Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/hold me in your arms/CU-SeeMe Developers

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 18KB | 381 lines

          Sunday, 7 August 1994 8:17:13 PM
          CN CyberCulture Item
  From:           Michael Ney
  Subject:        CU-SeeMe Developers
  To:             CN CyberCulture
CU-SeeMe (Mac video conferencing) = ftp://gated.cornell.edu/pub/video

QUESTION: Has anyone got CU-SEE-ME running on their mac??? - Email me: Michael Ney

NEWS from The CU-SeeMe Developers
Release Date: June 30, 1994

At this time CU-SeeMe runs on two platforms, Macintosh and
Windows. Each CU-SeeMe user can decide to be a sender, a receiver or both
as long as they have an IP network connection and the necessary hardware.
More recent Mac models also support audio. Specifications for sending and
receiving as well as instructions for installing CU-SeeMe and Reflector
Software are included in the ReadMe files in the /pub/video directory
labeled by platform and version.

The CU-SeeMe Development team is preparing a new Macintosh version
with a slide projector and a Plug-In interface to support externally
developed function modules. A first Plug-In, implementing a chat window
will be released in source soon. This new Macintosh version is not yet
available, but should go into testing soon.

The most recent beta version for the Macintosh is in directory
Mac.CU-SeeMe0.70b1 available in the /pub/video directory. The first beta
version for Windows is in PC.CU-SeeMeW0.33b1. A ReadMe is included with
each version in the same subdirectory with the software. The new Windows
version will allowyou to videoconference with anyone using a Mac or
Windows version that has CU-SeeMe, but requires a telephone connection for
audio. Message crawl is available for Windows users.

PLEASE tell anyone you mention CU-SeeMe to how to get this readme and the
others. If you write a note or artical about CU-SeeMe, please include
info on this server. Then we'll all have more time to get new goodies
done for the program. :-)   THANKS!

HOW TO OBTAIN CU-SeeMe FOR WINDOWS

To obtain CU-SeeMe version W0.33b1 for Windows use anonymous ftp
to gated.cornell.edu in the directory /pub/video/PC.CU-SeeMe W0.33b1.
Download the ReadMe file readme 0.XX txt in text mode and the cuseeme.zip
file in binary mode.

HOW TO OBTAIN CU-SeeMe FOR MACINTOSH

To obtain CU-SeeMe version O.70b1 for the Macintosh use anonymous
ftp to gated.cornell.edu in the directory pub/video/Mac.CU-SeeMe 0.60b1.
Download the ReadMe file with the latest date in text mode. Read it and
obtain the other files you need.

Be Seeing You,

Dick Cogger & The CU-SeeMe Development Team

____________________________________________________________

*CU-SeeMe ON OTHER PLATFORMS

IS THERE A PC VERSION OF CU-SeeMe? IS IT LIKE THE MAC VERSION?
 Released as of now:
     1. New Mac version, BETA, with audio (Maven-derived, thanks to cvk).
     2. PC version, BETA, pretty much equal to the Mac 0.60.
     3. New Reflector that handles Stand-Alone Maven and several new
                                                ways of interconnecting between
 multiple reflectors.
Coming soon:
        1. Mac version with a Slide Window for large hi-rez still images.


Q: IS THERE AN X based VERSION OF CU-SeeMe?
A: At this date there is no x based version of CU-SeeMe.

Q: I HEARD RUMORS THAT CU-SeeMe WOULD BE PORTED TO UNIX. CAN YOU GIVE ME
A
DEFINITIVE ANSWER?
A: We don't have anyone working on it now. One problem
with Unix, at this point, is that the frame-grabber boards are either
expensive or slow (or both) compared to those for Mac's and PC's--hence
the
notion of a port to BSDI is attractive as a means to get access to fast
inexpensive video boards. There are CU-SeeMe encoder and decoder routines
for nv, but the packet headers are incompatible. We should have some
interoperability worked out here by fall.

*CU-SeeMe ON  Mac AVs

Q: I AM ABOUT TO BUY A QUADRA. CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHICH AV Mac Quadras
WILL WORK WITH CU-SeeMe AND WHICH WON'T?
A: All of the Mac AVs and Quadras work with CU-SeeMe as far as we
know. We ask that you ftp the ReadMe and pay special attention to the
pointers about AVs i.e. setting the monitor colors to 256, using the
correct vdig, powering down to reset the VideosSpigot etc. Follow the
ReadMe and you should have excellent performance depending on the
speed of your Internet connection.

