I've got an idea for what I think would be a fairly neat DC-centric SMS application. I don't want to tip my hand just yet, but once the serial cable that I just ordered for my old t39 wings its way to me, I'll provide some more info. For now, though, some things I've figured out about sending text messages from your Linux computer:

• Asterisk is neat (and likely to make knowledgeable techs a lot of money in the near future), but not really necessary for SMS. Most of the docs for it deal with using FastSMS, a custom SMS gateway that requires no hardware but costs about five cents/message. That's overkill for little guys like myself, though. I think it might make more sense to just run one of the programs mentioned below externally to Asterisk if you need less-than-heavy duty SMS capabilities. In my case, that means I won't be running Asterisk at all.


• A cheaper alternative is to buy an old GSM phone off of Ebay and hook it up to your computer's serial port with an appropriate cable. It should then be able to act like a modem. Figure out what software you're going to use before deciding on a model. Avoid connecting to the phone with Bluetooth or USB — they just confuse the situation. Also, think about T-Mobile's Sidekick Data Only plan, which only runs $30/month and offers unlimited text messages.


• I've got some links to relevant software here. Of these, Gnokii currently appears to be the most impressive (but is poorly documented). Also, don't miss this list, which links to a lot of SMS software for Linux.


• Teleflip can't help you receive SMSes, so it's not quite what I want. But it does look neat. yourphonenumber@teleflip.com will automatically figure out your wireless carrier and send an email to their email-to-SMS gateway. For example, phonenumber@tmomail.net lets you SMS T-Mobile customers. The format/address is different for every carrier, though — Teleflip just figures this out for you and forwards your email along. It's free, but only works for North American numbers.


• I'd be remiss if I didn't mention MoLoGoGo, which has nothing to do with SMS, but lets you track your GPS position by remote using a free app loaded onto a $80 Boost Mobile phone. And it now exports your location information to XML! I'm pretty desperate to figure out a way to do something useful with this. So far, no dice.