[CentOS] Voice/Fax Modem advice

Folks

A have a PCIe modem (Conexant ChipSet, PCI id = 14f1:2f83.  It 
interfaces to my land-line (POTS) telephone line in the United 
States.  On Windows, I had a good answering machine package 
(Ventafax) that reported CallerID, recorded messages, sent/received 
fax, and had a scripting language that let me say "To leave a message 
for Alice, press 1; to leave a message for Bob, press 2", etc.

I'm trying to move this function to a Centos-based system without 
going to the expense or complexity of Asterisk (expense because of 
specialized telephony cards).

My research found a driver (at www.linuxant.com), but it required 
that I recompile the driver.  I got absolutely lost trying to follow 
the directions which seemed to be steering me towards a custom Kernel.

So, my question to the group wisdom is:

- Is there any hope in trying to find a suitable driver for this 
device without building a custom kernel?  And if a custom "module" is 
needed, I might need help compiling it.

- Is there a inexpensive modem that Centos 7 supports with the needed 
functions?  and maybe some software applications that might help?

Thanks in advance.

David