Cross-Platform Video Chat For Linux? 338
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I haven't found a plugin for it that provides video, and Gaim-vv hasn't been developed in over two years and is so out of date that it's still going by Gaim and not Pidgin.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?"
Ekiga (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.ekiga.org/ [ekiga.org]
Ekiga seems to do what you want, it has pretty good support for various kinds of webcams in Linux.
Re:Ekiga (Score:5, Informative)
I've had good luck with Ekiga on Linux, but my friends that use windows have stability problems with it.
It will stop sending audio, and after one call can not make anymore without the system being restarted( this is on Vista though so who knows the cause ).
Re:Ekiga (Score:5, Informative)
I'll second this. While I've found Ekiga in Linux to be reliable, friends who have used the Windows version (in WinXP) have suddenly found themselves transmitting high-pitched loud squeaks.
Re:Ekiga (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Could be, I guess friends shouldn't let friends use windows!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Same here; most everyone with whom I've tried to communicate complains of high-pitched squeaks (both in-bound and out-bound). I'm using Debian Lenny/Sid and they're using WinXP SP2. :\
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
And why would your friends with windows be using ekiga? gnome-meeting (now ekiga) always used to call directly into windows netmeeting. they don't need ekiga
Re:Ekiga (Score:4, Informative)
I think I may be missing the point of this question - how does this rule out Skype?
I use it with my Logitech webcam on Linux and it seems to do just fine... I can even talk to people on Macs. And Windows when their machines are working/not full of viruses and spyware and such.
Perhaps I'm blind or misreading something, but I don't see SIP client specified anywhere in the original question.
Re:Ekiga (Score:5, Informative)
I've had good luck with Ekiga on Linux, but my friends that use windows have stability problems with it.
The thing is that Ekiga is an SIP client, so there is no need for the other party to be using the same program (yay for standards-based interop!).
Ekiga works well for me under Linux, and there is a vast choice of (free as in beer) SIP clients for Windows.
It is worth to note that ekiga.net can provide SIP account (and STUN server) for free.
No reason not to go for it, then (;
Re: (Score:2)
If it wasn't that he ask for the impossible with his cross platform requirements as well, rendering amsn, skype, gizmo, ekiga, kopete (don't ask me why but obviously it did), x-lite and probably a couple of other clients out of the question (I think I knew one for Gnome to but I can't remember the name.)
Personally I'd be happy enough if there was one client doing SIP + XMPP + jingle VoIP and webcam.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ekiga (Score:5, Insightful)
Some of these (Ekiga at least), use open protocols that allow interoperation with people using different clients on other platforms, some are cross-platform themselves (Ekiga, Skype), some use propreitray protocols to allow inter-operation (aMSN, GYachi).
If you ask a question, state what the actual problem is!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The cross-platform requirement just doesn't seem to make sense. That's what standards are for.
Re:Ekiga (Score:5, Informative)
Gnome seems to be adopting Empathy ( http://live.gnome.org/Empathy [gnome.org] ) as their default messaging application (they used to use Gossip). Empathy includes voice and video support (although I've never got it to work myself), so it seems unclear at the moment if Ekiga will remain part of Gnome.
As a side note, I've never got Ekiga to work either, but this is something to do with NAT traversal which doesn't seem to work even after forwarding the ports given in the documentation.
Re:Ekiga (Score:5, Funny)
Patience (Score:5, Informative)
Pidgin doesn't intend to develop video-chat
http://developer.pidgin.im/wiki/GSoC2008/VoiceAndVideo [pidgin.im]
"Making good progress: it works"
So its coming along.
Re: (Score:2)
Voice and Video also supposedly worked when it was Gaim about 4 years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
A lot of shit has changed in 4 years dude. The protocols, codecs and chat networks are all different.
Re:Patience (Score:5, Informative)
4 years ago, it mostly worked. Gaim said merge the fork back in, and we'll finish it. Except I watched SVN and the whole branch was dusty and ignored for years, despite being the most requested feature. One could argue that the fork accomplished what Gaim couldn't, and merging the fork back in killed it.
It is a GSOC student who is putting the feature in now, not the core Gaim/Pidgin devs, which says something. Years later, a student did it part time over the summer, where as a large team couldn't begin to touch it for years.
Re:Patience (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, personally, I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot barge pole. Getting text to work with these stupid undocumented protocols is hard enough. I imagine getting video to work is pulling your hair out work.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
True, but one could contend the protocol market is easier now than it was 4 years ago. Goolge uses Jabber, and so does AOL, which used to frequently change their protocol to screw with third party clients. I know Pidgin supports tons of protocols but AOL/Google/Microsoft/Yahoo are the big ones. Two of those are much easier to support now.
Re: (Score:2)
Though what have been done is voip and video for XMPP which isn't undocumented.
Re: (Score:2)
They could at least get it to work with XMPP (i.e., Jabber), though!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The fork was started by contributors to Gaim. Many of them lost interest and time in maintaining the fork, which is why it was encouraged that the improvements get merged back into Gaim so that a larger pool of developers could work on them. That merge never happened and the code bitrotted because there was no agreement that it was what we wanted it to be.
