Audio Conferencing Using Linux? 9
Jon Scobie asks: "I work for a small consultancy company with no fixed abode. Our guys are generally based at a clients premises or at home. We try to use technology to make the business work but one stumbling block I've come up against is the ability to do audio conferencing without buying expensive hardware solutions. Basically, we have a Linux server on the net which provides us with web facilites, email, groupware etc. but I can not find a solution on Linux for providing software audio conferencing. It doesn't have to be free, just a resonable price. There is only one solution which I can find (from a company called CUSeeMe) but the price is outragious. Is there something out there which I can't find or is there a gap in the market here for someone to exploit?" If just basic communication is what is necessary, why not run an IRC server, instead of hacking together a (potentially) expensive audio conferencing solution? You can use any internet connection and IRC software for a wide variety of platforms is available, and you can communicate to your co-workers from wherever you can dial-in from. With that suggestion aside, what audio conferencing software is available for your flavor of Unix?
The required links . . . (Score:3)
http://www.google.com/search?q=audio+conferencing
Don't mean to be an ass, but the search turns up a lot of good stuff. (You should check freshmeat too . .
what about 3-way calling? (Score:2)
I would imagine that 3-way calling could be expanded to be n-way calling for a few more bucks a month.
that way you don't have to depend on various internet connections just to talk.
A hack to shoutcast protocol? (Score:3)
Bandwidth is obviously a concern but if you stream with the bitrate to suit the lowest common denominator you should be alright.
Also I might add, PCM encoded files are smaller than the equivalent MP3 for voice communication so if you can get PCM files to stream over shoutcast you might be better off, then again maybe you want full stereo sound?
Hmm... (Score:2)
You've probably used it a few times already.
They make small portable versions of this thing now, which might be useful for employees in the field.
You can also find them on most streetcorners and on the walls of gas stations and other buildings.
I'll be god-damned if I can remember the name at the moment though...
- A.P.
--
Forget Napster. Why not really break the law?
Re:Hmm... (Score:1)
We tried that, but we kept getting the signals all wrong... One user would send an SOS but at the same time someone else would send APPLE so what we were getting was SOAP which obvioulsy didn't make sense. And that was just 3-way morsing! So we got smart and thought we would use this new fangled "internet". We discoverd the morse program for Linux and it helped us along the way to making the whole thing work well. Below is a description of how we did it.
First off since we are out in the middle of nowhere we could not find an ISP, good thing for RFC1149. So we would first write out our message and save it in a queue for sending later. Then we would run: cat queue/message.txt | morse | pigeonware -s; This would then print out the PPP message generated by pigeonware and we would attach it to our carrier pigeon and it would then be sent to the destination. And so on....
Oh, you didn't by chance mean the telephone did you?
Audio Conferencing Tools (Score:2)
There is a suite of free university-developed multicast enabled tools that are time tested and have been in use since 1992. Research rat (robust audio tool) [freshmeat.net] and sdr (session directory) on Freshmeat or Google.
There is also a suite of point-to-point H.323 audio conferencing tools called openh323 which you can find more information out at www.openh323.org [openh323.org]. It provides great interoptability with Windows products (Intel, iPhone and Microsoft NetMeeting) as well and can use cisco Systems Voice over IP gatekeepers if you want to link your phone system trunks in.
That should get you started! Have fun!
-Pat
Robust Audio Tool? (Score:2)
Open Source Voice Chat (Score:1)
speakfreely.org (Score:1)