Ok, how about we try to do a Skype video group chat this evening.
Skype has a new feature were apparently I could send a Link to anyone who wants to participate. You would need to have the Skype program loaded on your computer, unless you are running the latest Chrome browser ot MS Edge browser.
I haven't try this out yet so hopefully it will work for me. Let me know if you are interested and about 7:45pm I will try and send you the Link, to you, as a personal message on the PLUG Forums. So you will need to log into the Forums and check at the top of the Forums page, to see if you have a message.
Sounds good, Bill. Any idea how many people can participate in a skype conference at a time?
It'll likely just be us 3-4 but maybe other members will be missing the socialization of the group and want to join (hint, hint). I believe when you start the call, ssfc, that you can control (if you wish) who to pass the microphone to, mute people, etc. Wouldn't likely need to do that with us but you never know, you might have to shut *me* up. ;-)
I'll try and remember to check the board before 8:00 for the link and join. I have a webcam for my deskop and laptop but I think the one on the desktop is better (if it still works). Be interesting to see how Skype in Linux holds up but can always boot into Windows, if I need to.
I'm interested, but will be video chatting with my daughter a bit before that tonight. So I may be late.
Ok Jason, yes I don't know about whether there is a limit to the number of people taking part. I will see if I can find some info on that.
Quote from: Jason Wallwork on April 20, 2020, 10:08:07 AM
Sounds good, Bill. Any idea how many people can participate in a skype conference at a time?
It'll likely just be us 3-4 but maybe other members will be missing the socialization of the group and want to join (hint, hint). I believe when you start the call, ssfc, that you can control (if you wish) who to pass the microphone to, mute people, etc. Wouldn't likely need to do that with us but you never know, you might have to shut *me* up. ;-)
I'll try and remember to check the board before 8:00 for the link and join. I have a webcam for my deskop and laptop but I think the one on the desktop is better (if it still works). Be interesting to see how Skype in Linux holds up but can always boot into Windows, if I need to.
Ok Mike, I will try to keep the group session going for 20 minutes or more, to give you a chance to join in.
Quote from: fox on April 20, 2020, 12:09:17 PM
I'm interested, but will be video chatting with my daughter a bit before that tonight. So I may be late.
So, for a Skype video call, it appears that you might want to have the Skype program running and maybe logged into you skype account.
Then click on the Link that I will send you, as a personal message in the Plug Forum. So you will need to be logged in to the Plu Forums, so that you can read the personal message, that I will send you, which will have the Link.
In the Skype program you may have to click on the Call icon and not the Chat icon. I don't know if this is necessary to do when you click the Link, in the personal message but it is something to keep in mind.
Update - ok, I did another test run. I did not have to have skype running. When I clicked on the invite Link, it brought the Skype program up. I didn't have to log in. I just chose to log in as a Guest. No password was needed. I just need to give myself a name and then to click to join the group.
greetings ...i'll add my experiences here...i have had continuous challenges with the sound quality using skype for linux on mint19 (in particular others hearing my audio output)...these are calls to landlines/cellphones that I initiate thru my subscription acct ...i recently switched to using 'skype on web' thru the chrome browser with good sound output, but a couple of times my output has stopped and a message appears stating it can't source my mic(I've tried three different mics) ....i can still hear and see others but they can't hear me (once this 'self-corrected'so we continued)...this has shown up after about 20 min into the call...non of this has happened in skype on windows so far.... I usually participate thru Zoom which has been flawless on mint19. it's free only for 40min for group calls...i'll be curious to experience a group skype call that i join thru mint19 and see if it's any different.thanks bill for taking this initiative.
Ok so I will post a personal message, with the Skype Link, on the PLUG Forums at around 7:45 pm this evening, to Jason, Fox, Buster, and Dougal.
"I can still hear and see others but they can't hear me"
My wife wants to set up something like this at our house so she doesn't have to listen to me.
