Neal's CUSeeMe Home Page

Last Updated June 15, 1998

What is CUSeeMe?

CUSeeMe is video conferencing for the cyber-community. It was developed at Cornell University (hence the C.U.) and is available as either shareware by Cornell or as commercial software by White Pine Software on their CUSeeMe Site.

Connecting to the World:
With CUSeeMe you can see and "chat" with people from all over the world. You connect to a CUSeeMe meeting place (called a reflector). Once connected, you can see and chat with others who are connected to that reflector. People usually have CU names (or tags) that may or may not be their real names. (My name is either Neal duh! or AgnusDei.) People who have cameras are called senders. People who don't have cameras (or are using video configurations that are not accepted by the reflector) are called lurkers. Although you can use audio, Internet etiquette on most CU reflectors suggests that you chat by typing. The reasons for this are because not everyone has a fast connection to the Internet and not all reflectors are high-speed computers. So, sending both audio and video through a reflector can slow down both the reflector and those connected to it.

Connecting to Another PC:
You can also connect directly to another person, without having to connect to a reflector. This is called DC'ing (or direct connecting). To DC someone, you connect to their computer using their IP address. An IP address is a 4-number identifier given to each computer on the Internet (for netgeeks: proxies notwithstanding). So, instead of using the name or IP address of a reflector you can enter a specific computer's IP address.

Be Nice!
Remember, the Internet should be a friendly place not a threatening one. Just because you don't use your real name doesn't mean you can be rude, threatening, or vulgar. Also remember, there are pretty good hackers out there who can figure out who you really are:

I recently received some nasty messages from someone and not only was able to trace the person's real name but also found their father's name and the computer that sent the message from. (The message happened to be sent from a business' computer.) And I did all of this in about 10 minutes!!!
If I continued to receive those nasty messages, I simply would have called up his business and notified his employer and called his local law enforcement agency and filed a complaint. For you "anonymous" connectors via AOL, IBM, etc.: remember once a complaint has been filed against you, your Internet Service Provider must divulge who you are upon issuance of a warrant-- all ISP's keep track of account activities.

Jargon:
Each reflector can have it's own culture and therefore its own jargon but there are some CU standard phrases (in fact, many phrases that are also common to the Internet in general-- too numerous to put here):

<eg>	evil grin
BBIAB	Be back in a bit
BBL	Be back later
CYA	See you (later)
L8tr	Later
LOL	Laughing out loud
OIC	Oh, I see
ROFL	Rolling on the floor, laughing
ROFLMAO	Rolling on the floor, laughing my ass off

If you have more to include, you can email them to me at neal@ironhill.com.

See Bill Woodland's CUSeeMe Home Page for more info.
Squeek's CUSeeMe Technical Specifications as published by Cornell .
Other CUSeeMe Related Info:
- REMOVING THE ELECTRONIC MASK
  or Basic Internet Tracing Techniques by John Becker aka Moazogotl
- Cyberpornographia cuseemeata (WARNING: Adult Material!)

How do I get it?

Finally! I put up my own copy of Cornell CUSeeMe Version 0.92b2
Cornell University's FTP Site of software and source code

Tools for CUSeeMe:

The Ref List- A site for finding CUSeeMe Reflector to connect to.
CU-Doodle and CU-Doodle Assistant Information
- Download Bill Neisius' CU-Doodle to capture graphics to the local CUSeeMe video like "The Regulars Page"
- CapTest Screen Snapshot to take a snapshot and save video from CU-Doodle (as used in "The Regulars Page")
Geeking Software for sending private messages to someone (using their IP address) connected to a CUSeeMe reflector
- GeekPC for the PC.
- GeekTalk for the Mac.

Where Do I Go to "CU?"

There is really only one CUSeeMe reflector that I go to. (I know the people and the culture.) That place is called "Vassa" (aka "Digital Broadcast Ref") (If Vaasa is down, then I just surf or check a couple of the regular's alternate spots.)

Where is it?

University of Vaasa, Finland
IP Address: 193.166.120.3 [connect]
Dept of Communication Studies & Computer Centre
"Virtual Home of Good People." running White Pine Reflector 2.0.1 Operator: Tommi Rintala t2r@uwasa.fi Problems: Email cu@uwasa.fi

Vaasa Home Pages

The Official Vaasa Home Page

The Regulars

So what are my definitions of "Regular"?

regular noun, \'reg-yeh-lehr\ [ME regular, fr. MF, fr. LL regularis regular, fr. L, of a bar, fr. regula rule -- more at RULE]

1: someone who is on a CUSeeMe reflector so long and so often that either they or others on the reflector aren't sure whether they really exist or have an actual life to live.

2: someone who when connecting to a reflector is recognized and called by their regular name, no matter what name they select.

3: someone who actually says out loud "LOL", "ROFLMAO", or "<g>" especially in the work environment.

NOTE: The Regular's Page is NO LONGER Password Protected! It is open to all.

If you're a regular and want (or don't want to be on the page), then just e-mail me at neal@ironhill.com.

Those who have a fast enough connection to see the 30+ pictures on a single page [CLICK HERE]. Otherwise you can view them individually, here.

Some of the Vaasa's regular participants are:

Anton, Ashah (my kittie), bOngTV, sean (aka:BurgerBoy),

caribou, Charlie, Chris, Christina,

ck, Draven, dork187, Eleon,

Garnett, GM, Hubris, kada,

lexa, LLBellyLint, Martin, Matisse,

ms thang, nao (aka:elf), Neal (me), quik,

Sandy, shade, SR, Steph,

Sunita, the la, TiMeCoDe, Uni,

Vidiot, vinyl, Word