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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?"
This is generally good advice: stick to the standard protocols.
Note that VoIP (which is what's being asked about, even under the moniker "Voice Chat") does still have a multitude though: H.323/Q.931 is one (h.323 is mostly encoding, q.931 is mostly signalling. probably the most like the standard telco ss7 stack, but then it is an ITU standard), SIP (session initiation protocol) is another. MegaCo is another. There's more.
SIP and H.323 seem to be the big ones right now, although there's no de facto standard going yet. YMMV.
-transiit
I've used Gnomemeeting with this. Works great with my webcam. I also bought a webcam for my g/f when she moved away some time ago... It was well worth it.
I use it as well. Teamspeak is very handy for chating and gaming, and I also find it easy to set up. For a firewall you need to open port 8767 UDP on the client end, and that shouldn't be too hard.
On my linksys Wap11 go to the admin url http://192.168.1.1/ login with the passowrd (defaults to admin, or nothing I think..) then Advanced > forwarding > enter [name] Port (twice) check UDP, give the last octet of the IP address, then check enable. Confirm with "Apply" and its good to go.
I have to guess most home 'firewalls' will be similar to this. On top of that they have a very easy to use and administrate linux server as well! Best of luck to you.
- Kelerain
Please pay attention. The poster specifically listed MacOS support as a requirement. That rules out TeamSpeak, which only runs on Linux and Windows.
This being a standard protocol, these apps will communicate with each other. However, H.323 relies on UDP communication, which is always a problem with routers. Many routers (such as the 3Com OfficeConnect broadband router) come with built-in "NetMeeting support", ie. H.323 support.
Other applications I know about, but haven't tried: iVisit, Marratech, PictureTalk, vrvs (open source).
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?
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.
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