Skype for Linux

dont.mind.. commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Hey, great news, good job!
So, how many steps will it take 'till there's the open-source client? This one? Beta 3, 4 or 5? Are there any estimates on this?

rob_stewart57 commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Excellent. Quick question, how do I share my desktop with one of my contacts?

Thanks,

daniele_madama commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Good job, thank you!

johnhaprian commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Awesome! Thanks much. This release is working much better than the previous beta. Please keep it up

ale-sandro commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Lovely. Thanks guys, keep it going!!

Alessandro

rob_stewart57 commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Ah excellent, thanks. And is this to our Mac/Windows loving buddies too, or just to Linux clients?

christofdamian commented Wednesday, Jan 20

It would be nice if there would be a yum repository for the Fedora version of Skype.

Seems to work fine otherwise.

steve.baer commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Thank you Berkus and the rest of the Skype Linux team. It's nice to see Skype continue to grow and get better. I do have a comment for those running the alsaplugin to Jack. It doesn't seem to work with this version - this for me is making it impossible to upgrade because I use the plugin to podcast (drop the skype call into Ardour) and using Pulse isn't an option for me because then the pulse to jack bridge would forward all system sounds - other text messages (pidgin) etc into jack... Anyways just thought I would give a warning to those running the alsaplugin to jack with skype - currently, its a no go.

mikaelbohm commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Great! Working fine. Any news about more 64-bit versions?

extigyro commented Wednesday, Jan 20

@ Berkus:

When are you going to implement changing the font and its size in the chat window???

jonolumb commented Wednesday, Jan 20

Brilliant!

I've been wanting the screen share functionality for some time now!

Also, changing your theme to "GTK+" in the settings dialogue allows Skype drop-down menus to display properly on desktops using dark GTK themes such as Shiki-Colours - a bug which has been around for quite some time where text used to be black... against a dark background!

Thanks for all your efforts, very much appreciated and nice to know that Linux development is still very much active!

Wish List: It would be really appreciated if updates to Skype could be pushed to an official repository of some sorts so that users can always have the latest version of software automatically - this is easy to implement and is the standard way of installing applications on most Linux distributions.

jordan.w.bradley commented Wednesday, Jan 20

[Insert sarcastic comment about waiting time].

That's cool. I may make my own local repo and stick the deb in that.

kpocius commented Thursday, Jan 21

Using Linux Mint 8 Helena 64bit version, when I press make a test sound, nothing happens. When someone calls me, the sound is not played. If I pick up, I can hear the other person and they can hear me. If I go into notifications and try to play any sound it works, but if I try to play incoming call sound, it doesn't, even if I change it to something non-default.

andypoo commented Thursday, Jan 21

kpocius: Ensure that your sound files are installed in /usr/share/skype/sounds or in sounds/ under Skype's working directory.

If you are using a script to launch Skype, you can also specify your resources directory on the command line. See skype --help for more information on this.

benjaminirv commented Thursday, Jan 21

fantastic

extractor_ru commented Thursday, Jan 21

I want interface like in Windows version. Is it planned?

tomchiv commented Thursday, Jan 21

First, keep the updates coming !
The lack of an official repository is OK as long as distributions can package your application, I guess.

On the subject of screen shares:
"you have to start a call first and then choose Share Screen"
Why can't I do this just from a chat session ?

tomchiv commented Thursday, Jan 21

First, keep the updates coming !
The lack of an official repository is OK as long as distributions can package your application, I guess.

On the subject of screen shares:
"you have to start a call first and then choose Share Screen"
Why can't I do this just from a chat session ?

@extractor_ru:
I hope the Skype v4 interface from Windows never comes to Linux, it's huge, bloated, complex and confusing. But that's one of the reasons why the GUI is being open sourced, you can make your own.

philkingsdown commented Thursday, Jan 21

screen sharing sounds great... a great security risk that is.
With the amount of whining that goes on in these forums regards quality of application, it's apparent the developers are on another page bring out "screen sharing", rather than resolving users issues.

i am an opensolaris user so do not have the pleasure of using skype. There was once promise of bringing out skype for opensolaris? is this DEAD now?

kpocius commented Thursday, Jan 21

@andypoo, the files are there and they do work if I launch them in media player. Also, it's only incoming call that does not ring, every other sound works.

ronjouch commented Thursday, Jan 21

@kpocius, I think we met the same problem, and I think I know the solution. It seems that Skype did the right PulseAudio-thing in beta2, which is to define/tag alert sounds (like ringing) as such. Which means the PulseAudio volume for alert sounds should be maxed (on Ubuntu: Preferences > Sounds > Sound Effects > "Alert Volume" slider).
In my case (hopefully yours too), I dislike system sounds and did set this to zero in order to remove all system Ubuntu sounds. I was wrong, because this slider does not govern "system sounds", it governs Alert sounds, from any application. The right thing to do is to max the slider, and set the "Sound theme" to "No sounds".

@berkus, IMHO that's something you should definitely add to a FAQ.

ronjouch commented Thursday, Jan 21

@berkus: In addition to a FAQ entry, the greatest would of course be a check notifying the user of this with a popup/alert like "Alert sounds volume is very low; you may not be able to hear incoming calls. Click here to correct", and clicking it would launch the PA Volume control application

kpocius commented Thursday, Jan 21

@ronjouch, that's exactly what happened! It's all working now, thank you very much.

+1 for adding this to FAQ. Disabling alerts is the first thing I do after installing any OS.

landtuna commented Thursday, Jan 21

Ha! Thank you! My ringing and talking have different pulseaudio streams now, so I can use my USB headset again.

cyanfire48 commented Thursday, Jan 21

Yay for theme selection. Thank you for your work!

da_pingwin commented Thursday, Jan 21

When are tabbed chat's going to be coming to the fray? I see it on Mac/Win... but what about Linux? Is it EVER going to happen? It's the only thing that really frustrates me with Skype is that I have to have 10 chat windows cluttering my desktop whereas on my mac it's one nice clean window with a doc. C'mon I know it can't take _THAT_ long for someone to implement this.

roverwolf commented Thursday, Jan 21

@christofdamian: There is a fedora yum repository as described in forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=29679 and it works well (it just updated skype for me which is why I ended up looking here!)

aliendude5300 commented Thursday, Jan 21

Here's the #1 annoyance I have with Skype right now -- I use the Docky dock in Ubuntu, and when I click the Skype icon on the dock if there is not any Skype windows open and if Skype is already running, instead of bringing up the menu of contacts, it starts a new, seperate instance of Skype, and trys to sign me in again. I hope this behavior gets changed in a new version of Skype for Linux.

ace214 commented Friday, Jan 22

The Debian packages don't initiate my webcam properly. I'm on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) with a Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000, which worked fine in the last beta and still works fine in Cheese. Also, the built-in mic works. I get no terminal output to indicate any errors...

