GnomeMeeting 1.0 Videoconferencing/VoIP Released 178
Howard Vanbel writes "Apparently the developers of GnomeMeeting have released the final v1.0 version of the videoconferencing/VoIP software. GnomeMeeting started as a final studies work at the Department of Computing Science and Engineering of the Universite Catholique de Louvain and after 3 years of development, GnomeMeeting 1.00 is ready!
GnomeMeeting is the most advanced Open Source VoIP and videoconferencing software available - there's more info in the project FAQ."
Seems like a cool project, but how is it research? (Score:1)
Re:Seems like a cool project, but how is it resear (Score:2, Insightful)
thank god ... (Score:4, Insightful)
My BEFSR-11, she cannae handle it, cap'n!
Re:thank god ... (Score:4, Informative)
Anyway, after RTFFAQ 7.12, it does appear to port hop but there are various suggestions to make this work through a firewall or router.
Re:thank god ... (Score:5, Informative)
It's freely available on *iX, Windows and Mac.
Re:thank god ... (Score:2)
I was hoping that the gatekeeper protocol would use a single TCP connection initiated from the client, but I don't beleive that is true.
Joe
dynamic port mapping (Score:4, Informative)
Thank you for your time,
BBH
ESR was just mentioning this last week (Score:4, Insightful)
There are no visual cues for the user that can show the user which audio codecs to choose, or what an ILS is, or even how to go about starting a session with a partner.
But it shore is purty.
Re:ESR was just mentioning this last week (Score:2, Informative)
Re:ESR was just mentioning this last week (Score:1, Interesting)
I can tell you that GnomeMeeting looks a LOT easier to setup!
Re:ESR was just mentioning this last week (Score:5, Informative)
Sure, the low-level configuration screens give you full control and look scary because of it -- but it's not the primary means for users to set up GnomeMeeting. Most users won't even go in here.
Instead, the first time you run the application it leads you through a very simple and well explained wizard which sets up your sound, your webcam, directory details and all the rest. Very straightforward.
Once through, you get the nice simple front-end where you can either tap in the URL for the person you want to call, use the main directory or (if you've got a GM -> landline bridge account) tap in a phone number.
It was astonishingly easy. And I'm not even using the 1.0 release.
This is one package where the user really can be ignorant of a lot of the underlying details and still use the technology.
Re:ESR was just mentioning this last week (Score:1, Interesting)
For your comment I bet you haven't even tried to install and use GnomeMeeting, give it a try before posting comments!!!!
I suggest people try this (Score:5, Insightful)
But for internal workflow, after having used an ichat based system I'm really taken by the idea. Being able to jump into a quick conversation instead of emailing, then jumping back out to get work done clicks with me so much better. Maybe it's that I don't have to think about spelling grammar typing and formatting when talking face to face!.
I've yet to check out this version of gm, but seriously give it a go, especially if interemployee communication is a necessary part of business.
vidio grab bag [67.160.223.119]
Re:I suggest people try this (Score:3, Interesting)
But now I see how easy and cheap USB webcams are and the quality of them it absolutely amazes me. That and the fact all my friends have DSL connections so we can have decent video conversations. However, I have had perfectly usable videoconferencing over 56K dialup but that was only one way.
But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:3, Informative)
Re:But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:5, Informative)
Re:But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:2)
My prefered solutions to this?
Get rid of NAT (Hurrah!) - everyone uses IPv6. (Please people, start enabling 6 over 4, get a tunnel, start using it. Postfix, BIND, Apache, ProFTPD, SSH, IPTables all support it.)
Someone writes a kernel/iptables handler for SIP a la ip_nat_ftp.o (I know not everyone uses IPTables for their firewalls - maybe a really small percentage do, but if we could say, "Oh, but
Re:But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:2)
Re:But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:2)
Re:But unfortuantely it's h323 only (Score:2)
More interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
More interesting to me than GnomeMeeting is OpenH323, which uses the MPL. That will presumably allow other developers and existing chat programs to be compatible with it.
There's a plethora of standards for video chat. It's nice to see this product it based on an existing standard, and some code is available for that standard under a license suitable for commercial applications.
Re:More interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:More interesting... (Score:2)
Also MPL, I take it?
Even more interesting... (Score:4, Interesting)
Now I know you're thinking of games. In this case, the app is a program on a hospital's computer that wants to contact one or more people, send them messages, and collect their replies. One-on-one would be useful, but even more useful would be with N parties that could all talk.
Scenario:
Patient: Hello?
Computer: Hello, Mr Jones. Your surgery is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday at 9 am. Is this OK with you?
