Cream of the Crop 11

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Cream of the Crop 11 / Cream of the Crop 11-1.iso / comm / cucm84b6.zip / CUSEEME.TXT < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-12-08 | 24KB | 534 lines

CUSEEME.TXT 12/4/95 Richard Kennerly <rbk1@cornell.edu> CU-SeeMe for Windows - User's Guide for version W0.84 CU-SeeMe is video conferencing software for the PC and Macintosh on the Internet. Obtain by FTP to cu-seeme.cornell.edu/pub/CU-SeeMe. ***WARNING*** This is beta software. It has been alpha tested, but we depend on outside users to find some of the bugs for us. If you pick up and use this software, you are volunteering to be a beta tester. --See README.TXT for general information about CU-SeeMe-- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Contents------------------------------------------------------------ * Introduction * Installation * Setup * How to Test CU-SeeMe * CU-SeeMe components - Application window - Local Video Window - Client Video Windows - Chat Window - Audio Window - Participants Window ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Introduction-------------------------------------------------------- CU-SeeMe is Video Conferencing software for the PC and Macintosh on the Internet. You can use CU-SeeMe in two ways - 1) Connect directly to another PC or to a Mac for a one-on-one connection. 2) Connect to a Reflector for a multi-party conference. (A Reflector is a Unix machine running the CU-SeeMe Reflector software. There are many hundreds of these in the world). In order to run CU-SeeMe on your PC you need to be running Windows and have some sort of Internet connectivity using a Winsock TCP/IP stack. Your internet connection may be through a dialup modem although the speed will be minimal for CU-SeeMe. If you have a Capture card and camera you can send and receive video images. If you do not have a capture card you can still receive images from other participants. If you have an audio card that's compatible with the Sound Blaster you can also send and receive audio. ---See COMPAT.TXT for details--- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Installation-------------------------------------------------------- Unzip the cuseeme.zip file using PKUNZIP.EXE. If you don't have a copy of the ZIP compression utilities you can download them from ftp.cit.cornell.edu in the pub/dos/util/directory as pkz204g.exe for the full package or just pkunzip.exe (only 29K) to unzip. (Still there as of 11/10/95). ZIP is also available on lots of other public servers. Unzip the CU-SeeMe files into a directory. You must manually install the free version of CU-SeeMe (The Win'95 "Add/Remove Programs" control panel will not work with CU-SeeMe). Here's what we recommend you do with the installation files: IVSLIDER.DLL - This file needs to be in a directory in your DOS PATH. You can put a copy of IVSLIDER.DLL in /WINDOWS. CTL3D.DLL - You probably don't have to do anything. If you don't already have CTL3D.DLL installed on your system then you can copy CTL3D.DLL into your /WINDOWS directory. You may as well try CU-SeeMe and see if it complains before doing this. Windows '95 already has CTL3D.DLL so don't install this copy anywhere. MSVIDEO.DLL - If you don't already have a copy of msvideo.dll installed on your system you can put a copy in your /WINDOWS or /WINDOWS/SYSTEM directory. Windows '95 comes with MSVIDEO.DLL so you don't want this one. CUSEEME.EXE - This is the main CU-SeeMe program. You can make an icon for cuseeme.exe. CUSEEME.HLP - This is the Windows help file for CU-SeeMe. You can make an Icon for this also. I recommend that you install CUSEEME.HLP in a directory in your path so that it will be accessible from the CU-SeeMe program. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Setup--------------------------------------------------------------- Once the files have been installed on your system there are a few things to set up before connecting to a reflector. Use the Edit / Preferences menu item to bring up the Prerences Dialog. Be sure to enter your name in this dialog. See below. If you have a camera and capture card (or a QuickCam which does not require a capture card) you should use the File / Video Setup menu item. See below (APPLICATION WINDOW - File / Video Setup). If you have a camera and capture card use the Transmission Control Panel and set the Max Cap to a reasonable level for your network. Ask your network administrator to find what a 'reasonable' level is for your network. If you're using a modem you should set the max cap to the maximum speed of your modem (if your modem has compression, set the cap to the port speed not the link speed, ex: a 28.8K modem with compression may be attached to your computer's COM port at 38.4K - set the cap to 39) If your computer is audio capable use the File / Audio Setup menu item to choose the driver for the audio card installed in your system. IMPORTANT NOTE: If your computer is audio capable but you DON'T have a camera you can only choose the audio encoding method by editting CUSEEME.INI. The two choices for audio encoding method are: [Audio Settings] Encoding Method=Delta-Mod (16 Kb/s) --or-- Encoding Method=Intel DVI (32 Kb/s) If you are using a MODEM at 28.8 or less you MUST use Delta-Mod encoding!!