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Video Conferencing on Linux

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

Video conferencing on Linux is a two-step task. First set up your webcam (see next article). Then install a video-conferencing application. A package called GnomeMeeting provides MS NetMeeting like video conferencing facility on Linux, and can connect to other users having either GnomeMeeting or NetMeeting. To install it, change to the directory cdrom/linux/videocon and install the RPMs as:

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rpm —ivh pwlib-1.2.5-2.i386.rpm



rpm —ivh openh323-1.7.4-1.i386.rpm


rpm —ivh gnomemeeting-0.12.2-1.i386.rpm 










While installing the last RPM if you get dependency errors related to libcrypto.so.2, libssl.so.2 and libz.so.1, use the
--nodeps as::

rpm —ivh gnomemeeting-0.12.2-1.i386.rpm --nodeps



Next, issue:





ln -s /usr/lib/libcrypto.s o.1 /usr/lib/libcrypto.so.2





ln -s /usr/lib/libssl.so.1 /usr/lib/libssl.so.2 











Start X Window, and in a terminal window within X, issue gnomemeeting to launch it. Click on ‘Settings’ menu and then ‘Device Settings’. Type in /dev/ video0 for the ‘Video Device’ file. Under Codecs>Codecs Settings, click on the push button labeled ‘Video Transmission’. In the ‘User Settings’ enter your name, e-mail address, etc. In the main window, clicking on the ‘eye’ icon will enable your webcam. Right click on the display and select ‘Remote’ to see the remote display or ‘Both’ to see local as well as remote display. Click on the ‘speaker’ icon to enable ‘audio’ transmission. 

Doing it



In ‘Host’ field enter the IP address of the user’s machine–with whom you want to videoconference, and click Connect. The remote user running Gnome- Meeting or NetMeeting will receive a call request. Alternatively, if the remote user initiates a connection, you will see a popup window titled Incoming call. Click on the Connect button. Click on the ‘forward’ and ‘backward’ buttons to see the audio/video settings. To video conference over the Internet, you’ll need the IP address of the remote user’s machine. This is where ILS (Internet Location Service) servers come into play. You can register yourself with this online directory type service through Settings>ILS Settings> Register. To search for other registered users, click on the ‘ILS Directory’ icon in the main window. In the Window, select a server from the drop down list and press enter. You can also use the ‘Search Filter’ to find users based on their name, email or location. To chat with a user, right click on his name and select ‘Call This User’. 

Shekhar Govindarajan

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