Videoconferencing for Linux

TO CALL OFF THE NETWORK VOIP-VOIP

I'll use examples from the Ekiga Fun Numbers page. Video won't work unless you're talking to another Ekiga client.

*010-600 Echo test from Voxalot (USA) Enter it as *010600 (equivalent of sip:*010600@ekiga.net ) via URL bar or telephone keyboard. Do not enter spaces or dashes. DO enter the asterisk. Simply enter the numbers either by dial pad or keying into the phone number slot as a continuous string as you would on a physical telephone dial pad, with no spaces.

Also, you don't have to enter the provider part of the sip URL, as long as you're using ekiga.net.

There's a server that'll get you into toll-free numbers in the "Fun Numbers" listing: A listing of VoIP provider prefixes..

If you want to use the PSTN, you'll have to buy an account. Click on the Ekiga Tools > PC to Phone menu item. Then click "Get an Ekiga PC-To-Phone Account." That will open your browser to a Web page for a telephone VOIP service. Start an account, and charge it with money; the minimum charge to credit / debit card, e-gold, etc., is $10. Go back to the menu item and fill in the account number and password. Then click the Use PC-To-Phone checkbox, and hit Apply.

The U.S rate is 0.017 cents per minute (that's right, 17 one-thousandths of a cent). Foreign rates are fairly typical for a U.S.-based VOIP-based provider. For rate information, visit here.

For incoming calls, being listed in the white pages directory is optional. Do that from the ekiga.net account you made when setting up Ekiga via the Ekiga Configuration Druid. The Documentation / FAQ can be found here.

COMMON PROBLEMS

If you unplug your digicam and your CPU usage suddenly goes to 100 percent, open a console and do:

# ps -A

...and look for the Ekiga process ID in the list. Then do:

11532 ? 00:00:04 ekiga

# kill -9 11532

RECONFIGURING WEB/VIDEOCONFERENCE CAMERA AS DIGICAM

To make your camera -- assuming it isn't a pure webcam -- available for the purpose of retrieving pictures you've taken, first try switching to disk mode or image or camera. . . whatever it is you usually have your camera set to in order to download the images to the computer. Then try unplugging or re-plugging your camera. Make sure it's in "disk mode." Then try rebooting.

Actually, once I got gspca stable, I could usually simply switch modes at the camera, occasionally using ps -A as above to find and kill a video app that refused to shut down completely. Qnext: This is a super IM with video " multiplatform, multiple networks :MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, and ICQ, plus its own qnext network. Versions for Linux, OSX, Windows. Get it here.

Unlike the other applications, this requires that the current Java version for your distro be installed. To verify this, look for /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.11/ . Or if it's configured in your browser, simply go to http://java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml. If the applet is running, you'll see a small window on the page with a vaguely penguin-ish figure moving left-right-left and the words "Congratulations, the latest version is installed on your system." If Java needs to be installed, then:

# aptitude install j2re 

...or the equivalent commands in your distro's automated installer. Otherwise, download a binary for your distro from here. An IM with video might be the best choice for straight PC-to-PC calls that don't have to go through the PSTN. Note that I am doing the following as user not root. This is not a build-from-source. Simply download, unpack, and run the script:

$ cd [path-to-wherever you downloaded qnext]
$ tar xvjf qnext*
$ cd qnext*
$ ./qnext

To make an icon: right-click the desktop and on the pull-down, go to: Create new Link to Application

In the General tab, Click left button in the Select Icon window. Click browse Enter [path-to]/qnext/errors Select the .png image In the text box next to button, enter qnext In Description tab: Description: qnext video IM Command: Hit the browse button. Use the directory window to get to the qnext directory. Select qnext. Hit the Open button. Work Path: [path-to]/qnext

Push the OK button, your Qnext icon is on the desktop as thus:

In IM mode: start the program. After you've finished registering, close the program. Then reopen it; the Quick Start Guide will come up. Follow the instructions to start adding buddy lists. Click the icon on the bottom left (everything's got tool tips, just hover your mouse cursor for labels) corresponding to the network you want to use.

Go to Main Menu > Tools > Options. Then click the Devices tab and push the Detect button to pick up your camera.

For audio conferencing, go here for the procedure.

For videoconferencing, go Wengophone supports Linux / OSX / Windows, PC-to-PC or PSTN.

WHERE TO GET HELP

• video4linux mailing list: As on any mailing list you're hoping to get help from, I recommend searching the list archives first. There's a good chance your problem has already been solved.

• Ekiga mailing lists: You want the "Users" mailing list.

• Qnext support center: Here you can find a FAQ, further documentation, a user forum, and customer support for Qnext.

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A. Lizard, is an Internet consultant in the San Francisco Bay area. He has been writing for technology magazines and Web sites since 1987.