3rd Status Report for KCall/VoiP

[Malte Böhme]

Hi there.

Today was the most productive day for my project since it began.
I finally was able to completely switch my brain/body into the what-i-call-it 
"insane-braindead-hack-mode".

Now, after more than 11 hours of non-stop code&coffee i am slowly fading back 
into this world, with a rising headache and growing hunger ;-)

nevertheless.... here is what i have done since last report:

- removed kcall (the gui part) from the branch.
  we can port the kcall in trunk/playground/pim/kcall/ to kcalldaemon later.

- although currently only one call is supported, it should be fairly easy to 
support more than one call, since we pass a callID between daemon and gui, 
and use a 'GenericSDP'-object internally in the daemon to be able to 
'operate'on/with several calls. the sip-stack just has to support this (mine 
doesnt (yet))

- added functionality to the sip-plugin-kcm.
  you now have to configure it before you can connect to a sip-provider.
  no more hardcoded options here.

- added a kcm for configuring kcalldaemon
  it currently only configures the webcam-options (what plugin/type of cam, 
what resolution, device, etc)

- added kcalltestui
  This is a very simple and ugly GUI to show-off/test kcalldaemon.
  If you would like to know how kcalldaemon works in conjunction with a GUI 
have a look at the code. (testui_impl.cpp)
 to test the new kcalldaemon simply run this app, press the buttons 
"startDaemon" then "registerToDaemon" then "registerToGateway" and wait for 
someone to call you. look at the debug-textedit. it tells you something about 
"newCall()" when someone is calling you. then press 'answerCall'.
  you might press the configure button first though :)

- added video-support
  kcalltestui can now display local video.
  video is (just like audio) handled in the daemon and thus have to be 
transfered over dcop.
  you can choose between a v4l-video-driver or a fake-video (displays an 
image).
  i havent tested video-calls yet, but they should work.
  currently only h263-video-codec is supported
 
- there are now 2 audio-drivers. OSS and arts.
  oss is hardcoded at the moment. nothing to configure yet.

- audio-codecs supported: g711 (mu- and a-law) and gsm
  adding others shouldnt be a big deal. look at 
kcalldaemon/src/audio/codecbase.h

- added support for real calls.
  it is now possible to register with a sip-proxy and to get called from PSTN.
  since i dont have a sip-account with which i can do calls but only receive 
them, i couldnt test outgoing calls yet.
  but, i called my computer with my cellphone and it worked! (a bit odd, 
because i dont added NAT-support yet. need to look into that later)


i probably forgot something but who cares anyways ;)

some notes:
- code is in branches/work/kcall-tng/
- feedback is highly apreciated. i havent received much yet :(
- although the kcalltestui looks (and actually is) very scary, perhaps some 
brave men/women will try it out.
- i will implement outgoing calls and video-calls tonight or tomorrow. so 
watch out :)


maldn