Jabber Server, Trillian, iChat, PC's to Mac's arrrrggggg

HI Shawn,

iChat 3 is both an AIM client and a Jabber client.

For iChat to PC chats of the video kind you need a Mac with an @mac name (trial accounts work after the sixty days) or an AIM name.

The PC end needs either Trillian Pro or AIM 5.9.

FAQ on subject

The AIM application does tend to download and install serveral add-on bits like weather and stocks that are not needed.

It also takes more setting up than Trillian.

This gives an overall picture http://www.mvldesign.com/videoconferencetutorial.html

Essentially it is in three parts at the PC end.
1) "Tune" the app to camrea and mic. These instructions were written for AIM 5.5 but are the same once the PC user has accessed the Properties from the Buddy List menu items.
2) Enable the app through the XP firewall
3) Open the ports AIM needs on the modem/connecting server
These are 1024-5000 Stated on this page

Trillian needs item 2) and 3) done. The Trillian site is less helpful about the Video ports so open the same ports as AIM.

Essentially Jabber does not Video chat.
That said iChat using Jabber Buddy list to another iChat user doing the same will be able to Video/Audio chat with the iChat software.

The Jabber part of the OS X Server software does not have to be active for the AIM to iChat links.

iChat does need a set of ports opened in the modem/connecting server. Or in the Mac Firewall if On.
See Mac Firewall instructions here http://www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/page4.html

If you whole LAN is Mac based only the iChat ports have to be open as iChat tends to "tell" AIM which ports to use.

iChat tends not to work if there are more than one router/modem doing NAT. UPnP gets around this and allows multiple computers to connect using the same ports.

You may find nore help in the OS X Server > Collaboration services Forum



10:24 PM Friday; May 19, 2006

Hi Shawn,

This is a list of Public Jabber servers
http://www.jabber.org/network/oldnetwork.shtml

As you can see they do not contain Video or Audio chat options. This would preclude using a Jabber client on a PC.

Your other options would be to use another service like

Yakforfree

Paltalk

iVisit etc. See this thread for links
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=487228&tstart=0

Trillian is a multiservice client and will connect to a Jabber server. If this is an iChat server in OS X Server it may work but I would ask that in the other forum. OS X Server stuff is a bit beyond my knowledge.



11:14 PM Friday; May 19, 2006

Hi,

No problem.



8:35 PM Saturday; May 20, 2006

This is a list of Public Jabber servers
http://www.jabber.org/network/oldnetwork.shtml

As you can see they do not contain Video or Audio
chat options. This would preclude using a Jabber
client on a PC.

The servers don't need to contain Video or Audio features as it's all handled client-side (which is why two iChat users can have audio/video chats via Jabber).

I believe that iChat uses some sort of custom SIP system for Audio and Video, so as long as you can find a client on Windows that knows both this custom system of Apple's and can also use Jabber you should be able to have to have video/audio chats between iChat and Windows users. Trillian Pro supposedly can do this (according to the thread here http://www.jabber.org.au/forums/viewtopic.php?id=382) but i haven't tried it myself.

Hopefully Apple will ditch their current way of doing audio/video in favour of the standardised Jingle specifications in a future release of iChat, which will open up video/audio chats between a whole range of clients on any OS you choose.

Hi Rocky,

Welcome To The Apple Discussion Pages.

I certainly did not know that.
Thank you.

I will make a note.
I actually don't play around with Jabber that much. EZ Jim and I discovered by accident that if we were logged on to a Jabber server and used this Buddy List to start a Video chat the A/V side of iChat would connect us.

I can follow the logic that the other person needs a client that can video. It would have to be one that would chat to iChat and AIM clients. Trillian would fit that bill.

That would leave whether a person had a MSN account whether Trillian would invoke the AIM side to A/V chat.

The Last but one post in that Jabber.org.au coffee lounge thread seems to have it that Trillian uses the AIM Protocols when A/V chatting. This at Trillian does not make it any clearer (partly as it is version 2 info)



9:32 PM Sunday; May 21, 2006

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for the welcome. Sorry about the delay in replying, i didn't notice that you'd replied to my post.

Anyway, further research seems to suggest that it isn't actually possible to do audio/video between Trillian and iChat via Jabber. At least i haven't found anyone claiming that they have managed it.

It should be trivial to add to Trillian though since apparently iChat does audio/video for AIM, Bonjour and Jabber in exactly the same way, it's just how the streams are negotiated that differs. I suggest that the original poster contact Cerulean Studios ( http://www.ceruleanstudios.com) and request the feature to be added. Alternatively, since Cerulean Studios have pledged support for Jingle, he could contact Apple and request that they support the Jingle standards. ^_^

So it looks like there is currently no way to have an audio/video chat between OS X and Windows users via Jabber. However the future isn't looking so bleak.

OpenWengo ( http://www.openwengo.org) is building a VoIP client that can IM via various protocols, including Jabber, and does both audio and video via SIP. The (soon to be released) 2.0 version will only do audio/video for people using Wengo as their SIP provider, but their FAQ says that allowing you to use the client with other SIP providers is a priority and will be implemented in the next version. So if the OP is willing to set up both Jabber and SIP servers this could be a solution a couple of months down the line.

The 2.0 version of Gizmo ( http://www.gizmoproject.com) already allows you to log into other SIP servers and it uses Jabber for IM, but the Jabber portion is locked to Gizmo (a feature request might yield some results). It currently lacks video support (though i'm sure it's being worked on), but a benefit is that the client supports Phil Zimmerman's Zfone plugin which allows you to encrypt the voice aspect of you communication. Gizmo also doesn't treat Mac users like second-class citizens, our client is generally nicer and has feature parity with the Windows version.

Even if one of these solutions can be made to fit the OP's needs he should still file a feature request with Apple to support Jingle. I firmly believe that XMPP/Jabber will become the standard for IM in the next few years, and it's important that Apple follows the standards so that no matter what OS a person is on they will be able to communicate effortlessly, in whatever form they want, with anyone else on the 'net.

*off to file a feature request with Apple*

iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)