Why won't TalkShoe support GNU/Linux?

I'm waiting to find a link on your site to a forum.

If you want an easy way to connect to TalkShoe in Ubuntu or other Linux Distros without going into the console, install wine and the Windows version of Firefox.

So that will allow me to use your VOIP? I didn't think that would work in Wine.

It's REALLY easy for TS to let Linux clients connect to their network. They don't have to do anything, as long as the client ap actually subscribes to widely settled upon protocols they just connect up right as rain. Skype for Linux works peachy keen. I've heard that SipX does as well. Of course, the folks you guys really ought to go is the wack-arsed developers for VoIP on Linux, who think creating a protocol on a whim and a prayer will have folks begging to beat down their door to be compatible for the price of cheese.

That trick never works.

Why in Hades' name below would you need Wine to run Firefox, anyway? Connecting to and managing the host panel is utterly unconnected with you dialing in, which just involves connecting the VoIP client of choice to a target IP.

So, what is it, exactly, you want?

Alexander Williams I don't think you understand what I'm asking.

First of all I don't want to have to pay for a VOIP service like skype to get on my own radio show. I want to be able to use your client for TALKSHOE that does not support Linux. ?

I don't need to install Firefox in Wine and I never said I did.

I just want to be able to call my own show from my PC without paying to do so.

Dude, there were at least six different VoIP solutions for Linux in the quick peek to see if there were any I was unaware of. ANY of those should interoperate with the TalkShoe network like any of the other VoIP solutions out there do, no matter what platform they're running on. That's all that's required, to connect to the VoIP address TS provides and you've got full access to the audio feed therefrom, whether it be through Skype, Xlite (which I use), whatever my Mac-using reporters call in with, or Linphone. TS's core doesn't care what you use.

TalkShoe Live Pro has been used by some folks on Linux. It is, after all, just a Java client but they did some twiddly things with device configuration to get it to work. Me, I think it's probably wasted effort -- ShoePhone's audio quality has never impressed me overmuch while the VoIP solutions are generally crisp and clear like a bracing spring morning. So, use one of the Linux VoIP solutions (possibly one listed here: http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Linux) for audio feed, the Pro client to manage chat/mute/whatnot if the web interface doesn't meet your needs, and run the show.

I'm a Linux fanboy and even I acknowledge there's absolutely nowhere near enough vague grunting interest, much less demand, for TS to throw any of their limited development time at Linux client support. None. It's be time wasted better spent on improving things which improve everyone's experience with TS. Why bother, when the VoIP solution already works (and better)?

You want to call your own show for free, go grab a Linux VoIP client, call in to the TS IP and do it. It's what the rest of us are doing.

I don't think your completely right about this.

I agree with what you said about the sound quality not being that good on Vista but people who call with XP and have good bandwidth don't seem to have any trouble. I'm confident that the same is true with GNU/Linux.

Purchasing VOIP with Skype is one solution but it should not be the only one.

I'm curious ... Did you read any of what I wrote?

I did, in fact, point out there are a myriad of free, Linux-based VoIP solutions that work just fine. Right now. Thus, you don't need to buy VoIP with Skype unless you really, really want to. Which you don't.

Good thing you have eight or ten other options I linked to, n'est pas?

Free? What's free about buying a telephone number?

This is where I send out a dozen knee-cappers to pay you a visit.

What part of "TalkShoe is perfectly accessible through any dozen VoIP client solutions, all of which are free and here's a link to several Linux ones" is incomprehensible? Did I slip into writing in Urdu again? Common problem around here. Possibly Aramaic, or even Cthonian. But I was pretty sure I pointed out to painful, bedraggled length you have a whole galaxy of options other than a paid subscription to Skype.

So let me get this straight. You can take any of those VOIP packages and configure them to connect to talkshoe with directions from somewhere? I'm still confused but it sounds great.

That is exactly what I'm saying. Well, "any of those packages" may be stretching it, since I haven't personally tested all of them, but any VoIP package that could interoperate with Gizmo Project, Xlite, and the like will absolutely work with TalkShoe. In fact, if you'd Googled up "voip talkshoe" the first hit is a reference to some solutions for it, and the PDF for configuring SJphone pretty much applies to every single VoIP solution on every platform, some of them only available in Alpha Centauri.

Really, this isn't even a hard problem.

Every single talkcast / community call lists the IP for VoIP callers to connect to both on it's main page and in the chat clients, so there's no excuse for not knowing it's there. Point the VoIP client at the IP, connect, put in your show ID and PIN and you're go. It's just that easy.

After reading this I installed Ekiga on my Xandros laptop. Its connection is kind of choppy, you can't understand me when I call in. I've looked on my laptop's help forums and apparently Ekiga is the best there is for my OS. I don't know what to do to fix this stuttering issue with the call. Is it an issue with my internet connection, my laptop, the VOIP software, or Talkshoe?