Webcams And Video Conferencing

Getting Started

You've heard about it everywhere, but you don't have a clue how to do it with your new Mandrake Linux system: videoconferencing. We will show you how to do video (and audio) conferencing using your webcam and GnomeMeeting. We will discuss USB webcams since the parallel models are really old and do not have the image quality of USB devices.

Tip

Before buying your new webcam, it would be a good idea to see if it's supported under GNU/Linux. Refer to Linux USB and to the excellent Linux USB device overview web sites for more information on USB webcams.

Note

You need to install the gnomemeeting package because it is not installed by default. Please refer to Chapter 21, RpmDrake: Package Management for more information on package installation.

The hardware setup is very easy. Just plug your webcam in an empty USB slot and it will be automatically recognized and configured. You should see this icon appear on your desktop with a legend like GnomeMeeting /dev/v4l/video0 underneath it; if not, you can run it choosing Applications+Communications->GnomeMeeting from the main menu. Do not forget to connect your microphone and speakers to the proper place on your sound card.

When GnomeMeeting is run for the first time, a configuration wizard appears which will guide you through the setup process. Use the Forward and Back buttons to move through the wizard's pages.

Tip

You can access the wizard later from within GnomeMeeting by choosing Edit->Configuration Druid from its menu.

The configuration options of the wizard are self-explanatory, so fill in the fields, advance through it till you get to its last page and click on the Apply button to close the wizard.

To be able to communicate with your friends using NetMeeting (or other H.323/ILS compatible software), you will need to configure the directory settings by choosing Edit->Preferences... from the menu and opening the Directory Settings sub-section of the General settings.

Tip

The ils.seconix.com directory is a free service. If you want to use other directories, take a look at the Videofrog ILS Scanner web site.

Figure 13.18. GnomeMeeting's Main Window

GnomeMeeting's Main Window

This icon appears in GNOME's or KDE's panel whenever GnomeMeeting is run, and can be used to control GnomeMeeting by right clicking on it.

On the left side of the main window you have the toolbar with a few buttons. The first three are:

Table 13.2. GnomeMeeting's Toolbar Buttons

Opens/closes the ILS window to find and connect with friends registered on ILS.
Opens/closes the text chat window on the right side of GnomeMeeting's main window so you can chat with the remote party you are currently connected to. Just type the text you want in the Send Message field and press Enter.
Opens/closes the control panel at the bottom of GnomeMeeting's main window where you can see communications statistics (lost/late packets, delay and jitter), the “dialpad” from where you can call memorized URLs, and the audio and video settings panels.

In the control panel's audio tab you can use the sliders to set the speaker and microphone levels as shown in Figure 13.19.

Figure 13.19. Setting Audio Levels for GnomeMeeting

Setting Audio Levels for GnomeMeeting

In the control panel's video tab you can adjust the following video parameters (from top to bottom):

  • Brightness level. The higher the value, the brighter the image will be.

  • The level of white. This tells the video device which signal level should be considered “white”.

  • The color level. This adjusts the amount of color the image from your camera will display. It might have no effect with certain cameras/light conditions.

  • The contrast level. With the lighting conditions found in a typical office the contrast is normally set to zero.

Figure 13.20. Setting Video Levels for GnomeMeeting

Setting Video Levels for GnomeMeeting

Example video settings are shown in Figure 13.20. Please note that for the most part, these settings are automatically configured when GnomeMeeting starts up based on the lighting conditions of the environment and your webcam.

Connecting with Another User

Figure 13.21. Video Conferencing with a Remote Party

Video Conferencing with a Remote Party

To connect directly (end-to-end, no servers) to another user, you need to input a callto:// or h323:// URL with the remote user's host or IP address and, optionally, the port in the pull-down list at the top of GnomeMeeting's main window. Then click on the button on the right (the one with the plug). If the connection succeeds and the remote party accepts your call, right-click on the video window and select Remote Video to see only the remote party, Both (Local Video Incrusted), meaning yourself and the remote party video within the same window, as shown in Figure 13.21 or Both (Local Video In New Window) to have yourself and the remote party in different windows.

GnomeMeeting supports both callto:// and h323:// URLs. They can be used to communicate with users through a “gatekeeper” server (just input the URL in the pull-down list at the top of GnomeMeeting's main window and click on the button on the right) and callto:// URLs can also be used to make icons to call those users directly from your desktop, although this last feature was available only for GNOME at press time.

Connecting with ILS (NetMeetingTM) Users

You can use GnomeMeeting to connect to an ILS server and video conference with people using NetMeetingTM or other compatible software.

Click on this button or choose Tools->Addressbook from the menu to open the ILS directory window and click on Find to update the list of available users connected to that ILS server, as shown in Figure 13.22.

Figure 13.22. Finding People on ILS Servers

Finding People on ILS Servers

Select the search criteria in the pull-down list at the bottom and fill the field at its right, then click on the Find button. Once you have found the person you want to communicate with, double-click on them to initiate the call. You can change ILS servers in the Servers tree in the left part of the window.