Gmail Video Chat - Debian Linux

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Setting up Gmail Video Chat in Debian Linux is pretty simple. First you need a Gmail account. You also need a Webcam, or you need some to chat with who has a Webcam. Next you need the Gmail Video Chat plug-in. Finally you need to install the plug-in and restart your browser.

Go to the Gmail Video Chat plug-in download page and pull down the version for your distro and chip. I went with Debian 64-bit.

After the download completes, fire up an Xterm and become root.

#su
password

Change to downloads directory

cd ~/downloads

If you try to install the .deb package, it may complain:

Package libglew1.5 is not installed

Install that first:

# aptitude install libglew1.5

Next install google-video-plug-in:

#dpkg -i google-talkplugin_current_amd64.deb

It should run to completion without a hitch (hopefully).

Kill and restart your browser.

Log in to Gmail. On the left menu under 'Chat', click on one of your contact's name, then select Video and More. You should see an option to link by video. There's a small green camera icon. Click it to fire up the Web Cam connection. A video image will appear.

Now your on camera.

Enjoy.