Pretty much what it says on the tin, but for more context. My friends and I use Discord to play D&D and other TTRPGs. We also use it to send memes and just have conversations. We mostly do the chat, text, images, gifs, etc. But we also use the voice and video chat pretty regularly too. Screen share sometimes as well. So I’d like to try to find something that has all those features if possible.
The new ID or facial recognition requirement they are implementing is a deal breaker for a few of us, and so if I can set up some kind of alternative to make it a non-issue, I’d like to.
I’m running Ubunutu 22.04 LETS, AMD 3700X, 64GBRAM, 10x 6TB HDD, and and 2 4TB NVmE. Have a 2gb up/down internet connection. So I don’t think we should have any issues making it work smoothly for 7 people.
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Self hosting a Matrix server was daunting when I first looked into it, so concerns over it being difficult to deploy are pretty founded. But that changed when I discovered this repo. This makes quick work of getting one spun up, but the true gem of this is their documentation. They’ve probably got the best documentation I’ve ever read that explains the “why’s” and not just the “how’s”.
I’m hosting a matrix server it was rough but not impossible. Using conduit as the backend. Now that the setup is finally done it was so worth it. I would do it again if needed. Coturn was easy to set up along side it.
Teamspeak
Matrix, I recommend tuwunel
https://github.com/spacebarchat/spacebarchat
Literally reverse engineered discord, made open source.
I think you can hlst your own teamspeak server
Surprised no one has said it yet, but matrix.
Rocket.chat would be my first recommendation, tho it looks more corporate aimed. It also claims to support Matrix federation.
You could also give Jami a try, it’s p2p so it doesn’t need servers.
RocketChat is pretty easy to setup with docker. I couldn’t get it to work in podman after many, many hours of trying despite the documentation saying it does. They have a dedicated podman doc page but I just hit problem after problem after problem. I was trying to do it with the containerized mongo as a PoC though - a lot of problems came from that (mongo connection). Maybe I’ll try again with a “real” db server. Root cause seemed to be networking differences between docker and podman.
I found it really odd that your server has to get a registration key from their server… That part weirds me out.
I found it really odd that your server has to get a registration key from their server
Huh, I didn’t know that, maybe that’s only with the docker image? If not, that’s bad news waiting to happen, I’m afraid :/
Looks like you called it. Seems the container image(s) default to a subscription plan (“Starter”, free for <50 users) but apparently you can revert to the “Community Edition” which gets rid of it.
Found this post over at the place we no longer speak of :
Hello, I’m Gabriel Engel, the founder of Rocket.Chat. I want to clarify that there is no new limitation for community use. We’ve recently introduced a plan offering all enterprise features for free to groups with fewer than 25 users. For those with more users, you have the opportunity to try the enterprise features. After the trial period, the system will automatically revert to the community version. However, you have the option to bypass the trial in the admin settings. I emphasize that we are not imposing any restrictions; instead, we’re providing the enterprise version free to small teams and inviting larger teams to experience it. Let’s view this as the positive initiative it is. For more details, please visit our forum: https://forums.rocket.chat/t/introducing-the-starter-plan-free-access-to-premium-features-for-limited-scale-use/18736
In the admin settings for your instance you can go to the “Subscription” panel and down at the veeeery bottom is a “Cancel Subscription” button (I’m on the free “starter” subscription, apparently). I’m assuming that’s how you back out of it.
Once I have a chance to warn users that I’m about to do something potentially dramatic, I’ll test it out and see what happens.
EDIT: Also found this in the RC forums (from 2 years ago) :
Note, if you upgrade or install new version of RC, it will automatically put you at a Starter or Pro plan, to go to the community, go to Admin settings, remove the key and it will put you back to the Community version… It took me a while to figure this out :slight_smile:
O, and the immediate next post is what I described above :
I believe community is still available within v6.6.0, but new instllation will put you automatically to the Starter Plan. You need to cancel subscription going to Setting → Subscription → Cancel Subscription
Something that wasn’t posted here yet but I just got told about: https://fluxer.app/
A chat platform that answers to you, not investors. It’s ad-free, open source, community-funded, and never sells your data or nags you with upgrade pop-ups.
Over time, we’d love to explore optional monetisation tools that help creators and communities earn, with a small, transparent fee that keeps the app sustainable.
I‘ve been looking into this a bit and whilst i haven’t really tried any of the alternatives, i did collect some notes:
possible contenders
- zulip
- apache-2.0 self hosted more work focussed
- stoatchat (formerly revolt)
- AGPL-3 self hosted
- teamspeak
- proprietary … self hosted older ts3 with ts6 announced
- mumble
- license seems foss - self hosted
- spacebar
- AGPL-3 self hosted
- return to irc or xmpp
probably no
- matrix - could not decryptinator
- a hassle regarding voice
- peersuite
- very very young and not really ready
- https://lemmy.dbzer0/./post/45470657
DO NOT
- mattermost
- play stupid games, win stupid prices
- guilded
- owned by roblox
- slack
- discord
- ventrilo
- proprietary - not selfhosted - no linux
please let me know what y’all think
Most of the possible contenders lack video calls and some also other needs mentioned by the OP. Nextcloud Talk has them all
oooh, true, i forgot to included them on the list. thanks for the reminder!
Excellent summary
- zulip
Yes, Mattermost. It’s very similar to Slack and Discord. I have hosted it for years for our organization.
There’s a web interface, and has an app available. Can have all sorts of integrations and bridges to other services.
Mind you that they keep paywalling previously free features. Example of them paywalling group calls and their Playbooks feature (v1 - generally available, v2 - in paid plans only): https://docs.mattermost.com/product-overview/mattermost-v10-changelog.html
When I realized they paywalled OIDC I had to look elsewhere.
I replaced Discord(and Whatsapp) with Matrix/Element as voice chat (and general chat) with my wife. I remember running it with Docker was bit annoying to set up (I was selfhosting beginner when first doing it now it could be easier), but with Yunohost it is one click install (if you are willing with swap operating server).
Nextcloud Talk could work for your needs, but I have not personally used it so hard to recommend it.
Short answer: No Long answer: No, but maybe in a year or two?
Is Stoat not an alternative, it literally copies the UI too
As of right now no. Too many missing features.
But in a year or two…
It’s voice chat features are lacking, it has no video chat yet
My guess is that it would be difficult to find a piece of software that does all the stuff discord does. But I also think it’s a non-issue. You could split these needs onto multiple solutions. My group uses mumble for gaming voicechat, Signal for group conversations, and a simple rtmp server for streaming. We don’t need nor use discord and never did.
I like the idea of a single piece of software that does one job well instead of a giant powerhouse that does everything.
i also have a mumble server but every once in a while we need streaming. what is your rtmp setup? i am thinking of mediamtx, but am annoyed by having to post the link to the stream every time and everyone needs to resize windows manually to fit all on ome screen.
Nothing fancy, I just run this docker image which allows streaming to via OBS, and we can watch the streams with VLC. I’m sure there are better ways to do it but that works well enough for us. Do note that a few seconds of latency is to be expected with RTMP.
