Skype for Linux

fabioamd87 commented Monday, Sep 7

Another question: I use OSS, and skype don't recognize it.

palirohar commented Monday, Sep 7

Yes, my avatar works in 64bit skype now.

egr-negr commented Monday, Sep 7

This is great, however it still doesn't explain why my video playback stops every time skype makes a sound :/

sebastianh05 commented Monday, Sep 7

I don't get how this workaround with the plugin path is supposed to work. where do I edit this?

garret88 commented Monday, Sep 7

With --disable-cleanlooks command line option Skype doesn't use my Qt4 default theme, but a ugly one.
How can I fix the issue?

garret88 commented Monday, Sep 7

Ah, I forgot: I use Skype on Archlinux x86_64.

dmalinovsky commented Monday, Sep 7

> You can. Just install padevchooser package and you'll have a nifty tool that will allow you to select where skype streams should be played to or recorded from.

I installed this package and played with its options, but still during calls mike input level stays the same. Can you give more detailed instructions please?

sebastianh05 commented Monday, Sep 7

well okay but the path shown below doesn't exist on my ubuntu system. in usr/lib there's a qt3 and a qt4 folder, which path should I enter?

dmalinovsky commented Monday, Sep 7

Thanks for great article, Bercus! Now I'm more happy than before.

sebastianh05 commented Monday, Sep 7

@berkus sorry for my n00bness, but how do I know if the plugins are 32 or 64 bit (I use 64bit ubuntu)

garret88 commented Monday, Sep 7

@berkus: I have lib32-qt-4.5.2-6 already installed on arch x86_64. I installed the aur-package bin32-skype 2.1.0.47-5 ( http://u.nu/5hc63 ).
This is how I see the program launching it with "skype --disable-cleanlooks" -> http://u.nu/6hc63
I use gnome but I have some kde4 apps and they look with the right theme.

garret88 commented Tuesday, Sep 8

@berkus: Hmmm but I don't know the command to run qtconfig from the 32-btis qt package.
Maybe is possibble use a command line option that uses oxygen style? I tried the command "skype --disable-cleanlooks -style oxygen" but Skype remains always the same.

hc_ftk commented Tuesday, Sep 8

skype --disable-cleanlooks =cant run skype with this option after SAVE SESSION in kDE4

usr/share/applications/skype there i had write option and after run skype by icon it go with disable-cleanlooks .. no more comand line, but making SAVE SESSION KDE4 with running skype Dont start skype with this option..

straka7066 commented Tuesday, Sep 8

"...package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)..."

What about Debian "squeeze" amd64?

straka7066 commented Tuesday, Sep 8

There is at the moment no working Skype for Debian "squeeze"?

I tried package "Debian Lenny" - "...package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)..."

Package "Ubuntu 8.10+ 64-bit" is installable but on skype start:
Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 623: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

I tried also "Dynamic Static package" but it gives same as Ubuntu package:
Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 623: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

straka7066 commented Tuesday, Sep 8

I have solved it with installing an old 32bit version of skype on my 64bit system:
"sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb"
The hardest part was to find this package, because it is not more downloadable official.

This problem is already announced:
https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCL-510

maos__ commented Tuesday, Sep 8

I'm getting very happy hearing about a native x86_64 version is on its way.
Will follow this to hear any news regarding the x86_64 version...

genki-adrian commented Tuesday, Sep 8

@berkus:

Thanks for the hint on the avatars issue. I was a bit confused that I kept on trying to change my avatar without success on Debian Squeeze/amd64. On my Ubuntu/i386 the avatar would show up, however. So I was very puzzled .

Now, if I only can get it to work properly on Ubuntu 9.10 and pulseaudio 0.9.16.

Adrian

briunhild commented Tuesday, Sep 8

thank you for this posting

about my usb-mic: in my OS (jaunty 32) pavucontrol didn't work, but installation of gnome pulseaudio applet solved the problem, so I can use skype like before or even better. Thanks!

briunhild commented Tuesday, Sep 8

thank you for this posting

about my usb-mic: in my OS (jaunty 32) pavucontrol didn't work, but installation of gnome pulseaudio applet solved the problem, so I can use skype like before or even better. Thanks!

briunhild commented Tuesday, Sep 8

thank you for this posting

about my usb-mic: in my OS (jaunty 32) pavucontrol didn't work, but installation of gnome pulseaudio applet solved the problem, so I can use skype like before or even better. Thanks!

briunhild commented Tuesday, Sep 8

sorry, I didn't want to post it 3 times

lars.radtke commented Wednesday, Sep 9

"No, it does not. If you run ldd on skype binary you will not see any references to libpulse, because we load it at run-time. This means two things:
1) If you do not have pulse installed, skype will happily work with alsa.
2) If you have pulseaudio autospawn enabled (default on most distros), even if you shut down pulseaudio manually or remove it from autostart menu, it will be launched once skype attempts to play a sound."

