Chat Sessions
Session Window Layout

Components of the Session Window are described below:
- Text Chat Pane - text
typed by yourself and the person you're talking to
- Text Entry Pane - this is
where you type/edit each piece of text before sending
- Send Button - not
necessary, because you can also send the line by pressing Control-S
- Text
Typed by Yourself - appears in black
- Text Typed by your Peer -
appears in mauve (or a colour of your choice, once this is implemented)
- Voice
Sensitivity - Use this to conserve bandwidth, so that it
only sends voice data while you are actually talking. If you slide it
too far to the left, your voice will sound choppy (if your voice is
being sent at all). If you slide it too far to the right, then your
system will be continually sending your voice and all the background
noise in the room - a waste of bandwidth. Find the right balance (see (10))
- Voice Encoding Quality -
ranges from 0 (highest
compression, lowest quality) to 10 (lowest
compression, highest quality). If you and/or your peer are on a 56k
dialup connection, it's best to set no higher than 5. If you set it too
high, the bandwidth requirements will cause frequent voice drop-outs. So
find a level where your peer can make out what you're saying, but where
your voice doesn't cut in and out.
- Voice Level Meter - Indicates
the current audio level being picked up by your microphone
- Status Indicator - Tells you
who you're talking to, and their connection address
- Enable Send - If this isn't
'clicked in', then no audio data will be sent from your PC. Note - this glows green when voice
data is actually being sent, which is handy for finding the right
setting for Voice Sensitivity (6)
- Enable Receive - If this isn't
clicked in, then your PC won't receive audio data from your peer, and
will tell your peer that you've chosen not to receive audio. A message
to this effect will appear on your peer's message window.
Notes on PSST Sessions:
- The session continues until/unless you close the Session Window,
or your peer closes their Session Window
- There are no logging options, and the Text Chat Pane (1) does not
allow copy or paste. This is a
deliberate feature - it allows people to type more freely. If you
want to have something to refer to later, then ask your peer to send
you a file.
- Every 5 seconds, your PC
sends a 'ping packet' to your peer, and your peer sends one to you. If
either side fails to receive a ping packet within 90 seconds, the
session will auto-disconnect on both sides
- You can have multiple
sessions running concurrently. In the case of voice, anything you say
will only be sent to the peer whose window is active. For example, if
you're talking to Bob and Alice, and you've just clicked on the Bob
window, then only Bob will hear what you're saying. To say something to
Alice, you'll have to click on (ie 'activate') the Alice window.
- Future releases of PSST will feature the ability to 'merge'
sessions.