Re: Internet Phone on Linux?

[Dennis McMurchy <denismcm@example.com>]

On Wed, 30 Oct 1996, Jim Tittsler wrote:

> Speak Freely looks interesting, but there is not a Linux version.  Anyone
> tried to get it going?

  Actually, there is a Linux version (at least for speak-freely 6.0).
See the readme appended below.
The package I used is at http://www.fourmilab.ch/netfone (but see
warning in next paragraph).

  Apart from the fact that it took about 50 minutes to download the
400K of so of the Speak Freely distribution from the Swiss site where
it originates (the slowest download I have ever experienced), I thought
it looked like a very well-designed and well-thought-out set of
programs.  It compiles without a hitch, and appears to run OK.  

  I haven't been able to test it out because the only other party I
know of that uses it is a Berlin site which offers some audio material
through a speak_freely connection.  When I try to contact them, I get
a connection refused message.  I would be delighted to test it out
here locally if someone else is interested.  (The only hitch might be
my voice input capability - I've never been able to record satisfactorily
with the things I've tried to date [extremely low volume is the problem] -
but I haven't really had much of a go at it).

Dennis McMurchy, 
Tojinmachi, Fukuoka

  Here's the readme that comes with the distribution:

                        Speak Freely for Unix
                Voice Communication Over Data Networks

                            by John Walker
                   Release 6.1b  --  August 1996

The  phone  company  never gives you a break!  You pay a fortune for a
leased line connection to the Internet, and you *still*  have  to  pay
every  time  you  want  to chat with somebody, even though you're both
sitting in front of workstations with digital audio capability, linked
by  a  fast  network.  Speak Freely for Unix can intercommunicate with
Speak Freely for Windows, available from my Web  site  listed  at  the
end.

Speak Freely for Unix can currently be built for the following systems
(assuming they are equipped with suitable sound hardware):

          System                        Ported By
  =========================== =============================
  SunOS 4.1.x                 John Walker (kelvin@example.com)
  Silicon Graphics IRIX 5.3   John Walker (kelvin@example.com)
  Solaris 2.4 (SPARC and x86) Hans Werner Strube (strube@example.com)
  FreeBSD                     Andrey A. Chernov (ache@example.com)
  Linux                       Frank Gadegast (phade@example.com)

Speak Freely for Unix uses the workstation audio hardware and  network
to   allow   bidirectional   conversations  right  over  the  network.
Workstations on local area networks  can  generally  communicate  with
excellent  audio  quality  and  response.   A  software implementation
(developed  by  Jutta  Degener   and   Carsten   Bormann,   Technische
Universitaet  Berlin) of the compression algorithm used in GSM digital
cellular telephones allows operation over  Internet  links  of  modest
bandwidth.   By  using  GSM  compression  in  conjunction  with sample
interpolation, the data rate can be reduced to about 9600 baud.  Users
with  CPUs  too  slow or two heavily loaded to perform GSM compression
and decompression in real time may select less compact but quicker  to
execute ADPCM coding, using an implementation developed by Jack Jansen
of the Centre for Mathematics and  Computer  Science,  Amsterdam,  The
Netherlands.

Sound  can  be  encrypted  either  with  a key supplied in a file, DES
and/or IDEA with given key(s).  The DES implementation  was  developed
by Phil Karn, KA9Q. The IDEA algorithm was developed by Xuejia Lai and
James L. Massey, of ETH Zurich.   The  implementation  used  in  Speak
Freely  for  Unix  was  modified  and  derived  from  original  C code
developed by Xuejia  Lai  and  optimized  for  speed  by  Colin  Plumb
<colin@example.com>.    The  IDEA[tm]  block  cipher  is  patented  by
Ascom-Tech AG. The Swiss patent number is PCT/CH91/00117, the European
patent  number  is  EP  0  482  154  B1, and the U.S. patent number is
US005214703.  IDEA[tm] is a trademark of Ascom-Tech AG.  There  is  no
license  fee  required  for  noncommercial  use.  Commercial users may
obtain licensing details  from  Dr.   Dieter  Profos,  Ascom-Tech  AG,
Solothurn  Lab,  Postfach 151, CH-4502 Solothurn, Switzerland, Tel +41
65 242 885, Fax +41 65 235 761.

The  Silicon  Graphics  audio drivers are based on the stand-alone SGI
Netfone  developed  by  Paul  Schurman  (schurman@example.com)  of   Espoo,
Finland.

Key generation for IDEA and DES encryption uses an  implementation  of
MD5  message-digest algorithm based on a public domain version written
by Colin Plumb in 1993.  The algorithm is due to Ron Rivest.

Complete instructions for Speak Freely  for  Unix  are  given  in  the
manual  pages.   You can view the manual pages on your screen with the
command:

    make manpage

To build the program, edit  the  Makefile  and  set  the  #defines  as
appropriate  for your system and preferences, then make.  If the build
is successful, the executables for all the Speak Freely programs  will
be in the build directory.

All files in the speakfree root directory are in  the  public  domain:
"Do  what  thou  wilt  shall be the whole of the law".  I'd appreciate
receiving any bug fixes and/or enhancements, which I'll incorporate in
future versions of the program.  Please leave the original attribution
information  intact  so  that  credit  and  blame  may   be   properly
apportioned.

Please see the readme and/or copyright files in the adpcm,  des,  gsm,
and idea subdirectories for information regarding the distribution and
conditions of use of those components.

AUTHOR
        John Walker
        E-mail: kelvin@example.com
        WWW:    http://www.fourmilab.ch/

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