Is it so difficult to support Phonon? KDE's framework.
A simple check which environment is running and then deciding to load either phonon or pulseaudio?

cowanh00 commented Wednesday, Sep 9

It looks like the avatars on 64 bit Karmic work out of the box now. On my Jaunty installation I have this problem but on 64 bit Karmic without doing anything extra all the avatars are showing!

steve_i83 commented Wednesday, Sep 9

hey thanks for the new version. Sound quality has improved but now when I talk to a person with the latest version i can hear myself so so loudly from their speakers, fed back to me if you like, when before i could not, even when the volume level on their machine is not high, even really low. Even typiong on my laptop is coming back to me after a delay. Surely this feedback should be filtered out?

aliendude5300 commented Wednesday, Sep 9

Here's one thing I find annoying, particularly when reading this blog: When you click a link that uses the skype protocol in your web browser, it displays a message saying you need to install Skype, even with the latest version, when will this be fixed?

sebastianh05 commented Wednesday, Sep 9

since the avatars work out of the box in 64bit Karmic, which is not too far away from final, I won't bother trying to figure out this lib problem

*cynic comment mode on* ... which shouldn't be the user (i.e. me) 's job anyhow *cynic comment mode off *

keep up the great work, great to see skype working on linux finally!

plurimedia commented Thursday, Sep 10

Berkus,

thank you very much for this post but:

> install padevchooser package and you'll have a nifty tool that
> will allow you to select where skype streams should be played to

I'm rather a Linux newbie, installed the package but still don't get it: what should I do so that ring tones go to my speakers and voice / mic to my USB headset?

Alessandro

kurisujw commented Friday, Sep 11

@plurimedia
Alessandro, if you don't want to wait until next beta as mentioned in PA forum http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=411431&view=findpost&p=1889131 ,
then go with Brian's workaround there:
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=411431&view=findpost&p=1898451

plurimedia commented Friday, Sep 11

@kurisujw

Thanks for the pointer: don't know how I missed that.

Cheers.

Alessandro

genki-adrian commented Friday, Sep 11

@aliendude5300:

I agree, I find the bug you mentioned annoying as well. It should be reported if it's not yet. However, I don't consider it to be very critical.

@berkus:

Skype 2.1 finally works with pulseaudio 0.9.16. It seems to have been a bug in the pre-release version of 0.9.16 I was using on Ubuntu 9.10. Now that pulseaudio 0.9.16 and even 0.9.17 are released as stable, Skype works like a charm .

So, if anyone has problems with Skype on Ubuntu 9.10, just run a system update.

Adrian

shinkius commented Sunday, Sep 13

Berkus: is there any chance Cleanlooks-by-default would be switched off? I actually thought it's a bug until I read this article...

shinkius commented Sunday, Sep 13

Continuing my previous comment, could this option to use Cleanlooks at least be switchable somewhere in the Skype's preferences?

czarnyckm commented Sunday, Sep 13

Please fix the conference call

davidnruthie commented Monday, Sep 14

Skype to phone calls aren't working . I really hope that gets fixed, as I've been waiting a year to use Skype to call regular phones. (https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCL-527)

And it's not liking my web-cam (Logitech QuickCam Chat). Work fine with Cheese, so I know the camera is working. (https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCL-530)

scott_freeland commented Monday, Sep 14

If you are running Ubuntu 64-bit, the 32-bit QT libraries aren't in /opt/arch32.

I found this worked to get the avatar working:

QT_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/lib32/qt4/plugins

willowgarage_cmeyers commented Monday, Sep 14

It is good to see some progress on the Linux client, but I am having problems when I route the audio through Pulse.

Using Pulseaudio under Ubuntu 8.04 echo cancellation doesn't work properly. It seems there is too much of a delay between the audio output and the mic input.

Also when the video starts up, the window (box in the lower left) that is supposed to display my outgoing video never works, there is just an empty box.

benjamin.cartereau commented Tuesday, Sep 15

Thanks for the good work and I am looking forward to have a 64 bits version...
Here is my test:
---------------
- My system: Ubuntu 8.10 - 64 bits
- Stable (2.0 version) was working fine. I have just tried this 2.1 beta and I only get one issue with my webcam. My webcam video used to work just fine in 2.0 (and working in Cheese for eg.) but it's not the case in this new version anymore.
My quite old webcam is referenced in the "lsusb" as: "Bus 002 Device 003: ID 041e:403a Creative Technology, Ltd WebCam NX Pro 2"
Thanks!

benjamin.cartereau commented Tuesday, Sep 15

News.
By using the command line "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype" I did fix the issue with the cam that is now working...

mckansey commented Tuesday, Sep 15

Finally: a productivity tip for developers: make a 64-bit working skype finally!!!!!!

btw: dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb was working for me

genki-adrian commented Tuesday, Sep 15

@berkus:

One minor issue. When choosing a dark color theme in gnome, the tooltips (ie. mouseover text fields) remain light yellow instead of turning dark like for all other apps in gnome (like in the normal color scheme) while the font color turns white. So the tooltips are unreadable when using a dark color theme in Gnome.