Quote from: buster on April 20, 2020, 03:40:49 PM
"I can still hear and see others but they can't hear me"
My wife wants to set up something like this at our house so she doesn't have to listen to me.
🤣🤣😁
Quote from: dougal on April 20, 2020, 03:03:52 PM
greetings ...i'll add my experiences here...i have had continuous challenges with the sound quality using skype for linux on mint19 (in particular others hearing my audio output)...these are calls to landlines/cellphones that I initiate thru my subscription acct ...i recently switched to using 'skype on web' thru the chrome browser with good sound output, but a couple of times my output has stopped and a message appears stating it can't source my mic(I've tried three different mics) ....i can still hear and see others but they can't hear me (once this 'self-corrected'so we continued)...this has shown up after about 20 min into the call...non of this has happened in skype on windows so far.... I usually participate thru Zoom which has been flawless on mint19. it's free only for 40min for group calls...i'll be curious to experience a group skype call that i join thru mint19 and see if it's any different.thanks bill for taking this initiative.
Did you run the Skype test at the beginning to make sure your mic worked and the sound quality was okay? It should ask you to talk, adjust the mic level automatically and then play it back for you to make sure both the mic and the sound worked in the playing back.
jason... . when i've tested for audio using mint19 i've used both skypes 'test call' feature as well as leaving a message on my private vmail...the skype test seems better but not great quality and the recording sucks, that's how I could verify/experience what others were speaking about.I used the same tests to check when i switched to 'skype for web' app in chrome browser and it was as good a quality as i experience using 'skype for windows'. it just has given hiccups with cutting out the mic in that app.
Have you used speedtest.net or some other speed test and not only tested the speed but the ping time and what they refer to as jitter? Or does audio work fine on other audio/video cam programs?
I have posted a Forum personal message, with the Skype Link, to you guys.
For the Skype video group call last evening, I was using the latest MXLinux as the sole OS on my Dell XPS 13" notebook computer, with the new larger 500G SSD M.2
MXLinux is working very nicely on the Dell, so far, and seems quite similar to Mint, so that I can find my way around the Desktop without having to relearn how to do things.
The video group chat worked very well and it was great being able to see and talk with you quys. :-)
Quote from: ssfc72 on April 21, 2020, 02:21:46 AM
The video group chat worked very well and it was great being able to see and talk with you quys. :-)
I second that. We'll have to do it again real soon perhaps when Buster and Fox don't have tv shows or movies too close to the meeting time. One hour, especially when all we talked about was COVID-19, was interesting but all too short. We never really got to talk about Linux. But I still enjoyed it, just would like to hang out with you guys longer. I miss seeing you in person.
Perhaps a weekend might be a better time that we could talk longer. If you guys are using online calendars (google has this function), you could share your calendars.
Or ssfc could setup and account with doodle.com to suggest times we could it. You create an account, set the times you can chat, then send the link and each of can sign in and set our times. I don't even think you need an account to do this. And then doodle will suggest times where we have overlap so the creator of it can pick a time. If you prefer, ssfc, I can setup the doodle and send the link.
I really enjoyed our Skype meeting as well. It was nice catching up since we haven't seen each other for months. It was also nice seeing your home spaces, at least those where your computers are sitting. It was unfortunate that we didn't get to talk about Linux. I know from the forums that most if not all of us present have been testing new programs and new distros; we could even have done screen demos with the share screen feature of Skype.
I would be up for weekly meetings, but in terms of how long I want them to run, I'm only good for about an hour before I get fidgety; maybe an hour and a half at most. That doesn't mean we shouldn't have longer meetings; I just may leave them early.
In terms of format, maybe we can leave time for each person to talk about something "Linuxy" that they did and/or learned that week.
There is nothing above that I don't agree with, Fox. There's a first time for everything. 😂
I'm going to look for alternatives to Skype since Dougal keeps having trouble with sound issues. You know, Dougal, you could just play hard of hearing and just read the subtitles. ;) Seriously, though, there are other alternatives. I'm not sure if Telegraph does video but I believe it does audio. It definitely text chat but that may be too boring for you guys. I find it nostalgic as it reminds me of the 90s when IRC started to take off. And one nice feature about Telegraph that it's completely encrypted end-to-end. I think that's something important to Dougal as well as me.
