Brought to you by the CU-SeeMe Development Team of the
Advanced Technologies and Planning
group of Cornell Information Technologies
under the generous funding from the National Science Foundation
Award Number: NCR-9318337
LATEST WINDOWS RELEASE.
Cornell releases CU-SeeMe version .92b2 for Windows 95 and NT, along with
The Visual User's Guide.
LATEST
MAC RELEASE. Cornell releases CU-SeeMe version 0.87b3 for the Macintosh.
This version contains two major new features, native support for Open Transport
(if it is available on your Mac) and a completely redesigned Slide
Window with lots of new features. There are also some bug fixes and
some minor enhancements to the Chat Window.
What is CU-SeeMe?
What do I need to use CU-SeeMe?
How do I get CU-SeeMe software?
What is a Reflector?
Technical Information
Subscribe to the CU-SeeMe-L
discussion list.
CU-SeeMe Licensing and Copyright
information.
Master Licensee White
Pine Software offers a full-featured commercial version of CU-SeeMe.
Speak German? Check
this out!
CU-SeeMe -- What it
is, and where it came from.
CU-SeeMe is a free videoconferencing program (under copyright of Cornell
University and its collaborators) available to anyone with a Macintosh or
Windows and a connection to the Internet. With CU-SeeMe, you can videoconference
with another site located anywhere in the world. By using "reflector"
software, multiple parties at different locations can participate in a CU-SeeMe
conference, each from his or her own desktop computer.
So far as we know, CU-SeeMe was the first and may still be the only software
available FREE for personal computers (Macintosh and Windows) that allows
desktop videoconferencing with more than one other site. (CU-SeeMe supports
multiple "windows" to other "parties" on your own computer
screen.)
When development of CU-SeeMe began in 1992, the only real-time videoconferencing
software for the Internet required expensive hardware which severely limited
the number of potential senders and receivers. The philosophy of the Cornell
project was to start immediately with available, affordable hardware and
deploy it as rapidly as possible. The goal was to stimulate creative thinking
and create a wide base of user experience. By opening Internet videoconferences
to Macintosh users, the CU-SeeMe team hoped to accelerate the adoption and
usefulness of desktop conferencing, including live video. Because CU-SeeMe
uses simple but efficient video frame-differencing and compression algorithms,
it opens networked videoconferencing capability to users of lower cost desktop
computers, and enables broader participation in desktop video technology.
During 1993 this grassroots development strategy was realized as interest
in CU-SeeMe grew rapidly with training and user support from the New York
State Educational Research Network (NYSERNet). NYSERNet spread the word
among Internet users by providing one of the first "public" reflectors
encouraging users to try the technology and test their connections.
Working with Dick Cogger in the summer or 1992, Tim Dorcey wrote the original
version of CU-SeeMe. His overview of the project, CU-SeeMe
Desktop Videoconferencing Software was published in CONNEXIONS, March
1995.
Current versions of CU-SeeMe for the Macintosh include audio, thanks to
Charlie Kline (University of IIlinois at Urbana Champagne), who developed
Maven. A Windows version that includes audio was released in August '95.
More recent versions of CU-SeeMe for the Macintosh allow for the exchange
of text and slides, thanks to development work led by Steve
Erde at the Cornell University
Medical Center. Many additional features were added by Andy Wyatt of
the Cornell Development Team.
Since the Cornell versions of the CU-SeeMe software are offered for free,
but with no formal user support, these pages have been created to bring
you the latest information about CU-SeeMe distribution and technical issues,
as well as information about innovative uses and projects. Our strategy
has been to get the most from our NSF research dollars by providing links
to the webpages of generous and experienced CU-SeeMe users like Bill Woodland's
CU-SeeMe Info Page and San
Francisco consultant Michael Sattler's CU-SeeMe
Home Page.
David Fetterman published this article: Videoconferencing
On-Line: Enhancing Communication Over the Internet in EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER,
May 1996, discussing his experiences with CU-SeeMe. For some additional
reading plucked from the popular press, you might check out this article
posted at Urban
Desires by journalist Steve Meloan.
Other links: The Global Schoolhouse Project.
Read all about this terrific international K-12 education project! Back
in 1993, this project introduced CU-SeeMe to the world. Or check out Joe
Izen's nifty Phone Patch
for CU-SeeMe.
DISCLAIMER: Although we have improved it with each new version in anticipation
of a final summary release at the end of our project, the Cornell version
of CU-SeeMe is not a mature production software. It is offered for free,
but with no user support other than what you find on these pages and others
linked to it. For a full-featured commercial product complete with user-support
contact CU-SeeMe master licensee White
Pine Software.
What do I need to use CU-SeeMe?
CU-SeeMe is intended to provide useful video conferencing to as many people as possible and at minimal cost. The software runs on Macintosh and PC Windows platforms using an IP network connection. With CU-SeeMe each participant can decide to be a sender, a receiver, or both. Receiving requires only a Mac or PC with a screen capable of displaying 16 grays and a connection to the Internet. Sending requires the same plus a camera and digitizer which can cost less than $100 to add to your system.
Specifications to RECEIVE video:
Specifications to SEND video:
The only digitizer we've had a chance to test recently is IXMicro's excellent TurboTV card which is supported in the final Cornell release of the software.
Basic Requirements:
To send and receive video you'll also need:
To send & receive audio you'll also need:
Click here for COMPAT.TXT and related files on CU-SeeMe
for Win16.
How do I get CU-SeeMe?
Click here to automatically download the latest version of
OR you can use FTP to obtain CU-SeeMe:
Just follow these directions (and note that you'll find several versions
of everything.
Higher numbers usually mean newer versions, but not always; it's best to
look over the README files first):
Reflectors
You need to connect to a Reflector if you want to conference with more
than one other person/computer. Here's a short piece on Reflector
etiquette. To connect to a working reflector, you'll need it's IP address.
Check Bill Woodland's CU-SeeMe
Info Page for some help finding active reflectors. If you plan to test
and use CU-SeeMe extensively, you may wish to set up your own Reflector
(on a UNIX machine). Follow the ftp instructions as described above in "How
to Get CU-SeeMe." Reflector
ReadMe
Technical Information
An informal collection of documents describing
various technical aspects of Cornell's CU-SeeMe software is available for
a limited time. Look at Michael Sattler's pages for answers
to your technical questions or Bill Woodland's excellent CU-SeeMe
Info Page. Bill's page includes a very nice user's guide for the Windows
version of CU-SeeMe and a wealth of other information including links to
other experimenters. You might also check out the CU-SeeMe-L
archives maintained by Tim Mulkey and Michael Sattler.
Subscribe to the CU-SeeMe-L listserv.
If you have a specific technical question, your best bet is to post it
to the CU-SeeMe Discussion List. This list gets
LOTS of mail; in order to avoid problems, be sure to read the directions
carefully before you subscribe. The list currently has over 2,000 subscribers
from around the world.
Licensing
and Copyright stuff
The CU-SeeMe Development Team at Cornell University would like to thank the National Science Foundation and the million-or-so CU-SeeMe testers worldwide who have made this experiment a success.
CU on the desktop! May 1998