Not able to video chat with Pidgin

English Applications
1

Hi All,

My name is Ashish and this is my first post in the OpenSUSE forum. I am a student and have newly installed OpenSUSE 11.2 (KDE). I have to admit that I initially just wanted to show-off to my friends how cool linux is, but now I am really interested in making it a replacement to my Windows 7 OS. :slight_smile: Therefore in the process of installing many cool apps, I came across Pidgin (as a substitute to GTalk).

I was able to get it working, and the voice chat works fine with Google Talk users, but unfortunately, the video chat functionality doesn’t seem to work. I think there is some issue with ‘GConf’ (not sure what that is! :P).
Please find the debug snippets below:-

(17:08:40) mediamanager: Couldn't read fs-element.conf: No such file or directory                                            
(17:08:40) jabber: setting param stun-ip for stream using Google auto-config: 209.85.229.126                                  
(17:08:40) jabber: setting param stun-port for stream using Google auto-config: 19302                                         
(17:08:40) jabber: setting Google jingle compatibility param                                                                  
(17:08:40) media: Couldn't read fs-codec.conf: No such file or directory                                                      
(17:08:40) media: Creating hash table for sessions                                                                            
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: state: 0 sid: google-voice name: (null)                                                                  
(17:08:40) media: connecting pad: success                                                                                     
(17:08:40) media: Creating hash table for participants                                                                        
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: state: 0 sid: (null) name: adi007in@gmail.com/gmail.80817C2F                                             
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: state: 0 sid: google-voice name: adi007in@gmail.com/gmail.80817C2F                                       
(17:08:40) media: Couldn't read fs-codec.conf: No such file or directory                                                      
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: state: 0 sid: google-video name: (null)                                                                  
(17:08:40) media: connecting pad: success                                                                                     
(17:08:40) **g_log: No GConf default video src key and v4l2src doesn't work**                                                     
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: state: 0 sid: (null) name: adi007in@gmail.com/gmail.80817C2F                                             
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: state: 0 sid: google-video name: adi007in@gmail.com/gmail.80817C2F
(17:08:40) media: got new local candidate: 1
(17:08:40) media: got new local candidate: 1
(17:08:40) media: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 1 state: GATHERING
(17:08:40) media: farsight-component-state-changed: component: 2 state: GATHERING
(17:08:40) media: got new local candidate: 2
(17:08:40) media: got new local candidate: 2
(17:08:40) mediamanager: gst pipeline error: Could not configure supporting library.
(17:08:40) **mediamanager: Debug details: gstgconfvideosrc.c(197): do_toggle_element (): /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstBin:pidgindefaultvideosrc/GstBin:pidgindefaultvideosrc/GstGConfVideoSrc:gconfvideosrc0:
Failed to render video source from GConf**
(17:08:40) **media: Error with your webcam.**
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: state: 2 sid: (null) name: (null)
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: pidgin_media_dispose
(17:08:40) **g_log: No GConf default video src key and v4l2src doesn't work**
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: pidgin_media_dispose
(17:08:40) gtkmedia: pidgin_media_finalize
(17:08:40) media: purple_media_dispose
(17:08:40) media: purple_media_finalize
(17:08:40) mediamanager: gst pipeline error: Could not configure supporting library.
(17:08:40) **mediamanager: Debug details: gstgconfvideosrc.c(197): do_toggle_element (): /GstPipeline:pipeline0/GstBin:pidgindefaultvideosrc/GstBin:pidgindefaultvideosrc/GstGConfVideoSrc:gconfvideosrc0:
Failed to render video source from GConf**

Since I am new to linux, I would be glad if anybody can explain to me in layman’s terms what should I do to get this functionality working.

Thanks,
Ashish.

2

First test if your webcam is working with a program like luvcview or webkam.

But the problem is that both GTalk and Pigdin are Gnome/GTK applications and will have some problems running under KDE. A default oS 11.2 KDE installation does not include gconf (Gnome’s configuration backend) for obvious reasons, and depending on how you installed pigdin it may still be missing and the source of the error you see.

I suggest you try using Kopete, the native KDE chat application which has just as many features as pigdin instead.

3

Thank you very much MasterPatricko for your time and suggestions, but I think I got Pidgin working after tinkering with a few settings.
Basically I did some adjustments in the Tools —> Plug-Ins —> Voice/Video Settings and things started working fine.

However, as you said, I will also try Kopete; however I am not sure if it’s as user-friendly and feature-rich as Pidgin. Moreover, I have heard that Empathy too is a good web-chat application. I am currently using Pidgin primarily for voice chat, so please suggest me if I should stick with it or switch over to Kopete or Empathy.

Thanks,
Ashish