Fre Phone 1.1 Beta 2
====================

There is no help or a man page available yet for fphone. However, fphone
is easy to use and this README should be enough to get started. We
remind you that fphone is still a Beta version.

Any questions, suggestions, comments, or bug reports can be sent to
fphone@sophia.inria.fr

You can subscribe to this mailing lis by sending a mail to
fphone-request@sophia.inria.fr with a subject line "subscribe" (this is
not an automated list yet, then be patient please).

1) What is fphone ?

fphone is an audio conference and internet phone for Unix platforms
(SunOS, Solarix, Linux, etc). It is very similar to the 'normal' phone
except that you can have a communication between several users.


2) What are the main features ?

Multicast and point to point connections are possible between users. Use
of redundancy in case of packet lose. Variable bit rate which can be
modified according to the location of users (low bit rate are required
if users are very far from each other), vat RTP mode compatibility
(though you must not use redundancy while talking with vat and use only
the codecs that vat supports [PCMU, GSM, LPC]).


3) What do I need ?

 - a Unix platform with a sound interface.
 - a loudspeaker (headphones are even better) connected to it and a
   microphone.
 - X windows...
 - a kernel which supports IP_MULTICAST if you want to use 
   multicast addressing.


4) Where can I find fphone ?

The binaries of fphone are available via ftp anonymous at zenon.inria.fr
in the directory /rodeo/fphone

The files you need are :

 - fphone-1.1b2-{solaris,sunos}[-static].gz
   (further versions for other architectures will be available soon)
 - libtcl.tar.gz


5) How do I quickly install fphone ?

Uncompress fphone-1.1b2-yourOS[-static].gz where you usually store your
binaries (i.e. ~/bin) and untar the libtcl.tar.gz in your root directory
(i.e. ~/libtcl). Go to your bin directory:

$ cd bin
$ mv fphone-1.1b2-yourOS[-static] fphone
$ chmod 755 fphone
$ rehash

Set the environment variables as follow:
  
$ setenv TCL_LIBRARY      ~/libtcl
$ setenv TK_LIBRARY       $TCL_LIBRARY 


6) How can I use ?

6.1) Point to point connection

you want to talk to one person in particular... Start fphone this way:

$ fphone &  (your correspondent must also start it)

Click on the 'Quick Call' button and type the address and name of your
correspondent: eduros@merlot.inria.fr

A windows will appear on the correspondent's screen requesting a
connection on your behalf. Once he accepts it, the connection is
displayed in the list of 'Connections in progress'


6.2) Multicast

That feature allows a group of people to talk together on the internet.

If these people are all connected to the local area network, start
fphone as follow:

$ fphone multicast_address/port &

If some of them are distant (more than one hope away) the TTL must be
changed otherwise multicast packets are discarded by the first router
(by default TTL is 1). fphone is then started as follow:

$ fphone /T <ttl> multicast_address/port &


6.2) General use

First of all if you are using a loudspeaker instead of headphones, ensure
that the microphone is as far as possible from the loudspeaker.

Feel like talking ?  
Press the 'push to talk' button. Do not forget to unpress it after
talking otherwise it causes echoing. This is rather annoying because
your correspondent hear and re-send what he was saying and therefore
creates a loop.

You may be lead to change the input level of your microphone (buttons
are provided for that purpose). If it is too high it causes distortion,
not enough your correspondents might not hear you. You should also find
the correct level to avoid echoing as possible. The 'squelsh' is another
parameter to set correctly (press <Ctrl a> and see what parameters you
can change). If the sound level of your voice is not greater than the
threshold defined by the squelsh, nothing will be transmitted. In fact,
you specify here the sensibility of your microphone.

Your correspondent is very far and he can not receive you properly ?  

By default fphone does not use redundancy but sends your voice with the
'best quality'. Press <Ctrl r> to see the redundancy control panel. Play
around with the different coding algorithms (under label 'Main') and see
what happens to the nominal data rate. If your correspondent is very far
and the bandwidth available between you two very low, you should both
select the GSM algorithm (for the Main information) and have a level of
redundancy (Red1) with the LPC algorithm.

It is recommended to have fphone constantly running because people can
call you at any time. When this happens, a window pops up handled by
your fphone and asks you if you accept the connection.

Now, playing around by yourself with fphone, you should be able to
discover the rest of the functionalities. Starting fphone with the
option '-h' gives further information and options to set.


Hope you will have fun with it...


This README has beig bring to you by:
	Emmanuel Duros  <Emmanuel.Duros@sophia.inria.fr>