Multicast Tool Overview

1. Multicast Tool Overview

Louise Clark

l.clark@cs.ucl.ac.uk

Dept. of Computer Science

University College London

Gower Street

WC1E 6BT

2. Multicast Tool Overview

Shrimp Project

Shrink wrapping and documenting a selection of mbone tools.

Audio (rat)

Video (vic)

Shared Workspaces (nte and wb/wbd)

Integrated Interfaces (ReLaTe)

Other (sdr)

3. Shrimp Package

Platforms supported

Solaris, Linux, Windows95/NT

What's in a package

Installation Software

Installation documentation

User Guides

Introduction to multicasting and the tools

Quick start guide

User Guide

4. Rat - Audio Tool

5. Rat - Audio Tool

Main functions:

List of participants

Slider bars and power meters for changing /monitoring volume

Control panel for changing settings (Options button)

Affecting usability:

Full duplex/half duplex

6. Vic - Video Tool

7. Vic - Video Tool

Main functions

Reception and transmission of video

Thumbnail images can be enlarged

Reception statistics

Control panel for changing settings (Menu button)

Affecting usability:

Bandwidth and CPU consuming

8. Nte - Shared Text Editor

9. Nte - Shared Text Editor

Main Functions:

Simple text editor based on blocks of text

Block can be manipulated (edit, change colour, change font)

Text can be saved and loaded

Affecting usability:

importing texts: truncates long texts

Not all functions implemented

Navigation

10. Wb/Wbd - Shared Workspace

11. Wb/Wbd - Shared Workspace

Main Functions:

Drawing tool w. limited functionality

Import/Save PostScript files

automatically jumps to active page

Affecting usability:

Editing text and drawings not possible

Import of formatted text is difficult

No Windows95/NT version

12. Sdr - Multicast Session Directory

13. Sdr - Multicast Session Directory

Main functions:

Mbone "Radio Times"

Join sessions

Create Sessions

Quick Calls

Affecting usability:

No security - yet

14. Integrated Interface

15. Integrated Interface

Main advantages:

unnecessary complexity hidden

easy to use

Main disadvantages:

Tools still operate as separate tools

Limited number of participants