Psip is a very simple Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)
application.
It is base on Benny Prijono's PJSUA, the engine which has made
this project possible.
This project is a work in progress and is likely to be continually improved over time.
This help file has been written to help get you up and running quickly.
The main benefit of this application is it small size, around 600k compressed.
This package was developed specifically for Puppy Linux, the small distro with the huge functionality.
There are a number of other VIOP programs that will run on Puppy Linux, Skype and Linphone to name a couple.
Both are very good applications and have more bells and whistles than Psip, however you will find Psip voice quality is excellent and the lag time is barely noticeable.
Ok, lets take it for a spin, what can it do?
Make free voice calls from PC to PC
Make voice calls from PC to landlines or mobiles (You need an account at a SIP provder that provides this functionality)
Instant messaging
Leave and retrieve free
voice mail messages
Conference calls
There is no video
functionality in Psip and there are no plans to include it.
Psip was designed to be small and efficient so it would be
viable to include in future releases of Puppy Linux.
The interface was writtin
in the GTKdialog3 scripting language. Although the language
has limitations a very
functional interfaces has been developed. You may notice the
look will change from time to time as additional
functionality may be added. We will try and keep this help
file current but as you can imagine it takes a lot of work.
It is difficult to meet
the requirements of all personal tastes however, suggestions
are welcomed.
Please use the Psip forum
thread to communicate this. Below is the current Interface.
The above interface was
designed in landscape to be compatable with the EEEPC and
other smaller netbooks.
You will notice four
colourful button, Call, Answer, Text Chat and Hangup.
I don't expect these need further explanation.
There is a dial pad. You will need to use this occasionally to enter numbers when required just like a telephone.
Underneath the dial pad is
a button that says Refresh Buddies. The pupose of this
button is to refresh
the online status of your buddies. The buddies list is
automatically refreshed every few mintues but if you are
impatient you can manually force it to update.
You will also notice a
status line that runs across the bottom of the
interface/menu. This will display the last
status change of your buddies list and provide some other
system information.
On the right of the
buttons you will notice your buddies list. Initially this
will be blank until you added buddies.
It might also be blank when you first login, if so press the
refresh buddies button. If you know you have buddies
and the list is not populated PJSUA is probably not running.
More about this later.
The ”?” indicates the
buddy is Offline or not logged into a SIP server. This
status defaults to Online When online
or On The Phone when making or receiving calls. Other
statuses can be selected from the configure menu.
Click on the sip address
of the person you wish to call then click on the green call
button.
To make a call the person the must be online. If they are
not online you may be given the opportunity to
leave a voice mail message. You do need to set up a
voicemail account on the server to use it however.
You will hear some
incoming beeps and a little dialog box will pop up on your
screen.
The box has three buttons. Left button is Answer, middle
Chat and right Hangup.
You may also answer the call
from pressing the button on the main interface.
Wait for about a second then start your voice conversation.
You can close the popup
window if you like with the x in the top right hand corner
of the box.
The reason this function is duplicated is to allow you to
have Psip minimized while working on something else.
If a call comes in you simply press the answer button. It
saves you having to maximize Psip to answer the call.
Press the red Hangup button.
This button allows you to send instant messages to anyone in your buddies list. They have to be online to receive them.
To send an IM or text
message, click on the person in the buddies list then click
on the Text Chat button.
You will notice two windows will pop up. One to type into
and the other to receive information.
This will also pop up the same windows on your buddies
computer. You may chat to more than one person at a time
however all chats are private. You only have one receiving
window and all of the text will be displayed in that window.
It does identify who the message is coming from at the
beginning of each transfer.
Only 128 characther can be
typed into each message but you can type many messages.
At the top of the
interface you will see five drop down menus, Phone,
Configure, IPTel, Setup and Help.
Under Phone you will find ,
Call SIP URL, this allows you to manually make calls when
the number or
address is not in your buddy list. You can also answer and
hangup calls from here if you wish.
Restart in Command Line
Interface (CLI) mode, this allows you some additional
freedom.