plaffy-senior commented Friday, Jan 22

nice work! I must say, I am very happy about this 2.1 version, only one question: what's the situation on the webcam/video issues? are there any plans to make skype work without launching it with: LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype?
I don't mind using a script for that, but I think it would be very nice to just install it, click the 'ol button and that's it, for new users especially, without the need to search the net for workarounds.
cheers

vogt.mark commented Friday, Jan 22

it seems that there is a bug in the sound devices? working on fedora12 with alsa (no pulse), but after update from the last beta to the new version the sound is horrible. speakers working, but microphone sound is ugly. no one can hear me while i´m in a call. in 2.1.0.47 everythings fine.

markaud commented Friday, Jan 22

@vogt.mark: I also have a microphone issue: my voice sounds very low piched and distorded. Running Kubuntu karmic and pulse.

hc_ftk commented Friday, Jan 22

good job but one thing: where are groups in contact list? missing...

hc_ftk commented Friday, Jan 22

berkus, oh i am blind ... really nice skype update ...

extigyro commented Sunday, Jan 24

@ Berkus:

When are you going to implement changing the font and its size in the chat window???

vogt.mark commented Sunday, Jan 24

@berkus
have you noticed the microphone problems? any ideas? workaround?

extigyro commented Sunday, Jan 24

@extigyro No plans currently.

Why? It is VERY important! The font is too small and it is almost unreadable... at least make the default font larger.

bwpearre commented Sunday, Jan 24

Wow. That's beautiful. Screen sharing!!! Many thanks to the development team. You're not what I'd call fast, but I'm really glad you're still moving forward with the good stuff.

@extigyro: try qtconfig

effzee25 commented Monday, Jan 25

Many thanks for the update, Linux team

So far, so good... except that each user's status/mood message in the contact list seems to have disappeared. Any idea how to get them to reappear?

effzee25 commented Monday, Jan 25

... scratch that all my contacts decided to clear their mood/status at the same time. coincidence or conspiracy?

Cheers!

effzee25 commented Monday, Jan 25

@vogt.mark, markaud.

I have seen the same issue running Opensuse 11.2 on a Viao FS-115, using the mic input with a cheap analog mic. On my thinkpad T60 running Opensuse 11.0, however, it works perfectly using the internal or webcam mics.

Both systems were running 2.1.0.47 before and both were working perfectly. Have had to roll back to that version on the Vaio, since it's transmitted sound is garbage with 2.1.0.81. Hope this problem gets fixed soon!

:)

vogt.mark commented Monday, Jan 25

i´m running fedora12 also on a vaio (vgn-n31m)
downgrade to 2.1.0.47, perfect.
The Beta2 didn´t work here

marcuslundblad commented Monday, Jan 25

For me it crashes whenever someone calls me or I try to call someone (such as echo123).
I'm on Debian GNU/Linux Squeeze (testing) amd64.
Also, the bug where I get new conversation windows when there is an old conversation if a buddy is sending a message after some hours of inactivity in the conversation is still present (has been since 2.0 sometime, if I remember correctly).

mysteriousdoctorx1 commented Monday, Jan 25

MADE PLEASE GTK INTERFACE TO SKYPE FOR LINUX!!!1

vogt.mark commented Monday, Jan 25

@berkus
have you noticed the microphone problems with .81? any ideas? workaround?
which logs are interesting for you?

bwpearre commented Monday, Jan 25

@extigyro, berkus:

Another note about font size: recently some genius over at the freedesktop.org project decided to break the Xserver's "DPI"--it used to be read from the monitor but now it's hardcoded to 96. Since most screens are higher resolution than that, any conversion from points -> pixels is officially broken from now on, and it's not even your fault! You may notice many of your fonts getting smaller.

See http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23705

vogt.mark commented Tuesday, Jan 26

@berkus
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=525851
here it is

vogt.mark commented Tuesday, Jan 26

trace.txt attachement was done

effzee25 commented Tuesday, Jan 26

@berkus, I have some logs for you. Please let me know how I can contact you.

effzee25 commented Tuesday, Jan 26

@berkus, regarding the garbled sound bug. I added my traces to vogt.mark's forum post as I believe that my problem is similar/the same as his.

Also, regarding my earlier message about status/mood message bug; it appears that there IS a problem. In build 81, these messages only start appearing in the contact list once the remote skype user *changes* the mood message. Existing mood messages that show in build 47 do not show in 81, until the remote user changes it. After one change, they start appearing.

wilstap commented Tuesday, Jan 26

Where can I find the repository for Ubuntu karmic?

jbuncher commented Wednesday, Jan 27

Thanks for the updates, very excited about the open source client, this is great news!

I did want to bring up one issue though. The current deb repository for skype at

http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

does not work with Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. This is due to some new libraries that the latest upload needs. Could you possibly add a "skype 2.0" package to the repository so that users of Hardy needing to install the package can do so? Thanks!

wilstap commented Wednesday, Jan 27

I get the following message in synaptic when I add the repository:

I'm running Karmic 64-bit.

Failed to fetch http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/dists/stable/non-free/binary-amd64/Packages.gz 404 Not Found [IP: 130.117.72.43 80]
Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

bldeng2005 commented Friday, Jan 29

Thank you for this great release!
By the way, could you please release a 64bit package for debian? I saw a 64bit package for ubuntu on the download page. Unfortunately for debian only 32bit version is available.

joel.hansson commented Saturday, Jan 30

The only thing i request is tabbed chat windows.

The only thing... I don't care about screen sharing, I want bloddy tabs. It's unbearable to use skype with more then three chat windows...

Is there any chance that some skype client will ever have tabs? I would like to have tabs...

bmagyarkuti commented Sunday, Jan 31

Great release, good to see there's still skype for linux development

Nevertheless I've noticed that Skype for Lin's long-lasting tendency not to show my contact's online status is still around... anyone else experienced something similar? With me it often happens that a person is listed as offline, and only when I hit the call button does skype realize that he's actually available.

Otherwise great release, keep up the good work

asaf.gaon commented Sunday, Jan 31

@bmagyarkuti, Same thing here. been running Skype on 2 computers, some contacts show up as online, some of them (usually the people i frequently skype too) are not showing up until i make a call.

Otherwise,great job linux team! keep up the good work!

genki-adrian commented Monday, Feb 1

Hi Berkus,

thanks for the updated beta version. I tried the new version on my Ubuntu Lucid (10.4) machine and unfortunately it crashes:

glaubitz@oslo:~> strace -o skype_dump skype &
[1] 3407
glaubitz@oslo:~> Corrupt JPEG data: 3210 extraneous bytes before marker 0xd9

Here is the output of strace:

Adrian

genki-adrian commented Monday, Feb 1

Ok, actually I pasted an URL to pastebin in my previous post but the website script cut it out obviously .

