Hare Krsna! Audio Chat

BY: SUN STAFF

Jun 14, CANADA (SUN) — Today we're pleased to announce the launch of a new service in HareKrsna.com - a dedicated text and audio chat service. The chat platform will allow our readers to connect personally over the Net in high-quality broadcast sound, in a system that's fast and free to use.

For those already using a headset and microphone to access Net services, plugging into the Hare Krsna! Chat will be super easy. Those less familiar can walk through an easy tutorial of instructions with screenshots, showing you how to get set-up.

The service is Windows and Mac compatible, and runs on all reasonably current operating systems. All you need is the microphone and headset. It's that easy. Our server is located in eastern Canada, and should provide stable connectivity for users around the world.

Users will have the ability to set-up multiple user names on their account, so they can chat anonymously or switch over to using a real, as they wish. The audio and text chat features can be used simultaneously, or independently. Chats can be heard over your regular desktop speakers, even if you don't have a mic hooked-up that will allow you to talk.

For the time being, the chat service will support 50 simultaneous users. (This is not 50 user accounts, but people users in the room at one time.) If demand exceeds that level, we'll increase it as needed. When the chat is full, you'll get a message to the effect that the server is unavailable when you try to log-on. Please let us know by email or in the chat if you're experiencing a service overload that prevents you from getting access to the room.

We've created a number of chat rooms that we hope will make it easy for users to join conversations of interest, including:

Sadhu-sanga
Srila Prabhupada
Sankirtan
ISKCON
Guru-tattva
Krsna-katah
Siddhanta
Help Room
Brahminical Council

Use the Sadhu-sanga for all general chats, but kindly keep to the named topics in other rooms if others are present, so they're not disturbed. Use the Help Room if you need assistance in testing your set-up, volume levels, etc., or if you need an assist in getting the software to work properly. We'll do our best to help, and we encourage those who are technically inclined to assist others. If you can hear the audio chat but need help getting your mic to work, or vice versa, open both the text chat and the audio lobby (the main 'room'), then make a text request for someone to meet you in the Help Room to test and assist.

The Brahminical Council room is an invitation-only space, but will periodically host open sessions once the Council Members get better organized.

Keep in mind that this is a public chat space. What you say in the public domain is not confidential and not likely to be copyright protected. Although we've disabled a feature that will allow chats to be recorded (by the software program itself), any user can record your chat by external means.

We'll be happy to set-up private chat rooms on request for individual use. Please email your request 24 hours in advance, if possible, telling us the name of the room you'd like. We'll confirm it and send you the room password. All private rooms will expire in 24 hours. If yours can be closed sooner, kindly advise. If you see us in the chat, feel free to request a private room, and we'll set it up immediately.

The set-up tutorial follows. Please download and save this article for future reference. If you have any questions, let us know and we'll try to assist. Unfortunately, our time is quite limited these days, and we'll have to rely on the assistance of the devotees to help shepherd users through the set-up process when they're having problems. Feel free to send us additions/revisions that will make the Tutorial text more understandable and effective.

We look forward to talking in person to all of you. Enjoy the Hare Krsna! Chat.

Rocana, Jahnava, and the Sun Staff

Hare Krsna! Audio Chat Setup

The following instructions should allow you to quickly get your HareKrsna! chat up and running. While the notes seem long and detailed, the steps are actually very easy. Pour yourself a nice mango lassi, relax, and you'll be online in no time.

There are several elements that you'll need to deal with in order to get set-up. They are:

1. The chat software
2. Your Windows Sound control panel
3. Your desktop audio settings
4. Your microphone headset
5. The audio card on your PC or laptop
6. The chat room set-up configuration

1. Before downloading and executing the chat software, do the following preparatory steps, which help eliminate troubleshooting variables later on. (If you're already using a mic/headset for other Net applications, skip ahead to step #4.)

a. Go to your Windows Control Panel and pull up the Sounds & Multimedia panel. Under the Audio tab, check both the Sound Playback and Sound Recording settings. Make sure the volume controls for both are set at the mid-range. (You can adjust them down later, once you've tested and are working.)

b. Click the Sound Playback - Advanced tab, and choose Stereo Headphones if that's an option. Otherwise, choose whatever makes the most sense.

c. Click the Sound Recording - Advanced tab, and set both bars to a mid-range setting. Click Apply and/or OK.

d. For both Sound Playback and Sound Recording, make a note of the current setting for each. Hopefully, they're the same. If not, use the pull-down menus to see what your options are, and keep these in mind. You may need to come back to this step when troubleshooting. In both cases, the settings here typically match the name of your computer's sound card (not the modem settings, for example).

e. Close down the Control Panel.