The biggest problem had been deciding what software to use for the backend, and ultimately gstreamer with farsight has been chosen.
The version of Gaim-v
Re: (Score:2)
Re:any idea how many times ive seen that phrase? (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Give the kid a break. He used a car analogy and everything. He's been doing his homework.
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Wrong attitude. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Life endangering toy.
'Broken' instant messaging software.
Not the same thing.
Re: (Score:2)
Which is hilarious. There's actually people out there who 1) can't code 2) are too cheap to buy proprietary software and 3) still bitch and moan that they can't get what they want. It's a beautiful generation.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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..
Wrong attitude ... about engineering (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Real men chat in ascii (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Real men chat in ascii (Score:5, Funny)
works ok if you look your best in ascii encoded video I guess ;)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It's more plausible than you may think. If any of the current video chat frameworks use SDL for their output, you can use SDL's AALib output driver. It will automagically mogrify your video into text, live!
Here's the FAQ entry on it: http://www.libsdl.org/faq.php?action=listentries&category=3#30 [libsdl.org]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Skype (Score:5, Informative)
It's cross platform and video chat definitely works, I don't see the submitters problem with it.
Re:Skype (Score:5, Informative)
Skype 1 doesn't do Video on Linux, but I'm pretty sure it works with Skype 2 and above on Linux.
Also Kopete is cross-platform these days with binaries on Solaris, BSD, Mac, Windows and Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Skype (Score:5, Informative)
but I'm pretty sure it works with Skype 2 and above on Linux
Yeah, I think the submitter could have skipped Ask Slashdot if he had RTFW. I use Skype to video chat with a Mac, an n810, and my daughter's eeePC (pink, of course).
If you want to dismiss Skype on the grounds that they're rabidly anti-GPL, fine, but that wasn't a requirement.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah but does it work with a black eeepc?
Re:Skype (Score:5, Insightful)
Skype works fine in Linux, with Video.
I use it all the time (with video) on my Acer Aspire One (similar to the Asus EEE) with Linpus Linux (which is a Fedora deriverative running XFCE).
I have also used it in Ubuntu and Kubuntu with video, without problems.
I'm still not sure the OP's gripe with Skype.
Re: (Score:2)
Also Kopete is cross-platform these days with binaries on Solaris, BSD, Mac, Windows and Linux.
So what's the problem with using Kopete in GNOME again?
"Kopete is for KDE" is like saying "Firefox is for GNOME". To be fair, Firefox isn't as tied to GNOME, and could be ported to Qt, whereas Kopete almost certainly links in KDElibs -- but that's no reason you can't use it, unless you're severely low on RAM.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Actually Nokia is currently working on a QT port of Firefox. And you can use Kopete in GNOME as you mentioned.
Re: (Score:2)
Kopete is also not KDE-only on Linux... yes, you do need to install some of the KDE libraries, but I'm using it under XFCE for the simple reason that Pidgin is not to my liking.
Re:Skype (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Skype (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also compatible with nothing else, all code are unknown and it's proprietary like shit. Also you will have no idea what happens on the network and your communications is sent over P2P.
Greeeeat!!! / Tony.
Re: (Score:2)
except you have no idea what P2P means in this case.
It doesn't mean "flung out in the internet to a thousand hosts who redirect it to the recipient.". It means you (a peer) communicate directly with your friend (also a peer). Peer to Peer. P2P. Get it?
IRC "DCC Send" is a P2P protocol.
And the upside of using skype is they've done a lot of work towards getting around NAT problems, including using their own servers as a relay / third party initiator of UDP traffic to get the packets flowing through your ga
It's not GNOME (Score:3, Informative)
That was the submitters problem with it, along with kopete, which also works well. Stupid I know.
Re: (Score:2)
I can't speak for the submitter, but Skype is not an open protocol, which disqualifies it for me. I would go with H.323 or SIP, both of which are supported by Ekiga.
Re:Skype (Score:4, Insightful)
Please be kind enough and show us something that has an open protocol, works as p2p, not proprietary, has 12 million people online and is not being blocked/traffic shaped by your ISP ?
Just maybe, i mean really, just maybe, there is a reason why skype doesn't want everyone on their cake party ?
You also have the option to check out msn's protocol which horribly abused by bots to spread scam and malware, or take a peek at most open source chat clients who's userbase is comparable with the number of students in some major college.
I just see why skype does things the way it does, i'm not saying that it's 100% right, but it is one of the best options out there today.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
``Please be kind enough and show us something that has an open protocol, works as p2p, not proprietary, has 12 million people online and is not being blocked/traffic shaped by your ISP ?''
Why all those requirements? I thought we were talking about video chat and not leaving people out. The best way I know to accomplish that is to use an open protocol that does video chat. The requirement for doing video chat should be obvious. The requirement for openness is so that nobody is left out. Because that's what c
Skype video chat works on linux... (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Empathy (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:4, Informative)
Skype (Score:5, Informative)
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?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The AIM part. The guy is interested mostly in IM video chat, not Skype or Ekiga SIP.