It's pastebin number: 84969.

Adrian

genki-adrian commented Monday, Feb 1

Also, on amd64 pulseaudio still crashes with Skype:

glaubitz@z6:~> Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 643: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

And there are still no avatars in the amd64 Version.

At least the webcam works on amd64 now, thanks!

Tested with Debian testing/amd64 (20100201).

Adrian

genki-adrian commented Monday, Feb 1

Thanks for your quick reply, berkus.

However the workarounds proposed are a bit annoying. It's ok when you run Skype on your machine at home but we have a network of around 150 FAI-installed (Fully Automatic Installation) Debian clients here and anything that cannot work with the out-of-the-box configuration of Debian makes the job more tedious and can always result in problems when upgrading packages on a regular basis, especially when you change files without the package manager knowing.

And what about the issue with Skype crashing on Ubuntu 10.04? Any idea?

Thanks again for your quick reply!

Adrian

marcuslundblad commented Tuesday, Feb 2

@genki-adrian

You might want to use dpkg-divert to disable the 32-bit Pulse libs without messing with the ia32-libs package. Provided no other software depends on it...

cyrenity commented Tuesday, Feb 2

@berkus, i have few questions regarding opensource UI skype,

1. will it support Skype API? like current win/mac/lin versions do.
2. along with binary blob and SDK, is there any plan to release language bindings for programing languages (python, java etc)

Thanks,
-m

genki-adrian commented Wednesday, Feb 3

Hei marcuslundblad,

that's a good idea, I think no other software depends on the 32-bit pulse libs. Weird this didn't come to my mind before .

Thanks,

Adrian

genki-adrian commented Wednesday, Feb 3

@berkus:

Btw, the statically linked version of Skype works flawlessly on Ubuntu 10.04. So I guess it's related to libpng or something. Well, you can see my backtrace as posted before. I will report back once a dist-upgrade in Ubuntu will have fixed this.

I really hope the code of the GUI of Skype will be released as open source soon so much more people can be working on crashes like these .

Adrian

dpeterc commented Monday, Feb 15

I have a biggie monitor (2560x1600) and if I try to share whole screen Skype crashes.
No message, just "puf" and it is gone.
The other computer has the same resolution, so technicall it should work.
It does work with webex, but I prefer Skype.

dpeterc commented Tuesday, Feb 16

Now I also have the message of the crash involved in full screen desktop sharing.
I was doing this on 1600x1200 screen.

skype: /home/jimb/unix.mnt/src/pkg/vp7plugin/colorcnv.c:77: VP7YV12Source_Resize: Assertion `! ( (int) width & 15)' failed.
Aborted

The other problem I have is that the other computer (on Linux or Windows) is unable to see the shared screen in 1:1 pixels. It is always a little zomed in (like 20% bigger), which results in a hazy picture full of aliasing effects. On Linux, I can even do Ctrl+mouse wheel to zoom in and out, but I can't get to 1:1 screen.

If you could fix this, it would be fantastic.

bwpearre commented Thursday, Feb 18

Great! Still no problems with the new Skype.

Except one minor annoyance:

I have Skype set to automatically sign me in when it starts. If I start Skype while Skype is already running, I get "Another Skype instance may exist." It then sits there waiting for a new name/passwd. Fine. But now if I close all Skypes and start another, it doesn't automatically sign me in anymore until I've re-entered my password.

By the way--if I were to leave Skype running on my home computer and then go to work and start Skype there, what would happen? It seems that the correct behaviour would be either to send all requests to both Skypes or to allow one Skype to steal "focus" from another. I can't test this right now, though (my home computer is my work computer).

Cheers!

csamsel2002 commented Thursday, Feb 25

still no native 64 bit -> still not useble.

ap0g33 commented Thursday, Feb 25

Same thing here, not 64 bits native, so usable... just to test it require 100Mb of 32 bits dependencies and the sound have problems in kde

oddie82 commented Thursday, Feb 25

same thing here, Ubuntu Jaunty 64bit, Skype v2.1 doesn't seems to output mic except noise. It's a pity that you release new Skype version with which many people has problems, and we can't download previous version from your site (2.0.0.72 works great).

ap0g33 commented Saturday, Feb 27

Berkus,

Do you have a Roadmap to provide?

thanks,
Saulo

genki-adrian commented Saturday, Feb 27

Yeah, I'd like to see a roadmap as well! What about releasing the source code of the GUI as it has been promised months ago? Many FOSS developers are certainly eager to finally start hacking on the Skype GUI code to make it more robust and integrate better with KDE/Gnome. Companies shouldn't make promises which they can't keep in time .

Still waiting for a new release or the source code.

Adrian

sleepee11 commented Sunday, Feb 28

the new features with this skype beta are great! i've been waiting for so long to get screen sharing on skype for linux and now it's finally here!!

BUT..i seem to be having the same problem dpeterc has...
anytime i try to use the screen sharing feature (full screen), skype crashes without warning as soon as i click on the option..
The screen selection sharing works fine though.. i wish i could have the option to resize the screen area selection, but it's ok...

the most important thing is to make the full screen sharing to work..
if it's of any importance, i have nvidia graphics and i do have compize effects enabled...

sleepee11 commented Sunday, Feb 28

update:
never mind, my fault.. i figured out how to resize the screen selection.. *facepalm*
lol!!!
but for some reason i still have problems with screen sharing... curiously enough. i've tested ubuntu/OS X conversations and ubuntu/ubuntu conversations, and it seems like the ubuntu/OS X screensharing is where i get the crashes.. ubuntu/ubuntu conversations and screen sharing work fine for me.. as of now..

talking to a mac, i can't do full screen sharing because it crashes.
also, if i try to do screen share a selection, it'll work fine...if i leave the default screen area, or if i try to resize the screen area AFTER i actually activate the screen sharing... if i try to resize the area BEFORE activating screen sharing, it crashes...

of course, i didn't do any intense, comprehensive testing.. just something i noticed while trying out skype for like 10 minutes...
i'll see how ubuntu/windows screen sharing goes when one of my windows friends logs in....
i REALLY don't feel like booting up windows right now... i want to hold my 4 month-no windows streak lol

ap0g33 commented Sunday, Feb 28

Berkus,

What Adrian is trying to say is that don't matter how the code is at this moment, Skype can open source any time and people will start to "hacking the Skype GUI code".

Seems that Skype wants a good version before open the code.. and I cant understand why...

And 1 question, as there is no AMD64 version for Beta 2, can we expect the 64 bits version in the Final version?

thanks

genki-adrian commented Tuesday, Mar 2

Yep ap0g33,

this was I meant to say. People are really eager to help, so I don't see any reason why Skype simply doesn't release what they wanted release and what they have now. I don't mind about the core which contains the IP, but just publish the rest and wait and see.