Patient: Um, no; I have another appointment at that time.
Computer: OK; I'll check with Dr Smith to see if we can reschedule. While I call him, what would be some other good times for you? (Starts dialing Dr Smith)
Patient: Any time that afternoon would be fine.
DrSmith: Hello?
Computer: Mr. Jones says he has a conflict with his 9am appointment tomorrow. Here's his comment
DrSmith: I'd have to reschedule my golf game, but I could do it at 4pm tomorrow.
Patient: That would be OK with me, too.
Computer: Mr Jones' surgery is rescheduled for 4pm tomorrow. Can you both verify this?
Patient: Yes, 4pm is a good time.
DrSmith: 4pm tomorrow is OK here.
Computer: Rescheduled. Good-bye.
So could GnomeMeeting support a "meeting" like this? If so, how might I find the docs and/or some sample code?
Yeah, I know there's some voice recognition in there that is non-trivial. The first tests would probably be somewhat simpler, involving a basic computer message and recording all the replies of the other parties.
The Open Source nature is fairly important. In the US and other countries, we're seeing some fairly extensive medical privacy laws passed. This emphasizes that we really must avoid closed-source, binary software, because you can't know what's hidden inside it. In the long term, such software must be completely open to examination and auditing. Any Open-Source tools that can do the job will be very interesting to a lot of people that I work with.
Re:Even more interesting... (Score:2)
Re:Even more interesting... (Score:2)
That would be slick as hell...
Although I think your example is a little contrived. At least, I hope so. :)
Encryption (Score:5, Interesting)
Cheers,
Chris.
Re:Encryption (Score:5, Interesting)
Setup a VPN or tunnel.
Of course for a large userbase a simple "encrypt session" button would be ideal.
Re:Encryption (Score:2)
You never know what exactly it does, while it's really beneficial to know it in this particular case.
I don't know how it is with Open Source solutions, but the help files of commercial apps with "encrypt" buttons usually keep to the unmeaning phrase "encrypts the session / the mail / the upload / whatever", so you never know if you're safe. And false security is worse than no security sometimes.
But I guess stuff like this is needed for Joe Luser.
Re:Encryption (Score:3, Insightful)
Beside that this would be indeed nice, encryption can be done on the transport level.
Setup a VPN or tunnel.
You cant have a VPN to every endpoint on the internet. Whats more, its a bit onerous to set one up just for a single call.
A tunnel would be an option, if voip used a single TCP socket rather than being a bunch of realtime UDP packets on various ports. (you dont want to retx them over an openssh tunnel, for example) Also, tunnels have overhead: packets stuffed inside other packets. An extra UDP hea
Re:Encryption (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes you can. [ietf.org]
There are too many protocols and applications that incorporate their own (poor) security mechanisms. What we should be aiming for is *simplicity*, not redundancy.
What?! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What?! (Score:2)
Re:What?! (Score:1)
Belgium being an official trilingual country and all'that... (french/dutch/german)
Re:What?! (Score:1)
UCL [ucl.ac.be]
Comp Eng. dept. [ucl.ac.be]
Aaah...Leuven...one of my favourite Belgian towns. (Score:2)
Re:Aaah...Leuven...one of my favourite Belgian tow (Score:3, Informative)
There used to be one university in Louvain/Leuven, which was completely francophone even though Leuven is a Flemish city. In 1968 or thereabout, much protest arose against this situation. In 1971 the university split; the dutch-speaking 'Katholieke Universiteit Leuven' stayed in Leuven, the francophone 'Universite Catholique Louvain' moved to the newly built Louvain-la-Neuve (hence the name, meaning 'Leuven the new').
SIP, IAX, etc... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.wirlab.net/kphone/
http://www.linph
Hooray (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess we should put a bounty up for someone to reverse engineer the MSN Messenger 6.1 webcam protocol. (And yes, I know what GnomeMeeting is - and is supposed to do - and also know that an IM is not the same, but still, people just want to communicate with their friends and family.)
Re:Hooray (Score:3, Interesting)
(Note: You can also use these switches to download IE for multiple local installs. Very handy for netadmins.)
Re:Hooray (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hooray (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hooray (Score:2, Interesting)
Congratulations! (Score:4, Interesting)
Multi-Platform Solution Required (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Multi-Platform Solution Required (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Multi-Platform Solution Required (Score:5, Informative)
Also I believe GnomeMeeting is now (just about) usable on OS X with Fink [sourceforge.net].
Oh, you're way too late (Score:1, Interesting)
Except this trend never really took off. GnomeMeeting would have had an impact with businesses considering Linux 3 years ago, but now it's merely a 'catchup' product to a market that has already moved on.
