Getting Started with SGImeeting

With SGImeeting, you can participate in conferences with anyone, anywhere on the Internet or your corporate intranet. This section describes the basic steps to get you started.

How do I...

	call other people?
	accept incoming calls?
	leave a conference?
	host a conference?
	start application sharing?
	start the whiteboard?
	start chat?
	send and receive files?
	view information on the current conference, call history, or addressing information for other users?
	use speeddials?
	configure SGImeeting options?
	stop SGImeeting?

Calling other people

To call another user, click on the Call button on the SGImeeting toolbar, or choose the Place Call... command on the Call menu.

When the Start Call dialog appears, enter the other person's address and click OK. Specify the address in one of the following ways:

	as the numeric IP address of their computer - for example: 123.456.78.90
	as the symbolic name of their computer - for example: mycomputer.sgi.com Note that this requires your system to have Domain Name Service (DNS): see your system administrator for more information on configuring DNS.
	by specifying a directory server and the other person's email address separated by a "/" character - for example: ils.microsoft.com/bob@acme.com

This dialog also includes a group of "advanced options", which you can use to control the way the call is set up (for example when using a conference server). For more information on setting advanced options, see Starting a Call - Advanced Options.

If the other person is already in a conference, a message box appears to warn you about this, so that you can cancel joining the conference if necessary. You can override the display of this message box so that you will always join the conference without being prompted, by checking the "Automatically join existing calls" option: see Configuring SGImeeting Options.

If the other person does not respond, the most likely reason is that they are not currently running a conferencing program.

You can also call people from a directory list, address book, history list, speeddial or Call menu list. The Call menu list stores the 10 most recently called addresses for convenience.

If you want to keep a note of the called address for future use, ensure the "Add to address book" checkbox is selected before clicking OK. Then, in future, the address will appear as an entry in the address book for faster access.

Accepting incoming calls

When someone attempts to call you, a message box appears, prompting you to accept or reject the call. You can override the display of this message box in one of two ways:

	You can block off all incoming calls by selecting the "Do Not Disturb" option on the Call menu. In this case, the other person sees a message box informing them that you did not accept the call (as though you saw the message box and rejected the call). You do not see any notification of the call, but it is listed in the log of incoming calls (see History) as "Ignored".
	You can automatically accept all incoming calls by checking the "Automatically accept incoming calls" option: see Configuring SGImeeting Options.

Leaving a conference

To leave the conference, click on the Hang Up button on the SGImeeting toolbar, or choose the Hang Up... command on the Call menu.

If you invited any other people into the conference by calling them after you joined, or if any other people joined the conference by calling you, these people are disconnected when you leave the conference. A message box appears when you choose Hang Up to remind you of this, so that you can cancel leaving the conference if necessary.

Hosting a conference

If you are using conferencing to provide a service for others to use, you can create a local conference without calling any other users. For example, you may want to set up your desktop in advance of a regular scheduled conference, so that the appropriate applications are shared and the other users will be able to access them as soon as they join the conference.

To create a local conference, choose the Host Conference command on the Call menu. Other users can then join and leave the conference as required.

Starting application sharing

To start sharing an application, press the Share button, and click on the application that you want to share. When another conference participant shares an application, the window appears automatically on your desktop.

For more information on how to use shared applications, see Application Sharing.

Starting the Whiteboard

To start the Whiteboard, press the Whiteboard button on the SGImeeting toolbar, or choose the Whiteboard command on the Tools menu.

The Whiteboard window appears and is automatically started on the other conference participants' systems. (Equally, if somebody else in the conference starts the Whiteboard, it will start automatically on your system.) You can then freely exchange ideas in the form of text and graphical images.

If you have installed the SGItools Plugin features, you can also display video or screen-captured images (still or dynamically updated), use arrows for annotation, and use a drag-and-drop symbol palette to expedite whiteboard communications.

For more information on how to use the whiteboard, see SGImeeting Whiteboard and Whiteboard Plugin Features.

Starting Chat

To start Chat, press the Chat button on the SGImeeting toolbar, or choose the Chat command on the Tools menu. The Chat window appears. You can then exchange text messages with other conference participants running Chat.

For more information on how to use Chat, see SGImeeting Chat.

Sending and Receiving Files

To send a file to everyone in the conference, press the Send File button on the toolbar, or select the Send File command on the Tools menu. Select a file from the File dialog, and click OK.

For more information on how to send and receive files, see File Transfer.

Switching Views

The main window has four different views, which can be selected by pressing one of the view buttons on the left, or by choosing one of the commands on the View menu. The views are

	Directory
	Address Book
	Current Call
	History

Address Book

The Address Book view shows a list of people whom you have called with the "add to address book" option selected (see calling other people, above). To call someone in the address book, double-click on the entry or press the Call button.

Current Call

The Current Call view shows the status of the conference, listing the names of the participants, their application sharing status, and whether they are running whiteboard and chat.
When a conference starts, SGImeeting automatically selects this view.

History

The History view shows a log of incoming calls. For each call, you can see:

when it was received
who it was from (for calls using a directory server)
whether you accepted it, rejected it, or ignored it ("ignored" means that it occurred while you had the "Do Not Disturb" option selected).

To return a call, double-click on the entry or press the Call button.

Using Speeddials

Speeddials are a convenient way of storing addresses and exchanging them with other conferencing users. You can use speeddials in the following ways.

