From owner-freebsd-chat Mon Dec 8 18:53:47 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id SAA17303 for chat-outgoing; Mon, 8 Dec 1997 18:53:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from onyx.atipa.com (user4975@ns.atipa.com [208.128.22.10]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id SAA17274 for ; Mon, 8 Dec 1997 18:53:35 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from freebsd@atipa.com) Received: (qmail-queue invoked by uid 1018); 9 Dec 1997 02:59:14 -0000 Date: Mon, 8 Dec 1997 19:59:14 -0700 (MST) From: Atipa X-Sender: freebsd@dot.ishiboo.com To: Mark Mayo cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: X Conferencing: was [hackers:] Architectural advice needed In-Reply-To: <19971208204221.23659@vmunix.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > One thing that would have really helped us out that I now see in the > win95/Mac netscape and mickeysoft conferencing tools is the > "blackboard" thing - you can scribble and write on a blackboard > that is shared by all members of the conference. I don't think this is > present in the Unix version of Netscape 4.0 though... Bummer. What? You don't like ASCII art?? :) > One thing is for certain, conferencing tools will almost certainly > represent a pretty big market in the years to come. Especially once we > start getting ADSL and cable modem rollouts so you can have an audio/video > link happening. The FreeBSD project, IMHO, is a shining example of what > can be accomplished through the Net, and the success is remarkable given > the relatively primitive tools used! > If it doesn't already exist, an X conferencing tool certainly seems like > a neat program "waiting to be created" by some spirited programmer > out there! :-) Well, X11 has a pretty big advantage over the rest, since the format is so standardized and networkable. Try setting a DISPLAY environment on NT. FreeBSD has all the tools: Bt948/QuickCam/etc drivers, vat/tel, X11, irc, etc. All it needs is an API and some compression (sxpc?). The only "feature" the commercial apps have is MMX compression, which does very well for audio/video compression. Is MMX under NDA only? I know such a package would be a big value-add to FreeBSD workstations. Kevin