With so many in lock-down due to covid-19, social interaction ceases to happen.

For elderly users of interest groups such as those under the auspices of
U3A, this is depressing.

I thought a solution might be Video Conferencing, preferably something
that could be run on cellphones or even microcomputers.

The thing is it would have to be simple to install and configure and not flavoured with irritating corporate-speak.

I have tried a couple of things but they were tortuous.

Has anybody on this group had any experience or know anything that might
be encouraging to us in our bunker?

Finally, apologies for cross-posting. I had to send via Thunderbird and
have never done so before.

TIA

Alan

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/0@fidonet)

On Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:07:50 -0400, pinnerite <pinnerite@gmail.com> wrote:

I thought a solution might be Video Conferencing, preferably something
that could be run on cellphones or even microcomputers.
The thing is it would have to be simple to install and configure and not flavoured with irritating corporate-speak.
I have tried a couple of things but they were tortuous.

Take a look at https://jitsi.org/jitsi-meet/
Only requires a web browser. Best done with a headset though, to avoid feedback.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org to davidwhodgins@teksavvy.com for
email replies.

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/0@fidonet)

On 16.03.2020 at 18:07, pinnerite scribbled:

With so many in lock-down due to covid-19, social interaction ceases
to happen.
=20
For elderly users of interest groups such as those under the auspices
of U3A, this is depressing.
=20
I thought a solution might be Video Conferencing, preferably
something that could be run on cellphones or even microcomputers.
=20
The thing is it would have to be simple to install and configure and
not flavoured with irritating corporate-speak.
=20
I have tried a couple of things but they were tortuous.
=20
Has anybody on this group had any experience or know anything that
might be encouraging to us in our bunker?

Zoom. If it's not included in the repos =E2=80=94 I don't run Mageia, sorr=
y =E2=80=94
then you can download it as a self-extracting archive from their site.

I seem to recall that it's Free Software, although the time per
individual conversation is limited to 90 minutes for non-paying users.
Every user has a "Zoom room" that others can connect to (if you allow
them). Audio and video quality is very good, and you have the option
to record the conversation, as well as to type messages to the
participants.

It's been a few years since I've last used it, though, so I'm a bit
rusty on the details.


--=20
With respect,
=3D Aragorn =3D


--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Strider (2:250/0@fidonet)

On Mon, 16 Mar 2020 15:02:34 -0400, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be> wrote:

Zoom. If it's not included in the repos — I don't run Mageia, sorry — then you can download it as a self-extracting archive from their site.

From urpmq -i zoom ...
Description :
Zoom is an interpreter for playing all of Infocom's text adventures and
newer games using the same format (Z-CODE), like the ones produced using
the Inform compiler.

Don't think that's the same zoom being referred to.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

--
Change dwhodgins@nomail.afraid.org to davidwhodgins@teksavvy.com for
email replies.

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/0@fidonet)

On 16.03.2020 at 15:24, David W. Hodgins scribbled:

On Mon, 16 Mar 2020 15:02:34 -0400, Aragorn <thorongil@telenet.be>
wrote:
=20

Zoom. If it's not included in the repos =E2=80=94 I don't run Mageia, sorry =E2=80=94 then you can download it as a self-extracting archive f=

rom

their site. =20

=20
From urpmq -i zoom ...
Description :
Zoom is an interpreter for playing all of Infocom's text adventures
and newer games using the same format (Z-CODE), like the ones
produced using the Inform compiler.
=20
Don't think that's the same zoom being referred to.

Indeed not. ;)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom_Video_Communications=20



--=20
With respect,
=3D Aragorn =3D


--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Strider (2:250/0@fidonet)

On 2020-03-16, pinnerite <pinnerite@gmail.com> wrote:

With so many in lock-down due to covid-19, social interaction ceases to happen.

For elderly users of interest groups such as those under the auspices of U3A, this is depressing.

I thought a solution might be Video Conferencing, preferably something
that could be run on cellphones or even microcomputers.

The thing is it would have to be simple to install and configure and not flavoured with irritating corporate-speak.

I have tried a couple of things but they were tortuous.

Has anybody on this group had any experience or know anything that might
be encouraging to us in our bunker?

Try Zoom. It is relatively easy to set up, and allows unlimited one to
one sessions (video if you want, or audio only if you want) For more tha
2 computers the session is limited to 40 min. You can immediately start
another session if you so wish. For $20/mo Cdn you can have 24 hr
sessions with up to 100 people etc.

The procedure is quite simple. One person has to be the "host". The host
sets up the meeting and sends the clients a session number. They havee
to go into zoom or to the web (zoom.us/) and joing the meeting and
that's it.


--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/0@fidonet)

On Tue, 17 Mar 2020 01:02:54 +0000, William Unruh wrote:

On 2020-03-16, pinnerite <pinnerite@gmail.com> wrote:

With so many in lock-down due to covid-19, social interaction ceases to
happen.

For elderly users of interest groups such as those under the auspices
of U3A, this is depressing.

I thought a solution might be Video Conferencing, preferably something
that could be run on cellphones or even microcomputers.

The thing is it would have to be simple to install and configure and
not flavoured with irritating corporate-speak.

I have tried a couple of things but they were tortuous.

Has anybody on this group had any experience or know anything that
might be encouraging to us in our bunker?

Try Zoom. It is relatively easy to set up, and allows unlimited one to
one sessions (video if you want, or audio only if you want) For more tha
2 computers the session is limited to 40 min. You can immediately start another session if you so wish. For $20/mo Cdn you can have 24 hr
sessions with up to 100 people etc.

The procedure is quite simple. One person has to be the "host". The host
sets up the meeting and sends the clients a session number. They havee
to go into zoom or to the web (zoom.us/) and joing the meeting and
that's it.

we've had one test of zoom today.
We couldn't get the sound right but we think we know why.
Another test on Sunday.

Thanks to everyone that chipped in.

Regards, Alan

--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.13 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)
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