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----How to Test CU-SeeMe------------------------------------------------ * Start CU-SeeMe. * If you have a camera installed, verify that you can see yourself in your Local Video Window. If you do not have a Local Video window at all make sure there's an entry in SYSTEM.INI in the [drivers] section for msvideo= that lists your video capture driver. If your video window shows static or a photo-negative image use the File / Video Setup dialog to set up your video for 8-bit palettized 120 x 160 pixel video. * Try to connect to another CU-SeeMe computer or a Reflector. If you're trying to connect to another CU-SeeMe computer (PC or Mac) that machine must be running CU-SeeMe but not already connected anywhere. It should say "Waiting for a connection" in the status window. If you are not able to connect see the FAQ.TXT file. As of January, 1995, Cornell regularly runs a reflector for testing at 132.236.91.204. It is usually very busy, so consider NOT having the Open Windows Automatically preferences item checked, especially if you are on a modem link. (Still at 132.236.91.204 11/8/95) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----CU-SeeMe components------------------------------------------------- ---APPLICATION WINDOW--- The main application window has all the menu items and the status line. Only some of the controls for CU-SeeMe are on the Main Application window. Here is a description of the Application Menu Items. * File / Video Setup... The Video Setup dialog has three sections: 1) Capture Device: The Video Format button gives you access to the Format Dialog that comes with your capture card (if you have one). You should use this to set your capture card to 8-bit Palettized video in 120x160 pixel format. The Video Source button gives you access to the Source Dialog that comes with your capture card (if you have one). This dialog may have an option for PAL or NTSC camera. Most cameras are NTSC in the US. This dialog might also have controls for brightness or contrast or white balance etc. It's best to use these controls if they have an effect on the CU-SeeMe video (depends on capture card type) rather than the Contrast control that's part of the CU-SeeMe Preferences dialog. 2) Palette Type: CU-SeeMe supports 8-bit palettes in three ways. 1) 256 Grays is the original mode that Windows CU-SeeMe supported until Nov 1995. Many capture cards including the ProMovie Studio and Spectrum cards had a semi-negative looking image in this mode. 2) 64 Grays will work with the Promovie Spectrum and other cards that will not work in the 256 Gray mode. 16 Grays packed is for the QuickCam camera. 3) Palette Options: Invert Palette lets you invert a photo-negative image. * File / Sound Devices... This menu item lets you choose a sound driver on your system. Usually you just need to select the driver that corresponds to the sound card you have installed in your system. * File / Exit Disconnects (if connected) and terminates the program (surprise!). * Edit / Preferences... The Preferences menu item brings up the preferences dialog which includes the following items: - Your Name - This defaults to "Tom Servo". You should enter your name or something individual here since this name will appear on everyone else's screen. - "Show Splash Screen at Startup" - Show the Splash dialog for four seconds every time the applications starts. - "Save Video Window Positions" - You can save the positions on the screen where the video windows were placed so that the next time you connect the windows will go to the same locations. - "Auto-Tile Video Windows" - Automatically place the video windows in an orderly 'tiled' layout. - "Open New Video Windows" - Automatically open video windows as they appear in the conference (up to the max allowed by the Max Video Windows setting). - "Max Video Windows (2-8)" - You can set the maximum number of video windows that can be open at one time on your screen. This number includes your own local video window (if you're sending video). - "Brightness/Contrast" - If the File / Video Setup... Video Source dialog does not have a brightness or contrast control that affects CU-SeeMe video you can use this control. * Edit / Font... This menu item brings up a standard font dialog that affects the font used when you enter keyboard messages on your local video (see section about the Local Video Window). You cannot save the font setting that you choose. We might fix this later or possibly remove this option. * Window / Bring to Front This causes any open video window to come to the front if it was behind another video window. * Window / Tile This causes all the open video windows to be arranged in an orderly 'tiled' pattern. * Conference / Connect... This menu item brings up the Connect dialog. The Connect dialog has the following parts: - An entry for the IP address that you want to connect to. This can be the address of a reflector or the IP address of another workstation running CU-SeeMe (but not connected anywhere at the time you try to connect). - A Conference ID can be used for private conferences to exclude un-invited participants. Usually just leave 0 in this field. - "I Will Send Video" - Check this if you want to start the conference sending video or not. Generally, you should enter a conference with this set OFF until you think you want to be a part of the conference. - "I Will Receive Video" - Lets you start the conference not receiving video. This is useful if you want to look to see who is on the reflector without getting video from anyone which might use up bandwidth. * Conference / Disconnect This menu item disconnects you from the