Adrian

artbristol commented Sunday, Sep 20

To straka7066 and others using debian squeeze on x86_64. The problem seem to be that the 32-bit compatibilities libraries include pulse libraries, even if you don't have pulse installed.

I fixed it by hiding the 32-bit pulse libraries from non-root users:

# chmod o-r /usr/lib32/libpulse-simple.so.0.0.2 /usr/lib32/libpulse.so.0.8.0
# chmod o-r /usr/lib32/libpulsecommon-0.9.15.s

davidnruthie commented Sunday, Sep 27

@berkus: Let me know if there's anything I can do to help figure out what's causing the problem for me.

cdysthe commented Sunday, Sep 27

I'm eagerly awaiting the 64 bit version since I can not get the avatars to work. On my system (Linux Mint 7) the path is: QT_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/lib3d2/qt4/plugins/ ./skype, but adding it makes no difference. No avatars. Other than that 2.1 works great.

I am completely depending on Skype in my job. If there's no Linux version I have to run another OS, so please keep the Linux port going!

cdysthe commented Sunday, Sep 27

I'm eagerly awaiting the 64 bit version since I can not get the avatars to work. On my system (Linux Mint 7) the path is: QT_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/lib3d2/qt4/plugins/ ./skype, but adding it makes no difference. No avatars. Other than that 2.1 works great.

I am completely depending on Skype in my job. If there's no Linux version I have to run another OS, so please keep the Linux port going!

akber-khan commented Wednesday, Sep 30

I have a pretty bad white noise problem. I dont think this is really discussed hear but this is basically the problem.

Sometimes I will call a friend and everything is going alright, but if i have to disconnect the call and call back later, for whatever reason (afk, bathroom etc.) and i call back later all they can hear is a bad white noise coming from the mic.
To test it out i call the skype call testing service and lo and behold i dont get my voice back but a horrible ungodly white noise.

Before this, i had the problem in the earlier version of skype where the error was something about audio playback. I fiddled around with the audio input output settings and then i think i got it to work, but i think that there was another problem with it that made me switch to this the beta version.

I think that when i was using firefox and skype at the same time one of them had no audio. Either skype couldnt make calls or firefox couldnt playback audio. If someone could tell me how to get back to the old version for now ill give it a try and see how it works.

Thanks

karliwalti commented Sunday, Oct 4

I just wanted to say that the workaround for the clicking noise is not working for me: "disable AGC - uncheck the [x] Allow Skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels checkbox on sound options page."
will still result in the noise. The only way to remove it is to close skype, restart the soundserver (>rcalsasound restart) and start skype again.

But then another problem remains. after talking a while (~5 min) sound just stops working. I guess it has to do with the pulseaudio too.

benjaminirv commented Monday, Oct 5

Just want to say again that this new version of skype works brilliantly, especially compared to the last version. No problems on both my work and home PC. Sound much better than the last skype version. Both sound and video worked immediately with no configuration. A huge improvement.

Keep up the good work. And I look forward to screen sharing in skype at some point.

stephen.brede commented Tuesday, Oct 6

The new version (2.1) is an improvement but why doesn't the linux version (fc10 specifically) have the look and features of the windows version? I have to use the windows version on a laptop and after using it and reverting to the linux version i find the lack of functionality frustrating. when will the linux versions catchup with the windows version? I am trying to get away from MS operating systems but this type of problem is causing me to still have windows available to use.

yanlot commented Tuesday, Oct 6

Hi

I'm using skype on a 64 bit system through a 32bit chroot (debian testing/unstable).
With the 2.6.26 kernel, and the gspca module, there is no problem with the webcam. But with the 2.6.30 kernel (gspca module is integrated in it), I can't use the webcam.
This is a skype problem: all the applications that use v4l2 API work fine with my webcam. But skype seems to use v4l1 API.
I've seen this solution: set: LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so, but it doesn't work with the chroot.
So my question: when will skype use v4l2 API instead of v4l1 API ?

fredrik-svensson commented Wednesday, Oct 7

Hi,
I have the same/similar problem as yanlot above. (Debian sid with 2.6.30-2-amd64)
Using LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
does not help.

The camera does not work and I am also testing the v4lsink of gstreamer.
In skype just a green screen apears with some noice.

Both camera and
v4lsink 'videotestsrc ! ffmpegcolorspace ! V4l2SinkLoopback'
works with mplayer ( mplayer tv:// -tv device=/dev/video1 )
and gstreamer-properties (the videotest)

Reference :
http://code.google.com/p/v4lsink/
http://code.google.com/p/v4l2loopback/

gmfitch-mob commented Wednesday, Oct 7

Another vote for a native 64bit version!

