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#13508 by Neil Blanchard
Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:36 am
Hello,

Has anybody else tried out Skype? I just installed v2.5, and I got a nice headset:
Image
and so far, it's been pretty good! Most calls are fine -- all that I've tried is calls to telephones; one number (my Mom) I hear a lot of choppiness, but all others have been at least better than a cell phone, if not better than a land line.

If you decide to try it, my Skype name is neil.blanchard -- I'm curious to try a "SkypeIn" call. And hey, we can do conference calls, so maybe this could work for DBUG meetings online? 'Cuz you can have video with Skype calls, using a webcam.
#13509 by Graeme
Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:39 pm
I have used Skype a bit here and there.
Mostly use it to call friends back home in South Africa.
Worked great for me, no problems at all.

They actually claim that it should be better than using a land line, but who really knows
#13511 by Miguel Palaoro
Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:22 pm
Hello Guys,

I have Skype installed for some months already. It works fine. And it is very inexpensive when you got your contact with somebody who is "Skyped" as well.
Our office telephone account has droped down a lot.

You can create a link to automatic "dialing" with callto://datacad_miguel/ (hope this will work inside our forum).

Thanks,
Miguel

P.S.: I haven't a webcam, just a headset.
#13512 by joshhuggins
Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:49 pm
Neil Blanchard wrote:Hello, And hey, we can do conference calls, so maybe this could work for DBUG meetings online? 'Cuz you can have video with Skype calls, using a webcam.
I have a free voice (Teamspeak) chat sever to use for that if needed :D Skype only supports up to 5 people. Teamspeak supports up to as many as your bandwidth can handle. We've had about 15 running on the high bit rate codec with no lag. The interface is not quite as polished but pretty easy to setup. Probably could capture the whole meeting audio via a pass through mic from a camera into the mic jack on a system vs. individual headsets. Just brainstormin'.
#13547 by Neil Blanchard
Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:47 pm
Greetings,

I just had my first "Skype In" conversation (good to talk with you Miguel!) and the sound quality was awesome! We spoke for over 16 minutes (USA/Brazil) and the "call" was free. :)

Maybe Tech Support can use Skype, or certainly some folks can use it for calls for work (it conferences up to 5 locations). This is a pretty cool way to use the Internet!

callto://neil.blanchard
#13550 by Miguel Palaoro
Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:01 pm
I enjoyed it too, Neil.

Thanks,
Miguel
#14103 by Nick Pyner
Fri Sep 29, 2006 11:01 pm
I've been sitting on Skype since it was first announced ages ago but it was only yesterday that got round to plugging in a microphone and setting it up.

I'm looking at a bit of a career change and could soon get more use out of this. It really is pretty neat and I was surprised how simple it all is to get going.

Blanchard demonstrates the first shortcoming of Skype. He has this flash headset but doesn't plug it in too often :roll:

I spoke to Miguel in Porto Alegre this morning. I didn't have to announce myself, he knew it was me. Previous test sound recordings I made of myself were bad but he assured me I came through loud and clear -
"five by five" as Broderick Crawford would say. My reception was amazingly clear but erratic in volume. I have this problem all the time and put that down to my hardware.

I am wondering about using a separate sound card and I suppose I can test the amp with my CD Walkman.

Some problems are the same, but it beats the hell out of ham radio.

Tra-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la. Over the sea to Skype......... :D
#14125 by Neil Blanchard
Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:31 pm
Hi Nick,

I just emailed you -- if you want to leave a Call To link here, that would work as well. I've thought about calling a fellow DBUG'er (Harry Korshak), but the nagging bit of time zones is an issue -- when is a good time to call? (He's in Egypt!)
#20904 by Miguel Palaoro
Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:33 pm
Neil Blanchard wrote:...we could "broadcast' a DBUG meeting?

Got all my support for it, Neil. Go ahead.

Miguel
#20945 by Nick Pyner
Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:11 pm
Miguel Palaoro wrote:
Neil Blanchard wrote:...we could "broadcast' a DBUG meeting?

Got all my support for it, Neil. Go ahead.

Miguel


Indeed, and it would have to be a better bet than yesterday's pie-in-the-sky debacle. I hear rumour that Skype actually has real live sound - a technological breakthrough that A. G. Bell would doubtless understand and appreciate.
Broadcast e-mail is quite useful for distributing picture files.
#20948 by DBrennfoerder
Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:46 pm
Another option for group meetings might be TeamSpeak. See this website: http://www.goteamspeak.com/

They say, "TeamSpeak is a quality, scalable application which enables people to speak with one another over the Internet. TeamSpeak consists of both client and server software. The server acts as a host to multiple client connections, capable of handling literally thousands of simultaneous users. This results in an Internet based teleconferencing solution that works in a variety of applications such as team mates speaking with one another while playing their favorite online game, small businesses cutting costs on long distance charges, or for personal communication with friends and family."

I thought is was free, but the website shows a pricing structure. They may have changed in the last couple of months. However, the "usage based" fee looks like its only $120 for 1000 to 2499 attendees.

My brother in-law uses it regularly for online flight sim warfare, with multiple participants all viewing the same battle. I assume we could all see a DataCAD user screen and participate in voice conversation.

He and I have used it for simple phone calls with very good sound quality.
#20971 by Nick Pyner
Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:02 am
Some further (disjointed) thoughts on this.

Skype:
I assume Skype computer to Skype computer calls are still free for anybody anywhere.

Skype can handle nine in conference. There is no need for conference calls exceeding nine. I guess that anything more than four or five would likely be a shambles. Anything more than that would/should be one-way broadcast. So for outside guests at a DBUG meeting it would be first in best dressed.

After most of my life with the national broadcaster, I am amazed to find that no science is required to handle acoustic feedback. In short, no acoustic issues. Loudspeakers and a cheapo plain vanilla mike can be used with gay abandon. My mike also seems to work fine about two feet away.

Webcams.
I have a camera that can be used as a webcam. I have no idea how to do this. I guess this could get expensive. I would not expect any webcam to produce anything more than casual shots.

Email:
Email can be almost live. Vital information can be swapped back and forth quite handily. The most anybody sees anywhere is a screendump. These are just small JPGs that travel well.

Manpower:
A "communications master" is needed at the meeting. He/she handles email traffic etc. A vital part is a notepad file containing the e-mail addresses of the external participants, to enable broadcast e-mails to go out as simply as possible. The Skype should handle itself. Any vox is by whomever is addressing the meeting.

Hardware:
I assume one computer (#1) is normally used, driving a projector. This would be P2P with the comms computer (#2) under control of the forementioned. Now the pie-in-the-sky bit: #2 can access the screen of #1 and can PrtScn it as required for distribution. The operator of #1 struts his stuff as if nothing else was happening.

Not too sophisticated, but no flights of fantasy to Dublin either.

Now, V12 is surely imminent and I would really like to go to the launch meeting - if only to justify some tax-deductible racing to Cabo San Lucas or whatever, but I might be struggling to do that. So here might be an alternative.

Comments? Is it practical? Is it worth a try? For $0 and a bit of enthusiasm, it might be!
#21017 by joshhuggins
Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:37 pm
joshhuggins wrote:We had a Datacad Teamspeak server running for a few days a while back in the beta team forum. I've decided to go ahead and just open it up to everyone and let whoever wants to use it go for it. Enjoy!

Image

You can PM me with questions on setup if needed. I'll add a FAQ soon to the page.
#21029 by DBrennfoerder
Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:06 pm
I've got the client side loaded already, don't you have to provide an IP address so we know where to hook on?

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