Webheads chat logs from January 21, 2001

Meet the people in the chat today


Vance	Maggi	John	Ying Lan	Michael
UAE	Germany	Puerto Rico	Taiwan	Australia

And guest Steve Chadwick, from the Teaching for Webheads group

The chat this evening took place in Homestead.and Excite <-- click to jump to either

This was, sadly, our first chat where we would have to do without HearMe, our favorite chat client, since its producers decided not to support it after January 19. Furthermore, the Virtual Schoolhouse at the Palace was again down, so it seems that an era of free use of compelling online chat clients may be ending. Fortunately, we had tested alternative sites, and before Ying Lan came Maggi, Vance and John all went to the Webheads Excite voice chatroom. It seemed to work alright, except that John's sound card gave errors, and we were not able to text chat all together (for some reason, Excite only allows text chat one-on-one). During this time, we were joined by Steve Chadwick responding to an invitation to join us posted on Teaching for Webheads, but he declined to voice chat with us. Michael had also joined us in both Homestead and Excite, but had to work next morning after six weeks holiday, so he turned in early. It was only then that Ying Lan had arrived after sleeping most of the day. After that, we spent the rest of the time in the voice chat. The client is fine for casual conversation, giving better sound quality than Hear Me, but it lacks a hands-free mode and a group text chat.

Click here to see the email I sent the group to prepare us for the chat this evening. The email gives urls for the clients we used.

Homestead logs

<Vance> ok, no students about yet it seems

<Maggi> didn't check

<John> Palace is still trying to connect me to the classroom.

<Maggi> you said it was down

<Vance> It was for me this morning

<John> Nope, can't get in.

<John> "connection refused"

<Vance> I tried both via the Palace browser and the java interface, no dice

<Maggi> then I needn't try

<John> Have you tried either iVisit or Firetalk?

<Vance> Probably no point, and I don't think HearMe is working for you

<Maggi> no

<Vance> I think we tried Firetalk. That didn't work for me. I could try again

<Maggi> my firetalk ran out

<Vance> Yeah, not free. That's a pain.

<Maggi> yep

<John> I've never tried it, so I don't know if or how it works.

<Vance> I think I tried ivisit once for video. Can't recall how it worked.

<Maggi> I didn't like it

<Maggi> firetalk I mean

<Vance> Have you tried to reach the excite chatroom?

<John> I think when I was looking over them, iVisit seemed to be the better one.

<Maggi> no, you want me too?

<John> I haven't tried the excite room yet.

<Vance> I'm sitting there now

<Maggi> figuratively

<John> I'm registered with them, but I don't recall if i ever downloaded it.

<Maggi> no need then if John can't

<Vance> I'm not sure if you need to download. Try the url and see. Did you get the email?

<John> OK

<Vance> http://www.excite.com/communities/chat/voicechat/rooms

<Maggi> you don't need their software?

<Vance> I'm not sure. I installed the software but when I went to the site it opened another window and didn't appear to use the software

<Vance> Best way to test is have you go to that site and try to enter the Webheads room and see what it makes you do.

<Maggi> yes, but I have the software and am registered...no doubt I have a cookie to that effect

<Vance> Well, try it and see what happens

Maggi has left the chat room.

<Vance> Are you trying it John?

<John> It says I am in the Webheads room - but I don't see or hear anything (except a constant ringing imicrophone

<Vance> Darn. I'm sitting in Webheads I think

<Vance> You'd just appeared when I tried to reconnct

<John> I'm setting there also.

<Vance> John, can you hear us

<Vance> Not very good for a group, yeah?

<Vance> Hey John, can you hear us over there?

<John> I keep getting an error message every time I try to talk. I can hear both of you.

Anonymous43 has joined the chat room.

<Vance> That's good that you can hear, but too bad you can't talk

Anonymous43 is now known as Maggi.

<John> Although Maggi is a bit faint. That could be my earphones.

<Vance> what does the message say?

<John> but Vance is coming in load and clear.

<John> It says I have a problem with my sound card.

<John> I haven't tried Yahoo, yet.

<John> Also, when I press the CTRL button, everything on my computer freezes up.

<Vance> Yikes

<Maggi> my button says Strg

<John> An error was found with your sound card configuration. Check configuration or update drivers. Code 32 (This is the message I keep getting)

<Maggi> going to put the carrots in the pot and get the potatoes to peel

<Vance> Take your time. How old is your sound card, John?

<John> Fairly new. I upgraded my computer about 6 months ago, put in new everything.

<Vance> Actually, when it's just us, I prefer text chat. You can do other things while chatting.

<John> I tried using Excite a couple of months later, and got the same error message.

<Vance> What kind of sound card is it?

<John> I'm not sure. I'll have to check with the shop that did the work.

