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Cross-Platform Video Chat For Linux?
Ethan1701 writes "Some of my friends are using iChat to stay in touch and gap the distance of the Atlantic. I'm feeling left out on my Fedora Gnome based desktop. Is there a good program for Gnome that provides cross-platform instant messaging and video chat? This rules out Skype and aMSN, as well as any other app that's specific for the ICQ/AOL Network. Kopete is for KDE. Pidgin doesn't intend to develop video-chat, I haven't found a plugin for it that provides video, and Gaim-vv hasn't been developed in over two years and is so out of date that it's still going by Gaim and not Pidgin. Do Slashdot readers have an application that meets these needs? Maybe even one that surpasses iChat?"
http://www.ekiga.org/
Ekiga seems to do what you want, it has pretty good support for various kinds of webcams in Linux.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
Pidgin doesn't intend to develop video-chat
http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/GSoC2008/VoiceAndVideo
"Making good progress: it works"
So its coming along.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I think there is a text chat plug-in for lynx.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
It's cross platform and video chat definitely works, I don't see the submitters problem with it.
My UID is prime... is yours?
with at least some cameras. I got some $25 walmart webcam and it works on Skype with my cheapo linux laptop. If the submitter is really hankering for 'open source' and 'practical' and 'easy to use', then he/she is SOL - there's no good options that satisfy all those requirements.
creation science book
Empathy has video chat using jingle, it is compatible with Google Talk on windows (if you use Jabber). And it uses Telepathy, so it supports many many protocols. That said, Voice/Video are currently only supported for Jabber and SIP, there is ongoing work to make it work with MSN too.
The Pidgin-vv work is actually very much alive and you should see a release soon.
Empathy IM is worth mentioning. It's pretty basic right now, but it's been incorporated into the Gnome project and is developing rapidly. Check it out.
I don't understand.
I'm in Skype right now on my Fedora/KFCE laptop, talking with a friend in the Ukraine who is using Kubuntu and I just got off a conference with a few people in our office in California who use MacOSX and Windows Vista.
What am I missing about Skype that makes it unusable?
Just because it uses the KDE libraries doesn't mean you can't run it in Gnome (provided you have the KDE libraries)
You could always RDP or VNC to your Windows box
What windows box?
Mercury messenger is java based (and thus cross-platform) and uses MSN messenger service including webcam chat (I'm not sure about audio-only chat). I use it in Mac OS X and works quite decently, and it is available in with package installer for Mac OS X, deb (Debian/Ubuntu) and rpm (Fedora/Redhat/many Others), and it is also available as tgz. I'm not sure if it is open source, though. List of features (from their website): * Sign in with multiple accounts, Fast file transfering, Simultaneous sending & receiving webcam, Offline messaging, Extensive event notifications, User defined event actions, Single window (tabbed) conversations, Customizable contact list, Customizable message views, Custom status icons, Custom emoticons, Resource saving (Webcam streams, Display pictures, Emoticons), HTTP Proxy, Yahoo contacts, Audio/Video conference, Multi OS, Runs from USB stick, Language support Website: http://mercury.im/
Despite the fact you said "this rules out Skype", and asserted the KDE applications won't work for you, in fact, both Skype and KDE applications will run fine under Gnome.
I personally use Gkype under Gnome with zero problems, although I've only played with the video-conferencing features and not used them in earnest.
Use Kopete anyways? It won't kill you. Loading the libraries for both UI tool kits wont make your computer explode.
Just because an idea is popular doesn't make it right.
"I'm feeling left out"
:-)
Congratulations, you've just comprehended the whole of Apple's advertising strategy.
So what? It will work fine (though I don't know that it will do waht you want). It just won't match the rest of your desktop. With few exceptions KDE applications work fine on a Gnome "desktop" and vice-versa.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
how about if you bring your car to my mechanic shop. you say 'can i convert it to hybrid'. i say, 'well, no, but there are guys up in washington state who sell conversion kits'. 'is there a kit for my car'. 'well, no but, if we take a transmission just like yours and send it to them, they can fabricate a coupler.' "ok what about the battery box". 'well, thats in progress'.
Are you doing all this for me for free? If so, I should say "thank you" and not fucking complain.
How we know is more important than what we know.
http://www.openwengo.org/ Works well for me. Cross platform and works well for me.
When single shines the triple sun, What was sundered and undone, Behold! The two made one! ~Rubbs
Actually, that's an interesting point. Not that you actually need to be running Ubuntu, but if you're running any Linux desktop you should be able to do anything that's reported to be doable in Ubuntu. It might just take a little more elbow-grease.
What's the value of information that you don't know?
There is always an option of Getting a Mac. Sometimes sticking to your guns on some moral high ground has a cost as well. But depending on the technical level of your friends having them run an App so you can join in too may not work. As they may not use it. THey may be using iChat for AIM talking then they need to switch to a different app Which may not be as nice as iChat to talk to you. Will probably just become you doing a text chat while the others are using iChat for video. The more people you convince to use a different app the harder it gets.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
If you have a Yahoo account or aren't opposed to getting one, you could give GYachI a try ... it looks like it hasn't been worked on in almost two years, but video messaging works pretty well http://gyachi.sourceforge.net/
Is there a reason you haven't looked into Gizmo?
http://gizmo5.com/
Linux, Mac, Windows
Has video conferencing. Though, I do have to honestly say I don't know if it works on Linux (I hear other people raving about Gizmo, and its video conf. abilities, and they're linux users, so I assumed... so sorry if I'm leading you off on a wild goose chase).
That was the submitters problem with it, along with kopete, which also works well. Stupid I know.
Give the kid a break. He used a car analogy and everything. He's been doing his homework.