2. Check the audio volume settings on your desktop Start Bar. Make sure all bars are set to mid-range.

3. Test your microphone headset if needed, to make sure both the mic and audio-in are working. Assuming you have 2 plugs at the end of your headset cord, these should be plugged into the corresponding holes in the back of your PC or laptop, into your sound card. If you put the wrong plug in the wrong hole, the system may not work. Test and make sure your headset is fully functional before moving beyond this step.

4. Download the Ventrilo software here. Choose the Client Program that matches your operating system. (Sorry, there's no support for Linux yet.) Once downloaded, execute the software and create a desktop icon.

5. Open the chat software, and carefully follow these Quick-Start instructions:

a) Click on the "->" button (the far right button) that is next to the first pulldown window called "User Name". This will open a new window where you can create a logon name to be used when connecting to a server.

b) Click the "New" button. This will open a small window where you can enter your logon name. The name you enter is entirely up to you. It can be your real name or a nickname. You can later set-up a second name if you choose.

c) Click the "OK" button. You can come back to this window and click on the help button later on if you want more detailed information about what the other options mean and how to use them.

d) Now that we are back to the main window click on the "->" button that is next to the pulldown window called "Server". This will open a new window where you can enter the details about the server you would like to connect to.

e) Click the "New" button. This will open a small window where you can enter a name that will describe the new server account. The name can be anything you want it to be like: "Sun Chat" or "HareKrsna Chat". (Quotes not needed). Click "OK".

f) Click on the "Hostname or IP" input box and enter the our server hostname or IP address (either one should work):

Hostname: harekrsna.instantvent.com
IP Address: 174.137.52.139

g) Click on the "Port number" input box and enter the server port number. The program will automatically display the default port number of 3784, and you'll need to change it to:

Port Number: 5148

Click "OK" to return to the main screen. You're now down to the final set-up process.

h) Click "Connect" to establish a connection between you and the chat server you just defined. Hopefully you'll hear a chime sound (if your have your headset on).

i) Finally, click on the Setup button and configure all of the different options that control the chat. This step is very important when it comes to controlling the microphone or input source (like a onboard computer mic).

We suggest you try only the following steps first. If you can hear other speakers and be heard by them, you're done. If not, you'll have to adjust certain variables until both components work.

First, make only the follow changes to the Setup defaults:

When you open Setup, you'll be on the VOICE tab. This should be the only place you need to make changes for a Quick Start setup. Later you can experiment with the many other more refined settings.

The Setup screen looks like this:

Make sure the four checkboxes in the upper left corner are all checked active.

In the white box beside Hotkey, you'll see the default Hotkey. This refers to the key on your keyboard that you'll need to press and hold down while you're talking in the chatroom. This can be most any key on your keyboard. (Personally, we like to use the Delete key, because it's bigger and easier to hit and hold.) To change the Hotkey, simply hold down the key you want to be using, then click your mouse in that white box, and click again until the name of your desired Hotkey shows up. Then leave the white box, and it's set.

Finally, in the upper right hand corner, configure the settings for Output Device and Input Device. Start by trying this: make sure box small white boxes are unchecked (inactive), and both menus say "Default wave mapper". This should work, enabling both your mic to project audio into the chat, and your headset (or speakers) to play audio when others talk.

Test the settings by clicking OK and closing the Setup screen. Connect to the server. You should hear a sound when you enter the room, and see the list of individual chat rooms, like this:

Individuals in the room are marked with a red speaker beside their name. When the speaker turns green, that person is talking. Hit the Chat button the pop open the text chat room. Hit your Hotkey (see above) and hold it down while you talk.

If things don't work on the pass attempt, you're only a few adjustments away. Go back into the Setup dialog, and you can click on the "Help" button to read about what all of the options are and what they mean. Double-check the settings in your Windows Sound Control Panel, compared to the settings as they appear in the chat Setup screen for input/output device. Instead of the Setup defaults, you may need to change these to match your audio card settings.

You can also refer to the official Ventrilo Setup Instructions (refer to Client, not Server instructions) here, and to their FAQ, found here.

If all else fails… call up a gurukuli. Almost all of them are the equivalent of tech experts, compared to us 'old dogs'. They'll get you up and running in no time.

Once you've mastered the basics, if you choose to come back and establish an alternate user name, keep in mind that each user name you create controls all of the other details in the program. Think of each user name as a profile, with each profile having it's own details. This means that each user name will have it's own Setup configurations. In other words, you'll have do go through Setup for each additional name you establish.

Let us know if you need assistance and please, help each other out. With a little effort we can create a vibrant community, and make a great deal of progress in discussing - and resolving - the issues of the day.

Hare Krsna.