Chat (XMPP)
We are running a XMPP (aka Jabber) Server that you can access with your user credentials.
Webclient
For browser based use, we are serving a webclient at https://chat.ezdk.org. Simply login with your username and password. Note that only users with a @ezdk.org account can access it. It’s not possible to use the Webclient at https://chat.ezdk.org to login to other XMPP Servers.
Once logged in you find public and private chat rooms in the # tab.
You can also create new rooms. To start a 1-1 conversation with someone, you can use their identifier <username>@xmpp.ezdk.org.
Caution
The web client does not support any kind of encryption. If you want to send or receive OMEMO or PGP encrypted messages, please use one of the desktop or mobile clients. The web client is mostly intended to give quick access to the group channels.
Desktop Clients
There are various XMPP/Jabber clients our there for you to use. Examples are:
If you are unsure, we recommend you go for Dino
When loggin in to a client other then the webclient hosted on ezdk.org, you need to specify the server to connect to. This is part of the XMPP Address you’ll enter when setting up an account on a desktop or mobile client. Use <your-username>@xmpp.ezdk.org when setting up an account on such a client and your usual account password.
To access the group chats. Join the channels following the convention <channalename>@conference.xmpp.ezdk.org. You’ll find a list of channels down below.
Mobile Clients
We recommend Conversations for Android Devices. It’s available on the Play Store and on F-Droid. While the Version on the App Store has a small price attached to it, the Version on F-Droid is completely free to install.
On iOS we recommend Monal IM.
Pitfalls
There are differences in what parts of the xmpp standard the various client implement. Following is a list of things observed which might not work everywhere:
- The option to delete a message present in the webclient will not delete the message on most other clients
- Not all clients support fetching the avatar of a user
- “Chat reactions” (e.g. adding an emoji to a message) are not available in all clients. They work in the webclient, but probably won’t show up on other clients
- The webclient does not support any encryption shemes. Private messages encrypted with OMEMO or PGP will not be readable on the webclient. Instead a message “Message is encrypted with X” will be shown. No messages sent from the webclient are E2E encrypted.
External Accounts
You can also join the group channels with other xmpp accounts on other servers - and in turn, chat with accounts on other servers and join xmpp group chats on other servers.
Group Chats
There are multiple Group Chats/Channels, or in XMPP-Speak “MUCs” (Multi-User Chat). Permanently present on our server. Reference this list to join them. The Web-Client should already list them in the sidebar.
| Name | Function | Address |
|---|---|---|
| General | Discussions about anything Echtzeit related | general@conference.xmpp.ezdk.org |
| Random | Off-Topic Discussions | random@conference.xmpp.ezdk.org |
| Collaborations | For planning activities with other organisations | collaborations@conference.xmpp.ezdk.org |
| MountainBytes | Discussions about the swiss demoparty | mountainbytes@conference.xmpp.ezdk.org |
| Demonights | For talking about upcomming or past demonight events | demonights@conference.xmpp.ezdk.org |
You can also create you own rooms. These will not be persistent. Once no one is in such a room, it will be deletet (although it might get recreated if you log on to the server and your client joins the room).
Private Rooms
There are various private rooms for organizers and such. Membership to these rooms is manually managed. Talk to an administrator if you think you should have access to a specific room.