Using Gentoo compiled with multilib and the statically-linked Skype with KDE4.3, I have everything mostly-working most of the time, but not in a hugely satisfactory way.

Video: works (UVC module), but in normal size and double-size view I get some distortion. The top part of the picture is repeated again in a horizontal bar running from the right edge of my camera image to the right edge of the picture; thus I can't see the bottom 1/4 of the other person's image. In full-screen it's OK, until I pull up the menu to return to windowed video, when the distortion appears.

Additionally, no matter what I do, I can't get 640x480 video working.

Audio: fine.

Messaging: well done for reimplementing SMS! I have a problem with chat windows in that they ignore input-methods. I regularly need to send messages in Chinese, using scim and scim-bridge. In all other applications, I can switch input methods between English and 中文 freely, however Skype ignores it and only displays the English characters.

Keep up the good work! It'd be nice to have a native 64 bit version, even if it has a 32 bit binary blob in the middle, just so that it plays well with the rest of the system.

steve.baer commented Thursday, Oct 8

You guys make an amazing application, and sadly the lack of a 64 bit version means that in order for me to get skype routed through jack on my Slackware64 13.0 System, I have to compile separate 32 binaries of all the apps that depend and interact with it (alsatools,libsnd,libsamplerate,jack,etc)... now my system is quite the mess some in /opt/32 and some in /usr/bin and it all hinged on this application.

It is likely that I will be installing a 32 bit OS so that I don't have this mess of parallel installations. I can't believe its been so many years and the reality of a full 64 bit OS and software stack still isn't there yet.

I really wish it wasn't like that because this application is the only one that is missing for me to be native 64 bit. Now I have to wipe everything out and start again.

irek.ch commented Thursday, Oct 8

Hi,
for all of fou running 64bit Debian testing/Ubuntu (maybe other distro also): try to run skype with LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so - note the name of lib - it's not the v4l1compat.so (there are two libs in my /usr/lib32/libv4l/). I got it working on Ubuntu 9.10 64bit with gspca driver (Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX). All you need is to install lib32v4l-0 package.

greetings,

fabio.albieri commented Saturday, Oct 10

I'd also would love an UI more similr to the windows one.

Anyway, I've a more important question:
Is Skype for linux able to make use of WMM (802.11e) for traffic priority over WiFi ?

ook4mi commented Saturday, Oct 10

The new beta is definitetly a step in the right direction and sound works a lot better for me now. I do have though some stange problem with video. Playback of the video stream from the person I'm calling works fine, so does my own video when using the test function on the options page *but* when I'm talking to someone my video only shows and sends the upper right 1/4 corner of the video my camera is capturing.
Any ideas?

Here's hoping we get to see more frequent releases from now on. Come to think of it it's closing in on two months since the first beta came out, I'd say it's time for the next public beta release by now.

ook4mi commented Saturday, Oct 10

Forgot to mention that I'm on Ubuntu Linux 9.04 on a 1,5 year old Sony SZ notebook.

olujicz commented Monday, Oct 12

@berkus Please add qtcurve look in skype. It is a set of widget styles for Qt4/KDE4, KDE3 and Gtk2 based apps. So you have unique look for all apps.

This is problem on 64-bit linux, I need to compile qtcurve lib32.

http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=40492

Thanks

fabio.albieri commented Friday, Oct 16

Should I assume Skype for linux does not support WMM/802.11e ?

lamieur commented Friday, Oct 16

"Myth: You cannot control devices output when using PulseAudio."

Yeah, right - I can switch ALL the sound to a different sound device, and that only if I know its PA-internal alias. Great, indeed.

What I am using in 2.0.0.72 is different devices for different programs and for Skype, different device (with headphones connected) for calling than for ring/notifications (speakers here).

No, I _can't_ uninstall PulseAudio, because some GNOME stuff depends on it in Fedora. Stupid? Maybe, but it never bothered me since no other program insisted on using PA whenever _installed_ (with the exception below).

No, I _can't_ disable autospawn, because I lose basic volume control shortcuts in GNOME. That's another stupidity of Fedora, but again, PA constantly running only to serve as a volume control never bothered me before (it doesn't lock devices or anything).

"You might ask, why don't we support showing you normal ALSA devices alongside with pulseaudio server? Answer is simple: by default pulseaudio opens hardware ALSA device exclusively"

Not here. Besides, even if it does open one of my devices for playback, I still have 2 other ALSA playback devices free. And, before you ask, PA doesn't come pre-enabled with the option to play on all the sound cards at the same time. It can only lock one at a time.