Your example is flawed. If someone says:
"there is a nail sticking out of the floor"
that's fine. But when someone says:
"it is completely unacceptable of you to have left this nail sticking out of the floor"
then the only acceptable response from the builder who provided the house for free is:
"go fuck yourself whiner"
In fact, a builder who had provided a house for free and just got complaints for his efforts would just stop building houses for free and that's what happens with many open source developers too. Which is why the rest of us, who are quite thankful for the selfless efforts of others, are standing there telling the whiner to shut the fuck up.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Step 1: Run Kopete.
Glad I could help. Let me know if you have any more questions.
For that Web 2.0 glamour, Meebo.com runs the popular IM services on a webpage and supports video chat via Adobe Flash and v4l/v4l2 support. http://meebo.com/
Who is doing that? Exactly? Can you point to a specific person?
Seems to me what really happens is that fanbois tout the superiority of their infatuation and then the developers cop the shit from people who can't tell the difference between who is speaking.
If you like the software, use it. If you want to be constructive and improve the software, you're welcome. If you just want to whine and complain, people are going to tell you to fuck right off..
How we know is more important than what we know.
This is a little more akin to your friend calling you up and saying:
FREE BEER AT THE PUB... sure it's crappy beer, but it's free.
And then you go drink it anyway.
That's the better analogy to poor FOSS.
None of the software is "snuck" up on you and you're always free to remove it.
That's VERY different for commercial software, where, often once you have paid, you can't un-pay.
And that sucks.
QuantumG, some of the things you say are reasonable, but sometimes you just lose the thread entirely and enter pure la la land. This is one such case.
Bad programming or bad design are sometimes excusable, for example when the developer has inadequate technical background or experience, but they are never defensible under any circumstances, regardless of whether the software is being produced for a multi-million dollar product or for a small non-commercial community project.
Excusing poor practice is reasonable because it can be remedied through dedication and experience, and both the project and the developer benefit in the process, as do the end users.
But defending poor practice is never reasonable, because it doesn't help the developer to learn to do better, it results in friction within its own community (since other developers and the more clued up users know that things could be better), and it obviously doesn't help end users at all.
What's more, your "if you want it done differently, then do it" advice is at best a recipe for forking, which is never a good idea unless the current project leadership is completely beyond the pale, and at worst it's nothing more than a brush-off. It achieves nothing at all, beyond giving the bad developer a get-home-free card.
Making your personal project into a FOSS one doesn't come burdened with many responsibilities, but it does carry one: to act reasonably on behalf of your users, and that includes acting upon their suggestions --- yes, even some of the whiny ones because where there is smoke there is also usually fire. Putting yourself beyond criticism and beyond appeal for change is not a responsible attitude, and defending the unresponsive developer and/or his bad practice is itself the height of irresponsibility to the users of a project.
Whether the software is offered for free or not is completely immaterial to the above. Poor software is poor software, regardless of cost, and is indefensible.
Since you've defended your position on "the right of crap developers to be crap because they're not paid" over several iterations, I don't expect you to see the light now. But I'm afraid you're dead wrong, and just showing yourself to lack good judgement.
Technically its for the physics community, but its free and everything you're looking for.
Try http://evo.caltech.edu./
Is written in Java Web Start so its about as cross platform as you can find. It seems to work with most video cameras and microphones. It also features the following:
-Group Chats
-Screen Sharing
-Whiteboard
-Hard line call in to call from a phone line
Its for the physics community, so try not to abuse it. It should be fine if you just use it to chat.
Science will save us. The question is, will it destroy us first?
It seems most people seem to ignore the fact that the submitter wants something AOL IM specific.. I can understand that, but haven't found anything like that.. The easy solution (ignoring the parameters like everyone else).. would be for the Windows side to use MSN Messenger, and the Linux side to use aMsn.. as MSN is a no brainer for the windows users, and aMsn supports webcams.
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
OK, here's my counter-counter-analogy.
A friend of yours gives you a toy that he made himself, for you to give to your kid. Unfortunately, the toy consists partially of broken glass, rusty nails, and a rabid badger. You smile, nod, and say "thank you," and as soon as your friend isn't looking, toss the toy into the rubbish bin.
A week later, you're talking to some friends and say, "you know, I really need to get a toy for my kid. He's bored of his old one, and he needs something for his next stage in cognitive development." The friend of yours who gave you the glass and nails and badger... thing... happens to be walking by, overhears you, and says, "well, what was wrong with the wonderful toy I gave him last week? I put a lot of time and energy into it!" You say, "I really don't want a lacerated, tetanus-infected rabid kid, but thanks anyway." Your friend says, "you damn ingrate! Go f*** yourself!" and walks away in a huff.
Um, that's what this is like.
Maybe you should lay off the crack.
How we know is more important than what we know.
QuteCom runs well on a number of platforms.
The following platforms has a status of "good":
In addition, as of five months ago:
I trust prebuilt binaries for all the platforms are coming soon.
Trusted Computing FAQ | Free Dawit Isaak!
Life endangering toy.
'Broken' instant messaging software.
Not the same thing.
Sorry, but your analogy is completely fucking wrong. The base gripe here is apparently that people are complaining because Pidgin, an instant messaging program, doesn't have voice/video capabilities. So let's make a different analogy, going back to the original one about building a free house:
If someone says, "this house doesn't have a garage" that's fine.
But if someone says, "it is completely unacceptable that you built this house without a garage," then the only acceptable response from the builder who built the house for FREE is "go fuck yourself whiner."
Relating Pidgin's lack of voice/video support to having some nail sticking up in a house is just wrong. That implies that there's something wrong. Saying it is missing something is another thing altogether... as long as those requesting the feature understand that the developers are working on it FOR FREE.
Sanity is like a condom: rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.