Call for an encrypted matrix voice/video call app
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@Thatoo
What about "Ring" now called "Jamie" by "Savoir Faire Linux" https://jami.net ... it is open source and runs on all major OS's including Android and IOS. Since there it is also compiled for Ubuntu, it might not be too much of an effort to port it to UT. -
@marlboro50 well, first because I didn't know. And of course, I'd say "why not?"
Secondly because I'm tired of opening accounts here and there and everytime asking my friends and family to join me...
We want to move away from Skype, Telegram, Whatsapp, Facetime and Slack to Matrix using our own personal server thanks to Yunohost. Yunohost makes everything so easy thanks to LDAP. One account for all services (email, nextcloud, matrix...)
Matrix is a network that has already several clients on all platform. UT has already an awesome chat client with Fluffychat. It will only be missing a calling client.
PureOS on librem5 will have such client by default.
I want to communicate with a maximum of people and matrix is growing. Because matrix has a lot of qualities, can be bridged with others so it is attractive to all.. Because the french government is keeping investing on matrix so it gives confidence that it won't disappear tomorrow and it will keep growing.I don't know about Jamie, maybe it is growing too but I've never heard of it before and I don't have any friend or family using it yet.
Computers have been made to make things easy to human, not to make them complicated. Before when you wanted to call, you were using a phone number and you were reaching your love one. Nowadays, you need to switch between apps and accounts.
I love diversity don't take me wrong but when something is working and people are adopting it, let's go for it. And if you don't like matrix network or a specific client, I found great people who take the liberty (and have the knowledge for it) to build something else, but please make it work with what already exists, be compatible.
And that, I'm afraid, Jamie isn't. It most probably work, maybe better, smoother than matrix but it is isolated, incompatible with the rest. It might be a free software but it doesn't give me the feeling of freedom to speak with my love ones.So, sorry but I would rather participate to a bounty for a light matrix call client on UT than for porting whatever other app.
Krille? You were saying?
Love you!Speaking of Bounty, if you love FluffyChat and want Krille to be able to work on this idea of a matrix call client for UT and snap, here are the way to help him.
https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=11123241
https://liberapay.com/KrilleChritzelius/donateIt is my own initiative to advertise his accounts. Krille is for nothing in it.
As soon as UT will provide a bounty system, I guess we will all switch to that, but for now...
I've discovered that UBports is on Liberapay too : https://liberapay.com/UBports/ . You forgot to add your mastodon account guys. -
This is an interesting thread. I'm a fairly new user to ubports and really liked it. Unfortunately I cannot flash it to family members, because there are missing apps and I did not find voice guide for the map in the language I was looking for. One of the missing apps was Jami.
I respect Thatoo's opinion but I have to say I do not share it. I'm not sure that an app is bad in itself just because someone did not hear about it. Btw it's called Jami, not Jamie. And for me it's great as I tested with contacts and family members on Android, iPhone, Linux and BSD.
I'm not trying to say that Matrix is bad, because I used that too and it was ok for me. I just liked Jami better. Also I read about privacy issues regarding Matrix. I also tested Xmpp (which was ok, but some features were missing) but Jami is just easier to use. Also, I would not call such a cross-plattform app isolated, but I know what is meant above with the bridges. Anyhow, all I'm trying to say is that for some Matrix might be preferable, but for me (and surely for some other users) Jami is a great messenger and it'd be great to see it on ubports too.
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Jami looks great! I would also like to see this ported.
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I came across this post while looking for precisely this, some info on how far along fluffychat/UT matrix videocalls were along. I've just gotten my 73 year old mother to jump on the Matrix (via Riot.im) because of the excellent video-call quality there. Grandchildren are the perfect bounty in matters like this.
Great to see that it's in the works. I guess I have to head over to patreon, then.
cheers for great apps, everyone! -
Couldn't sign up for patreon, but found Krille on Liberapay (https://liberapay.com/KrilleChritzelius/). Set up a small donation there. I don't know you personally, but dig the stuff you've made.
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Does fluffychat not support matrix video calls? If so, why not?
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@B2288 Because its one thing to make a chat app work, and 10x more effort to get audio/video right. Its really not so easy to implement such things on UT...
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@Flohack Well, more like "it's one thing to design a basic text chat app, it's another to add all the extraneous features of any protocol to said client."
It's not just about "getting a/v right" as you put it (this is actually quite easy). Rather, it's about designing a good user experience, which also facilitates all the features of the service, and prioritizing implementation of all those features in the client. Too many people think writing whole feature complete and well designed apps is something that can be done in a few hours, by one person, when in reality it can take months or years with whole teams of people.
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@dobey Yeah thats what I meant
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@marlboro50 Ring to my knowledge works like Tox, and we can't have Tox because it needs to ping everyone very frequently, which means, either you wont get messages/call's unless you're in the app when someone calls you, or you'll have to make an exemption for the app using Ubuntu Tweak Tools, so it can get around the limited background services.
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uMatricks has video calling, I dont know if it still works, however, if it does, someone might be able to look at the code, take the a/v part, and build a new UI, to make a great a/v only app.
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I've had no problems logging in to fluffychat, but no luck with UM. What am I supposed to write in the Homeserver URL? I have tried to just leave what is there already, but to no avail. It just gets stuck in the log-in rotating animation.
Would love to get videocall working!! -
@Lindisfarne That depends on what homeserver you use, if you use riot.im/app then you use the matrix.org homeserver, type that in.
Theres been a lot of updates on Matrix's side and umatricks hasn't been updated in a VERY long time, so it might be broken, but its worth a shot.
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@PhoenixLandPirat thanks. I'll try that
