Using Marratech for a Meeting
I thought it might be good to let you know what the requirements were for Marratech before we scheduled. Below is information from Kan-Ed's website on using Marratech, http://www.kan-ed.org/marratech/guide. I do not have a headset and when I have participated in a Marratech conference, I just muted until I wanted to talk. If I did not mute people said there was feedback. I used a little Logitech QuickCam Pro for the camera. Some people just joined in with voice or just typed. Read over the list and let me know if you are interested in meeting this way.
Kan-ed Marratech quick start
To conduct and/or participate in a video conference using the Marratech system, you will need a computer running a Microsoft, Macintosh, or Linux operating system, a connection to a network that reaches the server you and the people with whom you wish to collaborate can all reach, and some way to capture and display both sound and video.
Here is a short summary of requirements and best practices:
Use a headset/microphone, rather than free-standing speakers and mics (to avoid echo and feedback). You may use free-standing speakers and mics ONLY IF they are equiped to cancel echoes (and unless you paid many-several hundred dollars for yours, they do NOT prevent echoes). (More...)
Select a camera that produces an image of a quality you find satisfactory. (Suggestions...)
Make sure you have adequate connectivity to your Internet Service Provider and within all networks between you and your collaborators. (For a conference with 3 or so participants all sending at around 100 Kbps, you would be receiving around 300 Kbps. If your connection to your Internet Service Provider has 300 Kbps to spare you should be alright. Otherwise your video frame rate and resolution will be degraded, but Marratech adjusts quite well to bandwidth limitations.) (Details...)
Make sure BEFOREHAND that your local LAN firewall will pass your conference traffic. This will probably require the assistance of your site LAN administrators, and usually takes considerable time; do NOT wait to confirm this until the day of your online meeting. (Details...)
Download and install the MarrtechPro client from http://www.marratech.com/ to a Mac, Windows, or Linux desktop or laptop system running at least at 800MHz, and preferably faster (say, 2 GHz for a conference including 15 participants where you intend to use video).
Find a Marratech server that has an open room where you can meet. The first place to try would be
emeetingportal.kan-ed.org
which is a Marratech server managed by Kan-ed for use by all of its members. . (You can probably also find a demonstration server at www.emeetingportal.com.)
Make sure the room you are planning to use is able to host a conference with the number of participants you expect, and that you are authorized to use the server.
Start MarratechPro and enter the Internet address of the server to which you wish to connect in the URL field of the Viewer window. (The Viewer is a simple Web browser that is used to find virtual meeting locations. Do NOT visit the Marratech server using your browser unless you know what you are doing.)
When you visit a Marratech server using the Viewer, you will see a list of virtual rooms hosted by that server, and you may enter one of those rooms by clicking on its name.
However, some rooms are "private" and you will NOT see them until you login to an account on the server. For example, there are two special accounts on emeetingportal.kan-ed.org, "kan-ed-member" and "kan-ed-guest", that can see the auditorium called "AuditoriumOne". Kan-ed members can get the passwords for one or both of these accounts by calling Michael Grobe at 785-817-2992.
When you enter a virtual room, you should almost immediately see a set of thumbnail video windows showing your collaborators, a large Whiteboard area that may or may not contain documents being shared, a chat window, and a larger video window showing whoever spoke last. (These window arrangements will appear and behave differently depending on certain configuration options.)
Test your configuration and practice using your client sometime BEFORE the day of the meeting AND test your system again an hour BEFORE the meeting begins. (More...)
Develop a plan for dealing with temporary outages, and have a backup telephone conference bridge operating throughout the meeting, if necessary. (More...)
Kan-ed Marratech quick start
To conduct and/or participate in a video conference using the Marratech system, you will need a computer running a Microsoft, Macintosh, or Linux operating system, a connection to a network that reaches the server you and the people with whom you wish to collaborate can all reach, and some way to capture and display both sound and video.
Here is a short summary of requirements and best practices:
Use a headset/microphone, rather than free-standing speakers and mics (to avoid echo and feedback). You may use free-standing speakers and mics ONLY IF they are equiped to cancel echoes (and unless you paid many-several hundred dollars for yours, they do NOT prevent echoes). (More...)
Select a camera that produces an image of a quality you find satisfactory. (Suggestions...)
Make sure you have adequate connectivity to your Internet Service Provider and within all networks between you and your collaborators. (For a conference with 3 or so participants all sending at around 100 Kbps, you would be receiving around 300 Kbps. If your connection to your Internet Service Provider has 300 Kbps to spare you should be alright. Otherwise your video frame rate and resolution will be degraded, but Marratech adjusts quite well to bandwidth limitations.) (Details...)
Make sure BEFOREHAND that your local LAN firewall will pass your conference traffic. This will probably require the assistance of your site LAN administrators, and usually takes considerable time; do NOT wait to confirm this until the day of your online meeting. (Details...)
Download and install the MarrtechPro client from http://www.marratech.com/ to a Mac, Windows, or Linux desktop or laptop system running at least at 800MHz, and preferably faster (say, 2 GHz for a conference including 15 participants where you intend to use video).
Find a Marratech server that has an open room where you can meet. The first place to try would be
emeetingportal.kan-ed.org
which is a Marratech server managed by Kan-ed for use by all of its members. . (You can probably also find a demonstration server at www.emeetingportal.com.)
Make sure the room you are planning to use is able to host a conference with the number of participants you expect, and that you are authorized to use the server.
Start MarratechPro and enter the Internet address of the server to which you wish to connect in the URL field of the Viewer window. (The Viewer is a simple Web browser that is used to find virtual meeting locations. Do NOT visit the Marratech server using your browser unless you know what you are doing.)
When you visit a Marratech server using the Viewer, you will see a list of virtual rooms hosted by that server, and you may enter one of those rooms by clicking on its name.
However, some rooms are "private" and you will NOT see them until you login to an account on the server. For example, there are two special accounts on emeetingportal.kan-ed.org, "kan-ed-member" and "kan-ed-guest", that can see the auditorium called "AuditoriumOne". Kan-ed members can get the passwords for one or both of these accounts by calling Michael Grobe at 785-817-2992.
When you enter a virtual room, you should almost immediately see a set of thumbnail video windows showing your collaborators, a large Whiteboard area that may or may not contain documents being shared, a chat window, and a larger video window showing whoever spoke last. (These window arrangements will appear and behave differently depending on certain configuration options.)
Test your configuration and practice using your client sometime BEFORE the day of the meeting AND test your system again an hour BEFORE the meeting begins. (More...)
Develop a plan for dealing with temporary outages, and have a backup telephone conference bridge operating throughout the meeting, if necessary. (More...)
posted by Charlene at
9:21 AM
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