A while back, I typed up my research on Skype, and I forgot to publish it. My more recent installations on my current laptop haven’t required as much tinkering to get it to work. Still this article might help someone, and I already had it put together. So, here it goes…
While installing my new laptop, I noticed that Skype was a featured item in the Software Center. So, here’s my new installation steps for Skype…
I kind of let my blog reading get behind, and low and behold, I missed a Skype update. Skype has a new version that improves many of the problems that I was having with it. My video even worked after this. I have had a few Skype calls that worked as well. I haven’t noticed it just stopping responding either. Yea Skype!
So, if you use Skype, hit this download link and update your Skype:
Skype is a communication essential for my system because I have co-workers who use it. There are plenty of alternatives to Skype, but none of them interact with other Skypers.
Although there are no desktop alternatives, there is one online tool that you can use — http://imo.im. It is a great alternative, but it is not integrated with your desktop.
Currently, Skype works for the most part. I have trouble with it crashing periodically. The crashes seem to coincide with changing networks. For example, if I connect and disconnect from a VPN, I find I am offline even though the icon is green. I am not sure if I just notice it then or if the connection change triggers it. The worst part is that I can’t tell that it has crashed until I try to Skype someone and it says it can’t send the message.
So, here’s what I went through to install Skype…
I found a couple of good instructions for installing Skype from their repository. The advantage is that it should keep it up to date assuming Skype publishes updates to the repository.
The repo file I got from here, and I just uploaded it so that I could use wget to install rather than gedit as the other instructions use. Maybe someday I can build an RPM to make it even easier.
Install Steps:
su -c "wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d/ http://digitaleagle.net/fedorastuff/skype.repo" su -c "yum install skype"
Unfortunately, this didn’t work for my 64bit system:
Running Transaction Installing : skype-2.1.0.81-fc10.i586 1/1 Installed: skype.i586 0:2.1.0.81-fc10 Complete! [skp@pecan ~]$ locate skype [skp@pecan ~]$ which skype /usr/bin/skype [skp@pecan ~]$ ls -l `which skype > ` -rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 18621060 Jan 18 2010 /usr/bin/skype [skp@pecan ~]$ /usr/bin/skype bash: /usr/bin/skype: /lib/ld-linux.so.2: bad ELF interpreter: No such file or directory
So, I installed the dependencies mentioned in this thread:
yum install alsa-lib.i686 dbus-libs.i686 e2fsprogs-libs.i686 expat.i686 fontconfig.i686 freetype.i686 glib2.i686 glibc.i686 keyutils-libs.i686 krb5-libs.i686 libcap.i686 libgcc.i686 libICE.i686 libpng.i686 libselinux.i686 libSM.i686 libstdc++.i686 libX11.i686 libXau.i686 libxcb.i686 libXcursor.i686 libXdmcp.i686 libXext.i686 libXfixes.i686 libXi.i686 libXinerama.i686 libXrandr.i686 libXrender.i686 libXScrnSaver.i686 libXv.i686 openssl.i686 qt.i686 qt-x11.i686 zlib.i686
Then, that finally worked!
References:
Seems like it has been a while since we have seen a new version of Skype, but last week, my update manager offered me a new version! The biggest advantage to me is the improved voice and video quality. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to try the voice and video recently. Skype access is another new feature, but since I have Android tethering, I probably won’t have any need for it.
You can read more details from the blog post.
Here are the new features advertised on the main page:
I just happened to check out the latest version of Skype today, and sure enough, I didn’t have the latest version: 2.1.0.81. The release notes say that this new version supports Desktop Sharing!
Check it out here: Download
The other day, I ran across the Ayatana Project. I guess that is the parent project for some of the applets at the top of the Ubuntu desktop. The home for the project is here.
I noticed that they have a Evolution indicator. A Thunderbird version might be nice, and a GMail version would be even better for me.
The indicator applet is what got me started looking at this project. I currently have Empathy (allows me Google-Talk access) and Evolution in this applet. I saw a question about Skype, which looked really great. I would love to see what else they can put in here, like GMail, Skype, Facebook, etc.
I have been fighting to get Skype to work so that I could make calls. Getting PulseAudio to work with Skype has been a challenge. (“Back to Alsa”, “Sound in Jaunty”).
I recently found out that the latest version supports PulseAudio natively! You can download it from here. Currently, they are at version 2.1.0.47.
Previously, I had downloaded from the Medibuntu repository, which you can see here. But, they only offer version 2.0.0.72.
One thing I noticed is that they recommend version 0.9.15 or greater. You can check to see what version you have with this command:
pulseaudio –version
So, here is a screenshot of the audio setup screen for this new version of Skype. Notice that PulseAudio is an option now.
I have tried to make Skype work, but I have finally given up on Pulse Audio. My problem right now is that I can hear the other person, but I can’t make it loud enough for the other person to hear me.
These instructions I found here: Pulse + skype delay issues in jaunty.
This kills all of the currently running pulseaudio processes:
#killall pulseaudio
This uninstalls pulseaudio:
#sudo aptitude remove pulseaudio
It gave this output:
The following packages are BROKEN:
ubuntu-desktop
The following packages will be REMOVED:
linux-headers-2.6.28-13{u} linux-headers-2.6.28-13-generic{u} pulseaudio
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 76.5MB will be freed.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
ubuntu-desktop: Depends: pulseaudio but it is not installable
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:
Remove the following packages:
ubuntu-desktop
Leave the following dependencies unresolved:
libpulsecore9 recommends pulseaudio
Score is -81
Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?]
I went ahead and said yes. Again, the output is:
The following packages will be REMOVED:
linux-headers-2.6.28-13{u} linux-headers-2.6.28-13-generic{u} pulseaudio
ubuntu-desktop{a}
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 4 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 76.5MB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]
Now, installing esound to replace Pulse Audio:
$sudo aptitude install esound
It gave this output, to which I said yes:
The following packages are BROKEN: pulseaudio-esound-compat The following NEW packages will be installed: esound 0 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 28.1kB of archives. After unpacking 102kB will be used. The following packages have unmet dependencies: pulseaudio-esound-compat: Conflicts: esound but 0.2.40-0ubuntu3 is to be installed. The following actions will resolve these dependencies: Remove the following packages: pulseaudio-esound-compat Score is 119 Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?]
Finally, remove the pulse audio configuration file.
#sudo aptitude remove /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio
No, I can hear only out of one side of the headphones, and I still don’t have the volume for the Mic. I think my biggest problem is that I can’t turn on the Mic Boost! Here are some posts I have searched.
Ddell Inspiron 1720, Ubuntu with Skype & Mic problem please……
This might have a solution!
So, now, I am going to try to go back to pulse audio.
First, remove esound:
#sudo aptitude remove esound
result:
The following packages will be REMOVED: esound 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Now, reinstalling pulse audio
#sudo aptitude install pulseaudio
Reinstalling one of the dependencies that I noticed it removed earlier:
#sudo aptitude install ubuntu-desktop
Now, installing the volume panel that is supposed to fix my problem (from here):
#sudo apt-get install gnome-volume-control-pulse
I rebooted just to make sure I was doing it right. Then, I found the sound applet by the clock in the notification area. I was able to right click on the sound icon and choose “Sound Preferences”. On the input tab, the volume was set at somewhere between 50% and 75%. When I adjusted it up, I had plenty of volume.
