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Cross-Platform, Simple Voice Chat Software?
nordicfrost asks: "My wonderful girlfriend and I have a dilemma. We want to talk to each other via the net to save money and still have a conversation. But she is a strictly Apple girl, and I'm a Debian man, who compromises with Windows at work. So, does anyone have the solution for an easy cross-platform voice chat application, preferrebly without having to altering my GF's firewall router via the phone?"
I dont know anything about firewalls but Teamspeak has both a win32 and linux version, I've used it a lot, it has very low bandwidth comsumption and it's completely painless to set up.
Have you looked at OpenH323? There's a multitude of clients that it can communicate with. I've used it to communicate with family who use Windows, and friends who use Macs. As a bonus, video works great too.
...and use a condom when you masturbate.
SquidCam is a shareware audio/video conferencing app for Windows and Mac OS X. Costs $25. There is a trial download.
Yahoo is free, and runs on Mac, Window$ and Linux. You could create a private "user" room, when you are online, and only allow each other to join it. Once in the room, you can use voice to talk to each other. Sound quality is acceptable, even on a 56 Kbps modem.
Using Yahoo also allows you to send "sweet" messages when she's not there - she will get them when she logs on next. Be really lovey-dovey and romantic - and she will be eager to avail her body to you on your next meeting.
This method also works with multiple girl friends, but best results are only possible when only one girlfriend is online at any one time.
Mike
Please DON'T pay attention. Many of us who read this don't have exactly the same problem. It's appropriate to talk about a wide range of solutions. Anyway, maybe he could get his GF or himself an old PC for $20 from the newspaper classified ads. Voice applications don't require much computing power. Skype, below, says 400 MHz is enough.
I just want to connect with friends in France and Brazil. I don't need any standards like SIP. I would just like to use the sound card for sound. I want to avoid use of a server for making connections, because all the companies will soon begin charging for this unnecessary service.
I've never used it, but for the MAC and PC there is the free version of the Xten software. Requires that you connect through someone's server. Free World Dialup was suggested to me.
For the PC, Skype works perfectly. The sound quality is better than regular telephones. However, there are some problems: 1) Skype is made by the same people who made KaZaa. Possibly it has hidden functions like KaZaa does. I've already found that every time it is used it keeps installing itself so that it runs every time the computer is turned on. The download page says, "no spyware, no adware". 2) Skype requires an intermediate server. I would like to connect directly to my friend's IP address. 3) I haven't verified this, but Skype seems to use a hard-coded public key, so that, even though the voice is encrypted, it would be easy for anyone to decrypt.
Skype can communicate through any firewall. If it doesn't find other ports open, it works on port 80. (For those who don't know, that's the HTTP browser port.) It would be great to find some open source software that could do that, because I don't like punching holes in firewalls. (However, if voice can go through port 80, so can absolutely anything else.)
What other "Voice Chat" or "VOIP" software have you used, and what has been your experience?
He seems to mean Ventrilo - Scalable Voice Communication Software. Anyone have experience?
I live overseas and have tried many of the cross platform clients (my wife's brother is only a Max OS guy). We never could get anything that really worked (I think we got yahoo working decently once for voice only).
Eventually we discovered Packet8/a It's solved all our problems and we use it to call parents and great grandparents as well. I assume you both have broadband (since your GF has a router) and the costs is minimal ($20 month - unlimited minutes, free adapter). Lose you landline and pick this up instead. One other trick would be to get telephone numbers in each others city. That way you can use your local POTS to call her from anywhere and it would be a "local" call.
We love Voip. It allows us to receive calls via a US telephone number here as well. The whole thing works just like you'd expect and call quality is good.
I live overseas and have tried many of the cross platform clients (my wife's brother is only a Max OS guy). We never could get anything that really worked (I think we got yahoo working decently once for voice only).
Eventually we discovered Packet8 It's solved all our problems and we use it to call parents and great grandparents as well. I assume you both have broadband (since your GF has a router) and the costs is minimal ($20 month - unlimited minutes, free adapter). Lose you landline and pick this up instead. One other trick would be to get telephone numbers in each others city. That way you can use your local POTS to call her from anywhere and it would be a "local" call.
We love Voip. It allows us to receive calls via a US telephone number here as well. The whole thing works just like you'd expect and call quality is good.
They also claim that the normal version on Kazza doesn't come with spyware.
They use a unique meaning of the term spyware.
http://www.teamspeak.org
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
Like several of the others, I would recommend OpenH323 . It's fairly easy to set up.
You also have the option of setting up a gateway (hardware isn't cheap, however.) I've used the voicetronix board. This would give the option of calling locally if your or she had other friends in the area.
Also, I've found Voip far easier to use with real (or semi-real) phone hardware. Cisco has the ATA-186, though it operates best with proprietary codecs. I've ended up using a VoipVoice handset -- it's USB and appears as a USB audio device under linux so it's pretty easy to configure, though it's a little weak on the volume. I got mine through IPblue though I am sure there are other sources/options for open-source IP phones.
Creative labs used to sell the voipblaster, and this is still available from ebay, and that lets you use conventional phone hardware -- it's basically a USB-to-phone-jack converter with a hardware codec, and would likely be idea if you're working with anyone who is technology-challenged.
Why? If a long distance relationship works you already know you can trust your SO.
My gf from HS and I stuck together through years of separation (as I got my degree), and are now happily married.
I think that a long distance relationship takes a bit more effort and a lot more trust then many want to expend.
But if you can't trust each other while dating, why would you trust them married 20 years down the road?
Maybe this explains the 50% divorce rate over here.
Only the client is windows only. However, the developer is currently working on Mac OS X and linux clients.Ventrilo has servers for just about any OS, including Mac OS X, Free/Netbsd, solaris, and linux, not just windows. As fluor2 stated, has excellent sound quality(providing you have a decent sound card).
. I also bought a webcam for my g/f when she moved away some time ago... It was well worth it. ...It was well worth it. You sly dog. You're making the other slashdot geeks who pay monthly fees for that pretty jealous.
/bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
One place to check for Internet/Communication apps for the Macintosh is Mac Orchard It would be a good bet to start here, since it reads like the Mac platform is the lowest common denominator here.
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
IAX is firewall-friendly, just open port 5060 or 4569 for UDP traffic.
Precompiled binaries, screenshots, etc, for Win32 and Linux and Mac OS X are here
AIM.
Macs have iChat, Windows users have the AIM standalone client, Linux has Gaim.
Sure, it may not be the most feature-filled, but its voice chat works.
... had differences of similar proportions. And you know how that relationship ended.
I'd call the whole thing off if I were you. As a Debian man you should really not be dating down at that level. *runs for cover*
I'm in the same situation as you: my girlfriend lives in Toronto and I'm here in the UK studying for my degree. I just bought a cheap IP phone here, plugged it into my router and bought another from a Canadian supplier and had it sent to her, with instructions to do the same.
Now we can call each other as often as we like, for as long as we like, for free. After a couple of weeks' usage, you'll have saved yourself the cost of the phones, in phone charges, many times over.
Get her Vonage service and a red Bat Phone. Tell her to call you on the Bat Phone.
Much more fun than mucking around with software on the computers.
+++OK ATH
http://www.research.earthlink.net/confmgr/ Earthlink has that software, its still beta. But it does video/audio on PC/Mac/*Nix