From: jjenning@... (jared jennings)
Date: 2003-07-04T05:44:11+09:00
Subject: Re: Question about streaming on Ruby

On Thu, Jul 03, 2003 at 07:22:48PM +0900, Rob wrote:
> Hi, Bill.
> 
> Thanks a lot for the hints.
> I am under Windows, but the problem is that my professor wants this
> application to be compatible with any kinds of servers (windows and
> linux).  I was thinking that this application is similar to Yahoo
> voice chat, since it deals with streaming.  But Yahoo voice chat also
> needs Windows to run.  Is that possible to make an application for
> this which runs in both windows, mac and linux and can be accessed
> from a browser like microsoft internet explorer, mozilla or netscape?

so you have to 
* record sound on the client
* send it to the server
* analyze it on the server
* figure out a reply on the server
* send it back to the client
* play the response on the client.

the stuff on the server, then, is a matter of
* dealing with sound over the network
* doing bunches of calculations on it.

the client is what needs to do all the recording and playing. i'm sure
SDL works across windows and unix and probably mac, to play sound, and
it has bindings to ruby, but i'm pretty sure it won't get you far for
recording sound. you could use java and the java media framework on the
client; but the computer running it would require the right version of
the JRE and the JMF... >20MB download, plus hassle of installing.

on Linux you can use LinuxDevices for playing and recording and
ruby-audiofile for reading and writing .wav/.au/.aiff/etc. files. (both
are in RAA.) on Windows that funky MCI thingy seems more likely to work.
Neither of these happen inside the browser.

other than a java applet using JMF, an ActiveX control or a plugin of
your own i'm not sure how you would record from inside a browser. but
the server part should be easier: networking and math are better
supported across platforms than recording sound.

if you're concerned about bandwidth between the client and server, you
might compress the audio with Speex (speex.org). except there aren't any
ruby bindings yet... hmmm... *ducks in workshop*

--

<paq_> tarzeau: how long are you gonna be depraved of the net?
<tarzeau> paq_: like a month, i'll play nethack i guess
<greycat> that's "deprived".  He's going to be "depraved" forever.

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