Jitsi
Time and again Jitsi is mentioned as a (the) serious alternative to Skype. But it is so cumbersome to get up and running. As you probably know I'm far brow alone her. See e.g. https://trisquel.info/en/forum/jitsixmpp. One general issue is that even the easy parts and steps aren't made easily accessible. Not even knowing which file to download is clear. I have attached a screen shot from the download folder. How does one know which file to download?
I have searched and searched. If you know an easy to follow guide that will lead to the installation of Jitsi, with the primary goals to be able to have video conversations and share files and desktops, I would really like to know.
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| jitsi_stable.png | 114.01 KB |
but why don't you try other skype alternatives? there are others, like tox (really easy to use) and mumble. Pitifully, tox is still in alpha. So mumble can be a better option. Anyway, if you try it and report bugs, that'd be fine.
Maybe this can be helpful
https://jitsi.org/Documentation/FAQ
One reason why I haven't tried further with tox is this concern: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/quality-and-security-tox
I haven't heard about mumble but I'll look into that, thanks.
Mumble isn't a Skype alternative.
In contrary, Mumble is a TeamSpeak/Ventrilo alternative. Mumble is only
useful if you really have an appointment/meeting to attend in some
server or if the video game server you're playing provides a Mumble
server to connect to, or any variation of these.
This is due to the fact that with Mumble (and others mentioned here),
you **must** be in the same server as the person you want to talk to,
and at the same time (no offline messages). Besides, this brings about
the whole question of how is the communication made. That is: Even with
Jitsi (unless you both use XMPP/Jabber accounts in it or some other
client of choise other than Jitsi, as long as both accounts are
XMPP/Jabber), you'll probably have problems when trying to communicate
in cases where both of you are in different servers, or in cases where
the service provider is having difficulties providing the service. Jitsi
(the client) isn't a service provider by itself, but a client for
various protocols (one of these being XMPP/Jabber).
As for Jit.si, as far as I can tell, it seems to be a network service
that might be using a technology similar to WebRTC, however, it seems to
force non-free software (due to non-free JavaScript).
Jitsi Meet uses WebRTC (not a technology "similar" to it). I do not know of any nonfree Javascript in it: https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet/ (ironically, GitHub requires the execution of nonfree Javascript).
another good alternative is linphone, that one is awesome. It's available for PC and phones.
What about https://meet.jit.si/?
On 27/12/16 21:23, name at domain wrote:
> Time and again Jitsi is mentioned as a (the) serious alternative to
> Skype. But it is so cumbersome to get up and running.
I decided to have a go at Jitsi, so I installed it from the
Install/Remove Applications menu from Trisquel.
Very much like Icedove, on the first run it opens a window
prompting you to add accounts. And it is a promising-looking windows,
because it shows possible accounts such as Facebook. It made me to get
in a nostalgia mood... long ago, when I was still an Ubuntu user, Pidgin
was able to handle all my instant messaging accounts... IRC, Yahoo!,
Hotmail, Facebook, Google... even Skype, though only for chat - for
calls Pidgin would launch the separate Skype app. Sadly, Facebook and
Hotmail evolved to be incompatible with Pidgin, and I'm having problems
with Yahoo! too. They want you to install their own messengers, but I
don't want to have six separate instant messaging software running at
any time, I want just a single one which is able to handle all
accounts. So the opening of Jitsi gave me hope.
But then... hell. So far I have entered my accounts at Facebook,
MSN, SIP and Yahoo! and none works. It fails to retrieve the contact
list. No way I am adding my contacts manually, first because they are
too much, second because if you fail to do the minimun, basic task of
retrieving my contact list and showing me that you are working well, I'm
not trusting you enough to put more work into you.
So far, Jitsi only looks like a piece of malware designed to get
hold of your instant messaging accounts and their passwords.
--
Ignacio Agulló · name at domain
> Jitsi only looks like a piece of malware designed to get
hold of your instant messaging accounts and their passwords.
It isn't. The version of Jitsi found in Trisquel's repository is just way out of date.