Q:IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH USING CU-SeeMe ON THE NEW POWER MAC AV MODELS?
THE BROADCASTED IMAGE IS DARK.

A: The problem is a difference in the VDIG components used for digitizing. The
VDIG on the original AV machines did not support brightness/contrast
adjustments directly, so some code was written to modify the image on
the fly. With the new PowerMac AV models, support was added for
controlling brightness and contrast directly through the VDIG.
However, the current release of CU-SeeMe does not know this, and so it
leaves the brightness and contrast set to their default values (which
end up being low and muddy). The next release of CU-SeeMe should
automatically detect whether or not brightness and contrast are
directly supported, and work appropriately in either case.

*EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REFLECTORS

Q:  WHAT IS A REFLECTOR?
A: A reflector is a Unix computer, running the reflector program, that
allows multiparty conferencing with CU-SeeMe. The CU-SeeMe Reflector
was constructed out of necessity, there being no support in the
Macintosh TCP/IP facilities for multicast. You need to use a CU-SeeMe
reflector to have a multiparty conference using CU-SeeMe software on
the Internet. CU-SeeMe reflectors provide the ability to send
multicast but not to receive. Without reflectors only point-to-point
connections connecting two CU-SeeMe users are possible at this time.

Please Note: The CU-SeeMe reflector program is a Unix program which we
have tested only on Sun Sparc workstations and on RS-6000 without
Multicast (others have run on SGI and DECstation). If you are not
familiar with IP networks, reflectors and/or your particular network
set up, ask your system administrator for help in operating a CU-SeeMe
reflector.

Q: CAN I HAVE A MULTIPARTY CONFERENCE IF I DON'T HAVE A UNIX COMPUTER TO
MAKE MY OWN REFLECTOR?
A: Yes. But you have to use a public reflector
        (someone else's reflector).

"PUBLIC" REFLECTORS

If you are just starting to use CU-SeeMe and are not able to set up your
own reflector, a number of reflector sites have announced that they accept
connections for CU-SeeMe demos and testing. These reflectors are not
really "public" but are private facilities operated by organizations for
their own use and generously offered to the public as reflector test sites.

 Organization   Reflector IP#       Contact person       email address

 NYSERNET     192.77.173.2      Jean Armour Polly
 [e-mail]
 CORNELL      192.35.82.96      Dick Cogger        [e-mail]
 PENN         130.91.72.36      Dan Updegrove      [e-mail]
 CNIDR        128.109.178.103   Jane Dunlap Smith  [e-mail]
 QMS          161.33.3.1        James Hill         [e-mail]
 GTE          132.197.10.74     Alan R. Bugos      [e-mail]
 U ofM Med        141.214.20.107    Mike Lee               [e-mail]
 *Norway      158.36.33.3       Barre Ludvigsen    [e-mail]
 *Israel      132.76.64.143  MortonTaragin  [e-mail]

*There have been questions about a reflector in Europe and we do often
have people logged in during European daytime. While there might be outages
during holidays (like Easter), our aim is to keep the reflector going
on a permanent basis as a service for users in Europe and as an effort
to alleviate bandwidth load accross the Atlantic. When sending to
these reflector (158.36.33.3 and 132.76.64.143) please keep the cap
(Max. Kbps) to around 20. We only have a 256 K line and when traffic
becomes heavy it does tend to slow down.

Q: WHAT IS GOOD REFLECTOR ETIQUETTE?

A: In consideration for those who operate reflectors, please observe the
following practices when connecting to someone else's reflector:

1. DO email the contact person for each reflector to clarify your use of
the reflector and how you are planning to use the connection and for
(approximately) how long.

2. DON'T stay connected for extended periods (hours) unless invited to do
so. "Hanging out" is something to do on your own reflector.

3. DON'T leave a transmission going with a still image (or worse) with a
message crawling. It uses bandwidth on the net and capacity on the
reflector.

4. DON'T play a VCR tape. CU-SeeMe opens up ready access to LIVE video.
Canned video typically uses more bandwidth as well as conveying *only* old
information better transmitted in another medium.

5. In general, DON'T select high resolution (240x320), since you'll
be sending a lot more data. If you want to fool with hi rez, keep it
confined to your own facilities.

6. DON'T set your Maxkbps (cap) above 100 kbps. DON'T set change
threshold below 20. Preferably just use the defaults.

7. DON'T send or let anyone send "inappropriate" pictures.
Gradeschool kids connect to these reflectors frequently. This works
the other way too: Kids need to know that adults hook to these
reflectors-- Somebody's parent may be watching!

