TS3 Alternatives

Stc95

Stc95

Tribe of Judah Guild Wars Chapter Leader
Hey guys, recently the TeamSpeak company released some info about TS3 and the info already poses a problem for CGA and affiliates. For free they will only allow 1 virtual server (we have 2 currently) and only 32 members online at a time (raids and get-togethers could get more than 32). While TS2 (the version we currently have) will still be operational, it will not continue to receive updates and we fear that it will lapse into inadequacy.

Staff members have been trying to find alternatives for a VoIP Linux server and so far only mumble seems like a viable option. However it would be a little challenging to test it out. While not out of the question we'd like to see if anyone else know of a VoIP program that can run on a Linux server for free.

Thanks guys!
~Stc
 
Stc95 said:
Staff members have been trying to find alternatives for a VoIP Linux server and so far only mumble seems like a viable option. However it would be a little challenging to test it out.
Click to expand...

I had a test mumble server up for awhile. Since nobody ever joined I shut it down.

The main downside IMO is that registration is not possible in the client. You need to host a page to allow the user to register (which IMO breaks tons of conventions). Aside from that and you can't be a superuser and talk/listen (this is probably more of a security consideration, but annoying).

I wish a voice system could tie into an existing infrastructure (like steam or xfire) and allow you to host your own servers. That will probably never happen though. As more games ship with voice it becomes less necessary, but most MMOs still lack it.

It might be possible to hook into VBs user table... but I wouldn't recommend that at all (particularly since most content systems now use SHA1s with randomly generated salts per user).
 
I don't hook external programs into another applications database directly..wont happen. The previous web developer tried to get me to do that and i refused..
 
Hescominsoon said:
I don't hook external programs into another applications database directly..wont happen. The previous web developer tried to get me to do that and i refused..
Click to expand...

I have a slight thing against trying to mix databases. At work we have a really annoying DB2 database that contains all of the customer information, which has to cooperate with our oracle spatial information. Either the developers were working on some weird character limit, hated the world, or they were trying to obfuscate the hell out of the schema. Table names follow something along the lines of LMA200AP, LREP400 and the column names are as obscure. Often times you see relationships spanning 10+ tables with redundant data everywhere. They don't release API information at all (most of the front end is java applets calling com objects. Loading it locks up browsers for up to 20 seconds and can take over a minute to load). Luckily it doesn't rely on IE6, but the java applet nature means it doesn't work at all with any other web applications.

I am all for interoperability, but the technology needs to support it (ie OAuth), not hacks that break with a sneeze in the wrong direction. You shouldn't need to reinvent the wheel.
 
Joshinator said:
tin cans may work......


other than that, i have no idea. Does vent not work?
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Vent costs money to license (I think it is free for up to 8 peeps).

The ideal is something:
- Works on most platforms (win / osx / linux)
- Free
- Offers good quality ( TS and Mumble support speex, which is excellent for the bit rate ).
- Secure ( both software level and being able to lock out annoyances ).
- Spawns rainbows that produce free skittles for members
 
vent has a serious security problem in terms of they want you to drop some basic security procedures that any good network admin uses in their license which i have psoted several times
 
Theoretically it should be possible to host a SIP or H.323 gateway then people could "dial" in with supported clients. You could even use a real phone to call in.

[/random]
 
Hescominsoon said:
I could setup something like asterisk but i'm not sure about the security implications of that though.
Click to expand...

I think asterisk just acts as a initiator for the end points tho. So the actual voice would be p2p ( which limits the theoretical room size to the lowest common denominator - client upload speed ). Upload on cable is fun, one second you might get 300KB/s, then next you get maybe 80. Then it drops down to 40, then back to 200. Even with packet shaping ( or predictive algorithms like TCP Vegas ) client upload is going to suck.
 
Odale said:
Is it required to upgrade to TS3?
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No, we don't have to upgrade to TS3, but they won't be continuing updating TS2 and we fear it will lapse into inadequacy. Also, it's always nice to have the best we can get.
 
Aside from Vent and TS, the only other major VOIP service I can find after a short search is Mumble. I know nothing about it, but i did see several servers that were hosting it along side TS/Vent options.

As for TS2/TS3, since we don't like the TS3 option, can we just stick with TS2 until it gets outdated while we watch for changes to TS3 or evaluate Mumble? I don't see a reason to move quick if what we have is working well, for now. Plan: yes. Hurry: no.
 
Durruck said:
I don't see a reason to move quick if what we have is working well, for now. Plan: yes. Hurry: no.
Click to expand...

vibrokatana said:
It quickly turns into:

Wait until it becomes a major issue: Yes.
Panic when things start falling apart: Yes.
Click to expand...
TS2 isn't going to fall apart the day TS3 releases and, based on what I've read, we still have some time before TS3 releases to look at Mumble and other options. I agree that we shouldn't rush to move to an alternative, but we should recognize this as an important issue and not let it slip through the cracks (which I don't see happening since HCS and Stc95 are being proactive about the situation).

There's also the possibility of the community of TS2 users taking it upon itself to write patches for the TS2 client and server if the TS3 license is too restrictive. It's certainly not guaranteed and greatly complicated with the software not being open source, but it's a possibility (at least, as far as I understand).
 
Tek7 said:
There's also the possibility of the community of TS2 users taking it upon itself to write patches for the TS2 client and server if the TS3 license is too restrictive. It's certainly not guaranteed and greatly complicated with the software not being open source, but it's a possibility (at least, as far as I understand).
Click to expand...

The client and server are both closed source. Once the upstream stops then don't expect to see any patches. Theoretically you could decompile the program and mull through assembly (or machine generated c, meh) to attempt to fix bugs. That adds in a third party to trust and bloats up the resulting executable.
 
Lt Crumpet and his team use mumble. I've been on their server for a few minutes and I can say...

It's clearer sounding than TS.
It's easy enough to set up the client.

I believe Crumpet said it had less latency that TS. Apart from that I don't know much about it.
 
vibrokatana said:
The client and server are both closed source. Once the upstream stops then don't expect to see any patches. Theoretically you could decompile the program and mull through assembly (or machine generated c, meh) to attempt to fix bugs. That adds in a third party to trust and bloats up the resulting executable.
Click to expand...

if the code were to go fully open source then that would be kewl...
 
The Mighty Gerbil said:
Lt Crumpet and his team use mumble. I've been on their server for a few minutes and I can say...

It's clearer sounding than TS.
It's easy enough to set up the client.

I believe Crumpet said it had less latency that TS. Apart from that I don't know much about it.
Click to expand...


The mumble client isn't the problem..the server is the issue. There is no web interface or any kind of interface to add users. STC would have to manually edit the program's config files to add or remove users. Plus the install of mumble isn't as straightforward as TS2 is at all. We'll give it a whirl once the cga site gets vb4 installed and ready to go. I don't want to start a voip project and then have to jump to vb4...

I just had an idea..need to run it by Tek/stc first.
 
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