Re:Oh, you're way too late (Score:1)
Re:Oh, you're way too late (Score:2)
--RJ
Re:Oh, you're way too late (Score:4, Insightful)
Just tried GnomeMeeting myself and it worked very well, I was very impressed. And I assume that GnomeMeeting 1.0 will just improve on the experience.
So... (Score:2)
iChat AV compatible? (Score:2, Interesting)
iChat AV is standards based, using the industry-standard H.263 video codec, the telephone-quality QuickTime audio codec (PureVoice QCELP), and SIP--the nextgeneration protocol for signaling.
Re:iChat AV compatible? (Score:3, Interesting)
That would be a big plus, as it would automatically give GM clients access to tens of millions of future AIM and iChatAV users (when they all upgrade and get webcams). If GM stays niche then it will never gain acceptance, either at home or in a corporate setting.
Re:iChat AV compatible? (Score:2)
WebCam (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:WebCam, needs backing (Score:1)
What we should really do is make a webcam blacklist of all the bad webcams, and get Sun, IBM and Novell to harrass those companies until they do something.. I thought a bounty wou
Re:WebCam, needs backing (Score:2, Informative)
Re:WebCam, needs backing (Score:2)
Re:WebCam, needs backing (Score:2)
Since I can't program device drivers and am not willing to take the time to learn I can most certainly advocate my desire for a driver to these companies. If enough of us do it then getting that driver written becomes a business need and IBM, Novell or somebody can then proceed to either request a driver or hire someone to make it. Wow
Why the French name for the Uni? (Score:2, Interesting)
Just nit picking
Re:Why the French name for the Uni? (Score:2)
NAT and Firewall support (Score:5, Interesting)
This is the reason that Skype [skpye.com] seems to be succeeding where others have failed, despite using a closed and proprietary protocol.
NAT2NAT (establishing a direct connection between two firewalled nodes) really isn't that hard to do (just get both peers to fire some UDP packets at each-other for a few seconds to fool the NATs), so why are there no free and open protocols for low-configuration VoIP? (and if I have missed one *PLEASE* let me know)
Completely agree (Score:4, Interesting)
Zero-configuration NAT circumvention is much easier than people think. You just get both NATed peers which want to send UDP packets to each-other to send a few packets to the other's NATs on the ports you want to use. Most NATs will then start to forward those UDP packets and hey presto! You have established a direct UDP link between the two peers and your user hasn't had to lift a finger.
All someone has to do is to combine this technique with somethink like Speex [speex.org], make sure you have both Linux and Windows versions, and we have a free competitor to Skype using an open protocol. I would do it myself if I had the time.
Re:NAT and Firewall support (Score:1, Interesting)
http://siproxd.sourceforge.net/
You are kidding, right? (Score:1, Insightful)
Using simple NAT2NAT techniques discussed elsewhere in this thread there is absolutely no reason why users should have to do anything other than download and run the software, expecting people to reconfigure their firewall and/or set up some kind of proxy will ensure that closed proprietary protocols like Skype (which do employ this te
Re:NAT and Firewall support (Score:3, Informative)
Re:NAT and Firewall support (Score:4, Informative)
Re:NAT and Firewall support (Score:2, Insightful)
NAT2NAT (establishing a direct connection between two firewalled nodes) really isn't that hard to do (just get both peers to fire some UDP packets at each-other for a few seconds to fool the NATs)
Even if that worked, which I doubt, would you be willing to accept a phone system where you would only be able to connect when the person you were calling was simultaneously trying to call you?
NAT, the last breath of IPv4, is an ugly kludge which violates the fundamental intent of the internet. Making excuses
Re:NAT and Firewall support (Jabber) (Score:2)
with the guy on the the other side... that would
be a nice starting point. You have Jabber Client --> Jabber Server --> Jabber Client. Perhaps the Jabber client could be enhanced to figure out how to get thru the NAT and launch GnomeMeeting with the necessary settings.
Re:NAT and Firewall support (Score:3, Insightful)
That NAT trick is interesting but it won't make a user's appliance-based firewall (in their DSL modem, etc.) and personal firewalls reconfigure themselves too.
The problem with all th
It is easy (Score:1, Informative)
Re:It is easy (Score:2)
Joe
Re:It is easy (Score:2)
Cool. It does work for UDP! (with my simple netcat testing)
Using 'netcat -e', I can proxy a socket from inside a LAN to inside another LAN, but it is lossy. Anyone seen something like netcat that implements resends (like TCP) on UDP?
