I am on the Megaconference mailing list and saw a request for recommendations for a linux based H.323 video conferencing application.
A Story
At ESnet sooooo many years ago, we had a lot of Linux / Unix users who were left out of videoconferencing that the rest of us, on Windows machines (don’t even talk about Mac’s, although XMeeting came along later too) participated in with no problems (well…..u know what I mean).
Then along cam e something called “GnomeMeeting”. We tried it and it worked! Not perfect, but, over time it got better and better. Our Linux / Unix customers could now connect to video meetings. And many of them got involved with improving the applications.
Back to the Present
Being gone from ESnet for 4 years now (yikes!) I was not sure the current status of Linux / Unix based video conferencing apps. So I did not reply to the request. Low and behold a few days later, William Haisch from the Omaha Public Schools answered. I asked William if he would mind me posting the information in his email, he said “Sure, that sounds swell”. So I will go him one better….here is his email detailing some of the latest Linux / Unix H.323 video conferencing apps.
Actually, not much has changed in the last 4 years. Interesting.
“For a Linux H.323/SIP client, I have heard of Ekiga (formerly named GnomeMeeting) but have not had the chance to test it thoroughly myself. Ekiga will suggest to add an ekiga.org identity but it can be ignored and an H.323 or SIP account can be added. It’s free so it may be worth a shot.
As for Macs, I have used successfully used xmeeting for connecting to Codian bridges and other H.323/SIP end points. I have been using version 0.4p2 for some time now with great success. xmeeting can utilize H.323 or SIP connections. You can get it from SourceForge (link below).
Also, most Windows XP/2000 machines have NetMeeting installed by default. The easiest way to launch it is by going to the Start button and going to Run and typing “conf.exe” into the run box. NetMeeting is H.323 only and was removed in Windows Vista and later. Ekiga has a version for Windows machines also.
Enjoy!
Ekiga: http://ekiga.org/
Xmeeting: http://sourceforge.net/projects/xmeeting/Wikipedia – Comparison of VoIP software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_VoIP_software
TechyMike: Technology Made Easy 