Re: [Ekiga-list] Using ekiga 3 in "real life"

[yannick <sevmek free fr>]

Le samedi 17 janvier 2009 à 15:10 +0100, Lionel Dricot a écrit :
> Hello Ekiga users,

Hi Lionel,

> 
> Next week, my girlfriend will take off for a 6 months Erasmus and I
> want to stay in touch with her so I'm trying to configure Ekiga. She's
> using Ubuntu and I have two choices :
> - Using Ekiga 2 from Ubuntu repositories
> - Using Ekiga 3 from the sevmek PPA
> We both have an ekiga.net account.

I made the package on this PPA, it is out of date and I do not have much
time to rule out a new one for 3.0.2 at the moment.

If she is using 8.10, she probably should upgrade to 3.0.1 using this
PPA:
https://launchpad.net/~tlbdk/+archive

> 
> I've two webcams that she can use :
> - a Trust WB-3400T ( SN9C1xx PC camera under Ekiga 2 )  = "big webcam"
> - another smaller Trust which is marked as CIF Single Chip in ekiga 2
> = "small webcam"
> 
> For the network, I can configure my router so my IP is in the DMZ but
> it's out of question that my girlfriend do the same. I have no idea on
> what type of connection she will have there.
> 
> 
> 
> I've done several tests and :
> 
> Webcams :
> - big webcam driver is a bit buggy under every applications : very
> slow framerate (but it has nothing to do with Ekiga)

Do you know which driver this webcam is using? Sometimes there is some
tricks to improve framerate... like e.g.
http://wiki.ekiga.org/index.php/Troubleshooting#Set_fps_to_30
for the pwc driver.

> - Ekiga 3 cannot detect "small webcam" which is working perfectly
> under Ekiga 2. On my laptop, Ekiga 3 says that the webcam driver
> doesn't support "the color profile". On my girlfriend's laptop, it
> says that "it cannot open SN9C1xx PC" (it seems that it still thinks
> he's using "big webcam"). small webcam is working perfectly with Ekiga
> 2, Cheese and every Gstreamer application. but it's not working at all
> with ekiga 3 on both PC.

I suspect your webcam driver is using the V4L (version 1) API, thus you
need to install the PTLIB plugin for V4L1
In my PPA, the package's name for this plugin is
libpt-2.3-plugins-v4l

In https://launchpad.net/~tlbdk/+archive repository it is:
libpt-2.4.2-plugins-v4l

Gstreamer and Ekiga do use the same library to deal with webcams
(yet...), this explain why it works here and not there.
> 
> 
> Network :
> - Most of the time, both Ekiga 2 and 3 refuses to connect to
> ekiga.net. It says that the connection has failed. Sometimes it works
> but I cannot find any logic behind that. Is there any problem with the
> service ?  It seems to have nothing to do with DMZ or open port. It
> just cannot connect most of the time. (and thus, I'm unable to call
> 500 ekiga net)

To debug this issue, we need an output from Ekiga using this command:
ekiga -d 4 > output.txt 2>&1
Then copy the resulting file "output.txt" in some internet service like
http://pastebin.ca/ and post the URL here.

> - Ekiga 3 always displays a warning about being unable to configure my
> network. Even if I'm in DMZ. If my girlfriend is not able to open port
> on his connection there, is there any chance we can use Ekiga at all ?

In most cases, you do not need anything to get it work. 
There is one type of NAT causing trouble for peer-to-peer application in
general: the Symmetric NAT
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Address_Translation#Different_types_of_NAT
Ekiga use the STUN technology for the other types (since Ekiga version
2)

The problem here is most probably your router.
A good trick, if it apply to your router is:
http://wiki.ekiga.org/index.php/Ekiga_behind_a_NAT_router#Symmetric_NAT:_Dynamic_navigation_of_NAT_routers

Or you can do port forwarding as explain here:
http://wiki.ekiga.org/index.php/Enable_port_forwarding_manually

In some rare cases, routers try to help the SIP protocol. As there is no
standard yet to coordinate a join effort between the router and the
softphone, you either need to disable any SIP support on the router
side, either disable STUN support in Ekiga.

You can test your network setup using our "call me back" echo test
number:
sip:520 ekiga net
If our server call you back within seconds and you're able to have an
echo test communication, it means you are reachable from the internet.

>  Is ekiga restricted to users who are geek enough to be able to open
> ports on a router ?

Is the internet and the routers designers ready to support VoIP in a non
geek fashion? Not yet, work is in progress at the standardisation level
for Internet here:
http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/behave-charter.html

> Ekiga 3 :
> - Except the contact list (which is handy, I like it), is there any
> advantage to use Ekiga 3 over Ekiga 2 ? We can live without a contact
> list (because we will always call each other, no one else) and the
> quality is not really an issue as, anyway, the bandwith is the
> bottleneck in my home connection.

If you plan to use the video feature for your communication, Ekiga 3 is
definitely better. You can expect quality up to DVD (if enough bandwidth
and good framerate for your webcam). Ekiga 3 support the H.264 video
codec, which is the best quality available on the market (e.g. H264 is
use in HD TV, Blu-ray disc etc.) for the lower bandwidth.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264

Ekiga 3 support video resolutions up to 704x576 30fps using the H.264
video codec.

In our _next_ major release we plan to improve audio quality up to CD
(48kHz, like MP3) using the CELT codec.

Best regards,
Yannick

> 
> 
> So, what are you advices in order to be able to communicate between
> each other ?
> 
> 
> Thanks a lot and, for those who will be there, see you at FOSDEM :-)
> 
> Lionel
> _______________________________________________
> ekiga-list mailing list
> ekiga-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/ekiga-list
-- 
Me joindre en téléphonie IP / vidéoconférence ?
sip:yannick ekiga net
Logiciel de VoIP Ekiga : http://www.ekiga.org
http://wiki.ekiga.org/index.php/Which_programs_work_with_Ekiga_%3F