Re:Skype (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Skype (Score:4, Insightful)
Many people in China really like the controls on internet access that exist here.
And others don't like the control of the net in China. Thousands there were protesting. Heck a reporter, working for CNN I think, was detained when he was reporting on some protesters. Others find ways around the filters. Just because some have no problem with the Great Firewall of China [google.com] doesn't mean others don't have a problem with it.
She was very skeptical of the unrestricted access that exists in the west with concerns that it would be easy to be lied to if you have no way if knowing who you are talking to.
I'd ask if her if she thought lies couldn't be told with government control. The government could lie all it wants if it controls all media. A free press supposed to be one of the checks on government.
Falcon
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=961481&cid=24971661 [slashdot.org]
It's not compatible with anything else or uses some standard for anything, it has an encrypted binary of which the code is unknown, it uses encrypted network connections so you don't know what's going on there either, it sends your data around using P2P.
Imho it's the worst kind of IM client there is, except it works.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Imho it's the worst kind of IM client there is, except it works.
/begin{flamebait} /end{flamebait}
And this is precisely what's annoying with people that put principle ahead of practicality. Software is instructions for a computer to do a useful task, not a platform for grand theoretical bullshit. It exists precisely for the purpose of working. If it doesn't work for the intended purpose (e.g. DRM-encumbered nonsense), it's not useful software. If it does work, I give less than a shit about the other attributes.
Re: (Score:2)
You can use Kopete in Gnome (Score:2, Informative)
Just because it uses the KDE libraries doesn't mean you can't run it in Gnome (provided you have the KDE libraries)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
While non-KDE Qt programs themselves load just as fast as their GTK+ counterparts, KDE libraries tend to take about 7-10 seconds to load in GNOME. To make matters worse, most of the time there is no visible activity while loading takes place, making it look like the program never launched.
Mercury Messenger (Java-based client for MSNMSGR) (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mercury Messenger (Java-based client for MSNMSG (Score:2)
I'd much rather use aMSN or even more so future aMSN2 then mercury. Try it out, it runs on OS X to, much slower than Adium obviously but anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
Is there any chance you get this with Swing?
I really hate Java, especially the toolkit...
Skype and KDE applications run fine under Gnome (Score:3, Informative)
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 it anyways. (Score:2, Funny)
Feeling left out (Score:5, Insightful)
Congratulations, you've just comprehended the whole of Apple's advertising strategy.
Kopete is for KDE. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Open Wengo has always worked for me... (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
I tried openwengo, but you can't register an account anymore or am I missing something? When I try to do so, it says that this service is temporarily unavailable.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
xmeeting (Score:2)
FYI you may want to look at xmeeting type things. xmeeting is for windows and os x, but it's h.323, and is compatible with other h.323 video systems. It works great with polycoms for example. (ichat I hear is also h.323 but isn't cross-compatible for god-knows-what-reason) There's gotta be an h.323 compatible something for linux.
Note that you will lose some of the frills like buddy lists, text chat, etc, but you do sometimes get new toys... with xmeeting for example, you can aim/zoom the remote polycom.
Tokbox is awesome (Score:2)
Seconding Tokbox.
Use it through Meebo.com
feeling left out.. (Score:2)
You can Get a Mac. (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
In that case isn't it just much smarter to install Windows on the computer he already have if anything?
Also iChat sucks balls, it looks like trash and don't support MSN at all so who cares if it does AIM video? Over here in Sweden no one seems to use ICQ or AIM longer and everyone use MSN and Skype. So I use Adium until I find an application which does SIP + XMPP with jingle webcam+voip. If I would use iChat I would have to run MSN over XMPP transport and try to convince everyone to install aim for webcam.
GYachI (Score:2, Informative)
Gap the Atlantic? (Score:2)
I do not think that word means what you think it means. [merriam-webster.com]
Gizmo (Score:2, Informative)
Is there a reason you haven't looked into Gizmo?
http://gizmo5.com/ [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).
How to run Kopete in Gnome (Score:5, Funny)
Step 1: Run Kopete.
Glad I could help. Let me know if you have any more questions.
Meebo (Score:5, Informative)
Since most can't read.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You could always RDP or VNC to your Windows box
What windows box?
Re: (Score:2)
Digsby is unavailable for Linux.
Re: (Score:2)
Webpage doesn't mention webcam, voip, ..
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Re: (Score:2)
... is Windows only, and VengoPhone crashes immediately on my mac.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
QuteCom runs well on a number of platforms [qutecom.org].
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.
Re: (Score:2)
Secondary SIP account support is broken ftm though, at least in the OS X-version, so for me it's useless as a SIP client, for everything else adium is much better so until that is fixed there is no gizmo for me.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't see to do webcam, also it was written in Java and eventually it does all protocols over XMPP transports? In that case why not just use gtalk or something such and don't be bothered with Java?