# The state of videoconferencing on FreeBSD



## inf3rno (Oct 23, 2020)

I found an interesting post about videoconferencing on FreeBSD here: https://www.davidschlachter.com/misc/freebsd-videoconferencing I am curious if there is anybody who uses Teams and/or Zoom on FreeBSD. I use those on a laptop with Win10 currently, but I would like to install FreeBSD on that laptop too. It looks like that using WebRTC in browsers is the best option currently.


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## a6h (Oct 23, 2020)

Skype and Team video work fine in FreeBSD. I used to have video chat using Skype, i.e. 2 participants. I'm not sure about more that two participants.
Unfortunately you have to use Chromium browser. I think Firefox has some WebRTC implementation issue. But you have to try it. Make sure your hardware works properly, e.g. cam, wifi, etc. If you have a GPT/win10 laptop, shrink the HDD, install the FreeBSD along the Windows, dual boot and try it for a while.


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## phalange (Oct 23, 2020)

In my case I have to log into Google Meet sometimes, and ironically I can only do it via Firefox. In Chromium I was not able to select the correct mic source, but in Firefox I was. And I had to install Pulse Audio -- there may be a way without, but this got the job done quickly. Setting up my internal mic was the main obstacle to video conferencing.


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## a6h (Oct 23, 2020)

phalange any success with Skype/Team in Firefox? I really want to dump Chromium. Skype is the only reason I still use Chromium. Team is not important.


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## phalange (Oct 24, 2020)

vigole said:


> phalange any success with Skype/Team in Firefox? I really want to dump Chromium. Skype is the only reason I still use Chromium. Team is not important.



No, I don't currently use skype so I didn't test that. I looks like there's a skype plugin for firefox though, it's worth a try.


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## inf3rno (Oct 24, 2020)

vigole said:


> Skype and Team video work fine in FreeBSD. I used to have video chat using Skype, i.e. 2 participants. I'm not sure about more that two participants.
> Unfortunately you have to use Chromium browser. I think Firefox has some WebRTC implementation issue. But you have to try it. Make sure your hardware works properly, e.g. cam, wifi, etc. If you have a GPT/win10 laptop, shrink the HDD, install the FreeBSD along the Windows, dual boot and try it for a while.


Actually I bought an SSD to reduce power consumption and I plan to install FreeBSD on that and remove the HDD. I can keep the Windows on the HDD until I try it out. I need both Teams and Zoom, at least to watch the conference. I'll need camera and microphone support in 1-2 months, currently it is not that important. I try to avoid pulseaudio and systemd, but I am pretty sure this can be solved without them.


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## tOsYZYny (Oct 30, 2020)

This is good information, wish it were centralized on the freebsd website.


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## the3ajm (Nov 1, 2020)

Teams online doesn't work on firefox esr for me as it loops back to logging into your microsoft account but other cloud app works fine. It has worked before but ever since I changed the time on my desktop it never seemed to work right since.

The weird part with Zoom is firefox have issue outputting the sound to the system but other browser works fine except I've yet come to terms of how to get microphone to work on my inline earphone.


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