In order to connect to our videoconferencing system from a Mac or Windows PC, you need (1) an account at a VC service provider, and (2) the VC software client. Of course, suitable hardware and OS is required, too.
If you have an account at our institute or at another institute of the Max Planck Society, do the following:
(1) The Rechenzentrum Garching provides MPG-wide VC services for software clients. To request an account there, please go to https://account.vc.mpg.de/request_account/, enter name and e-mail address, select a group (our institute) and submit your request.
(2) Download the software client,
JabberVideo4.8.12_MPG.dmg
(OS X) or
JabberVideoSetup_MPG.exe
(Windows 7, Vista, or XP (SP2 or newer)).
After installation, start Jabber Video and log in with the account created in step (1) above, wait a moment until login completes, go through the one-time quick setup. Then, choose “New Favorite…” from the Favorites menu.
Enter whatever you like in the Display name field. The number or address field must read “@vc1.cpfs.mpg.de” (without the quotation marks, but including the leading @ sign). Click “Save”, then select the new favorite in the corresponding window, and click START to connect.
Note that the MPG software client is useless without an account at vc.mpg.de. And yes, a Linux client is not available.