SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Documentation › GNOME User Guide › Communication and Collaboration › Ekiga: Using Voice over IP
ContentsContents
GNOME User Guide
  1. About This Guide
  2. I Introduction
    1. 1 Getting Started with the GNOME Desktop
    2. 2 Working with Your Desktop
    3. 3 Customizing Your Settings
    4. 4 Assistive Technologies
  3. II Connectivity, Files and Resources
    1. 5 Accessing Network Resources
    2. 6 Managing Printers
    3. 7 Backing Up User Data
  4. III LibreOffice
    1. 8 LibreOffice: The Office Suite
    2. 9 LibreOffice Writer
    3. 10 LibreOffice Calc
    4. 11 LibreOffice Impress, Base, Draw, and Math
  5. IV Information Management
    1. 12 Evolution: E-Mailing and Calendaring
    2. 13 Seahorse: Signing and Encrypting Data
  6. V Communication and Collaboration
    1. 14 Pidgin: Instant Messaging
    2. 15 Ekiga: Using Voice over IP
  7. VI Internet
    1. 16 Firefox: Browsing the Web
    2. 17 gFTP: Transferring Data From the Internet
  8. VII Graphics
    1. 18 GIMP: Manipulating Graphics
  9. VIII Multimedia
    1. 19 Totem: Playing Videos
    2. 20 Brasero: Burning CDs and DVDs
  10. A Help and Documentation
  11. B Documentation Updates
  12. C GNU Licenses
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SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Documentation › GNOME User Guide › Communication and Collaboration › Ekiga: Using Voice over IP
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Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12

15 Ekiga: Using Voice over IP

15.1 Configuring Ekiga
15.2 The Ekiga User Interface
15.3 Making a Call
15.4 Answering a Call
15.5 Using the Address Book
15.6 For More Information

Modern telecommunication entails more than making phone calls. It is also about text messaging 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 connected 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 webcam is connected to your computer.

15.1 Configuring Ekiga

Tip
Tip

If Ekiga is not installed on your system, install it either with the YaST Software Management module, or by entering zypper install ekiga as root on the command line. After the installation is finished, you can run Ekiga by clicking Applications › Internet › Ekiga Softphone.

On first start, Ekiga opens a configuration assistant that requests all data needed to configure Ekiga. Proceed as follows:

  1. Enter your full name (name and surname).

  2. Enter your ekiga.net account data or choose not to register with http://www.ekiga.net.

    To add other accounts later, configure them using Edit › Accounts.

  3. Enter your Ekiga Call Out Account data or choose not to register with http://www.ekiga.net.

  4. Determine your connection type.

  5. Choose the audio ringing, output and input device driver. ALSA is a safe default option which guarantees the best sound quality. Other sound systems, like OSS, are also available on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

    By default, there is no ringing device set. If you want a ring tone, change this to one of your available audio devices.

  6. Choose the video input device, if available.

  7. Check the summary of your settings and apply them.

  8. If registration fails after making changes to your configuration, restart Ekiga.

Ekiga allows you to maintain multiple accounts. To configure an additional account, proceed as follows:

  1. Open Edit › Accounts.

  2. Choose Accounts › Add <account type>. If unsure, select Add a SIP Account.

  3. Enter the Registrar 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 User, and Password according to the data provided by your provider.

  4. Leave the configuration dialog with OK and activate the account. The status of your account displayed in the Ekiga main window changes to Registered.

15.2 The Ekiga User Interface

The Ekiga user interface has several tabs available. The first tab is Contacts, the second is Dialpad and the last one is Call History. In addition, there is a Call Panel tab available, which displays pictures and videos of local or remote webcams.

Ekiga User Interface
Figure 15.1: Ekiga User Interface

The user interface has different modes. To switch between views, use the tab line. By default, Ekiga opens the Contacts tab. There, a local address book lets you quickly open connections to often-used numbers. To get a full view with webcam support and audio controls, activate the Call Panel with View › Show Call Panel.

At the bottom of the Call Panel, there are icons for several controls like Audio Settings, Video Settings, Video Display and Hold Call. All icons provide a tooltip that is activated by the mouse pointer hovering over the icon. Some settings like the Audio settings may only be changed during a phone call.

Many of the functions of Ekiga are available with key combinations. Table 15.1, “Key Combinations for Ekiga” summarizes the most important ones.

Table 15.1: Key Combinations for Ekiga

Key Combination

Description

Ctrl–O

Initiate a call with the current number.

Esc

Hang up.

Ctrl–N

Add a contact to your address book.

Ctrl–B

Open the Address Book dialog.

H

Hold the current call.

T

Transfer the current call to another party.

M

Suspend the audio stream of the current call.

P

Suspend the video stream of the current call.

Ctrl–W

Close the Ekiga user interface.

Ctrl–Q

Quit Ekiga.

Ctrl–E

Start the account manager.

Ctrl–J

Activate Call Panel on the main user interface.

Ctrl–+

Zoom in to the picture from the Web cam.

Ctrl–-

Zoom out on the picture from the Web cam.

Ctrl–0

Return to the normal size of the Web cam display.

F11

Use full screen for the Web cam.

15.3 Making a Call

Once Ekiga is properly configured, making a call is easy.

  1. Start Ekiga using the menu or the command line.

  2. Enter the SIP address of the party to call at the SIP address prompt. The address should look like:

    • for direct local calls: sip:username@domainname or username@hostname

    • sip:username@domainname or userid@sipserver

  3. Click Call or press Ctrl–O and wait for the other party to pick up the phone.

  4. To end the call, click Hang up or press Esc.

If you need to tweak the sound parameters during a call, click the Audio Settings icon in the Call Panel. A window with the Audio options for Playback level and Recording level is displayed. Use the sliders to adjust the levels to fit your needs.

15.4 Answering a Call

Ekiga can receive calls in two different ways. First, the user may be called directly with sip:user@host, or via SIP provider. Most SIP providers enable you to get calls from a normal land-line to your VoIP account. Depending on the mode in which Ekiga is run, there are several ways in which you are alerted to an incoming call:

Normal Application

Incoming calls can only be received and answered if Ekiga is already running. You can hear the ring sound on your headset or your speakers. If Ekiga is not running, the call cannot be received.

Panel Applet

Normally, the Ekiga panel applet would run silently without giving any notice of its existence. This changes as soon as a call comes in. The main window of Ekiga opens and you hear a ringing sound on your headset or speakers.

Once you have noticed an incoming call, click Accept to answer the call then start talking. If you do not want to accept this call, click Reject. It is also possible to transfer the call to another SIP address.

15.5 Using the Address Book

Ekiga has the ability to manage your SIP contacts. All of the contacts are displayed in the Contacts tab, shown in the main window after start-up. To add a contact or a new contact group, run Chat › Add Contact.

If you want to add a new group, enter the group name into the bottom text box and press Add. The new group is then added to the group list and preselected.

The following entries are required for a valid contact:

Name

Enter the name of your contact. This may be a full name, but you can also use a nickname here.

Address

Enter a valid SIP address for your contact.

Groups

If you have many different contacts, add your own groups.

To call a contact from the address book, double-click this contact. The call is initiated immediately.

15.6 For More Information

The official home page of Ekiga is http://www.ekiga.org/. This site offers answers to frequently asked questions as well as more detailed documentation.

For information about the support of the H323 teleconferencing protocol in Linux, see http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/H.323. This is also a good starting point when searching for projects supporting VoIP.

To set up a private telephone network, you might be interested in the PBX software Asterisk http://www.asterisk.org/. Find information about it at http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk.

→Part VI Internet←Chapter 14 Pidgin: Instant Messaging
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