Having recently started to play with webcams and videoconferencing applications in order to stay in touch with distant relatives, I wondered what other users' experiences have been like? I have played with several applications that work in some but not all situations and wonder what the best approach is that make getting going quick easy and simple in Fedora-based Linux system. Of course the first obstacle to be overcome is to find a supported camera. I chose a camera that needs the pwc module which is already in the kernel, which means the camera is plugged in an immediately recognised by the system. Then any v4l app will use it straight away. I wanted to be able to talk to family members across the miles, so which application is best. 1) ekiga - it works nicely but only if you have "cone NAT" detected otherwise there are not very nice firewall issues to contend with. If both parties have asymmetric NAT it works well. 2) wengo - still in development but it does work - though sound can be iffy and there is minimal access to video control 3) mebeam - (www.mebeam.com) a very nice web based flash application being developed by Ashod Apakian, and his company, in Australia. Works very well and does not need any messing with firewalls, or indeed installing software! But are there any security implications? I have come across other applications (that I have not tried!) such as: Marratech which is linked to Google. http://www.marratech.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2122 http://www.marratech.com/ vmukti http://www.vmukti.com/meeting-place/vmukti-meeting-place.html vic http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/vic-15140.shtml# ray http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Internet/HTTP-WWW-/Ray-30707.shtml qnext http://www.qnext.com/video_conferencing.shtml http://help.qnext.com/topics/personalizing/setting_picture/ Which of these, if any, actually work and work easily and well in an up to date F7 system? There seems to be little discussion about video conferencing or chat in Fedora list but would be worth finding out if there are users who have working systems but are staying quiet in the forums.
