Topic: Anyone using DimDim ?

[soprom]

Is there anyone having installed successfully DimDim.org on SME7 ?

(DimDim is a webconferencing app running under java/tomcat)

Thanks !

[dmay]

Is there anyone having installed successfully DimDim.org on SME7 ?

Looks interesting. How far along the install/test path have you gotten?

Darrell

[soprom]

Got no idea what to do to install this on SME.
It needs java.

[dmay]

Got no idea what to do to install this on SME.
It needs java.

It needs more then just java, and java is the easy part.

Start by visiting their sourceforge site and grab all three Linux downloads:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=176809

dimdim_150_Alpha_020207.tar.gz
dimdim_linux_web_meeting_user_guide_1_5_0.pdf
linux_dimdim_installation_020207.txt

Then read the installation doc. The challenging part I found was the dimdim instructions are somewhat confusing. They do not clearly state the manual config file changes that are required. They make you believe defaults are set and they are not. Hence it does not work locally unless you make the correct entries to three of their config files:

dimdim.properties
server.xml
wrapper.conf

And it will not work remotely until you open all required TCP ports the SME way via db entry.

I do have it running and I am in the process of testing it. I'll report back later.

Darrell

[dmay]

[ALPHA] Highly experimental! For test servers only!

As soon as mirrors sync...

http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/smeserver/7.x/testing/dimdim

Download and install latest java runtime (18MB):

# sh jre-6-linux-i586-rpm.bin

Download and install dimdim alpha release packaged in rpm (30MB)

# rpm -Uvh smeserver-dimdim-1.5.0-a0dmay.noarch.rpm

After rpm install open required ports:

# signal-event remoteaccess-update

All you should need to do is edit one config file and replace the existing dimdim.serverAddress= entry with your test server IP address:

# pico /usr/local/dimdim/dimdim.properties

dimdim.serverAddress=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

Start dimdim:

# /usr/local/dimdim/dimdim start

Check dimdim status:

# /usr/local/dimdim/dimdim status

When running browse to the dimdim conference server and start/test/play with dimdim web conferencing:

http://yourserverip:8080

Please note I have nothing to do with this projects development so you may seek help or report bugs & feature requests to the dimdim development team directly:

http://sourceforge.net/forum/?group_id=176809

I added two posts in their Help forum today (darrmay).

Darrell

[bunkobugsy]

Do you think it's safe to try it on a production server, could it damage it, make it unstable, anything that can't be undone by uninstalling it and java?
I'm not talking about any security risks opening the ports, I'm willing to take that risk.

[dmay]

Do you think it's safe to try it on a production server...

[ALPHA] Highly experimental! For test servers only!

[bpivk]

Do you think it's safe to try it on a production server,
I'm not talking about any security risks opening the ports, I'm willing to take that risk.

Ok let me see if i get this straight?
You don't want to mess something up, but you feel comfortable to open your server for potential hackers and people that will install viruses and other malware?

[dmay]

Follow-up. I've given dimdim a quick internal testing. Web conferencing, powerpoint presentation sharing, application sharing, desktop sharing, video, audio all appear to work as expected. The app is in alpha state but does look promising. Not quite as slick and feature packed as WebEx or similar commercial services but not bad either.

Darrell

[JonB]

I am using Webhuddle.

https://www.webhuddle.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/webhuddle

I have found it easy to set up. It uses JBoss as the Java application server. There are instructions on the forum on how to set up JBoss on SME.

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=32166.0

To be able to upload powerpoints you also need to install OpenOffice which will run in listening mode. Because SME has no X you also need to install Xvfb which is a virtual X frame buffer to allow OOo to run headless. Between OOo and Xvfb quite a few dependencies are installed if you use yum. I have not yet come across any issues with SME updates due to these dependencies.

The other option is not to use OOo and to just run the powerpoint show on the presenters desktop and use application/desktop mode.

Webhuddle uses speex as the VOIP codec and the audio is very good. The latest release which came out a couple of weeks ago make branding changes very easy without having to re-compile the java app. See

https://webmeet.technologysolved.co.nz:8443  

Jon

[soprom]

Many thanks Darell!

[dmay]

I am using Webhuddle.

Jon, give dimdim a try and compare. Requires only java so is a much cleaner install.

Darrell

[dmay]

I made a small error in my db TCPPort syntax. This effects external connectivity to dimdim. Here is the quick fix:

# config setprop dimdim TCPPort 1935,8080,8433
# signal-event remoteaccess-update

Next rpm will have this fixed.

Darrell

[Gizzmo]

Any updates expected to this?

[soprom]

Recently, a new version was available but it now uses many ports. I think it's difficult to use with a single IP Wan.

Running a desktop as a server on the LAN was almost okay. But serving a conference on the Web must be rather slowish. It might be better to host the server where bandwidth is larger. Even on the LAN, the delays before video/screen reach the clients is too long.