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Setting Up Video Conferences

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Situation

You want to run the video conference service (Internet telephony, voice over IP).

Preliminary remarks

The packages for video conference are included in the Professional Edition only. The standard open H.323, necessary for this service, is still being further developed and only point-to-point connections are possible at the moment. Establishing a connection with clients using MS Netmeeting 2.0 is possible, too.

Preparation

Install the required packages with YaST:

Package		Series	Description

openh323	n		OpenH323 library and examples
pwlib		n		pwlib     portable Windows library by Equivalence Pty. L
gppshare 	a		dynamic C++ libraries

and the necessary application(s) according to your needs:

Package		Series	Description

opengk    	n		OpenH323 gatekeeper
openphon  	n		Internet telephony program
ohphone   	n		Internet telephony application on H.323 B
openmcu   	n		H.323 controller for video conferences (MCU)
openam    	n		H.323 answering machine (for Internet telephony)
OpenH323  	n		gatekeeper

Integrate the "shared libraries" as described in "Installing Programs for Video Conference".Install and configure the required hardware:

  • full-duplex sound card with microphone/speakers or headset

  • TV card (video grabber) with an attached video camera

    or

  • WebCam (USB)

Implementation

We will show the way to implement the video conference service by taking the program "ohphone" from the homonymous package as a sample.

"ohphone -h" produces a list of the numerous options that can be activated with "ohphone". These options can be combined according to your needs.

Start "ohphone" by entering e.g.:

/opt/h323/contrib/bin/ohphone -l -a -v --ringfile ~/ring.wav -n --videotransmit --videolocal --videosize small --videoinput 1 --videoreceive x11 --g7231

This command can be simplified by saving the selected options in files (e.g. ~/ohphone_opt_01), whereby all options must appear on the same line (without carriage return). The command will look like this:

/opt/h323/contrib/bin/ohphone $(cat ~/ohphone_opt_01)

Then you obtain a command prompt and can either wait to be called or call someone yourself by entering: 

Command ? C tux@its_host

A list of all possible options will be displayed with:

Command ? ?
Select:
  0-9 : send user indication message
  C   : connect to remote host
  S   : Display statistics
  H   : Hang up phone
  L   : List speed dials
  D   : Create new speed dial
  {}  : Increase/reduce record volume
  []  : Increase/reduce playback volume
  V   : Display current volumes
  A   : turn AEC up/down
  E   : Turn silence supression on/off
  F   : Forward call calls to address
  X   : Exit program

You can finish the program with "X".

Sources:

  1. The OpenH323 Project: http://www.openh323.org/

  2. Voice Over IP, VoIP Howto:

    ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/howto/VoIP-HOWTO

See also:

Disclaimer

The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.

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