reflector (or other workstation) and starts a 1 minute hold-down period during which your workstation does not listed to packets from the site that you just disconnected from. You may re-connect or connect to another reflector at any time. * Conference / Start/Stop Receiving Video Lets you start of stop receiving video from all participants. * Conference / Start/Stop Sending Video Lets you start or stop sending video. * Conference / Show Audio Panel... This menu item will show the Audio Dialog (if you have audio capability) which lets you control speaker volume, see levels, send audio etc. * Conference / Show Talk Window... This menu item will show the Talk Window which lets you send and display keyboard messages to other conference members in a resizeable window. * Participants / Show All This menu item will cause video windows to appear on your screen for all the conference participants who are sending video (up to the maximum set in your Preferences / Max Video Windows). * Participants / Close All Closes all the video windows that are currently showing on your screen. * Help / Contents This menu item brings up the Windows Help system with the CUSEEME.HLP file that's distributed with CU-SeeMe * Help / About Brings up the About box with the version number and copyright information. ---Local Video Window--- If you have a video capture card the Local Video Window will appear when you start CU-SeeMe. The name that appears in the title bar of the Local Video Window can be changed using Edit / Preferences... This is the name that will appear on your window to other conference clients. The Local Video Window has four components not including the title bar: * The video display region You should see a view of whatever the camera is pointing to here whether you're connected or not. If you see a photo-negative image or distortion, use the File / Video Setup options to correct this. * Keyboard messaging You can type a short message that will appear over your local video window. This feature is useful for messages like "Out to Lunch" etc. To put a keyboard message over the Local Video Window touch it with the mouse to make it the active window and type the message. To clear the message hit carriage return. * The Button Bar - The first button lets you hide or show the Send Stats bar and the Receive Stats bar. - The second button lets you freeze the local video capture. When local video is frozen, your workstation will still send your video at a very slow rate to let people who join a conference see your image with out consuming a lot of bandwidth. - The third button drops down the Control Panels. There are five control panels currently: + Transmission: You can limit the maximum rate at which you'll send data. Many reflectors put a limit on this in order to keep the overall data rate down. If your network is congested or you're sharing bandwidth with many other people it's desireable to keep this number at 80 K or less. If you're on a modem you should set this number to the speed of your modem. Otherwise your PC will try to send more data than will fit and your outgoing video will be delayed in time as viewed by other people. This can happen easily on Modem connections since your SLIP or PPP server usually has lots of buffering capability. There is also a setting for Min KBits/Sec that puts a limit on how low the cap will go based on packet loss reports (see section on Flow Control). In other words, it will send data at the rate of the min cap even if packets are being lost (assuming there's enough video / audio data to send). + Reception: You can limit the maximum data you're willing to receive. This is useful if you're trying to do other work on a limited bandwidth link or if you're sharing bandwidth with others. You can also limit the minimum cap set on receive data. + Picture: There is a single control here that varies brightness. There is a disabled control in this panel that does nothing at this point. + Compression: This panel is not really implemented yet. The values here are actually the same ones as in the Transmission panel. + Audio: There are two choices for audio buffer size: 50 and 100 milliseconds. The shorter buffer will result in slightly less delay at the receive end, but consumes more bandwidth. We recommend 100 since bandwidth is usually at a premium. There are two choices currently for encoding method. The higher quality method is Intel DVI which consumes 32 Kb/sec bandwidth. As you can see from the bandwidth requirement, this mode will not work at all well on any modem 28.8K or slower. This is the reason for many of the complaints about audio not working on modem lines - you can control your outgoing encoding method, but you can't determine what method others will use to send to you. The other choice for audio encoding is Delta-Mod which consumes 16Kb/sec. This nethod will work on 28.8K modems but the sound quality is noticeably worse. * Send Rate Bar The current frame rate is displayed on the left as nn fps (Frames Per Second. Next to that is the send data rate expressed in Kilobits / Second. On the right, in parenthesis, is the send cap in Kilobits / second. The send cap is an automatically determined maximum that depends on the amount of data that's lost. It also depends on the minimum and maximum cap set in the control panel (see Transmission Control Panel). * Receive Rate Bar This bar shows the total amount of data you're receiving for CU-SeeMe. In parenthesis is the receive cap. This cap is