Firefox Hello is a new beta feature in Firefox 34 which give users the ability to do plugin-free video-conferencing without leaving the browser (using WebRTC technology).
If you cannot get it to work after adding the Hello button to the toolbar, this post may help.
Preferences to check
There are a few preferences to check in about:config
:
media.peerconnection.enabled
should betrue
network.websocket.enabled
should betrue
loop.enabled
should betrue
loop.throttled
should befalse
NoScript
If you use the popular NoScript add-on, you will need to whitelist the following hosts:
about:loopconversation
hello.firefox.com
loop.services.mozilla.com
opentok.com
tokbox.com
RequestPolicy
If you use the less popular but equally annoying RequestPolicy add-on, then you will need to whitelist the following origin to destination mappings:
about:loopconversation
->opentok.com
about:loopconversation
->tokbox.com
firefox.com
->mozilla.com
firefox.com
->opentok.com
firefox.com
->tokbox.com
If you find a more restrictive policy that works, please leave a comment!
I don't suppose Firefox Hello will remain in Debian and other GNU/Linux distributions knowing it depends on third-party non-free network/SaaS services and possibly (I haven' t looked) introduces non-free code. Are there any plans to release this as a proper separate plugin/extension?
Videocasting/chromecasting is also problematic, but your post highlights a situation similar to what led to FixUbuntu.com creation, in that context.
Fabian: As far as I know, both the backend server and the client are both free software. The client doesn't use any binary blobs other than the optional OpenH264 (which is free software though patent-encumbered).
It also relies on STUN / TURN servers which may or may not be free software, I'm not sure. Probably best to ask the folks on
#loop
(irc.mozilla.org
).