Minimum Requirements

For bandwidth, we recommend 1Mbits download and 0.5 Mbits upload speed. Users can test their actual bandwidth using speedtest.net.

For hardware, we recommend a dual-core CPU with at least 2G of memory. We recommend any operating system capable of running the latest versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla FireFox.

For browser, We recommend running either FireFox or Chrome. Why? Both browsers provide excellent support for web-real-time communications framework (WebRTC). Safari and IE will work as well, but it will use Flash for audio, which is fine, but WebRTC-based audio is better.

Looking closer at FireFox and Chrome, they have subtle differences.

Chrome Pros:

  • Excellent support for WebRTC
  • Always has the latest version of Flash
  • Works on Linux (the last supported version of Flash on Linux by Adobe was 11.2)

Chrome Cons:

  • User may disconnect if computer has multiple network interfaces and one of them changes state
  • User will be unable to launch desktop sharing as of Chrome 42 (though they can temporarily re-enable it)

FireFox Pros:

  • Excellent support for WebRTC
  • Presenter can launch Java applets

FireFox Cons:

  • Relies on OS for Flash (could be an out-of-date version of Flash)

There is no clear winner -- both are awesome browsers. In short, if the user is having any problems (such as audio is garbled or they are periodically getting disconnected), we recommend trying both browsers. If the problems persist, it's likely an issue with their network.

If the presenter needs to share their desktop, then we recommend running FireFox.

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Desktop Sharing

What is needed to run desktop sharing

The System uses a Java applet to capture screen updates. The system requires Java 7u52 (or later).

Desktop sharing works for Mac, Unix, and PC platforms.

Only the presenter needs to have Java installed to share their desktop. You can test if your system has Java installed using the following link. To download Java onto your computer, visit the Java download page.

If you can run the above test applet from your browser, you can run the desktop sharing. There are no additional requirements (beyond having Flash installed) for viewers to run the video conference software and view the presenter's desktop.

Last modified: Monday, 2 November 2015, 11:01 AM