Introduction
OnSlide delivers your presentation including slides and audio or video broadcast, on the web. Participants can ask questions or provide feedback using an integrated chat system.
OnSlide can be installed on any web server running Apache, PHP and MySQL. In its current implementation, a Quicktime Streaming Server is required, however the code can be altered to include Flash, Real or Windows Media Player content. Content can be viewed on any browser compatible with XHTML and CSS with Quicktime installed.
OnSlide is free to use and modify. It is free to redistribute as long as you abide by the distribution terms of the GPL.
Features and Benefits
- Free
- Easy installation
- Web based
- Platform independent
- Multiple broadcasts
News
July 15, 2005: First release of OnSlide
Download
You can download the latest release of OnSlide (almost) directly here:
- onslide-0.0.1.zip (40Kb)
You can also download the source code on the sourceforge page.
Installation
This should be enough to get you going:
1. Download and unzip the archive in a folder accessible to your webserver. You can have multiple "onslide rooms" (e.g. http://host/onslide1, http://host/onslide2, etc) by creating multiple folders (e.g. onslide1, onslide2, etc).
2. Create a user on MySQL (for example "onslide"), and a database (for example "onslide"). Set-up the security so the onslide user has only access to the onslide database.
3. To configure the database, use http://host/onslide/php/install.php. If your MySQL resides on the same server as your Apache and you've used onslide/onslide for your database/username, then all you need to enter is the onslide password. You should rename the file something like install.[random sting].php for added security.
4. Setup your QuickTime Streaming Server, and check that you can see the sample movie at rtsp://host/sample_300kbit.mov. The instructions on pages 18-19:
- QuickTime Streaming Server Administration Guide
5. Navigate to http://host/onslide: you should see the test environment.
Configuration
1. Prepare your slides by exporting your PowerPoint or Keynotes files as gif, jpg or png to a folder on a web server accessible on the internet. All files should be sequentially numbered (for example onslide1.jpeg, onslide2.jpeg, etc). Check that you can see the files in your browser using http://host2/path/onslide1.jpg.
2. Setup your QuickTime Streaming Server, and check that you can see the sample movie at rtsp://host/sample_300kbit.mov. The instructions on pages 18-19:
- QuickTime Streaming Server Administration Guide
3. Setup your Quicktime Broadcaster, and check that you can see the broadcast at rtsp://host4/mystream.sdp).. The instructions on pages 64-65:
- QuickTime Streaming Server Administration Guide
4.To configure a webcast, use http://host/onslide/php/config.php. You only need to enter the two URL from above (first slide and spd file). Again, you should rename the file something like config.[random sting].php for added security.
5.To take control of a webcast (advance slides and clear all chats), enter the passphrase ("slimfast" by default) into the chat area.
Forum
You can ask for help by mail or in the forums provided by sourceforge:
- Help Forum for questions regarding OnSlide use.
- Open Discussion for anything else.
© 2005, Jean-Francois Paradis
email