| Documentation / Chapter 15. Using Voice over IP with Ekiga | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 14.4. For More Information | 15.2. The Ekiga User Interface |  | |
| Documentation / Chapter 15. Using Voice over IP with Ekiga | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14.4. For More Information | 15.2. The Ekiga User Interface | | |
Contents
Abstract
Modern telecommunication means far more than just making a phone call. It is also about exchanging text messages and sometimes even video conferencing. Roaming enables you to be reachable under one phone number all across the world. Ekiga brings these features to your Linux desktop, allowing you to communicate over broadband Internet.
Before starting, make sure that the following requirements are met:
Your sound card is properly configured.
A headset or a microphone and speakers are attached to your computer.
For dialing in to regular phone networks, a SIP account is required. SIP (Signaling protocol for Internet Telephony) is the protocol used to establish sessions for audio and video conferencing or call forwarding. There are many VoIP providers all over the world. For a quick start, have a look at the service that the Ekiga project provides at http://www.ekiga.net.
For video conferencing, a Web cam is connected to your computer.
On first start, Ekiga opens a configuration assistant that requests all data needed to configure your instance of Ekiga. To configure Ekiga, proceed as follows:
Enter your full name (name and surname).
Enter your ekiga.net account data or choose not to
sign up with ekiga.net.
To add other accounts later, configure them using +.
Enter your Ekiga Call Out Account data or choose not
to sign up with ekiga.net.
Determine your connection type.
Choose the audio manager to use. Accept the default setting , as it guarantees the best sound quality and other sound systems, like OSS, are not available on openSUSE.
By default, there is no ringing device set. If you a ring tone, change this to one of your available audio devices.
Choose the video input device if available.
Check the summary of your settings and apply them.
If registration fails after you made changes to your configuration, just restart Ekiga.
Ekiga allows you to maintain multiple accounts. To configure an additional account, proceed as follows:
Open +.
Choose +. If unsure, select .
Enter the to which you want to register. This is usually an IP address or a host name that will be given to you by your Internet Telephony Service Provider. Enter , and according to the data provided by your provider.
Leave the configuration dialog with and activate the account. The status of your account displayed in the Ekiga main window changes to .
