Cross-Platform, Simple Voice Chat Software? 58
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?"
Teamspeak? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Teamspeak? (Score:4, Informative)
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
Re:Teamspeak? (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:Teamspeak? (Score:5, Informative)
He could get GF an old PC. (Score:5, Informative)
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 [xten.com] software. Requires that you connect through someone's server. Free World Dialup was suggested to me.
For the PC, Skype [skype.com] 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?
Re:He could get GF an old PC. (Score:1)
Skype only needs a bootstrapper not a server.
If that bootstrap server is unreachable it tries to bootstrap over ips of people it was once connected to. Every other aspect of the tool is entrily P2P based.
If it can't establish a connection between you and your friend directly in both directions it will route the traffic over other people in the p2p network using encryption
Its an incredibly smart system, credit where credit is due.
Re:He could get GF an old PC. (Score:1)
OpenH323 (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:OpenH323 (Score:5, Informative)
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
Re:OpenH323 (Score:2)
-transiit
Re:OpenH323 (Score:2, Informative)
are you implying something? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:OpenH323 (Score:5, Informative)
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 [ivisit.com], Marratech [marratech.se], PictureTalk [pixion.com], vrvs [vrvs.org] (open source).
Re:OpenH323 (Score:2)
Re:OpenH323 (Score:2)
An approach for making sure the connections work is to make a VPN tunnel with, for example, OpenVPN [sf.net], which is cross-platform and not too painful to configure. I mention it because I feel like if I go with OpenVPN, I can be confident I will succeed, and not have to worry about things that are out of my control,
Re:OpenH323 (Score:2)
Re:OpenH323 (Score:1)
Re:OpenH323 (Score:1)
Re:OpenH323 (Score:1)
SquidCam (Score:4, Interesting)
Try Yahoo... (Score:5, Informative)
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
Re:Try Yahoo... (Score:1)
Re:Try Yahoo... (Score:3, Informative)
The client for Linux is available in RPM and Debs. There is also a Solaris/SPARC version available, but thats outside the scope of this app.
I have been using Yahoo a long time, I did not think the voice chat was available to the Linux version... My understanding was it was only available for the MacOSX and Windows versions (as is the webcam stuff).
Re:Try Yahoo... (Score:1)
Re:Try Yahoo... (Score:2)
Re:Try Yahoo... (Score:2)
Anyone else have experience with Ventrilo? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Anyone else have experience with Ventrilo? (Score:1)
Sory for my poor English...
Ventrilo isn't just windows (Score:1)
skip chat and go VoIP (Score:1, Insightful)
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 i [packet8.net]
skip chat and go VoIP (Score:3, Interesting)
Eventually we discovered Packet8 [packet8.net] 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.
Yet another OpenH323 Fan... (Score:4, Informative)
Like several of the others, I would recommend OpenH323 [openh323.org]. 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 [voicetronix.com] 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 [voipvoice.com] 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 [ipblue.com] 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.
Re:Yet another OpenH323 Fan... (Score:2)
Re:Yet another OpenH323 Fan... (Score:2)
Long distance relationships (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Check Mac Orchard (Score:2)
iaxComm (Score:2, Informative)
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 [sourceforge.net]
Romeo and Juliet.... (Score:2)
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*
Have you considered a pair of cheap IP phones? (Score:1)
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.
Re:Have you considered a pair of cheap IP phones? (Score:2)
Re:Have you considered a pair of cheap IP phones? (Score:1)
http://www.ipeya.com/SIP_Phone.html
It's the white one, really easy to set up. I don't know who actually supplies them over here, sorry =/ I just happened to be browsing eBay that day and there it was. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Use a phone (Score:1)
Much more fun than mucking around with software on the computers.
Earthlink Beta Software (Score:1)