I suggest downloading the generic JAR file since that's much easier and works everywhere. That's this one:
https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/generic/jitsi-2.8.5426.jar
But if you want a package, it's one of these (depending on architecture):
https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/debian/jitsi_2.8.5426-1_i386.deb
https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/debian/jitsi_2.8.5426-1_amd64.deb
All of those other files are for different programs such as Jitsi Meet and Jitsi Videobridge that are designed to be run on servers (such as meet.jit.si). The one you want is always the one that just says "jitsi" and then a version number, whichever one is most recent.
On 28/12/16 19:14, name at domain wrote:
> I suggest downloading the generic JAR file since that's much easier.
> That's this one:
>
> https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/generic/jitsi-2.8.5426.jar
>
> But if you want a package, it's one of these (depending on architecture):
>
> https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/debian/jitsi_2.8.5426-1_i386.deb
> https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/debian/jitsi_2.8.5426-1_amd64.deb
The last one was the easiest one for me hands down, all it takes
after completing the download was to enter dpkg -i .
So now I get Jitsi 2.8.5426 but I notice no changes... only the
taskbar icon. Oh wait... the MSN network is no longer in the list of
services, so Jitsi no longer offers a service it cannot deliver. But I
keep getting problems with Facebook and Yahoo! Will try to remember
posting a detailed report later.
--
Ignacio Agulló · name at domain
I read somewhere that Facebook's XMPP-based chat is deprecated. Perhaps it's been dropped since then.
As for Yahoo, the Wikipedia page for that service suggests it should have been shut down months ago and superseded by something else which is incompatible.
More on Jitsi... it looks like a fraud to me.
MSN, Facebook, SIP, Yahoo! and GoogleTalk don't work. Latest Jitsi version no longer offers MSN, but keeps offering (in vain) the rest.
-For Yahoo!, it shows a warning saying that Yahoo! modified the service to require Yahoo!Messenger, but in spite of that Jitsi still continues offering Yahoo! messaging in the available services list, and then lists Yahoo! service as "available" and allows to introduce contacts... which of course won't be reached.
-For SIP, something similar happens. Ekiga fails to offer me SIP service also, but at least shows the list of contacts with the Echo test contact. Jitsi doesn't. It doesn't look like it connects to SIP, it looks like it is faking the connection.
-For Facebook, the website has a warning of being no longer available: https://jitsi.org/Documentation/SetUpFacebookChat , yet still Facebook is in the list of available services of Jitsi, and when you try to use it, it doesn't say that it won't work because of Facebook but instead that the authentication failed and you need to re-type the password.
-For GoogleTalk, the same happens. It allows you to introduce the account, then keeps saying authentication mismatch and requesting the password again.
Jitsi, why on earth are you offering people the possibility of entering their Facebook and Yahoo! accounts (and passwords) if you're never going to provide any service for them? You just want their passwords? Please explain like I am five.
I'll stick to Pidgin. Even though the good old days are gone, when all of my Instant Messaging was handled from Pidgin... Facebook, MSN and Yahoo! no longer work on it... also, I remember you could get a plug-in for Windows NT to add Tuenti (which I didn't use because I used GNU/Linux Ubuntu) and a plug-in for GNU/Linux to add Skype (which I no longer use because now I use GNU/Linux Trisquel without proprietary software).
Still, Pidgin keeps handling my GoogleTalk and IRC accounts.
Saying it's a fraud is a bit harsh.
Yahoo! and Facebook are both unethical companies anyway.
And I'd avoid Google as much as possible as well.
SIP, I don't know about it.
Jitsi is way beyond Pidgin when it comes to replacing both Skype (video chat) and Teamviewer (remote assistance), with encryption, and this is no small feat. Well, when you manage to make it work.
But I agree that trying to do so many things in one program is a bad strategy, specially when very few work consistently.
Also the packages are hard to find on the website.
To me, it should focus on video conference and remote assistance, with encryption, and being multi OS (else there's no point to it). And that's all.
One possible alternative would be to install Jitsi Meet on one's computer, and use it that way because :
- easy connection from the browser
- no down period since you're running it
- no XMPP account needed, nothing to setup
Possible disadvantage :
- not as secure since the browser used by your contact probably isn't secure.