I fully understand the move to PA since Linux distributions are forcing it on users. I also get that for many non-technical people the sole existence of the options dialog is a disturbance. OK - disable the "sound devices" completely for them. But PLEASE, give me a command-line option to go back to ALSA.

===================== WORK-AROUND =====================
set PULSE_SERVER to 127.0.0.1 and run Skype. PulseAudio doesn't listen on TCP by default, so 127.0.0.1 is a good choice for most users - it will get an instant connection refusal and fallback to ALSA.

You can also add a shortcut in GNOME to do this instead of using the command line. Drag-copy Skype to your panel, then in its preferences use a command:
/bin/sh -c "PULSE_SERVER=127.0.0.1 skype"

Probably worth noting in some FAQ/HOWTO. This is much better option than uninstalling PA completely.

Now if only the ringing speaker worked when set to anything other than the device used for calls... http://forum.skype.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=411431&view=findpost&p=1898451 contains a work-around for ringing. Not the same, but somewhat helpful.

lamieur commented Friday, Oct 16

Oh, and BTW, thanks for the great video quality in this version. That's the reason I don't want to go back to 2.0.0.72

fabio.albieri commented Saturday, Oct 17

Should I assume Skype for linux does not support WMM/802.11e ?

fabio.albieri commented Saturday, Oct 17

I apologize for my double post above, don't know what happened with my browser.

jcrcarter commented Sunday, Oct 18

Does the upgrade from 2.0 to 2.1 delete chat history? And is there any way to backup these history files? Thank you.

straka7066 commented Wednesday, Oct 28

What is going on? Today is 28.October and it is exactly 2 Months after skype 2.1 Beta release. Were there no problems found? Still mixing 32 and 64 bit libraries? We have for example in Debian PulseAudio version 0.9.19 now.

What is JIRA devZone? I found there for example
https://developer.skype.com/jira/browse/SCL-520
and it looks very interesting - Calling and ringing is going to different soundcards.

fabio.albieri commented Friday, Oct 30

How can I disable the tray icon ?

sergeant_oreo commented Saturday, Oct 31

I found another bug.

System: 64-bit Ubuntu 9.10

When ever I call someone with a web cam, the video window becomes transparent. I have checked that my window manager (compiz-fuzion) is not making it that way, and even tried switching window managers, and it appears to be Skype's problem.

And, 2 months is a long time for only one beta..

shantiq commented Sunday, Nov 1

hi berkus thank for the info

DOES IT NOT strike skype as a company that this info "Just install padevchooser package"

should be placed on thedownload page FOR ALL TO SEE

otherwise NOTHING works on 9.10

please add info to download page if possible

shantiq please leave message on my skype page if you can

ray.d.o.shott commented Sunday, Nov 1

Hi,

P4 Intel 3Ghz with new ATI Grapics card & proprietary driver (as supplied by Ubuntu).

On my old(er) Ubuntu 9.04 set-up with Skype 2.0 from the repos the sound worked but as soon and I could see incoming video but as soon as I enabled outgoing video I lost outgoing sound & incoming video froze.

I removed Skype2.0 & downloaded 2.1. This would not work for me because I couldn't set it to my webcam - everything in the set-up showed as "Pulse".

I note the advice given to install "padevchooser" but before I could try it Ubuntu 9.10 came out and I did a clean install of that, installed the various "restricted-extras" and after adjusting the volume of my Technika Webcam/mic via the sound preferences in 9.10 (it detected the Technika) everything worked!

The only thing is the pic-in-pic view where the inset video (sitting bottom right) within the video-in picture blurrs/distorts the part of the incoming video in a band to the right of it.

A fix for this would leave everything working pretty much perfectly.

Thanks

mashuuk commented Monday, Nov 2

Please at least or finally make this product usable for 64bit users.
Nothig more

jmlapointe commented Tuesday, Nov 3

Is it possible with pulseaudio to select a sound device for events and an other for voice?

Thanx!

jmlapointe commented Thursday, Nov 5

Great! Thanx!

jcabbott commented Saturday, Nov 7

My video used to work flawlessly on Skype - but all I get is green hash on the screen with Ubuntu 9.10 Any hints?

jcabbott commented Saturday, Nov 7

My video used to work flawlessly on Skype - but all I get is green hash on the screen with Ubuntu 9.10 Any hints?

jmlapointe commented Tuesday, Nov 10

An other question,

Is it normal that now that I'm on 2.1 beta in Ubuntu 9.10 wich uses 0.9.19, there is now a delay in my voice when I talk in Skype.