Joe
Pronunciation (Score:5, Funny)
what I'd like to see (Score:4, Insightful)
What needs to be done is something new.. a few ideas are:
-A framework which allows it to easily communicate with other apps.. Imagine programming something and having gnome meeting fully integrate into ur IDE allowing instantaneous updating of code on ur screen.. or allowing it to be easily integrated into stuff like dashboard with a easy framework (not sure if this is available)
-jabber support.. would make the product more future aware
- integration into firebird.. firebird supports extensions, imagine being able to accept calls on ur firebird window.. or integration into openoffice would be even better
-Webcam driver bounties (or big ppl forcing companies to make nix drivers for free).. unfortunately not many webcams work in linux, (in aus many ppl own swann opti-cam's which use a sonix chip which is unsupported).. Large linux companies like Sun could potentially use their influence to finally force the webcam companies to get up to speed with unix (not really gnomemeeting related).. the rest of unix drivers tend to these days be up to date except webcam drivers, because webcams are considered non critical by too many in linux, and up till recently weren't used much..
Not sure how the gnomemeeting code is though..
Re:what I'd like to see (Score:2)
Instant messaging and applications (Score:3, Informative)
It includes an interesting interview with an MS manager about what MS is doing with Live Connection Server and office apps.
Forget it! I don't want video! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Forget it! I don't want video! (Score:2)
The good news is you can just use a photo instead, if you like, or no image at all.
Re:Forget it! I don't want video! (Score:2)
Thank goodness!
I've got my photo [movieprop.com] all ready to impress my clients with my professionalism...
Or perhaps this one [luds.net] is more impressive.
Who's the chick? (Score:4, Funny)
Or do the developers just like hanging out in #SaucyTeens chat rooms?
cheap webcams (Score:3, Interesting)
Ebay has tons of my favorite computer, Compaq Deskpro SFFs [ebay.com], with USB and PII/350-PIII/500 CPUs for <$100 every day of the week. I'd love to be able to buy one (or a lot of 10) and add a cheap USB webcam (Logitech QuickCam Messengers are $50 at Circuit City this week, with $20 in rebates, for just one example) and make, basically, a videophone appliance. Hell, I don't even care if it does sound (I'm happy to use a landline for that) but I'd love to have cheap, consistant, decent-quality, OSS, easy-to-use-with-a-firewall* videoconferencing solution. Just something that I can do a basic install of $DISTRO, add GnomeMeeting, an el-cheapo webcam, and have it work. Kinda like buying an eMac and an iSight but $800 cheaper.
So, I guess my question is, does anyone know of a cheap, readily-available USB webcam that works with GnomeMeeting? Following that, is there a distro that works well with the above, out-of-the-box or close to? And can all this be done with only a handful of open TCP ports? My #1 concern is getting video back and forth.
* as in, no "open ports 1024-65,535 [microsoft.com]" like NetMeeting wants.
(And please don't reply talking about how great iChat is. I know it's great but I can't to spend $1,000 on every member of my family just yet.)
Re:cheap webcams (Score:2)
There are dozens of webcams which work, the problem is that Linux tells you which chipsets are supported, and the webcam manufacturers don't tell you which chipset is in the camera.
My particular cam is an ov511-based Creative WebCam 3, but it's getting a bit old now.
Re:cheap webcams (Score:2)
One list here of USB webcams supported in linux. [www.qbik.ch]
Here you find webcams that need the Philips drivers [demon.nl].
Re:cheap webcams (Score:2)
1394 (Score:3, Informative)
-molo
GStreamer? (Score:3, Interesting)
iSight? (Score:2, Interesting)
--saint
Webcam support (Score:2)
One of the problems with this is the kernel-level drivers. While it's nice perforance-wise to have things compiled for the kernel, I think that to get Joe average in on this we'll need some sort of selector for common cameras that will build the appropriate module.
Despite scanning various sites, I ha
Re:KDE port ? (Score:5, Informative)
http://developer.berlios.de/projec
Re:KDE port ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Does it require Gnome? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Does it require Gnome? (Score:1, Informative)
Which is why many programs give you the option of choosing from different toolkits at compile time. Vim for instance can be compiled with Qt, Motif, GTK, Athena, or Nextaw.
I like appications that are built this way. In general the fact that the program is separated from the gui. That enforces better modularty and makes for a more robust program altogether.
The ability to choose graphics toolkits is important. It is not unlike the abiltiy to cho
Re:Does it require Gnome? (Score:1)
Re:GnomeMeeting (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:GnomeMeeting (Score:2)
Standards are good (Score:2)