<John> HearMe was still doing so good that I just forgot about Excite. Never thought they would disappear like that.

<Vance> Maybe they can explain the error, or maybe there's somethign at the excite site to explain an incompatibility

<John> Since I have to do some more work, I'll have the technician check my card.

<Vance> Yeah, maybe they can help. I really miss Hear Me. It was great.

<John> I plan to remove an extra parallel port and put in a USB port.

<Vance> I guess excite is better than nothing. What difference will that make?

<John> I was trying to download the code for the new HearMe last night, but they kept telling me that they couldn't create the room.

<John> Since i don't have a USB port, and I plan to get a digital camera and a Webcam, a lot of difference.

<Vance> Yeah, I should get mine working. I tried hearme this morning but was told they were overwhelmed

<Vance> What a silly company. They were sitting on a gold mine.

<Vance> Did you just exit excite?

<John> The Web cam I want requires a USB port.

<Vance> What about firewire?

<John> Yes, My screen kept freezing every time I accidentally hit CTRL. So I decided to try exiting Excite.

<John> What is firewire?

<Vance> ok. I'll let you know if anyone drops by

<Vance> Firewire is a faster interface

<Maggi> back with the potatoes

<John> OK, where do I find it? or is it something you have to buy?

<Vance> we just been talkin tech

<Maggi> I know

<Vance> I;d really like to find a better chat client

<John> So would I.

<Vance> Firewire should gradually replace usb, I guess, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

<Vance> You need it if you do a lot of digital video or work with huge files.

<Vance> Michael is on ICQ

<Maggi> yep

<John> I don't really do that much video or large files. I guess I won't need it.

<Vance> Well, my impression is it is such an improved interface that it will edge out the other ports, but right now configuration is a problem.

<John> I'll keep my eye out for it then.

<John> I don't have MC on my ICQ contact list.

<Vance> You might want to ask about it, but you need the interface on your computer

<John> OK.

<Vance> But you're buying usb, so ...

<John> Not yet, I'm not. I still have to install the ports.

<Vance> On the other hand, maybe the web cam doesn't come with firewire interface

<John> I'll have to check on that.

<Vance> USB is a lot more standard right now anyway, so you should go with the usb ports and keep firewire in mind

<John> I think that is what I will do, then.

<John> Of course, the Web cam and the Digital Camera both depend on how much I get for my sick days.

<John> Next month I am supposed to get paid for all the sick days over 90 that I have left. I should be able to afford the camera and the cam.

Anonymous1142 has joined the chat room.

<Vance> And it's ...

Anonymous1142 is now known as Michael.

<Michael> Howdy!

<Vance> Michael!

<Vance> clap clap clap

<John> Hi, Michael.

<Michael> Hi John.

<Michael> KJohn - what's the capital of Tibet?!!!

<John> How has your week been?

<Maggi> Hi

<John> I think it is Lhasa.

<Michael> Hi maggie

<Michael> You been boning up on Geography?

<Vance> oh, a bit embarrassing sending that request out to the whole list. I've been doing that lately.

<Michael> Lhasa is correct!

<Vance> But WHERE is it, that's the question!

<John> No, Tibet has always interested me - so I know some things about it. Just don't ask me what map it is on.

<Michael> Well it's not in the Caribbean.

<John> I've sent messages out like that before, Vance.

<Vance> Let's see, is it nearer to Katmandu, Kunming, or Urumchi?

<John> It's not in the Mediterranean, either.

<Michael> I'd go for Urumchi!

<John> What was really embarrassing about that experience is that the librarian was a Puerto Rican.

<Vance> While you're here John, is it ok to use your story like I did? I know I'm supposed to ask before posting email.

<Vance> I'd have said Katmandu, but distances in China are so warped.

<Which do you think is closer? Click here to find out! - gvs >

<John> Of course. I sent it to the list. (I sent the reply to your letter to the list, also)

<Vance> still, some people are touchy about posting what you send to list on the web so it's always best to ask.

<Michael> I won't be here long tonight. I have to go back to work tomorrow and be responsible.

<John> Usually, I don't mind. When I do not want something posted, I include that statement in my message.

<John> I won't be, either, Michael.

<Michael> Are you folks also chatting in excite?

<John> I went back to work last week.

<Vance> You're reasonable. I guess I'll hang out. We did chat a bit in excite

<Vance> Maggi and I are there now.

<John> Excite isn't working for me. I seem to have a bad configuration in my sound card or something like that.

<Michael> I think my Netscape is hangin - it's become a bit unstable lately.

<John> My entire system has become unstable lately.

<Michael> That's a worry.....

<John> I got a bunch of bounces from a message I never sent out. Today I got the same message from another person.

<Vance> Netscape is notorious for that. IE is fairly stable in comparison.