The interface will not respond to PJSUA and all commands
need to me entered via the CLI.
This can be a little tricky if you are not used to working
this way that's why the interface was developed.
Three of the next four commands may disappear in future releases but they are very useful during testing.
I guess this would be a
good time to explain the relationship between PJSUA and
Psip. As I said earlier in
the document, PJSUA is the engine and can be run from the
CLI. Psip is the graphical interface that make
it easier to drive PJSUA. As you can see from the above menu
it is possible to run PJSUA and Psip independantly.
The main command to
remember here is the last command, Quit and shut down pjsua.
This command closes both PJSUA and Psip. If you close the
Psip interface with the x in the top right corner, only
Psip will be closed and PJSUA will continue to run in
memory.
The simplest way to close PJSUA if you have already closed
Psip is to start Psip again from the start menu
and this time select Phone> Quit and shut down pjsua.
It will report that PJSUA is already running and won't start
a second session.
Edit Account allows you to edit your account. This is the account you use to log into your sip server.
Add Buddy allows you to add Buddy's to your Buddy list. The results of both of these functions are saved in you config file.
Set Online Status allows
you to display how you would like to be seen or not. You
have a few choices.
Debug is there to help us
solve problems. The menu
has a number of items that are useful
but the Build Crash Report is the most useful to the
developers.
The Edit Config File allows
you to make amendments to you configuration file.
The file will be preserved when upgrading to later versions
of Psip.
You need to close PJSUA and restart it again before the
changes will take effect.
There are many SIP servers
available that will allow you to create a free account.
After a great deal of research I decided IPTel is probable
the best suited to Psip.
Every option under this Menu interfaces with IPTel.
If you don't use IPTel then don't use this options as it is
unlikely to work.
The first option provides
functionality for you to register an account with IPTel.
Clicking
on the menu item will launch your default browser and redirect
you to the new account
page at IPTel. Simply follow the directions.
The second option allows you to
check delete and listen to your voicemails. This will only
work if you setup your voicemail at IPTel. The information on
the page says voicemail is
on by default but that is incorrect. It also allows you to
record your own private message.
Note the red arrow, select both. This will
turn on your voicemail and a sound file will be
sent to you via the email address you provided.
The third option provides an echo
test facility. When you speak into your microphone you
will hear your voice being echoed back to you. This is a good
way to make sure you are logged
into the sever and your mic and headphones/speakers are
working.
Option four will play some music
for you if everything is working correctly.
Option five allows you to setup a
conference call. I have set the default conference to roon
528.
If you wish you can setup any conference room number you like.
Option six redirects you to the
IPTel whitepages. Here you can look up other users SIP address
if they have allowed you to see them. You have some control
over what other can see.
The http://www.IPTel.org/service
web site is very comprehensive and will explain how to do
this.
At the top of the same page there is a link so you can setup
your free account.
The
first option takes you to the original Puppy Forum Psip
thread. This will provide some history
in the development of Psip and the key players. Riviting
reading.
The New PSIP forum thread
was created by lobster for the ongoing development of Psip.
This is the best place to become involved and ask questions.
The Pjsua Manual option will take you to another web site. It's worth a look if you would like to learn more about Pjsua.
Help displays
this help file which is located at http://www.smokey01.com/menu.
The Credits page has also
been updated. Some of original players are recognised,
especially Hairy Will who did most the smart work.
The main files for Psip are
located in /usr/local/psip directory.
The config file is located
at /root/./psip and is called pjsua.cfg. The PSIP_chatlog is
also located in the same place.
There is also a another psip
file located in /usr/sbin/ This is where Psip should started
from.
The pjsua.cfg file should, at a minimum, look like this for use on iptel.org:
--add-buddy
sip:username01@iptel.org
--log-file /tmp/psip/app-log
--local-port 5060
--use-ice
--quality 6
--rtp-port 4000
--id sip:username@iptel.org
--registrar=sip:iptel.org
--realm *
--username=username
--password=password
--reg-timeout 55
Make sure the last line of the pjsua.cfg file
has one blank line.
All commands start
with --