Thanx!

jmlapointe commented Tuesday, Nov 10

Sorry, I meant PulseAudio 0.9.19

vietnhe commented Wednesday, Nov 11

I install Skype 2.1.0.47 on Ubuntu 9.10 but the font of my list is not clear. I want to change to another font. How can I do it ? Somebody help me, pls. Thanks !

nkk001 commented Thursday, Nov 12

@Berkus
I am glad to report that skype 2.1 beta works well with Ubuntu 9.10 using the default pulseadio 0.9.19. There are however two issues that severely limit the functionality of Skype. There is no call waiting and you cannot specify a separate device for ringing. I guess they are both well known problems by now but I am wondering if there is plan to provide fixes and when.
Keep up the good work and congratulations to Skype for choosing to release the product on open source

caligo.spiritus commented Friday, Nov 13

@Berkus
Hello, I've been using the new beta from the day it has been rolled out, and it worked almost flawlessly. But now I'm encountering two problems.
* In big public chats, when I'm off-line for long period many messages get generated by other participants, and when I come online they, of course, are downloaded - but, beta crashes almost immediately.
So I have to run old version (2.0.0.72) to download those messages, quit it, and only then I can use the new version. That's annoying, but okay (after I've figured out this workaround).

* The real problem with this new version is - I can't change keyboard layout!
Strange, but this problem appeared several days ago and only on my home machine (Debian Lenny amd64) I can't remember fiddling with anything that can be connected to this issue.
The KDE Keyboard Tool applet indicates layout change, but in Skype chat and contact list latin symbols (from US International layout) are typed - does not matter whatever keyboard layout is activated at the moment. All other qt4, KDE4, qt3 and KDE3 apps work as they should.
Second interesting part is that my home and work computers have identical configuration except of some hardware (video card, CPU). At work I also have Debian Lenny amd64 arch.

The latter problem is very, VERY annoying, because when I type in Russian, I have to type in some other program - like kwrite, or even KDE launch dialog - then cut and paste into skype chat...

Thank you for your time.
With respect,
Alexandr.

helgefredriksen commented Tuesday, Nov 17

I'm experiencing some huge resource problems with the 2.1 release on Ubuntu 9.10 on conference calls. This worked flawlessly in the previous Linux version on 8.10. It seems that Skype can take up to 50% CPU on a dual core Dell machine, and in the same time create one/two seconds of delay on the line. How come? This makes Skype really unusable for me. Else, much better now with letting the user select which input/output device to use by using the sound preferences in Linux. However, could be nice if the ringing could be heard on standard PC speaker while voice could be heard on the headset, dunno how to realize that one though....

Hege

emartini1984 commented Sunday, Nov 22

Everything works perfect for me, but (there always is one) video.
People can see me, but whenever they their they camera on the call window get kinda of transparent, and no video at all..

any suggestions?

craig1001 commented Monday, Nov 23

Hi,

I've just upgraded my Skype installation to the 2.1.0.47 version on my Ubuntu 9.10x64 machine. I'm appalled at the lack of facilities in the sound set up. Skype has never been good on Ubuntu and this version is the worst. I can't route any sound at all to the USB headset. I installed padevchooser but that does not give me the control I need, which is to have all sounds except Skype calls routed to the main sound card speakers. I now have a lot of credit with Skype that I can't use. I'm VERY annoyed and wish to express this to the company. I use Skype for business, it's not a toy, so please stop messing about with it!

scott.onanski commented Sunday, Dec 13

Could you please explain in detail HOW to get the avatars working?

All you said was...

This is a problem with 32-bits emulation Qt library. It tries to find its image format plugins, but finds a 64-bits version instead and fails to load it.
Specify a plugin path when launching skype like this:

QT_PLUGIN_PATH=/opt/arch32/usr/lib/qt/plugins ./skype

You assume people know what you're talking about... How about a bit of detail - like HOW one does this?

bizindo commented Sunday, Dec 13

Hello,

I am very confused...

I just received my USB VOIP SKYPE to RJ11 Home/Cordless Phone Adapter B2K Yealink Telbox yesterday, so I tried to use it under Ubuntu 9.10 and 9.04; for both the result is the same: the sound is coming out only from the speakers, not from the DECT phone plugged on the box. From the phone I can dial a number but I cannot speak and hear anything. But I am not very suprised because on the sound preference of skype I cannot choose the VOIP USB in the menu for the speakers and microphone. I can only choose my internal audio card (Pulse Audio Server (local)).

0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel HDA Intel at 0xe1280000 irq 16 1 [default ]: USB-Audio - VOIP USB Phone
Yealink Network Technology Ltd. VOIP USB Phone

I tried to disable auto-spawn, edit or create the file ~/.pulse/client.conf and add a line containing "autospawn = no": sound still coming fron my speaker.

I tried also to set up pulse audio: Default source , I choose other and put alsa_output.usb-Yealink_Network_Technology_Ltd._VOIP_USB_Phone-00.analog-mono.
Default Sink I choose other and put alsa_input.usb-Yealink_Network_Technology_Ltd._VOIP_USB_Phone-00.analog-mono.
The result is the same: sound coming out from speaker.

