TeamTalk Basics
To use the TeamTalk conferencing system users must either set up
their own TeamTalk server or connect to one of the servers which are
publicly available. Once connected users are presented with a set
channels (sometimes refered to as rooms) which a user can join and
from there interact with the other users who are in the same
channel. An example is shown here:
Figure 1. User in channel with three other people.
In Figure 1 four users have joined the channel
named "Channel 1". While in the same channel users can
write text messages in the Chat tab to the right, see video in the
video tab and share files in the Files tab.
Audio and Video Conversations
TeamTalk supports multiple video sessions so it's possible to see
video of every user in a channel. Users who are transmitting video
have a blue frame around their user icon as seen in Figure 2. To see
the users with video one can click the Video tab where all the
active video sessions are lined up in a grid.
Figure
2. Video conversation with two users (but there can be many more).
File Sharing
By clicking the Files tab users can see which files are currently
available in the channel they're participating in. If users have a
user account on the server they too can upload files which others
can download.
Figure 3. Files available for download.
Server Administration
The TeamTalk client application contains a list of publicly
available TeamTalk servers you can connect to and use freely, but
some might prefer to run their own server. For this TeamTalk comes
with its own standalone server available for both Windows and
Linux. Running your own TeamTalk server allows you to configure
exactly how you want your server to look and who should have access
to it. Figure 4 shows some of the server's
configurable options and Figure 5 shows how to
set up user accounts.
Figure 3. Configurable options for the TeamTalk server.
As can be seen in Figure 4 the TeamTalk server
has a wide range of options to limit what rights users have on the
server. One can e.g. deny users who do not have accounts on the
server to log on and also specify whether users should be allowed to
create their own channels. One can also set whether the server
should use its bandwidth to transmit users' audio and video which is
often required for users who have Internet connections with limited
bandwidth. Note that the maximum number of users supported by a
TeamTalk server is 1000.
Figure 5. Setting up user accounts.
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