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A Primer on Using Microsoft NetMeeting
 Microsoft
NetMeeting is a very capable (and Free!) tool for multi-user distributed communication and
collaboration. This brief Primer is intended to help you get started in using the
tool for CAD/CAM/CAE collaboration.
Hardware Requirements
 | a PC running Windows 95/98+ or Windows NT/2000+ |
| an Internet connection (analog modem, ISDN modem, DSL or dedicated line) |
| a sound card --- you definitely want one that supports full-duplex (e.g. the
Soundblaster AWE64 for about $99) |
| a microphone attached to the PC |
| headphones are optional but highly recommended because they remove the
"echo" inherent with full-duplex transmission via speakers (a good
headset/microphone combination is the Andrea NC65 Pro Stereo for about $30) |
Get the latest software updates
| if you have Internet Explorer 5 installed, you may already have
NetMeeting without knowing it. Check for NetMeeting under Start,
Programs, Accessories, Communications, NetMeeting. |
| also if you use MSN Messenger, you again may already have
NetMeeting without knowing it. Check Tools, Send an Invitation, to
Start NetMeeting. |
| but if you don't find NetMeeting already installed, just download
from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp...
look for "NetMeeting" |
| you will find that MSN Messenger and NetMeeting work very well
together. For this reason we also suggest that you install MSN
Messenger (version 3.5 or later, also Free) from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp
... look for "MSN Messenger"
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Launch NetMeeting
| there are several ways to launch NetMeeting:
 | in MSN Messenger... Tools, Send an Invitation, to Start
NetMeeting |
| Start, Programs, Accessories, Communications,
NetMeeting |
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| if this is your first time in NetMeeting you will be asked configuration
questions. We've been using the following:
| type "ils.bytebeam.com" when asked for a
Directory Server (optional -- you don't need a directory server if you know the IP address of the
person you're calling or if you're using MSN Messenger) |
| you can also change all this after-the-fact with Tools,
Options |
|
| once in NetMeeting, check on the version you are using with Help, About
Windows
NetMeeting. It should be the following version or later:
| Version 3.01 |
|
| for reference, you may want to print and read the Help, Readme file from
NetMeeting |
| sometimes NetMeeting gets installed without Application Sharing enabled. To
check this, pull down the Tools menu... if you see "Enable Sharing", then click
this to obviously enable sharing. This may then require a restart of your computer. |
| you can set lots of other stuff with Tools, Options --- name, email address,
audio tuning, how and when to logon to the directory server, etc. |
| make sure that you use the Audio Tuning Wizard to set speaker and microphone
sensitivity. If you later change your microphone, be sure to rerun Tools, Audio
Tuning Wizard before you enter a call. |
| also make sure that the Tools, Options, General, Bandwidth
Settings is set to your current
Internet connection speed. For example, if this is set to 28800 modem and you're on
a LAN/WAN, you'll see poor audio quality because each computer will be
compressing/decompressing the data unnecessarily. |
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Firewalls
If you and/or your collaboration partner are behind a
"firewall" then you will likely have problems connecting with
NetMeeting. Unfortunately the art of getting NetMeeting to work behind
firewalls is dependent upon which firewall software you're using. With the
help of a willing firewall administration person you should (repeat
"should") be able to get it all to work by setting the right gateways,
proxies and other magic items.
Initiate the Call
There are several ways to initiate a call in NetMeeting:
| (a) the easiest way to connect is to let MSN Messenger do
the work:
| right mouse on the desired online contact, Invite, to
Start NetMeeting |
| this will then launch NetMeeting and automatically
connect you with the contact |
|
| (b) directly Place the Call 
| Address = (IP address) --- e.g. 206.112.210.235
 | unfortunately the receiving party must first know or find this --- by
Dialup-Networking-Monitor, Summary tab, select the line your using, Details --- then tell
(e.g. Messenger instant message, telephone, email) the calling party what the IP is |
|
| Using = Network |
|
| (c) via a Directory Server (this is a hosted list of people,
perhaps strangers, that are available for a NetMeeting) 
| via independent directories, e.g.
| http://www.netmeet.net/bestservers.asp
and www.ilscenter.com |
| you might use ils.bytebeam.com as a server to check
out your NetMeeting setup |
| you set your server in NetMeeting e.g. via Tools,
Options, General tab, Directory, ils.bytebeam.com |
| then Place a Call... make sure your server, e.g.
ils.bytebeam.com, is the one being listed |
| from the Find Someone listing you can sort by
capability (audio, video), location, etc |
| just double click a name to connect to that person |
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Whiteboard and Chat
| either party can open a Whiteboard --- it will automatically launch for the other
party 
| it's good for each party to use a different color |
| you can select "objects" and drag them if you wish |
| you can edit existing objects (e.g. change text) |
| you can Paste graphics from other programs onto the Whiteboard |
| you can grab the other persons pointer and move it around for emphasis |
|
| either party can also open a Chat session for textual exchange
(must like Instant Messaging in MSN Messenger) |
| in fact, more than two people can be in the meeting and see the Whiteboard and
Chat windows --- BUT with the current version of NetMeeting, only two people can be using
the audio channel. |
Application Sharing and Collaboration
This is the real power of NetMeeting! Application Sharing allows
a person who might not even have a given software application (or enough
computing power to run it) on his/her machine to see "slave windows"
displayed on the local machine. Collaboration allows the user on the slave
machine to actually "drive" the remote application.
Quintessential use for this... a sales person at a customer location with a
normal laptop... dials into the engineering department via the corporate
Internet/Intranet... viewing, discussing, and even interacting with the
engineer's 3D model directly in the CAD system or related visualization tool.
| you can enable Application Sharing (performance hit, especially on modem lines,
as lots of pixels are being sent across the wire) by:
| one party opens the desired application (e.g. PowerPoint, QuickBooks, I-DEAS,
etc) --- it's a good practice to preagree with the other party what screen resolution you
will be using. We suggest 1024x768 or less to keep performance reasonable. In
fact, shrink the windows as much as possible to improve performance.
| for I-DEAS, you may have to run the "X3D" driver as application sharing
sometimes does not work with the "OGL" driver. |
|
| that person then does a Share Program 
| select the application you want to share... click Share |
| you can also set certain control rights for your
collaboration partner, e.g. Allow Control, Automatically accept
requests for control |
|
| the application window(s) should then appear to the other party (or parties) |
|
| the party "owning" the application can run the
application and all others on the NetMeeting session will see that window
update, including movement of the mouse by the "driving" party. |
| then each person (if allowed to by the owning party) can
"drive" the application by double-clicking the mouse. Notice how the
"mouse driver" is denoted with the user's initials. |
Troubleshooting and Performance Tuning
| For modem and ISDN connections, you may experience an audio "time lag"
between your speaking and the other party hearing you (and visa versa). This time
lag effect can often be improved by degrading the quality of the recorded sound (and thus
decreasing the amount of data sent over the line). You can do this by:
| Settings,
| Preferred quality, Customize
| Format = SX8300P or something else that gives a 1kb quality (the lower quality
the better, i.e. faster) |
| Save-As = "fast" |
| OK... OK |
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Feel free to contact Wayne
McClelland if you have
questions or would like to try out this very useful capability.
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