video chat software

Bless the dogs for your post! I was just looking for non-creepy video conferencing software myself. So, no experience but willing to test. My needs would be similar to yours.

(Sorry I disappeared from Trisquel forums for a while because life.)

Edit: Ah, I forgot about an important detail: I don't have a webcam :(

I just tested [Jitsi Meet][1] with a friend. It runs in-browser using WebRTC, which while not my personal preference is ideal for getting otherwise reluctant people to try it, since they only need to visit a webpage to get started. Our browser privacy settings prevented it from working initially, but I assume that it works out of the box on normal browsers. Audio and video quality were quite good, though it is possible that quality would not be as good for calls between more than two users.

[1]: https://jitsi.org/jitsi-meet/

Via gnu.org and fsf.org, I found

• "Wire" (has audio conferencing, but only 1-to-1 video),
• "Ekiga",
• "Jami" (I think this means Jami supports video conferencing),
• "WikiSuite" (definitely supports), and
• 3 different "Jitsi".

Of these 7 programs, only one ("Jitsi Meet") is listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_conferencing_software, so it looks like I'll have to dig through the websites or wait for you all's insightful insights.

What about Icecast? I've never used it myself but someone recommended it to me for consideration.

I'm using GNU Jami fairly regularly for voice / video calls and simultaneous text chat including exchanging photos. It works great for 1-to-1 communication but I wish it would offer a screen share option which could be very good for 1-to-1 tutoring and other comms during covid-19. For some applications one can get by with photos but for giving a business / other presentation, going through many pages, then screen share would be useful.

I am using Trisquel but the other party is using an Android phone with Jami downloaded via the F-droid free software repository (as opposed to play).

I would recommend making sure there is a strong wifi connection or wired network connection for video calls. We found that weak connection from a room distant from the antenna reswulted in failed calls. That can obviously just be down to the user wifi service but I suggest if you have problems then first troubleshooting might involve checking network rates.

I have heard that Icecast is a free software alternative to Jitsi / Jitsi Meet but I am not sure whether it can be so user friendly. Certainly user friendliness is important in order to offer the General Public (the GP) a free software alternative in case they find proprietary terms and conditions of zoom or whatsapp to be onerous, or from some persons' perspective "creepy".

Has anyone experience of Icecast, compared with Jitsi? I have heard from another interested party that whilst "JS code is in fact free software, the files sent to the browser are not labeled with their licenses, so one would need to override LibreJS if you care about that". If I understood correctly that person recommended Icecast for broadcasting a video presentation whilst possibly using Mumble for audio communications.

I'm supposing the guys doing LibrePlanet conferences might know about this sort of thing but I have not been involved in that (I wish I had more time to spend on free software balanced with other life requirements and priorities).