8. DON'T hang around on a reflector if you see folks trying to run an
orgainzed conference.

9. DON'T stay connected using a real slow connection, like a modem,
as you will be dragging down everyone's cap with your loss reports.
Open just one window. Check the loss shown with the stats button.

*********************************************************

A GENERAL CAUTION Currently CU-SeeMe conferences are open to viewing by
anyone who connects with an active reflector. Anyone who “hangs out” on an
active reflector can see anyone who “tunes in” to that reflector as
reflector software repeats all streams of a conference to all receivers
(who have particular windows open). PLEASE TREAT THE INTERNET KINDLY--keep
b/w limits set down under 100kbps, or less if you share limited bandwidth
with others. Many, many folks connected to the Internet can use CU-SeeMe
with default settings and cause no problem to anyone else; but
unfortunately, not everyone. If you don't know whether using CU-SeeMe will
mess up the network for someone else, CHECK IT OUT first, please.

**********************************************************

Q: WHAT WILL THE REFLECTOR DO? CAN I USE IT TO CONNECT TO MBONE
CONFERENCES? IS THERE ANY DOCUMENTATION AVAILABLE VIA FTP?

A: The old v9 CU-SeeMe reflector provided ONLY a ONE-WAY interface to the
mbone for CU-SeeMe video streams generated on Mac's or PC's. ONLY a Mac or
a PC is able to generate a CU-SeeMe video stream. ONLY nv is able to
receive a CU-SeeMe video stream from the mbone.

A. Mac ---------> Reflector ---------> Mbone---------> nv
        \<-----------/   //                \
                        //                  \---------> nv
                       //
      PC ------------>//
       \<-------------/

B. Mac/PC <===========> PC/Mac

The diagrams above show all the possibilities (except that Mac's and PC's
can also run as Receive-Only participants. Also, the reflector now works
for Maven Audio participants, and it may work for VAT as well. Clearly,
everyone would like to see the following:

1. Two way connectivity, via the reflector, nv-to-Mac/PC as well as
Mac/PC-to-nv plus the same for VAT.

2. Mac/PC direct participation in the mbone. (With respect to the

Mac,we're waiting for Apple to put mcast support into MacTCP. Latest
schedule: Jan '95; beta's in Sept '94. We may get there sooner for the PC.)

3. Multiparty conference between Mac's/PC's without using a reflector (or
maybe reflector function in the Mac/PC).

4. Reflector able to work for "stuff" other than CU-SeeMe streams (now
works for Maven with v20b2, maybe VAT).

But for now, none of those exists. The first is in active development.
The second and third are somewhat likely within a year, maybe a lot sooner.
The fourth is actually beginning to get done. When the definition of RTP
settles down, we may be able to expand the usefulness of the reflector.

One area of recent progress is to allow a reflector to receive as well as
send CU-SeeMe streams to the mbone *between reflectors* to provide for
conferences with larger numbers of observers. Check out the readme with
the v20b2 (or later) reflector.

Q:  I AM INTERESTED IN USING VIDEO ON THE NET INCLUDING SCIENTIFIC
VISUALIZATION. I HEARD I NEED TO GET CONNECTED TO THE MBone*?
WHAT SHOULD I DO?

*Short for Multicast Backbone

A: You do not need to be on the Mbone to use CU-SeeMe. Someday, CU-SeeMe
may support use of the mbone, but for now (6/94), only the reflector is
able to use the mbone, but it doesn't have to. The following is an
extract from the mbone FAQ.

The MBone is a virtual network that has been in existence since early
1992. It was named by Steve Casner of the University of Southern
California Information Sciences Institute and originated from an effort to
multicast audio and video from meetings of the Internet Engineering Task
Force. The MBone shares the same physical media as the Internet. It uses
a network of routers (mrouters) that can support multicast. These
mrouters are either upgraded commercial routers, or dedicated workstations
running with modified kernels in parallel with standard routers.

Given adequate network bandwidth, you next need a designated MBone network
administrator. Working part-time, it typically takes one to three weeks
for a network-knowledgeable person to establish MBone at a new site.
Setup is not for the faint of heart, but all the tools are documented, and
help is available from the MBone list.

Expect to spend some time if you want to be an MBone user. It is
time-consuming because learning and fixing are involved and because it is
lots of fun! You should read the FAQ a few times, ensure thatsoftware
tools and multicast-compatible kernels are available for your target
workstations, and subscribe to the mail list in advance to enable you to
ask questions and receive answers.

