[wsfii-discuss] Live video conference - for real?

Sun Sep 24 22:28:28 UTC 2006

ola,

fred, saul here are some of the answers, as Saul said G.I.S.S is a
descentralized network. me, im just one of the users/agitators.

On 9/24/06, Fred Pook <fredpook at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The info on GISS is scarce..

the people behind are basically a bunch of packet traffickers that
dwell around the mediterranean and have deals with some of this crews:
artefacte, riereta, r23, v2v, bek and hackitectura as a crossing
point. Thats why -> http://giss.hackitectura.net

G.I.S.S came out from this:
http://hackitectura.net/aljwarizmi/timecode.php

I became addicted since 2003. GISS is supported by many puredata
(software) users and devs.

about the technicalities, these days all its basically based on this
patched icecast:
http://www.mediacast1.com/~karl/ thats is installed in each of the
master servers. then tehres is a pletora of streaming clients..from pd
to freej.

the patched icecast allows the theora transport video layer in the ogg
codec, hence ogg/theora means video juicy bits included!

the actual servers are the ones from a wide variety of iniciatives:
labbs / psand / hackitectura / bek / r23  / v2v / mur - among others.
as said before around 200mb of banwidth.. we have used them from
different places of latinamerica (transmiting and receiving
simultaneously from 4 places) and they worked in a very stable way..
more than 20persons connected at the same time to streams from
Cordoba.argentina, Quito.Ecuador, Bogota.Colombia and another place i
dont remember now...

plus some more servers are to come hopefully soon located in NY and
related to hans steiner a very active puredata developer.

>
> We could work on the wiki on this project at:
> http://summit.airjaldi.com/wiki/index.php?title=GISS.Stream.Ring

i will try to answers all thse questions in the wiki and invite other
GISS conspirers to join in and give a hand.

> P.S. I am almost ready configuring VLC to do a ogg/theora stream
> without frying my centrino CPU but i am silly enough to try this on
> winxp with a webcam using DirectView.

fred, why not use this liveCD:
http://devel.goto10.org/rl/

you can try freej or oggfdw (if you have a firewireport and a dvcam
for that centrino laptop) but believe me freej is a very stable and
easy way to do a stream, there are many more
(http://mcs.hackitectura.net/tiki-index.php?page=AL-JWARIZMI%3A+tools)
what webcam do you have? is it supported under linux?

come and meet us in irc:

/server irc.r23.cc
/join #giss

(or in freenode #altred)

>
>
>
> On 9/24/06, Saul Albert <saul at theps.net> wrote:

> > - Is G.I.S.S. is a network of interconnected servers that provide
> >  FLOSS-based ogg theora video streaming capabilities for like-minded
> >  groups to use?

thats it! (as read in the website: GISS is an empathic network of
humans, machines, flows and free code.) like that it has been since
some years now. many festivals and opensource events have used the
streaming video infrastructure. from jsl-brasil, flisol, madiaq,
placard...the list is long..this weekend sinantena.org a madrid based
independent t.v. iniciative was streaming via the GISS their live
program...theres a batch list of video streams even. :)

> >
> > - Can WSFII use this network to stream activities from Dharamasala?
> >

yes please!, lets work for it. I see that G.I.S.S is just one of the
many expressions at work of what a free Information Infrastructure
means. That has been our mode of operating with altred.net, always
tied to streams so our free wireless network get the content it
deserves...like this big project they announced in canada last
week..we just dont have state to support us :P

> > - What kind of equipment/software do we need to provide a stream source
> >  to the G.I.S.S.  network?

its very easy:
1.webcam that runs under linux, for that you can see what the dmesg
command throws in your console after connecting it to the usb potrt,
then go and look here if its supported:
http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/showdevcat.php?id=9

2.a decent internet connection
we have done stable streams on very slow connections (128k that
certainly works slower than that in southamerica), if you have a 256k
connection with at least 100k per sec real upload speed that will be
more than enough cause we dont push it to much so people in slow
connections can download and see the stream without problems, we tend
to use a 240x180 15fps settings. Remember you are streaming to a
server that will take care of spreading the word. you just need to get
to the server so theres no need for an ultra fat connection, of course
the more the better...

> >  Which online resources do you recommend for
> >  helping with setting up a stream source?
> >

we have detailed guideline is in spanish but the apt-get install steps
are understandable in any lenguage :) here:
http://www.slec.net/HacerStreamDeVideoConSoftwareyCodecsLibres

(remeber you dont need to install the server part if you want to
stream to the GISS network) if you depart from debian things are quite
easy, then anyways you have the chance to install puredyne, thats my
choice since i dont like debian.

http://puredyne.goto10.org/
(brilliant project based in dynebolic)

Plus, I think one of the best ways to do this is using the irc, i did
that for the flisol and we helped around 10 persons.

> > - What kind of equipment/software do we need to watch a stream? What
> >  online resources do you recommend for helping with that?

http://mcs.hackitectura.net/tiki-index.php?page=AL-JWARIZMI%3A+tools

we live in irc so come to the channel #giss (server irc.r23.org) if
you need more help or want a pasword to test.

I propose we begin with freej from puredyne and then if you feel
adventurous move to puredata or oggfwd that has a new gui front done
by the brazilian hackers of estudiolivre:

http://theorur.tvlivre.org/

it will need a miniDV camera though..

> >
> > - Can groups who have contributed to WSFII join the network and offer
> >  resources?

yes please!, its very simple, just install the icecsat server and
tweak the config in few places to make relays over other
servers..thats all, is very easy, its just like sharing extra
resources.

> >  If so, what's needed? For example, What other kind of help
> >  does the GISS project need that we might be able to offer
> >

GISS governs itself with the principle of spontaneity, so i guess
theres no master plan apart of building the network on trust and
frienship. but these are just my words and can be rectified in the
wiki by any other GISS user.

from my point of view GISS will need few servers in latinamerica, when
i say servers i mean just people sharing a bit their good connections
to balance loads from regional requests. In this is the poster done
for the flisol you can see how the south depends on one server from
psand in miami..hopefully soon there will be one in NYC.

http://www1.autistici.org/communa/platanal/flisol_giss_poster.png

> > - I think there are lots of other questions - such as how to integrate
> >  IRC chat with streaming,

this same weekend the people from sinantena used a web interface that
apart from having the video screen embedded in the page, had also a
chat interface. this is a new service that will add a lot of good
feedback to the event in realtime. we normally use IRC but for people
that dont do theres this new chance to see and say.

ok, im sure i miss many things but will try to add them to the wiki,

buena semana!
/alejo