Just as of yesterday, Ubuntu added support for the iPhone with the power of the community and open source. Apple didn't have to contribute in any way but still their devices work with Linux now (:.

Adrian

ap0g33 commented Monday, Mar 8

hi Berkus,

When the next post will arrive? I cant wait for news..

czarnyckm commented Tuesday, Mar 9

@Berkus
I just downgraded skype 2.1.0.81 to the last stable version 2.0.72 due to problem in a phone call for a while(30s - 30min), when the other person talks, I just hear digital noise/garbage whenever they talk. Skype eat in this time one core at 100%

My system debian sid amd64 2.6.33 ctxfi no pulse.

mark.baas commented Tuesday, Mar 16

For those having problems on debian amd64 you can follow this howto install skype in a chroot: http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=568411

ahsiao2005 commented Wednesday, Mar 17

Open source UI release...Any schedule?

genki-adrian commented Monday, Mar 29

Hi,

Phoronix just had it in the news that there is going to be an update to the news regarding the open source version of Skype in April, the headline being "Skype Open-Source Update Expected Soon" (I'm not going to post the link as the admins here will certainly cancel it), but you may Google the news yourself.

@berkus:

Any news regarding the OSS version or comment on the news?

Adrian

samdec.colegrove commented Saturday, Apr 3

While the Linux Skype video is not as good as windows, last night we talked from Australia to our Son in the UK for over 1 1/2 hours using Linux Skype 2.1.0.81. We were able to use the Share Your Screen option to show him pictures. A previous attempt to do this under MS Windows caused Skype to crashed. Our Cable provider "Telstra" is rather backward in that they limit the upload speed to 128Kbps, so that is probably part of the problem.

I am patiently waiting for Linux Skype that is as good as the current Windows version. When that happens, MS Windows will be removed from my computer.

samdec.colegrove commented Sunday, Apr 4

Thanks berkus for your prompt reply. We normally use MS Windows Skype 4.1.0.179 for talking to our Son in the UK. Because he does not have the upload limits that we experience, the image quality from him is noticeably better in Windows than with Linux Skype 2.1.0.81. I believe that this is due to the improved Video codecs in the Windows version. Hence we use Windows Skype more frequently.

ap0g33 commented Sunday, Apr 4

I would like to give my 5 cents here.. To me Skype 2.1.0.81 is good and I can use it to share my screen and conversations here in Brazil. the only thing that could be better is a AMD64 version..

samdec.colegrove commented Monday, Apr 5

While Skype 2.1.0.81 is good, I do not consider it as good as the latest Windows version of Skype. I found that it was as good as Windows Skype Version 3, but when the latest Windows version was introduced, there was a noticeable improvement in video and audio quality. I do not think that processor speed is the limiting factor. I have a ASUS F3Jr laptop with an Intel Duo T7200 with a clock speed of 2GHz.

When on Linux (Kubuntu 9.10), the Skype upload speed is around 16KB/s which is the 128Kbps limit of the Telstra Bigpond Turbo cable speed. The maximum download speed for Bigpond is 8,000Kbps by comparison. The download speed I measured on Linux with Skype was around 54KB/s. As stated previously, the image quality did not match what I get on the same computer under Windows.

ap0g33 commented Monday, Apr 5

samdec.colegrove,

the image quality that you reference is the webcam image? if yes, the quality maybe is related to the linux driver.

samdec.colegrove commented Tuesday, Apr 6

The image quality I am always talking about is that presented by Skype and I definitely agree with you that it is the Linux driver. When Skype changed from their Windows Version 3 to 4 they improved the video and audio drivers. As I understand it, the new Windows Skype video driver has yet to be ported to Linux, hence Linux Skype 2.1.0.81 video quality is equivalent to that in Skype Version 3 in Windows. I look forward with great anticipation to the day when the new drivers are ported to Linux with the new GUI that is currently under development.

samdec.colegrove commented Wednesday, Apr 7

@berkus
From what you are saying, the video and audio encoding/decoding done within Linux Skype 2.1.0.81 gives the same results as that done within Windows Skype 4.1. Is this correct?

The Webcam that I use is the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac. Our Son in the UK uses Vista and his Webcam is Logitech Quickcam Pro 5000. We always find that we receive a clearer picture from him with Skype 4.1 on Windows XP compared with Skype 2.1 on Kubuntu 9.10. I would be delighted if I could get the same quality. I certainly hope this can be resolve.

sebastianh05 commented Monday, Apr 12

last blog entry january 20. skype's information policy is a major turn-off

setlec commented Sunday, Apr 18

Could you guys make a single rpm package? like as flash does? as you dropped support for mandriva's rpm, thanks

agbosso commented Thursday, Apr 22

@Berkus This software is awesome, im using it at work and with my family, now im buying credit to make calls too. There is only one little thing i missed from the windows version: the telephone agenda. i have to write down the number every time is that feature on your plans to be in the linux version soon? Thanks a lot

nkk001 commented Saturday, Apr 24

@Berkus
I have to admit I am very happy with the the latest release of Skype for Linux but I am wondering if the upcoming version will include the very much needed feature of call waiting (which is already available in the Windows version)

riftware commented Monday, Apr 26

Does anyone know how to script or add a plugin to skype so that I can leave a group chat minimized and only pop open if my name is mentioned in the chat? I'm told the windows version can do this. I can see that I can run arbitrary scripts when a skype chat message is received, however I can't find a script that does what I want. I'm using the latest beta which seems to segfault if I try playing with the skype command line tools 0.11 package (just ran the change status script to get a feel for how it works)

tari.felix commented Tuesday, Apr 27

hi everyone/anyone

i have a netbook with linpus i downloaded skype but it doesn't work!!
it says that skype is installed but when i try to open it nothing happens!

does anyone have a solution to what i'm doing wrong???

thnx

meejah commented Wednesday, Apr 28

64-bit please!
It really can't be that hard to build it twice, can it?? Are there really 64-bit "issues" in the code?

ap0g33 commented Thursday, Apr 29

meejah,

Yah I dont understand the linux version, how they are creating and packing linux packages.. they are putting everything in 1 single package... ai caramba!!

They should split the video support to another package for example. I am following up skype in linux since I started to need it a few months ago and I can say that I not happy and I am using an alternative in linux machines..

As skype-32bits for Suse Linux AMD64 requires 100Mb of 32bits dependencies they can call that as a 64bits version?

bizshop1 commented Friday, Apr 30

I just upgraded my ubuntu to 10.4, and skype opens fine. As soon as I hit any ENTER key or right click a mouse, it closes.....

danny.chouinard commented Friday, Apr 30

2.1.0.81 on Slackware 13.0, just wanted to say Thanks a million! Works like a charm and has let me reconnect with my exploded family (Unlimited US & Canada for $3? Count me in!!!!)