"Fraud" isn't how I would describe it at all. Pidgin has to be developed constantly to keep up with changes to the proprietary protocols used by Yahoo, Facebook, MSN, etc. Jitsi got its most recent stable release last year, and many of them have gone through drastic changes since then, so of course they're broken. What do you expect?
Also, you seem to think that your password is sent over to a server hosted by Jitsi's developers, which is preposterous and tells me you know nothing about how things like this work. Your information is sent directly to the network that needs it. If you don't believe me, Jitsi's source code is available. Sending over your Yahoo password to a server that isn't Yahoo would be completely unnecessary and thus necessarily malicious. Jitsi is a program run on your machine, not some SaaSS frontend.
As for SIP, I don't know since I've never tried (I don't see why you're using it anyway, just use XMPP), but if it's failing on Ekiga too, that tells me that the problem is with the server, not Jitsi. The fact that the error is unclear doesn't mean that Jitsi is "faking the connection". Sometimes the situation is just one that the client can't make sense of, or the client can't even tell that anything is wrong.
Please stop acting as if Jitsi is the first case of libre malware that went undetected for 13 years. It is not. It's just that the proprietary protocols you are trying to use have broken since Jitsi last had a stable release (note: there's also a more up-to-date unstable release). You can say that it's a bad decision for Jitsi to support these protocols, and I would basically agree; focusing on XMPP would be beneficial. But trying and failing to support everything else is not malicious.
onpon4, do have jitsi running?
Curious about installing jitsi meet (encryption makes the browser, or even Facebook accounts if it worked a non-issue, besides an ethical one),
I just finished the install, which asked for my fqdn hostname.
So I went in /etc/hosts and picked the name of my computer.
Then it asked for a signed ssl certificate, I just selected a self-signed one since I have no idea how this works.
The install ended, but then I tried to put my computer name in my browser. No success. I tried the localhost address associated with it (or simply typing localhost), and I reach a "welcome to nginx" page, telling me a web server is successfully installed, but that it needs to be configured.
So I'm stuck now. Any idea how to reach my installed jitsi meet?
The Jitsi instructions on Github say:
"Launch a web browser (Chrome, Chromium or latest Opera) and enter in the URL bar the hostname (or IP address) you used in the previous step.
Confirm that you trust the self-signed certificate of the newly installed Jitsi Meet."
As I type, I see some fixes. Something about nginxs and symlinks. Stuff to fix, as usual... Potentially because something is outdated though.
> So I went in /etc/hosts and picked the name of my computer.
I don't think that's right. If I understand correctly, what you want is "localhost".
EDIT: I ended up typing https://myhostname, and then I basically accepted the untrusted self-signed certificate I generated.
It seems to work, meaning I reach a grey blank page. Same result with the demo jitsi meet URL, so, it's most likely something on my browser.
EDIT: some plugin was the culprit, I got the page. Cool :)
But I tried to put my URL from another computer at home, and I can't reach it :(
It seems my setup was too simplistic, but it might also be something about closed ports (see https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet/issues/529).
But since I barely understand that stuff, I'll stop here. Too much work.
Since I'm a bit less tired (and defeatist as a consequence), I want to give it a try.
I don't understand all the intricacies, but localhost shouldn't be able to communicate with the outside world.
So no surprise it doesn't work.
Feel free to participate, else don't hold your breath, I'm gonna take my time with this one.
Pleas let us know how you progress. Are you trying jitsi meet or just plain jitsi?
If you pay attention, the answer was already written above.
It's about Jitsi Meet installed on my computer (not relying on Jitsi's servers). Plain Jitsi works, although the setup is annoying.
The cool thing about a self-hosted Jitsi Meet is that it's very easy to set up a video talk.I'm not sure the remote controlling thing works there though.
But I don't know how it works.
The instructions said to give my localhost address during the setup. But there's no way to reach a page I setup from another computer.
And doing this right means understanding what's going on, dealing with IP addresses, networks and stuff. also signed certificated would be nice.
So I doubt I'll make this work anytime soon.
Jitsi at work is manageable, but my connection was horrible, so as I could see the shared screen, I couldn't interact with it this time. Still worth it.