*AUDIO AND CU-SeeMe

CU-SeeMe has a new Mac version recently released as a beta with Maven (an
audio application) integrated. Or, if your machine can handle it, you can
run CU-SeeMe and Maven as separate applications. This requires significant
(56kbps or better) bandwidth. Please don't ask why you have poor quality
with a dial-up connection. You don't have enough bandwidth to do the job. See
the following Q & A for more detail.

Note:You might try addressing audio-specific questions to the the Maven
discussion list. Subscription details follow: To subscribe to the Maven
discussion list, send e-mail to:

   [e-mail]

Leave the subject line blank, and in the body of the message type:

   subscribe maven Your Name

Q: CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF I AM PUSHING THE LIMITS OF MY 14400 SLIP LINK OR
IF THERE IS ANY FIX FOR USING MAVEN AND CU-SeeMe  WITH A DIAL-UP
CONNECTION? I SEEM TO BE ABLE TO HEAR SOUND BUT IT IS QUITE BROKEN. IS
THERE A WAY TO GET BETTER SOUND?  I COULD GO TO PPP, WOULD THAT MAKE A
DIFFERENCE?

A:  Maven is pretty hopeless on a SLIP link according to Charley
Kline, UIUC Network Architect [e-mail],  the author of Maven.
This question periodically comes up. Maven audio (so far) requires a
minimum of 32K bits/sec. What is being sent is already quite highly
compressed, so it's unlikely that any modem compression will help
much. So, with 14,400 you're going to get less than half of the
segments, and that won't be intelligible. At some time in the
future, Charley Kline, may be able to get one of the more ferocious
compression methods going and get down to 10Kbps or there-abouts. Of
course, you'll probably need at least a pentium to run the
encoding/decoding. See if your telco can provide ISDN or if you cable
company can get you an ethernet simulation. If they can't now,
depending where you live, they will in 2-10 years IMHO.

Q: I HAVE A SLIP CONNECTION AT MY HOME AND MY SCHOOL HAS A T-1 LINE. WE
TRIED TO TALK TO EACH OTHER UNSUCESSFULLY. I HAVE AN LC3 AND THE SCHOOL
IS USING A QUADRA 950. IS THE MAC SOUND MANAGER REQUIRED FOR MAVEN
ALREADY ON OUR MACHINES? DO WE NEED IT? I HAVE SEARCHED THE NET ALL I
FIND IS THE NAME AND A NOTE SAYING APPLE DOES NOT ALLOW SM TO BE ARCHIVED.

A: See above regarding use of SLIP on a Modem. All Macintoshes running
system 6.0.7 or later have some version of the Sound Manager; many,
including the LC3 and Quadra 950, have Sound Manager 2.0, which is really
too slow to do what Maven needs, which is why Maven ships with Sound
Manager 3.0. Without Sound Manager 3.0 you'll get annoying clicking in the
played out audio, and your Mac will run very, very slowly while you're
receiving audio, but it should do SOMETHING. You should also use Sound
Manager 3.0 for CU-SeeMe with audio included.

*CAMERAS

Q: ANYONE HAVE A SOURCE FOR A REASONABLY PRICED PAN-TILT MOTOR SYSTEM WITH
AN RS232 INTERFACE FOR A SMALL VIDEO CAMERA?
 A: Canon recently came out with an integrated camera/mic/pan/tilt unit
with an RS232 interface. It's called the VC-C1. You can get a spec sheet
from Canon's automated fax server 516-328-5960.

- eof - README.First.6-30.txt last modified July 6, 1994

May 10 15:34  Directory        .cap
Jul  6 14:30  text/plain       CU-SeeMe.FAQ.7-6.txt  14Kb
Apr 21 17:02  image/gif        cuseeme.logo.gif  4Kb
May  5 20:06  Directory        Fetch
May  5 20:16  Directory        Mac.CU-SeeMe0.60b1
Aug  3 13:19  Directory        Mac.CU-SeeMe0.70b1
Jul 15 17:00  Directory        Mac.CU-SeeMe0.70b5
May  5 20:07  Directory  MacTCP <ftp://gated.cornell.edu/pub/video/MacTCP>

Jun 30 14:57  Directory        PC.CU-SeeMeW0.33b1
Jul 28 19:11  Directory        PC.CU-SeeMeW0.34b3
Aug  5 20:46  Directory        PC.CU-SeeMeW0.34b4
Jul  6 13:13  text/plain       README.First.6-30.txt  2Kb
Jul 15 16:15  Directory        Reflector

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