<Vance> While you're here John, is it ok to use your story like I did? I know I'm supposed to ask before posting email.

<Vance> I'd have said Katmandu, but distances in China are so warped.

<John> Of course. I sent it to the list. (I sent the reply to your letter to the list, also)

<Vance> still, some people are touchy about posting what you send to list on the web so it's always best to ask.

<Michael> I won't be here long tonight. I have to go back to work tomorrow and be responsible.

<John> Usually, I don't mind. When I do not want something posted, I include that statement in my message.

<John> I won't be, either, Michael.

<Michael> Are you folks also chatting in excite?

<John> I went back to work last week.

<Vance> You're reasonable. I guess I'll hang out. We did chat a bit in excite

<Vance> Maggi and I are there now.

<John> Excite isn't working for me. I seem to have a bad configuration in my sound card or something like that.

<Michael> I think my Netscape is hangin - it's become a bit unstable lately.

<John> My entire system has become unstable lately.

<Michael> That's a worry.....

<John> I got a bunch of bounces from a message I never sent out. Today I got the same message from another person.

<Vance> Netscape is notorious for that. IE is fairly stable in comparison.

<Michael> I think it's time for Netscape 6. Anyone tried it yet?

<Vance> Maye it will work for you in IE

<John> I think I have to reinstall Windows. When I shut down some programs my computer hangs up.

<Maggi> Stefan did

<John> I've used Netscape 6. It was a bit better than 4.

<Michael> What does Stefan think?

<Maggi> sucks

<Michael> oh..that's good.

<Vance> I haven't tried it yet. Haven't heard enough good about it to make me want to.

Anonymous96 has joined the chat room.

<Vance> The advice I got was if you do use it, treat it as a third browser.

<John> I wanted to find out if composer was as good as 4.7 - It wasn't.

<Michael> A 3rd browser - always very handy!

<Maggi> I think I'd try Opera before 6

<Vance> In other words, use Netscape 4.7, IE5, as well as Netscape 6

<Vance> And who has just joined us?

<John> I use IE 5.5, Netscape 4.7, and occassionally Netscape 6

Anonymous96 is now known as Steve Chadwick.

<Maggi> another man

<Vance> Lucky you Maggi. Hi Steve.

<John> Hi, Steve

<Maggi> depends

<Steve Chadwick> Hi folks, I haven't visited here

<Maggi> welcome

<Steve Chadwick> Why are you talking browsers

<Vance> No, we meet here every Sunday. But usually we've been meeting on HearMe

<John> It gives us something to talk about, Steve.

<Vance> Michael says his Netscape is becoming unstable

<Michael> Hello Steve - do I know you? Are you a friend/colleague of Vance?

<Vance> We run Netscape here on about a 100 computers and Dr. Watson is a common problem (that's an NT error)

<Steve Chadwick> Is it because you are doing a lot of stuff with top end technologies, that you are having browser probs?

<Michael> I think so...

<Vance> That's a myth. We're actually not top end. We're for the masses.

<Steve Chadwick> Hi Michael, I met Vance , and came to a chat like this in a session in a conference in Dublin

<Michael> Well I oftens pend lots of times listenbing to music, video, chatting....

<Michael> Ok Steve - now I can place you!

<John> I have 5 more minutes. My wife wants me to go someplace with her.

<Michael> I'm going to exit from here and try excite.....maybe will return

<Steve Chadwick> older browsers are pretty reliable. If you are designing pages that only work on some pages you are going to have a lot of trouble

Michael has left the chat room.

<Vance> Steve, we're also testing an excite chatroom. Would you like to try?

<Steve Chadwick> Next time. I have got to go a Chinese New Year party

<John> I'll see you all next week. So long, Steve, Vance, and Maggi.

<Vance> OK John. Nice to see you again.

<Maggi> bye John

<John> bye all

John has left the chat room.

<Vance> Are you on any of our lists Steve? If not I can send you an email explaining where the excite room is.

<Vance> Oh, and i'm logging this chat and will post it on the Internet if you don't mind.

<Steve Chadwick> ||I got the info, I am on the webheads list, thanks

Steve Chadwick has left the chat room.

<Vance> Does that mean the New Years party has started?

<Maggi> who knows

Anonymous9860 has joined the chat room.

<Vance> Hi Ying Lan

Anonymous9860 is now known as Ying.

<Ying> Hello, everyone

<Maggi> Hi Ying

<Vance> Hi. We've had three other visitors already.

<Vance> But now it's only Maggi and I.

<Vance> And also we're in the excite chat room .. and so are you!

<Vance> Good work.

<Vance> We're starting to hear you.

<Vance> I just told Ying Lan she missed two other people and she said "What a pity I am late"

<Vance> I'm getting sound puffs, like you are trying to talk. Did you say something?

