Ztalk, TCP/IP Voice Communication

Ztalk is a low-bandwidth, voice communication tool for tcp/ip networks. Its a fully functional, voice-messaging system that is perfect for low-bandwidth systems, such as SLIP, PPP or 56kbs links. Ztalk currently supports the SunOS, Linux, Irix and Freebsd operating systems. (A NeXT version is in the works as soon as it's converted to use the dsp audio).

The Ztalk protocol can be compared to CB-radio broadcasting, where one user records his message and send it to the designated recipients, who spool the message and play it through their audio devices.

Ztalk, and it's X11 client Xztalk, offer these functions:

* Xztalk only

The 'Z' in Ztalk means the audio files are compressed for transmission, to conserve bandwidth. Xztalk allows background compression and transmission for even faster message-to-message performance.

Ztalk is available for anonymous FTP from these sites:

The Ztalk-FAQ is available here.

Ztalk was developed by an international team of developers on various operating systems, primarily SunOS, Linux and Irix. Ztalk is a two-part software package, the client and the daemon, ztalkd, which must be installed on the recipient's system. The ztalkd daemon must be installed by root to operate from the system 'inetd' daemon, and binds to port 5109 of the system.

Without these people, Ztalk would never be a reality:

Liem Bahneman roland@cac.washington.edu