[Freedombox-discuss] Is there some mailing list that discusses matrix clients, specifically element desktop?

[A. F. Cano]

On Sat, May 15, 2021 at 09:31:56AM +0530, Joseph Nuthalapati wrote:
> On 14/05/21 1:43 am, A. F. Cano wrote:
> > hi,
> > 
> > I've been using Element desktop successfully for months with my
> > FreedomBox-based Matrix-synapse server.  Since last week I get
> > no video and can't connect to any room.  The camera is known though, if
> > I click on the ^ of the video icon, I see the picture from the camera
> > but both the camera and microphone have a slash through them.  Every few
> > seconds it sys "you have been disconnected".  Nothing that I've tried
> > gets rid of the problem.  At the top of the video field it says
> > $roomName and next to that AUD (no video), then room name gets replaced
> > by "Jitsi Conference Bashful Strange Cheese".  If I hang up (red phone
> > icon inside the video field), get out of jitsi and click on the camera
> > icon at the top, it says "Call in Progress  A call is currently being
> > placed!" which is obviously not true.  Rebooting the FreedomBox and the
> > computer that runs Element Desktop have no effect.  Element got upgraded
> > to 1.7.27 but the problem occurred even before that.  Text chat works
> > fine.  Any suggestions?
> > 
> > I've been looking and looking for a users/support mailing list for
> > Element desktop and have found nothing.  Can someone point me to one?
> > 
> > Thanks.
> > 
> > Augustine
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Freedombox-discuss mailing list
> > Freedombox-discuss at alioth-lists.debian.net
> > https://alioth-lists.debian.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/freedombox-discuss
> > 
> 
> Hi Augustine,
> 
> There doesn't seem to be a dedicated Matrix room for Element desktop. I only
> found this general support email: support at element.io
> 
> 
> Troubleshooting:
> 
> Server:
> 
>   As mentioned in the manual[1], Element handles audio/video calling for
> rooms with one-to-one conversations (a.k.a Direct Messages in the mobile
> app) and with rooms with larger groups differently. It uses the configured
> STUN/TURN server for the former and a Jitsi Meet server for the latter
> (default server: jitsi.riot.im). It is worth checking both the cases. Fixing
> the former case is within your control - check whether the Coturn app is
> running on your FreedomBox. Configuring your Matrix Synapse installation to
> use a different Jitsi Meet server is not yet implemented in FreedomBox
> (issue #2064).

When I last tried with other people in the same "chat room" I was the
only one having this problem, so it's unlikely it's a server problem.

Since then I've installed Element on 2 other computers with the
following results:

On computer 1, it works.  I'm not sure what's different about this
computer.  Same OS version, same element version.

On computer 2, I get a pop-up saying "Call in progress A call is
currently being placed", which is the same error I get in the original
computer when I click on the camera icon at the top.  There used to be
another "hang up" button next to the video field (separate from the one
inside the video field to hang up the video conference) that did more
than just turning off the camera but this button is gone.  I think this
latter button did more than the in-field hang up button.

> Client:
> 
>   It could also be a client issue. One way of figuring this out is to
> install a previous version of Element desktop and see if the problem still
> exists. I don't use Element desktop myself, but I believe it's an
> Electron-based application (basically a Chromium browser running a single
> web app). It's possible that the application no longer has the permission to
> access your camera.

Good to know all this, but access to the camera is not the issue.  If I
click on the ^ next to the in-video-field icon of the camera (that has a
"\" through it) a little rectangle opens up where I can see the video
from the camera.

>   Another way of making sure that it's a client issue is to use try using
> app.element.io in your browser. Give it permission to access your camera
> when prompted.
> 
>   This is less likely, but maybe your camera is not working anymore. Test
> this with a camera app e.g. Cheese on Debian.

Camera works fine with Cheese.

> 
> 1. https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/Manual/MatrixSynapse#Setting_up_Audio.2FVideo_calls

This is interesting, but given that I've been using element for months
now until this problem developed in the last month, and now element on
another computer doesn't have this problem, I don't think it's a
configuration issue on the matrix-synapse server on the freedombox.

I also created new users, in case the issue was about the specific user,
but a new user has the same problem.  It does appear though that this
only happens in one specific room, but restarting the matrix-synapse
server, or element doesn't do anything to fix the problem.  Neither does
logging out/in.

In any case, thanks for taking the time to respond.  I'll keep
investigating.

> -- 
> Regards,
> Joseph Nuthalapati
> 

Augustine