram has open APIs to allow voice
         | calls...
         | 
         | But I guess using VoIP software it's not a new idea:
         | https://github.com/hnesland/aselektriskbureau
         | 
         | It would be neat to enable dialing, e.g. "1" for Mom, "2" for
         | Dad...
        
         | jareklupinski wrote:
         | The simplest solution for me was to get a "feature phone" that
         | doesn't have apps or anything else enticing, and leaving it in
         | the drawer as an 'emergency phone'. The SIM is on the family
         | plan so it's not a significant expense, and it keeps a charge
         | for about a month as it's off most of the time anyway.
         | 
         | It ends up not becoming the emergency phone and more 'remind
         | xyz to grab abc on the way home' phone but oh well :)
        
         | alerighi wrote:
         | You can buy an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) to convert old
         | analog phones to VOIP, and then use it with whatever VOIP
         | service you want. Just be sure that the adapter supports pulse
         | dialing since you want to use it with a rotary phone (not all
         | does).
        
           | wolfgang42 wrote:
           | If it's being used as a "red phone" (pick it up and it
           | immediately calls the other end), the feature that the parent
           | wants to make sure it has is is "automatic ringdown".
        
         | asciimov wrote:
         | I'd skip the projects and just buy one of the numerous phones
         | that target this market. They make watches, dumb phones, and
         | smart phones, that are locked down and only allow
         | phoning/texting specific people.
         | 
         | The other option would be to get a real copper phone line.
         | 
         | My reasoning is that a real emergency may include a power
         | outage. Relying on some cool hack isn't going to be helpful
         | when your child is trying to reach out to you when there is no
         | power at home.
        
           | alerighi wrote:
           | Unfortunately in my country even landline phone lines don't
           | work on power outages, since with the transition to digital
           | only lines (with VDSL) is the router that inside has an ATA
           | to which you connect your landline phone. In fact you have
           | VOIP phone service at your house (in fact you can avoid
           | completely to connect your phone to the router phone socket
           | and use whatever VOIP phone you want, with the correct
           | settings extracted from the provider router).
           | 
           | Even if you provide backup power to the router is not enough,
           | since at the other end, VDSL cabinets in the street, there is
           | no backup power, so if it's not a blackout of only your house
           | but it insist the local transformer, the VDSL cabinet is
           | probably out of power too and thus no line.
           | 
           | The only reliable solution is 4G that is not so reliable
           | since in case of emergency lines get overloaded.
           | 
           | I probably should get an ham radio license to be safe...
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-05 23:01 UTC)