Anonymous81 has joined the chat room.

<Vance> Hi

Anonymous81 has left the chat room.

I'm not sure who the anonymous participant was. However at this point we went to the voice chat and spent a half hour talking there ...

Navigate: The chat this evening took place in Homestead.and Excite <-- click to jump to either

Excite logs

Vance_guest2909: Everything ok there? <VanceisaskingYingLanifsheisabletogetthevoicetowork,sincesheistakingsometime.-gvs>

ying_guest5966: Can you hear me?

ying_guest5966: What a pitty for being late?

ying_guest5966: May is your housekeeper? <Ying Lan has said that she has to clean her house for Chinese New Year. I say that we have a maid to clean ours once a week. - gvs>

ying_guest5966: housecleaner?

ying_guest5966: Vnace. you asked me what happened in the last week?

ying_guest5966: LOAN Department <Ying Lan is clarifying a pronunciation misunderstanding. - gvs>

ying_guest5966: Something wrong?

ying_guest5966: crack with orages <Vance has said he is eating carrots, and that they are orange -gvs>

Vance_guest2909: Hi. I just found this window. It was buried in with other windows.

Vance_guest2909: Another thing about this chat, is you can't see it.

Vance_guest2909: Carrot, orange and crunchy

ying_guest5966: crunchy?

Vance_guest2909: crunch is like when you step on a bug

Vance_guest2909: shall I make a crunching sound?

Vance_guest2909: The MAID is our housekeeper.

Vance_guest2909: what word?

ying_guest6338: headset

ying_guest6338: Another word.. mean "delay"

ying_guest6338: no... it mean I put the thing later...

ying_guest6338: means

ying_guest6338: procrastion

ying_guest6338: How to spell

Vance_guest2909: procrastination

Vance_guest2909: to procrastinate

ying_guest6338: I am the queen of Procrstionation.

Vance_guest2909: Right! And I am the king!

ying_guest6338: It is funny... I heard the prase on air last night.

ying_guest6338: phrase

ying_guest6338: I don't want to meet people sometimes...

Vance_guest2909: You heard the phrase on the air? Good! What did they say about it?

ying_guest6338: I don't know about the radio program.

ying_guest6338: I just heard it by chance.

<The program shows here that it is particularly suited to occasions where students want to check pronunciation, and learn pronunciation of new words. - gvs>

Navigate: The chat this evening took place in Homestead.and Excite <-- click to jump to either

Here is the email I sent the group to try and organize the chat tonight ...

Webheads,

If you're coming to the Webheads chat class at noon GMT Sunday, find us on ICQ or come to http://www.homestead.com/vstevens/ and we will get organized from there.

The weekend of January 19, 20, 21 is not going well. A major oil spill threatens wildlife in the Galapagos, Joseph Kabila still hasn't addressed the Congo people, conditions for El Salvadorians left homeless by earthquakes and landslides is deteriorating, and George Bush has been sworn in as president of the United States. AND on January 19, HearMe discontinued support for VoiceCREATOR, the engine that runs our voice chat site.

Now if you visit our voice chat site, you see a message inviting you to try the new Telcopoint PC Voice Chat, but when you go there, you find that no new accounts are being accepted.

To continue our sad story, the Palace site efi.virtualscholar.com remains out of commission. Also, I attempted to connect via the Java client at http://www.thepalace.com:8000/perl/palentry.pl?ID=54GFZ89G . I managed to set it up in Netscape (but not in IE) on two computers, but on each found after granting Java security clearance that "There was a problem getting connected to the palace. The Palace you were attempting to visit is not available at this time or cannot be contacted."

What can we do?

Michael and I have started EXCITE voice chat rooms. To get to the one called Webheads ...

Download the excite chat software:
http://www.excite.com/communities/chat/download
Then visit: http://www.excite.com/communities/chat/voicechat/rooms

Where it says:
'Enter a room name to go to an existing room'
Type: 'Webheads' and click GO

Where it says:
'If you prefer, you can chat as a guest. Enter your guest name and press Go!'
Type your name and click GO

(You can also start an account and sign on as yourself if you wish)

Another client that is good for voice is Yahoo. But to talk, you need the latest version of the software.

To get it for PC or Mac:
http://messenger.yahoo.com/messenger/download/index.html
To get it for PC: http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/yahoo/ie.html

If you're joining us on Sunday, set these up and we can try them out. But you may not be able to use Yahoo and Excite VOICE chat at the same time.

Hope to see you online,

Vance

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For comments, suggestions, or further information on this page, contact Vance Stevens, page webmaster.

Webheads chat logs from January 21, 2001

Last updated: January 21, 2001 in Hot Metal Pro 6.0