Danny.

c.sudeep.reddy commented Saturday, May 1

Skpye needs to come out with a version for Ubuntu linux wherein the frames per second or screen resolution can be adjusted for the uploaded video...currently using 10.04 but skype was better back when i was using 8.10 and 9.04...the call quality has increased since 9.10 but frame rate has gone down for the upload video and video freezes from time to time...

gustavo-industry commented Sunday, May 2

would be happy if you could include this function. >>find others contacts by use my email account like windows version,tanks ,Skype is written in what language?Can anyone help write the Skype?

victor_konstantinov commented Sunday, May 2

Hello, is it possible the incoming message sound to be played only when the window is out of focus, like in Windows?

karbon-kicks-ass commented Monday, May 3

Gotta say, I really hope the next version has a way to work with that indicator applet in the corner!

ivan_caceres commented Monday, May 3

I've also upgrade ubuntu to 10.04 and I'm unable to do anything with Skype. It opens but crashes as soon as I try to open a chat or do anything with it.

davidjxyz commented Tuesday, May 4

Same experience here. Voice seems okay, but chat causes a crash. Version 2.0.0.72

victor_konstantinov commented Tuesday, May 4

@Berkus
Is it possible the incoming message sound to be played only when the window is out of focus, like in Windows? If not, could it be achieved with a script?
Sorry for repeating the question, I was just hoping for some indication that you have seen it, even if you don't know the answer or it's impossible.

mike_ks1 commented Wednesday, May 5

Hello Berkus,
slightly offtopic, but is there a chance to get a real 64bit version of skype for x86/linux anytime soon?

I know there are 64bit packaged versions of the 32bit skype, and they mostly work, but have some drawbacks because you need dependent 32bit emulation libraries etc.

bernard_ivo commented Thursday, May 6

Yeap, after upgrading to Ubuntu 10.4 Skype crashes whenever I try to launch a chat. Dialing Skype Test Call works, looking at one's contact profile is also working.

tejfl001 commented Friday, May 7

Hello, I have Ubuntu 10.04, and I can not install skype.
This is the end of the console message:

Do you want to install the software package? [y/N]:y
(Reading database ... 237724 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking skype (from skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.81-1_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.81-1_i386.deb (--install):
trying to overwrite '/usr/share/icons/skype.png', which is also in package skype-common 0:2.1.0.47-0medibuntu2
Errors were encountered while processing:
skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.81-1_i386.deb

Thank you in advance.
Janos

toolib commented Saturday, May 8

after upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04, My skype can't text chat too. Voice call is fine, but start chat then crash... skype version 2.1.0.47, AMD64. So I download the new version, 2.1.0.81, remove the old one, install new one, it goes right.

Maybe just reinstall will work too.

mark_dammer commented Sunday, May 9

I am experiencing odd problems with Skype and a USB hub on Ubuntu (Hardy, Karmic and Lucid): While the old Skype for Linux (version 2.0) is having no problems with my headset sitting behind a USB hub, Skype 2.1beta heavily distorts the sound when the headset is behind a USB hub. I have no problems when the headset is directly plugged into the computers USB port. No other application has problems with this USB hub.
Would like to post this in the community, but they seem to have trouble - every page points to some Japanese Skype RSS feed....

chronos.hun commented Thursday, May 13

Any news guys? I'd be eager to hear from the open sourced Skype solution Let me know if something comes out, or if you an approximate date.

Cheers,
Chronos.hun

joshwiegand commented Friday, May 14

Why is it that cheese can display my webcam perfectly and when I test the webcam in skype it is slow and blurry? Quite frustrating. Otherwise I love skype!

ronjouch commented Friday, May 14

Hi Berkus, Hi everybody,

Skype 2.1.0.81 under Ubuntu 10.04 x86-32 frequently hangs. First the call is interrupted (I can no longer hear the partner and he cannot hear me), then the Skype dialogs becomes unresponsive and I have to kill Skype and relaunch it to be able to make a new call.

Reproducibility: 100% of my calls are interrupted this way within 10 or 15 minutes.

Tell me if there's any additional info / debug log that could help you.

ronjouch commented Sunday, May 16

Grrreat, can't wait for the release, these crashes are really a pain.

ronjouch commented Monday, May 17

UI suggestion: when chatting with a single contact, the toolbar of the chat window (currently containing "Add people", "Send files", "Chat history", "Bookmark") should also contain a "Call contact" button.

Yes, starting a call can be done via the sidebar listing chat participants, but since I mostly do 1on1 chats/talks, I end up always collapsing this useless and space-consuming sidebar.

I think it's a common use case, which deserves this addition.

gcastell commented Wednesday, May 19

@Berkus: is it possible to add a keyboard shortcut to go full screen on a video call? We use skype to talk with my Mom (72) and it took quite a while to teach her to double click on the image to go full screen. A keyboard shortcut will help a lot (just "F" or ctrl + "F" wil be great an easy to remember)

Thanks for such a great product! My mom and my 2-year old daughter have a weekly conversation thanks to you!

plafuroatwork commented Wednesday, May 19

news on the development of the open source release, pleaaaassseeeee!!!

aleboco commented Thursday, May 20

@ronjouch: How do you collapse the sidebar in chat windows? I always liked the idea but never found the way to do so

blake_skype commented Thursday, May 20

I've just moved to a new 64-bit system with kubuntu 10.04 from a 32 bit system with kubunto 8.04. Skype worked quite well on 8.04. With 10.04 skype runs and logs in, I can see myself on webcam, but there is no sound in either direction. The audio device menu showed many options and none of them worked. Then I installed pulseaudio. Thisidid not work either and only pulseaudio now shows in the audio device options. Help!

sebastianh05 commented Thursday, May 20

@Berkus: there is no other post for "this", this is the last blog post. And there has also been nothing on Twitter. Users/customers don't have a problem with waiting for a release, as long as they're not being left in the dark. How can there be no blog-worthy update between January and May? A bit more 21st century style customer relationship management would be totally awesome... instead of having people comment on a blog post that's already 5 months old now. Five months, that's like 5 years in internet time

blake_skype commented Friday, May 21

Sound issue seems to be fixed. Problem: PCM input defaulted to zero gain in kmix!

sebastianh05 commented Friday, May 21

@berkus I know there is another post, but it's half a year old. if you're working on so many new nice features and fixes, why not keep readers updated about these developments? or why not release another beta so people can enjoy some of the fixes while waiting for a release with new features added? I am always wondering if people are reporting the same bugs all over again because a new version with those bugs fixed isn't released yet...

pomeroytom commented Friday, May 21

Perhaps not the right place but I am really annoyed with Skype. I bought credit and used it a couple of years ago, some expired some about to expire if I don't use it.

