Like most students, I have a summer job. As a computer science student with a web development background, I am programming from home for a company called eCenter Research Inc.

Their setup requires that I can connect to their PHP/MySQL/SVN setup through SSH. No problem with Ubuntu. But I am also required to have an IAX-compatible VoIP client so my boss and other programmers can call me. You see, most VoIP clients are only SIP-compatible. IAX and SIP are just two different protocols for running Voice over IP.

When I started with eCenter, they suggested I use this program called Zoiper. It works well in Windows and okay in Ubuntu, but I found myself having to reboot into Windows just to answer a phone call, annoying both my boss and I, because the client wouldn't pick up audio or wouldn't work at all.

Earlier in the week, I did some research on IAX-compatible VoIP clients (being entirely new to VoIP) and came up with nothing. However, my Google-fu must have been strong this morning, as I found an incredible GNOME-intergrated, IAX-compatible VoIP client for Ubuntu, including a PPA!

The program is actively developed by a French-Canadian company (Savoir-faire Linux), called SFLphone.

To install it, simply add the PPA, refresh apt and install!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoirfairelinux; sudo aptitude update; sudo aptitude install sflphone-client-gnome

Then it can be found in Applications > Internet > SFLphone VoIP Client

Enjoy!