Create a speeddial to send to other people so that they can call you easily.
To do this:

Select Call, Create SpeedDial.
If you want other people to call you through a directory server, select Directory. If you want them to call you directly, select Network.
Press Fill my details. Your address will appear in the Address field.
Select Save in home directory and press OK.

A speeddial file is created in your home directory. If you selected Network as the calling method, the speeddial will have the name "myname.cnf" (where myname is your user name). If you selected Directory it will have the name "directory_myname.cnf" (where directory is the name of the directory you are logged on to, and myname is your user name). You can send this to other people, who can then use it to call you (see below).

Call someone using a speeddial they have sent you.
If another user has sent you a speeddial, you can use it to call him or her as follows:

Save the speeddial file you have been sent in a directory on your computer.
Start File Manager.
Navigate to the directory in which you saved the speeddial.
Double-click on the speeddial.

SGImeeting will start (if it is not already running) and call the other person.

Alternatively, you can invoke the speeddial from the command line. Start SGImeeting using the following command:

sgimeeting -speeddial speeddial_file_name

Replace speeddial_file_name with the full pathname of the speeddial file to use.

SGImeeting will start (if it is not already running) and call the other person.

Configuring SGImeeting Options

You can configure the behavior of SGImeeting by selecting Options from the Tools menu.

Any changes that you make take effect immediately, and are saved so that they will be used the next time you start SGImeeting. Changes affect only your copy of SGImeeting (not any others in the conference).

	Desktop scrolling enabled	If this option is selected, and you are in a conference with another computer that has a desktop larger than yours, you will be able to scroll around the complete shared desktop to view all windows. See Conferencing between Different Sized Desktops for more information. If this option is not selected, you will see only the top left-hand corner of the larger desktop, and will not be able to access windows or parts of windows that do not fit on your display.
	Automatically join existing calls	If this option is selected, you will not be prompted to confirm a call to a user who is already in an existing conference. If this option is not selected, and you call a user who is already in an existing conference, you will be prompted to confirm joining the conference or to cancel the call.
	Automatically accept incoming calls	If this option is selected, you will not be prompted to accept or reject incoming calls. Instead, all incoming calls are automatically accepted. If this option is not selected, and another person calls you, you will be prompted to accept or reject the call.
	Beep on incoming calls	If this option is selected, you will be notified of an incoming call by an audible beep from your workstation's speaker. If this option is not selected, there will be no audible notification.
	Automatically share clipboard	If this option is selected, the shared clipboard is always active when you join a conference, making SGImeeting behave in the same way as Microsoft NetMeeting version 2. If this option is not selected, the shared clipboard is not active when you join a conference, but you can start it if required.
	Approximately match fonts	When two computers in a conference are running different operating systems, they may not have the same fonts available. This means that, when text output in shared applications is transferred between these computers, font information may have to be transferred as well as the text if the target computer does not have the font that was used on the source computer. If this option is selected, SGImeeting uses a similar font from those available on the target computer if an exact match is not available. This means that text output in shared applications may not have the same appearance on all systems in the conference. However, because the full font information does not have to be transmitted, application sharing may be faster; this option is therefore recommended if you are using a slow network connection (for example, a modem or the Internet). If this option is not selected, font information is transferred with the text if an exact match is not available. This means that text output in shared applications has the same appearance on all systems in the conference. However, application sharing may be slower.
	Automatically refresh directory listing	If this option is selected, the directory listing (the list of users at the currently logged-on directory) is updated automatically at specified intervals. You can change the time interval between updates by moving the slider to the right or left. See the section on Directories for more information about the directory listing. If this option is not selected, the directory listing is not updated automatically. You can refresh it manually when required; see Refreshing the directory list for more information.
	Store Received Files in:	This option specifies the directory on your computer where received files should be stored. See the separate section on File Transfer for more information.
	Load Whiteboard in:	This option specifies whether the Whiteboard operates in T.126 mode or in Proprietary mode. See the separate section on SGImeeting Whiteboard for more information. If the Whiteboard is already running when you change this option, it continues to operate in the existing mode, but you can then start a second copy of the Whiteboard which will operate in the new mode.
	Compatibility mode:	This option specifies whether SGImeeting operates in standards based T.120 mode or in a mode compatible with NetMeeting version 3. If you intend joining a conference with machines running NetMeeting 3, select NetMeeting 3 mode (all other instances of SGImeeting in the conference must also select NetMeeting 3 mode). In all other cases (including conferences with earlier versions of NetMeeting) select T.120 mode. If you change this setting, you will need to restart SGImeeting in order for the new setting to take effect.

Starting a Call - Advanced Options

When you are starting a call, you can configure how the call is set up by selecting one or more "advanced options" in the Start Call dialog box.

Join a named meeting

If you specified the address of a conference server in the Address field, and you know the name of the conference you want to join at that server, click on the checkbox to choose this option, and type the conference name in the edit box. If you do not specify a conference name and there are two or more conferences in progress at the server, SGImeeting will prompt you with a list of conference names so that you can select the correct one.

Stopping SGImeeting

To stop SGImeeting, choose the Exit command on the Call menu.

If Run In Background has been selected in the Call menu, then the main window is removed but the SGImeeting process remains running, continually monitoring for incoming calls. When a call is received the main window is automatically redisplayed and the conference proceeds as normal.

In order to shutdown SGImeeting completely, ensure that Run In Background is unselected in the Call menu before choosing the Exit command.