Any help please, I really would like to make this box working. Thanks in advance!

bizindo commented Sunday, Dec 13

Hi again,

I just solved my problem, by creating a file named asoundrc in my home folder and adding the following lines:

pcm.skypeout
{
type plug
slave.pcm « dmix »
}
ctl.skypeout
{
type hw
card 0
}
pcm.skypein
{
type plug
slave.pcm « input »
}
ctl.skypein
{
type hw
card 0
}

And it works!

Hopes that it can help some people.

Regards,

macabro22 commented Thursday, Dec 17

Is there an rss feed for 64bit ETA?

melanie_t commented Saturday, Dec 19

Well, I actually got the beta to at least come up without using Pulse with the PULSE_SERVER= hack. But....

The dmix device that the old skype was able to use for playing ringing sounds no longer works. No other device works for ringing, either. This PC has 4 distinct sound cards, and the only one ringing ever works on it the one I use for audio. It seems that it wants to have all output directed to one device only in ALSA mode. That just won't do!

And, in fact, I would LOVE to use a MIX of pulse and non-pulse devices. My headset is not a pulse device, pulse is specifically forbidden to grab it by configuration.

I'd like to have ringing through pulse, and the headset through ALSA. Alas, Skype, in their infinite wisdom, have decreed that such configurations shall not be made possible.

I will therefore eagerly await the open source version, where I can hack out that braindead restriction!

i8bugs commented Sunday, Dec 27

I would love for the developers to include a "flip video" checkbox for those of us who have upside down cameras. The application "cheese" has this feature and fixes flipped video instantly.

sorenriise commented Monday, Jan 11

Skype 2.1 32bit (Fedora10+ download)was not able to get a video picture from my camera on my 64bit Fedora 11, however I was able to fix it by making it pull in an extra libary;

Documented it here,
http://www.fedoraguide.info/index.php?title=Main_Page#How_to_install_Skype_with_Video_on_64bit_Fedora

Which basically is -- install the _32bit_ version of v4l;

su -c 'yum -y install libv4l-0.6.3-1.fc11.i586'

The launch skype from command line (or modify your menu to do the equivalent of);

env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

dcougle commented Wednesday, Jan 13

There's a really obnoxious problem of lag, either the fault of skype or pulseaudio, that has been surfacing the last few months.

Bugzilla entry here:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=554929

I have a paying skype account and can't even use it right now because of this.

iamparq commented Thursday, Jan 14

Skype + video + ubuntu 9.10 32 bits

Just use the command:
$ LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

You can change it on the menu.

It solves the green test video problem.

Regards...

iamparq commented Thursday, Jan 14

Skype + video + ubuntu 9.10 32 bits

Just use the command:
$ LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

You can change it on the menu.

Dónt use the path /usr/lib32/libv4l/ on ubuntu. It doesn't exists!

It solves the green test video problem.

Regards...

iamparq commented Thursday, Jan 14

Skype + video + ubuntu 9.10 32 bits + system solution

Instead of running skype with a command line, this is a solution for all the system and for all users.

$ sudo cp /usr/bin/skype /usr/bin/skype.real
$ sudo touch /usr/bin/skype
$ sudo bash -c 'echo -e "#!/bin/bash\nexport LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so\nskype.real\n" > /usr/bin/skype'

#---
Or create manually the script /usr/bin/skype with:
#!/bin/bash
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so
skype.real
#---

$ sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/skype

Then, if you run skype from the menu, the green test screen will desapear and works fine!

petamem commented Friday, Jan 15

We'd suggest a much shorter explanation. Skype-Audio under Linux is a mess. Every update (now trying 2.1) audio is more or less functional. With pulseaudio it is (as the single application on the - Gentoo - system) not functional at all, when killing pulseaudio, playback works, but no microphone.

Booting Windooze to make some calls...

draculina. commented Thursday, Jan 28

I have the same problem of petamem: with Skype Beta installed and PulseAudio installed, the mic doesn't work. Without PulseAudio, the mic doesn't work either.
I really don't know what else to do, moreover I'm new with Linux.
Please, if someone could help..

diepes commented Friday, Feb 5

I Love skype (Beta 2.1.0.81) on linux.
Running 64bit Ubuntu.
Everything works including the video.

It seems even PulseAudio is now working great, allowing me to switch mic or speakers while in the middle of a conversation.