Calling in the experts in my family. My granddaughter uses something many times to connect to her university residence floor, and her mom says all individuals show. So she's going to call me this aft and we'll chat.
Did read in my research that Skype doesn't have this capacity, but Hangouts does. Most of us have some kind of Google account. I'll ask if that's what she uses. Not eager to use Zoom because of it's security issues.
I've been on a lot of Zoom calls recently, and not a one has been crashed. There are two ways I know of to control this. The first is to send out the code information only to the people you want participating (or those you know that express interest), as Bill did yesterday. The other is to require the moderator accept participants when they connect.
Quote from: buster on April 21, 2020, 12:26:54 PM
Calling in the experts in my family. My granddaughter uses something many times to connect to her university residence floor, and her mom says all individuals show. So she's going to call me this aft and we'll chat.
Didn't we all show up for you, Buster? I saw everybody in full size once we figured out how to do it properly. I just didn't see myself full-screen and can only hope nobody else did either. ;-) Next time I'll wash my hair and shave.
Fox: I think that Dougal mentioned that you can only do 1-on-1 calls unless you pay a monthly rate. Not sure if everybody has to pay that or just the person starting the call. Discord is a popular chat program but no idea if it does video. It's also cross-platform as are all the ones we've discussed so far.
"Didn't we all show up for you, Buster? I saw everybody in full size once we figured out how to do it properly."
When all five of us were on, I saw three people, and I have an idea that is the limit.
Quote from: buster on April 21, 2020, 12:55:01 PM
"Didn't we all show up for you, Buster? I saw everybody in full size once we figured out how to do it properly."
When all five of us were on, I saw three people, and I have an idea that is the limit.
No, it's not. I was able to see all four of you. But everybody else had trouble seeing me full-size. And at some point, somebody toggled some setting, probably Bill and it worked. Skype can support more than 4 people at once on screen. I think Dougal was in a meeting that had 8 people including himself.
Yes, I discovered that all you had to do to, was to drag the person within the tiny video window box, at the top of the screen, down to where the other large video boxes, were, on the main part of the screen, and that person was then also rendered in a large video box.
This was with Skype running under Linux.
"Yes, I discovered that all you had to do to, was to drag the person within the tiny video window box, at the top of the screen, down to where the other large video boxes, were, on the main part of the screen, and that person was then also rendered in a large video box."
That's good news! And if it gets too crowded, we can leave out the people who didn't wash their hair.
My granddaughter said they often used Apple stuff such as on their phones. Kids at Carleton tended to use Zoom, tho she didn't. Her close friends and family use Skype - in a very large group they live with the small heads.
there's another platform i have used in the past but not lately: JITSI MEET...it's open source,free and unlimited time. .has all the usual features...and works on multiple os's.
jitsi.org
Quote from: buster on April 21, 2020, 04:56:08 PM
"Yes, I discovered that all you had to do to, was to drag the person within the tiny video window box, at the top of the screen, down to where the other large video boxes, were, on the main part of the screen, and that person was then also rendered in a large video box."
That's good news! And if it gets too crowded, we can leave out the people who didn't wash their hair.
I'm hurt. :'( ;) ;D
Quote from: dougal on April 21, 2020, 06:43:11 PM
there's another platform i have used in the past but not lately: JITSI MEET...it's open source,free and unlimited time. .has all the usual features...and works on multiple os's.
jitsi.org
I think I just wet my pants because that's really exciting. Maybe we should try that next time.
i could play with it and see how things go on my network, then perhaps do a trial meet with someone to confirm on other machines etc.
Sounds good. I'm up for testing it with you sometime. Just shoot me an email or give me a call. I think you have my number. If I'm not busy, we can do it right then. My schedule is pretty open except for Monday afternoons.