I wanted to call a land line, but the screen for call phones does not come up and clicking on call phones elsewhere elicits no response. My several messages to Skype through support elicited no response.

I have wasted a lot of time trying to use this.

sebastianh05 commented Saturday, May 22

@berkus it's not necessarily a "problem", however I find it unintuitive for one to comment on posts that are almost a year old, and then I think it's not very 21st century for a company to post something on a product blog only twice a year or so. As it is right now, the blog just regularly looks dead and unattended for months, aside from the 10 or so people who check the comments regularly, a good third of which are complaints about skype's public information policy. I love skype, but now you have a skype_linux twitter and there are no tweets on it, you know what I mean? Interact with your customers, 2010 style, it would make all the difference I think

maheanuu_tane commented Sunday, May 23

I have been a skype user for several years now, and have now become a full time linux user also. I have installed Skype 2.1 Beta on this machine (Toshiba satellite A255D-S6930), My distro is Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Linx. I live in French Polynesia, and use skype as my main telephone connection to friends and family in the USA and around the world. I even use it here to call 800 numbers as they are blocked by our telephone exchange here. For the past week I have been trying to contact several businesses in the United States (Oregon) and I am told by the persons answering the calls that I am breaking up very badly and they cannot understand anything I am saying. This hasn't been with only one or two businesses but well over a dozen. I am hearing their replies to me absolutely clear, but I have no idea on where to start looking on this end to see if I can solve the problem. All my Skype to Skype calls around the world are incredibly good so I don't think that it is in the software part of Skype, at not in the Skype to Skype end... Any help that anyone might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. Please be advised even though I have been in computers forever, I am very new to the Linux community and am just a learner here.... So there may require some hand holding to get me to the point of things going along normally. But I listen carefully, and follow directions and instructions to the letter and if I do not understand I will ask for clarification..

Thanks in advance,

Ken Jackson
CPO USN Ret.
Uturoa, Raiatea

maheanuu_tane commented Sunday, May 23

I see that I probably should have said that I am running this on a 64 bit machine running the 64 bit version of Lucid. I never ran skype on my 9.10 box as I was using Windoze (I can't see clearly) Vista

gorwell79 commented Monday, May 24

Skype is now an "official" partner of Ubuntu. I received an update from the ubuntu partner repository.

syahirahdin commented Monday, May 24

hye..
i would like to ask am using acer with Linpus Linux Lite, it seems that i cant download skype. can i know if it is posible and canyou guide me through?

n.shtabel commented Monday, May 24

for those who wants to use skype with JACK there is a nice solution without using of alsa-jack plugin from James Warden here: http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/Jack_and_Loopback_device_as_Alsa-to-Jack_bridge . It's a bit complicated from first look, but really it's very beautiful way to get any ALSA application work via JACK.

vogt.mark commented Tuesday, May 25

the release cycles and also the publication policy of skype on linux are just bad. even for years as a paying customer you will only
stalled. I´ve left linux after 13 years, skype was
also one of the reasons.

p.nariyoshi commented Tuesday, Jun 1

When is group video calls coming to linux? Or at least a more updated version. This one is very buggy (although completely functional)

stephenjudge.ie commented Tuesday, Jun 15

@Berkus There was a comment posted by aliendude5300 on Thursday, Jan 21 regarding Skype opening in multiple instances. He said he was launching Skype from Docky. I too have Skype on my Docky and I launch it from there. However the problem he describes has nothing to do with Docky.

If I launch Skype from the normal Ubuntu Applications > Internet menu, Sign in, then close the Skype window so it minimizes to the notifications area. Then go back and launch Skype again from the Applications > Internet menu, it loads a new instance of Skype ready to sign in again, instead of bringing the already loaded Skype instance from the notification area back into view.

Surprisingly with a second or even third instance of Skype loaded it does allow me to sign into multiple Skype accounts at the same time. That is if I have multiple accounts This really should be fixed though. At least if/when you open source the window framework the developers for docks like Docky and Cairo can develop helper scripts that will interact with the Skype menus, such and placing a call, SMS, IM from right clicking on the Skype dock icon or something similar.

ale-sandro commented Wednesday, Jun 16

Please, may we have some updates about the progress status of the open source client?? The actual interface would be good to me but it is still buggy; the text inside information popups is not visible with most of Ubuntu Themes, and many webcams won't work without preloading the V4L libraries first.

isargin commented Saturday, Jun 19

Sadly, outgoing sound doesn't work and hasn't worked for me since maybe January, so I guess it's due to this beta, or due to some ubuntu update. Using Ubuntu 10.04, amd, 64bit.

salam_azad commented Saturday, Jun 19

Thanks alot for supporting linux, But i dont find the screen sharing?!, See the Picture here:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/6899/skypenoscreensh.png

Iam Using Ubuntu 10.4 x64, updated as of 19.06.2010 and with the latest gpu drivers,

In the Picture above I was Calling a Windows Vista 32bit Skype version 4.1.0.179 witch have screen sharing button available. Iam blind or what ?
I dont have a webcam present in the ubuntu system if that has anything to help.
thanks.

southisup commented Thursday, Jun 24

Is "Import contacts" on the to-do list for the Linux client?

samdec.colegrove commented Saturday, Jul 3

@Berkus It is some time since I commented about the performance of Linux Skype versus Windows Skype, eg. samdec.colegrove commented Monday, Apr 5. I have just changed my cable connection plan so that the upload speed is now 1Mbit/s instead of 128Kbits/s. That change has made all the difference in world. I can now totally agree with you that there is no significant difference in the image and sound quality between Windows and Linux Skype even though the former is version 4.2 and the olatter is 2.1.

I am now exceedingly happy with Linux Skype and would like to apologize for my previous negative comments. When I install the next version of Kubuntu 10.10, I will be deleting my Windows partition as Skype was the only reason for keeping Windows.

Thanks for a job well done.

navneetbhandari commented Sunday, Jul 4

Hello,

Iam using RHEL 5.2

Iam unable to install the latest version of of skype due to unresolved dependencies.
Could someone help me with dependencies or provide an older stable version ?

navneetbhandari1987 at gmail

Thanks
NB

samdec.colegrove commented Tuesday, Jul 6

I am probably not much help to you as I use Kubuntu, but I am wondering if you download the rpm file from the site:
http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/on-your-computer/linux/post-download/

As I use a debian based system I successfully used the deb file from this site prior to it entering the ubuntu repositories.

samdec.colegrove commented Thursday, Jul 8

I have just checked the release date for RHEL 5.2 and it seems as though it was in May 2008. As Linux makes considerable progress in 2 years, your dependency problem may be resolved by getting a more recent version say RHEL 5.5. I have noticed that RHEL 6 is currently in beta so it will not be too long before this version is available.

