Re: Video conferencing and webcams on Netbsd

[Christian Koch <cfkoch%sdf.lonestar.org@localhost>]

Hi Ottavio,

On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 09:41:47AM +0100, Ottavio Caruso wrote:
> Is there any video conferencing (client) software that works on
> Netbsd? Anything, for example, that can connect to Skype? (I know the
> Skype client exists but I guess it doesn't support video).

I've never been able to get packages which explicitly support video conferencing
to actually work. Pidgin, WebRTC, you name it. However, I have been able to roll
my own (so to speak) with all sorts of hacks, but that's kinda my "thing,"
mucking about with audio and video.

> In case of web-based Flash-based video conferencing, is there anything
> I should know about webcams before buying one, to make it work with
> Netbsd? My ageing Thinkpad unfortunately doesn't come with a built-in
> cam.

I've heard people have had pleasant experiences with the PlayStation Eye. It's
fairly affordable, too. NetBSD even has explicit support for it, see pseye(4),
but I've never tested it.  The only cameras I have managed to get to work on my
laptop are actually not with USB, but over IEEE1394, see fwctl(8).

Theoretically, any camera will work as long as the OS or client software or
whatever is able to decode the incoming stream, doesn't need to be a "webcam" as
such. And audio is a separate beast entirely (and far better supported on
NetBSD).

-Christian