Well done.

nkk001 commented Wednesday, Feb 17

I am using Skype 2.1.0.81 (2.1Beta2) on Ubuntu 9.10 with pulseaudio 0.9.19.
Most previous problems are resolved (sound quality, video, CPU cycles, ringing
through the speakers while using a headset) but there is still a problem of
excessive latency. In my case it is 2 seconds which pretty much makes Skype
very difficult to use.
The way to check for latency is
pacmd list-source-outputs
and
pacmd list-sink-inputs
while skype is being used.
This issue seems to be isolated to skype as none of the other audio
applications is exhibiting such a high latency (tried with rhythmbox
and gtalk audio/video though empathy).
Pulseaudio is now on version 0.9.21. Has anybody tested with Ubuntu 9.10
and Skype 2.1beta2? Is it working? Is the latency still there?

oldestman commented Monday, Feb 22

Hey?
Could you tell me why does 2.0 version has both PA and ALSA devices in sound options and choosing ALSA devices (smth. that starts with HDA Intel or so) works well even with PA running?

oyoovo commented Thursday, Mar 4

I am using Ubuntu 9.10 on AMD64 computer. I used to use Kubuntu 9.10 and had no problems with Skype. After getting rid of kde4 now I get [pulse audio server (local)] when I click the sound devices. My video works, I checked it with Cheese, my output is OK I listen to streaming radio. When I click System-Preference-Sound-Input I see that I have [Internal audio digital stereo (IEC958)]. Pulse does not work, I can not make a test call or make a test sound. There must be something I am missing.

Thanks for the help.

oyoovo commented Sunday, Mar 7

Hi,

I do not know what I did or what happened, now Skype works without any problems. So, disregards my previous message. Many thanks.

idoru830 commented Sunday, Mar 28

I am also using Ubuntu 9.10 on AMD64 computer. I just removed my old version of Skype (1. something) because it was developing audio problems and installed Skype using the skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.81-1_amd64.deb package. I can make sounds just fine, but when I try to make a Skype call, the application always suddenly dies (crashes). The error I get is:

symbol lookup error: /usr/bin/skype: undefined symbol: _ZN10QBoxLayout13addSpacerItemEP11QSpacerItem

I understand that Skype for Ubuntu 8.10 would work, but it seems that Skype has removed the download.skype.com website. I only can get access to the most recent version of Skype, which doesn't work for my system. I'm also disappointed that, because the download site has been removed, I can no longer put Skype in my repositories for automatic update and pgp key authentication, as indicated in the Ubuntu Community skype documentation.

idoru830 commented Sunday, Mar 28

And, I should add that I did try turning off the auto adjusting mixer settings. I still get the crash.

dennismcguire commented Saturday, Apr 24

"Question: Why do I see only "PulseAudio Server (local)" in my devices list?
This is because you have pulse installed and it was either already running or was autospawned by skype trying to access it. .." Sorry, but this isn't an answer. Surely I should be able to see and choose from available devices whether they are tunning or not? As a Ubuntu amateur, I'm afraid I find this altogether too baffling. I would like to try the proposed solution of upgrading to Ubuntu 9, but unfortunately this 4G eeepc keeps telling me I don't have sufficient disk space to do the upgrade. It's a shame to have everything working except Skype, which for me is a "must have" application!

bigjeff1002 commented Saturday, Apr 24

Trying to use SKYPE which works wonderfully in Windows with my mic plugged into the in-line jack. In Linux, however, nothing can see my mic. I feel I've tried everything such as playing with all the settings in the volume control preferences. It seems like maybe it's a driver issue but that would be strange. Do you have any idea as to what the problem might be? And no, the Linux onboard recorder does not recognize the in-line mic either.
I am a newbie and am wondering if you can suggest anything for a problem I'm having. I'm running Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic Koala, on a Dell Precision M6400, laptop. Would be grateful for your help. bigjeff1002@yahoo.com

whit.vt commented Friday, Aug 27

In Ubuntu 10.04 (64 bit) every time I plug in my Everyman headset again, I have to go to System > Preferences > Sound and select FREETALK for Input and Output - because the system defaults back to the internal sound card as soon as the headset's unplugged - part of the motherboard that isn't even hooked up to speakers, let alone a microphone. Is there a way to have it automatically default to the headset just as soon as it's plugged in? I can solve it for the output by going to System > Preferences > PulseAudio Preferences > Simultaneous Output and checking that, then choosing it in System > Preferences > Sound. But it still requires resetting input for the microphone each time I'm plugging the headset in again.

triva91 commented Saturday, Sep 4

Skype Audio Lag on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx LTS

swayndark commented Tuesday, Nov 16

ok i don't understand what this means ...Question: Why do I see only "PulseAudio Server (local)" in my devices list?

This is because you have pulse installed and it was either already running or was autospawned by skype trying to access it. To use ALSA-only you either need to remove pulseaudio or stop it from auto-spawning. To disable auto-spawn, edit or create the file ~/.pulse/client.conf and add a line containing "autospawn = no" there.
this is my problem i cannot adjust my mic on skype because it it on auto -spawn , it does not give me any options.. so my question is where do i put the file ?
or where so i make this file .. srry this is new to me.

swayndark commented Tuesday, Nov 16

ohhh and iam using linux mint , it's either helena or gloria i don't remember..