Asterisk on nanopi + analog or digital cards

[sami-hep]

hello guys, i ve been working lately with asterisk on my NanoPi R2S which is a SBC that is similar to raspberryPi and orangePi : NanoPi R2S

i have worked with E1 gateways and with FXS/FXO gateways, but now m thinking of working with analog cards (FXO/FXS) as well as digital cards (E1), since there might be some serious decrease of cost. I know that while dealing with cards it is not similar to dealing with gateways in terms of the easy configuration of gateways. but i have seen that digium has these cards and there is some documentation with would make the task easier than it is supposed to be.

anyway, i have seen that these cards could only be connected to a computer that has PCI or PCI express slot. the thing is that NanoPis and in general SBCs do not support this type of connection. so my question is if there is any other way to connect these cards not through PCI slots! some type of a connection that could be supported by single board computers like NanoPi or raspberryPi! or if there is an in between module that could play this role!

if NOT, then maybe someone who has some experience would recommend me a pc which is somehow a mini pc that has PCI slot in it, the only purpose of it would be is to allow me to make my own gateway, whether it is an FXO/FXS or E1.

sorry for bothering you guys, i know this is not an asterisk question, but since digium,sangoma and asterisk are kind of same company then i figured out someone could help. and because lots of you guys have some huge experience in this world which could put me on right track before i just randomly start browsing for a solution.

any help would be appreciated.
thanks in advance.

[david551]

Raspberry Pi is not a typical SBC; it is more of a hobbyist product.

It wouldn’t be a single board computer if it had PCE(E) slots.

There at least used to be cut back PCs available, but they were a specialist market, which would attract a price premium, compared with hobbyist producs, and will be difficult to find with normal web searches. You might want to try the terms “embedded PC” and “Industrial PC”.

My impression is that PCI based solutions are often more expensive than dedicated SIP gateway devices.

[sami-hep]

So do you suppose that if i am targeting a decrease in price then this is might not be very applicable!?

[EkFudrek]

You are trying to reduce the cost at the price of an unreliable product regardless of whether there are PCI slots, or not (there are none). You never know when an SD card stops to work and the quality of the hardware and especially the NICs vary a lot. I am talking about FriendlyElec and RockPi products. The second major problematic area is the support for the underlying OS, unless you know the hardware very well and are able to assemble your own images (the U-Boot stuff).