Tonight, I am proud to bring you the Assistive Technology Show in its new home. Due to technical issues experienced with the TC5 conferencing software, I’ve decided to switch the show over to Ventrilo. Ventrilo is another high quality audio conferencing solution which some of you may remember we discussed a few months back on the show. In addition to bringing you the Assistive Technology Show, Ventrilo might be a good option for those interested in an accessible online conferencing solution for small groups such as a local computer users group, visually impaired support group, or other community.

Although there is no specific topic for this evening’s edition of the Assistive Technology Show, I thought it best to take the opportunity to make sure people are abel to use the Ventrilo conferencing software comfortably. I’ll answer any Ventrilo questions you may have and will assist with any technical issues you may be experiencing with the software. Of course any assistive tech, or general technology questions are fair game, so whether you’ve got a question, or just want to learn something new, come join me. When? As always, the Assistive Technology Show will take place this evening between 7:00-9:00 PM, EDT. How to get there? Well, this is where things are a bit different. Below, find directions for downloading, installing and configuring the Ventrilo client along with a link to an audio tutorial that I’ve created. Should you need additional assistance, however, or if the below steps seem a bit complicated, feel free to contact me as I’ll be more than happy to assist. The following directions and link to the audio presentation can also be found at the Assistive Technology Show home page should you need them in the future.

In order to join this evening’s program, you will need to install and configure the Ventrilo client. Should you prefer, you can access the audio tutorial which takes you step by step through the following instructions.

So, here’s how to get up and running. First, download Ventrilo. Clicking the above link will take you to Ventrilo’s download page. Choose the first Ventrilo client which is the Windows version. A Macintosh client also exists and directions for getting it running are similar to those written here. After choosing your version, you’ll be presented with an agreement page basically warning you that it’s illegal to export the software to Iran, Cuba, etc… Simply hit agree and the download finally starts. You can choose to either save, or run the downloaded file — I chose to run it as I didn’t think I’d be needing to reinstall it again. Either way, you’ll be presented with a standard installation wizard, the same one you’ve probably seen countless times when installing other software. Simply “next” your way through the wizard and choose finish when prompted. Ventrilo will have placed an icon on your desktop, simply choose it to run the program.

When running Ventrilo for the first time, you’ll be asked if you want to read the beginner tutorial. If you’re curious, choose yes, otherwise, choose no to just get started. This is now where things get a wee bit tricky. Fear not, you’ll only have to do this once. You’ll be on a user name field, actually it’s a combo box. Hitting tab once will take you to an unlabeled button. Press space to activate this button. Basically, what we’re doing here is creating a new user profile. The users, once created, appear in that combo box, but in order to create them, we need to use the user manager i.e. the unlabeled button. Choose new to create a new user and type in your name. Tab to ok to creat create the user. You can now set options for your newly created user, although the defaults are perfectly fine. Tab to OK, unless there’s something you really do want to change. After choosing OK, you’ll be placed back on that unlabeled button, press tab. You’ll now be on a server field, yet another empty combo box. Pressing tab again will take you to yet another unlabeled button, this is the server manager. Choose this unlabeled button and as before, choose new to create a new server entry. Once created, the server entries will appear in the combo we just skipped over. Although this may seem complicated, the advantage is that you can define multiple servers and simply choose the one you want to connect to. Anyway, after hitting new, you’ll be asked for a name. call the server whatever you wish — I called mine A T Maine, but you can put whatever you’d like here. Press ok to create the entry. You will then be able to define settings for the newly entered server profile. The first attribute we need to define is the server’s host name, or address. In the case of my server, the address needed is: v45.darkstarllc.com . I have my Ventrilo server hosted which is why we have a darkstarllc address and not an atmaine one. Pressing tab will take us to the “port” value. By default, 3684 will be filled in, we need to change this in our case to 5881. Although 3784 is the standard Ventrilo port, mine is different because it’s hosted by another company. Pressing tab will move us between additional options — the defaults are fine. Press ok to finish adding the server. Whew, wasn’t that fun? Look at the bright side, you only have to do it once :).

OK, now that we’ve got our user profile created and our server added, we can simply tab to connect and hit space. That’s it! You’ll be connected, you’ll hear a really cool sounding connect sound and you’re in. From then on, in order to use the server, you need only start Ventrilo from the desk top, tab to connect and hit space… You don’t even have to go back to the A T Maine web site.

In order to talk, simply use your left control key. You can change this hotkey, but I think I’ve caused enough confusion for one day :).

As always, if you have any questions, pleas feel free to Email me, or call me at (207) 512-2387.

I look forward to seeing everyone tonight, on the Assistive Technology Show!

Steve