Hope your problems are resolved by getting a more recent version.

laurent.briais commented Tuesday, Jul 13

My 2 cents...

This whole Linux branch is a shame.
When it's not sound or video issue (isn't it the core of your business ?), it the global stability (I think I can even speak on behalf of my colleagues under MacOSX as well), CPU consumption...

I am a Linux user for ages now, and I have been stuck with Skype because of the lack of alternative. It always more or less worked (see above statement), but nothing compared to the features and stability of the Windows version (not to enter the discussion of the lack of transparency, security by obscurity etc...).
After more than 15 years using Linux, Skype remained the only hack in my system.

Now I think you guys in Skype have to take seriously the fact that you are no more the only one in the area.
Some Linux-only soft were working very well for a long time now, but cross-OSes video sessions remained the real issue.
GoogleTalk with video now works like a charm with Empathy client out of the box in Ubuntu 10.04, thus the news spread and my WinFriends tend more and more to switch to it.
I think you have now the unique opportunity to release the too long expected version for both Linux and Mac in order to take the power back. And do not forget that the annoyance/frustration felt by Linux & Mac communities tend to snowball in the end to Windows users as they are our friends, families whatever... and we discuss together... by Skype... or other means.

Regards,

- Laurent -

pavels.remigolskis commented Thursday, Jul 15

You removed WM version, because it is "unstable and can't give high enaugh quality of expirience". It was (is) working a lot better, than linux version of skype.
Why does Linux and MacOS versions have interface similar to one, Windows version had 4 years ago? The only thing I really hate about linux is it's skype version...

psychobollox commented Saturday, Jul 17

the version of Skype i have for Linux dies as soon as the video component is engaged.

sebastianh05 commented Tuesday, Jul 20

I don't get why it's so hard to post a simple blog post every other week or so letting the community know what progress (or not) has been made, instead of duping the "fans" with a blog post that's half a year old. Where's the next beta? What's the status of the open source GUI? Where's skype linux headed? Why did you guys open a Twitter account if you're not using it? I don't have a business degree, but I can tell good corporate communications from bad one

nuclear-head commented Tuesday, Jul 20

Good corporate communication could happen only if the whining and complaining would get strong enough to threaten business.
Otherwise as Berkus once said - there will be new posts or comments only when there is something to announce. Well it seems nothing happens since May 24.

We are all frustrated with the current status of Skype for Linux but this is the way it works in the proprietary part of the universe...get used to it... and there's nothing we can do except more whining and complaining.

As for my feature request - it would be very nice if in chat conversations in unfocused/minimized windows new messages are marked somehow (orange dots or whatever) and the scroll stays at the first new message. Just a copy of the Windows functionality.

eredeath commented Wednesday, Jul 21

The functionality in the windows version is splendid! It sucks that you treat your Linux costumers like crap. We use and pay for your program too, but we get shafted on the features. If your not going to at least provide us with updates on progress that you aren't making on developing the next Skype for Linux, open up the code so it can be improved upon by the community.

jacquesru commented Monday, Jul 26

I am not sure that Skype 2.1 for Ubuntu 64 bits proxy settings (under “options”, “advanced”) really works: I can set the HTTP or SOCKS host manually to anything I want and Skype still works....

ethana2 commented Wednesday, Jul 28

The Skype Me button on a website I'm having built doesn't work for my Ubuntu clients.
Will this be fixed before Skype 2.1 is released for Ubuntu?

turotulco commented Tuesday, Aug 3

is there any way to resize the recieved video image when we are calling somebody?
The video image in my skype stills really tiny...

turotulco commented Tuesday, Aug 3

ok, nevermind... just a double click in it lol, thank u anyways..

janispc1 commented Sunday, Aug 8

Does anyone can create a new version of Skype like Windows 4.2???

yahya_hugirat commented Monday, Aug 9

it is a shame that there is no replies for the comments about the Skype status under Linux, i call all the Linux users to boycott Skype.

sebastianh05 commented Thursday, Aug 12

hard to boycott something that so many people use you're in touch with. and... as messaging client, it works at least.. it's just a shame what sort of communication and release policy they have. at least i navigate to this website twice a day, for all it matters, a number in their visitor stats that says linux
if they don't wake up, they'll wake up to an alternate protocol and client and the game is over, or it'll be reverse engineered

klmonz commented Sunday, Aug 15

hello guys,
is there any good video chat alternative for linux out there, which I can recommend to my linux contacts, so at least a core group of close people can skip sitting on a poor skype client?

bossmandominic commented Sunday, Aug 15

The skype for linux is pretty good and all, and I'm glad you guys even have it for linux. But still, I have Ubuntu 10.04 that's come pretty far in graphical eye-candy and effects, so the whole kind of boxy look of the skype beta kind of looks out of place and old. It would be great if the next release could be slightly more sleek. Otherwise it's great!

kovalev.vladimir1990 commented Tuesday, Aug 24

Hi, I am having the following problem - whenever I try to call anyone after 10 seconds of conversation the sound output stops. From this point onward I am unable to call anyone, the call simply does not start. Skype becomes a lot slower. My sound card magically disappears from System>Preferences>Sound>Hardware. When I close the app and then try to shut down the PC it tells me that skype isn't responding. If the PC is restarted however, everything goes back to normal.

kovalev.vladimir1990 commented Tuesday, Aug 24

Hi, I am having the following problem - whenever I try to call anyone after 10 seconds of conversation the sound output stops. From this point onward I am unable to call anyone, the call simply does not start. Skype becomes a lot slower. My sound card magically disappears from System>Preferences>Sound>Hardware. When I close the app and then try to shut down the PC it tells me that skype isn't responding. If the PC is restarted however, everything goes back to normal.

nzpling commented Wednesday, Aug 25

I have an intel video, and F13, and there's a bug in the X11 driver that causes X to crash when displaying video using xv.

Is there anyway to force skype to use opengl (command-line or config options maybe)
(I can force mplayer to use opengl, and then it can happily display the output from my Logitech Fusion camera)

kbehren commented Wednesday, Aug 25

Hi,
nice to have skype on ubuntu, but the look is really out of place and a new monochrome icon would be great.

byeskype2010 commented Friday, Aug 27

Al fin Google Voice con llamadas a todo el mundo!!!, esperemos ahora las aplicaciones y plugins para existentes (Empathy por ejemplo).

Chau Skype, nos aburriste con tus cuentos, ahora si tenemos una alternativa comercial que con suerte dará respuesta a los usuarios que usan algo más que windows.

coennaninck commented Friday, Aug 27

Up until recently the Linux client was downloadable without registration. Now it's mandatory. Why is this?

pippo_flucca commented Friday, Aug 27

Bah, now that google voice/video is available in linux, who cares anymore?

ronjouch commented Saturday, Aug 28

Hi there,

FYI there is currently a bug in Ubuntu Maverick that prevents installation of .deb packages.
Should be fixed before the final version; current workaround is
- to install via command-line: sudo dpkg -i .deb
- or to use the tarball

justaguy_75ae commented Tuesday, Aug 31

Skype for Linux is a joke. 64 bit Linux has been out for a long time and Skype has failed to support it. The 64 bit Ubuntu version is really 32 bit version.

