PCQLinux 2007 Appliance Edition (Collaboration) bundles a free (and open
source) product called WebHuddle.
WebHuddle allows you to have online, Web browser based presentations
(PowerPoint, OpenOffice Impress presentations), voice conferencing and even
application presentation by showing off your desktop to others. Using the
latter, you can share, to the meeting attendees, your computer's desktop. Note
that the other attendees cannot use your desktop, but only see it. Alongside,
during a Web meeting, one can chat, ask/answer to questions and host polls. All
these happen in almost real time and require only a Web browser (IE or Firefox)
with Java plugin (refer to the box Setting up Java Plugin on Windows and Linux).
Let's jump right into the nitty-gritties of running this appliance with
WebHuddle on your network, for your customers/clients.
Set up a meeting
Start the Collaboration appliance as explained in the article Using WebHuddle
Appliance. Login as root. Change to the directory /opt/webhuddle/bin and start
the Webhuddle as:
cd /opt/webhuddle/bin
./run.sh
Wait for a minute to let WebHuddle start. Set up the Java plugin on one or
more of the desktop machines running Windows/ Linux on your network and fire the
Web browser with the URL http:// 192.168.3.16:8080/. Substitute 192.168.3.17
with the IP address that you assigned to the appliance (refer to the article
Using WebHuddle Appliance). Click on Accept, OK or Continue for all pop-up
alerts (related to SSL certificate) you see while working on WebHuddle. You
should be greeted by the main page of WebHuddle. To set up a meeting, you will
first need to register and login to the system. Click on Login link on the top
right. Then click on 'Don't have an account? Register here!' to regiter for an
account. The password will be mailed to the e-mail address you specified during
registration. Alternatively, if the e-mail could not be sent, the password will
be shown to you along with an error saying that the password could not be
mailed.
Next, click on the login link and fill in the username (the e-mail address
which you specified during registration) and the password (sent to the e-mail
address or shown along with the error message). Upon login, you can click on
Profile link (at the top) and change the password to your preferred one. If you
want to present a PowerPoint presentation during the Web meet, click on Upload
link at the top. In the subsequent page, type in any name for the Content Name,
say Presentation1.
Click on Browse and select the PowerPoint file to upload. Click on submit.
Type in a meeting room password, which will be used by the participants to join
the Web meeting.
Start the meeting
Click on the 'Begin Meeting' link at the top. Fill in any name and description
of the meeting. From the dropdown labeled 'Meeting Scripting', select
Presentation1 (the Content Name that you specified while uploading the
PowerPoint file). Click on Submit.
Note: All the appliances that have been shipped with |
After a couple of seconds, you will see some Java pop ups. Click on Run or
Yes on these pop ups.
Subsequently, you will see the WebHuddle meeting space where you can flip
through the presentation slides, show your desktop and chat with the meeting
participants.
Invite others to join
You can send e-mails to the meeting participants with the URL to the WebHuddle
along with your e-mail address (which you specified during registration)
and the meeting room password (specified on the 'Begin Meeting' page). A
standard e-mail could be as follows:
Dear xxx,
We have hosted a Web meet for today's presentation. Please access the meeting
room using the following URL:
https://192.168.3.16:8443/enterroom.do?action=setToken
Meeting Host's email address:
Meeting password:
When the participants click on the URL in the e-mail, they will be shown a
page with a form, which will prompt them to enter their name, their e-mail,
meeting host's e-mail address (given out in the e-mail) and meeting password
(given out in the e-mail). Once they fill up the form and click on the Submit,
the meeting place will also open in front of them. The second pane on the right
will show you the names of the participants in the meeting as they join in.