BBB VS Jitsi

[Steve Litt]

On Mon, 22 Feb 2021 01:28:28 +0000
Seabass via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:

> Hello all.
> I'm trying to figure out which good voice chat/screen share software
> is relatively easily implemented and utilized. I tend to prefer to
> build systems in containers, so if the dev has a dockerfile for it,
> that is a +1!
> 
> These are the main two that I know can do both screen share and voice
> chat. I plan to use this for helping very nontechnical people. I know
> Jitsi and Big Blue Button, but if you have a better suggestion,
> please let me know!

One thing I know is that if you use Jitsi, anyone with any Linux
distro, pulseaudio or not, systemd or not, with a webcam and a
microphone (could be part of the webcam) can participate. I've found
that a lot of Linux users can use only Chromium as the browser to
participate, but this isn't a particularly severe restriction. A lot of
these other chat/screenshare platforms require pulseaudio, which I've
nicknamed "The land of a thousand mutes". In the non-Linux world, I
have never encountered anyone who couldn't join in the Jitsi session.

Jitsi has something a lot don't: ANYBODY can share their screen. This
helps in technical discussions.

In December I taught a 16 hour Troubleshooting course, to people six
time zones away, using Jitsi on meet.jit.si/whatever (don't remember
exactly). It went off without a hitch, I got paid, and my clients were
very pleased.

I don't know what it takes to build your own Jitsi server, but I have a
buddy who did it and in most ways his service worked even better than
meet.jit.si.

My wife and I communicate with our kids and other family using Jitsi,
so that everybody, regardless of computer or device, can participate.
It works well as long as people follow the standard meetiquette of
people in noisy environments or using speakers instead of
headphones muting themselves when not talking.

I can't say enough good stuff about Jitsi.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2020 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/thrive