determined by the reflector based on how much data you receive or lose. ---Client Video Windows--- Each remote conference client who is equiped with a camera and capture card can be displayed on your screen in its own Video Window. The Client Video Windows are similar to the Local Video Window except there are five different buttons and no Receive Rate Bar. * The Button Bar - The 'Eye'. This indicates whether the remote client can see you or not. If the Eye is open then they are receiving your video (although the video window may be covered by another window). If you hit the 'Eye' with the mouse you'll see a dialog that reminds you of what the three icons on the left of the button bar are for. - The Speaker Button. This represents a speaker that you can hear them with. If you hit the Speaker button with your mouse, a green slash will be drawn over the speaker button and you won't be able to hear their audio. - Microphone Button. This represents your microphone for them. If there's a large red x through a client's microphone then they are not able to receive audio at all. If there's a small red x through a client's microphone then cannot hear your audio. They have either switched off your audio specifically (using their speaker button for you) or they have shut off all audio - Stats Button. This shows some statistics. Most of the fields are not active in yet. - Info Button. This button shows the Name, IP address, and Version number of the client. For versions before 0.83 the version number is not obtainable, but all future versions will be detectable here. * The Receive Rate Bar This bar shows the number of frames you're receiving from this client per second. On the right is the data rate received from that client in Kilobits / second. ---Chat Window--- The Chat Window lets you type messages to other conference clients and see their messages in a split window. Here are the details: 1 To open the Chat Window, use the menu item under Conference / Show Talk Window... 2 Window has two panes with moveable divider. Top pane is where received messages are displayed. Bottom is typing area. Drag divider all the way down and you have no bottom pane. 3 Received messages (and sent ones too) go in the upper pane, most recent on the bottom. The user name is contained in <> to distinguish it from the message text. 4 You can double-click a name in the upper pane which brings up a filter dialog. You can choose to set filtering on or off. On means that this user's messages are filtered out (not shown). In the future you will be able to select color as well. 5 There is button bar at bottom of window with "Filter," "Reset," "Config" buttons. - "Filter" when pushed in applies any filters, stripping any text received from those users from the view. Note it is still in the message database. When popped out, shows all messages in the database. - "Reset" when clicked cancels (eliminates) all filters (and will unpop the Filter button if it is in). - "Config" when clicked brings up a dialog that allows you to set Font and Size for all text displayed in both panes. (On Windows, a standard dialog is used which allows setting color, style, etc. as well.) In future, we plan that senders will be able to use bold, italic, underline, and strikethru for emphasis while receivers will set Font and Size for the window as a whole and color per participant. (Maybe we will reserve bold for sender-name.) ---Audio Window--- If your PC is audio equiped you can send and receive audio with other clients. Clients without cameras (lurkers) can send and receive audio also. You can send audio to one client only or to the whole conference. To open the Audio Window use the Menu / Show Audio Window. Here is a description of the audio window components: - Speaker Icon. This represents your speaker. You can turn your speaker off with the mouse (a green slash will appear through the Speaker) and you won't hear audio from anyone. The other conference clients will see a small red x over their mic on your window. - Speaker Level Meter. Under the Speaker Icon is a level meter that indicates the approximate audio level being received at that moment. - Speaker Volume Slider. The red diamond on the right side of the Speaker Level Meter sets the output volume. - Microphone Icon. This represents your Microphone. You can mute your audio by hitting this icon with your mouse. - Microphone Level Meter. This meter indicates the level being received by the microphone at that moment. - Push-To-Talk Button. In order to send audio, you need to push this button with the mouse while speaking. - Push-To-Talk check box. This check box must be set. We haven't implemented squelch mode yet. - Hear Lurkers check box. Checking this box lets you hear audio from Lurkers. Lurkers are conference clients who don't have video send capability. ---Participants Window--- The Participants Window displays the button bar and client name for all of the clients in a conference. To display the participants window, use the Participants / Show Participants Window... menu item. The Participants list has three sections. The top part is for clients who are sending video and whose video window is showing on your computer. The second section is for clients who are sending video but whose video window is not showing on your display. The third section is for clients who are not capable of sending video (Lurkers). The buttons on the Participants Window operate exactly the same as the buttons on the video windows.