Fedora rolls out a new version of its operating system almost every 6 months. Skype rolls out a new version every 1.5 years or so for linux.

I ask you to think about this which is more difficult rolling out an operating system or a new version of a program. (An operating system)

Skype's inability to roll out a new Linux version strongly speaks volumes to how much it cares about its Linux end users. In my opinion, they are telling Linux end users to buzz off. We do not care about you. (Due to being polite I cannot say what I really think they are saying, for it would be vulgar.)

My opinion maybe very strong but so many Linux users feel the same as me. The effort on skype's part is very laughable and a joke.

I expect Skype to delete this comment very soon. They could not handle any criticism, nor do I expect any concerted effort on their part.

For Linux or any non windows platform to get better voip support there is going to have to be a community movement towards a true open source solution independent of Skype.

Programs such as Ekiga are begining to answer the call but have quite a distance to go before they can trample the likes of Microsoft Skype (coughs) I mean Skype.... Sorry Skype you and windows look almost the same. You are big, fat, lazy, and a hog.

cagliano_lc commented Thursday, Sep 2

I think it's only a lack of (real) alternatives.
Google Voice is becoming a viable solution, I think I will go for it as soon as it will be good enough

genki-adrian commented Thursday, Sep 2

@berkus:

I was wondering what's the status of the open source version of the Skype UI part. Can you share any new details with us? I was hoping to see that version of Skype being released soon so the community can help you guys sprucing up the UI and make it integrate better with KDE and GNOME. Also, I still have hopes that this might fix the remaining intermittent issues with PulseAudio and or webcam video, especially on 64 bit Linux versions.

Thanks,

Adrian

staubteufel commented Sunday, Sep 5

And now, after 9 months of almost no news, the flower is bound to wither. Just sad...

staubteufel commented Sunday, Sep 5

From your/their twitter account. Amazing two messages from april:

+ the plan is that the tweets will be more regular – thanks for following
+ We are making a lot of little updates for the next public version of the Linux client. Stay tuned!

Don't you feel even a bit ashamed? I mean c'mon, its ok if you would say that the development for linux has stalled ect., we can live with that, but posting absolutely no news is embarrasing.

jasontheriault commented Monday, Sep 6

It would be nice to be able to change video source from "/dev/video0" to "/dev/video1" or any alternate.

alex.baretta commented Friday, Sep 10

Hey, why in the world did Skype introduce a "user mood" feed? What the heck does anybody care about the mood of their contacts?! How do I disable the user mood feed on Linux? There is no option in the Advaced pane of the Preferences window to do this.

One word of advice: please, be parsimonious with your users' time, it is more valuable than money.

nuclear-head commented Tuesday, Sep 14

Berkus, people are pissed off, at least comment something like "Hey, we are alive".

stringiamano commented Wednesday, Sep 15

Obviously skype does not care for their users. I'm not going to use this joke software anymore and I urge everyone to do the same. Nothing is irreplaceable. You cannot ignore the Linux community...

isaque.correa commented Wednesday, Sep 15

folks,

my skype is working fine on my Pavilion dv4, AMD 64.

But the sound output is not working well. I can see and hear the other person, but he cannot hear me. I've tried changing the sound options but got nothing.

Any solution for that?

tnx in advance.

genki-adrian commented Wednesday, Sep 15

Hei,

it's a little bit off-topic, but to show you fellow Linux users that not all companies disregard us like Skype does. Adobe has re-released the 64-bit version of their flash plugin. It's coming for Linux, MacOS and Windows simultaneously. If that isn't good news =).

I cannot post a link as I think it will get censored but just checkout OSNews website.

Adrian

effzee25 commented Thursday, Sep 16

There is a bug with this build of Skype for Linux (2.1.0.81), that does not affect the previous version (2.1.0.47). Sound sent (ie recorded) on the local microphone is garbled and cannot be heard by the person at the other end. The problem has been known about since this version was released, and is mentioned by several persons above, but I have some additional information. The bug seems to affect certain type of microphone / sound chipset. For example, when I use my Logitech Quickcam, the sound works properly in both directions and all is well. However, if I disconnect the webcam and use the built in microphone in my laptop (Lenovo T60), the recorded sound is garbled while I can hear the person at the other end just fine.

So this problem is concerned with the particular microphone and audio chipset in use.

I hope for a fix in the near future!

alisonken1ken commented Friday, Sep 17

The problem is skype is still supplying 32-bit binaries even though the packaging (at least for Ubuntu - which I don't use - I use slackware myself) says 64-bit.

They expect that people using pure 64-bit systems (like Slackwrae64) will take the extra trouble to try and shoehorn in 32-bit compatibility stuff to work with their software.

So far, skype is the only company that doesn't even pretend to work on 64-bit - just post a 64-bit package that's actually a 32-bit binary and hope the customer doesn't notice.

Ufortunately, my wife needs skype to talk to her sister on an overseas mission trip. Which means my 64-bit dual-core AMD system has to run a 32-bit O/S (slackware 32-bit) just to work with their binary.

If it wasn't for the sister being overseas .....

effzee25 commented Saturday, Sep 18

As discussed previously (see my posts above) there is a bug with this build of Skype for Linux (2.1.0.81), that does not affect the previous version (2.1.0.47). Sound sent (ie recorded) on the local microphone is garbled and cannot be heard by the person at the other end.

The problem has been known about since this version was released but I have some additional information. The bug seems to affect certain type of microphone / sound chipset. For example, when I use my Logitech Quickcam, the sound works properly in both directions and all is well. However, if I disconnect the webcam and use the built in microphone in my laptop (Lenovo T60), the transmitted sound is garbled while I can hear the person at the other end just fine.

So this problem is concerned with the particular microphone and audio chipset in use.

I hope for a fix in the near future!

veresp87 commented Monday, Sep 20

I see you are totally IGNORING Linux skype community. Last update of your crappy linux client was when? January 20th? Keep that bullshit about regular updates for you. We are not interested in your stupid lies. I'm paying client, i have purchased skype credit = money for you. However i can barely use it because your skype client is just a crap. Damn high CPU usage, slow video, skipping audio, often crashes. I have 6Mbit connection and dualcore processor with 2 gigabytes of RAM, so i suppose these problems are not result of poor system hardware. It's just that you are not doing YOUR job, just making idiots of us.

keiran230 commented Wednesday, Sep 22

Until they add join call functionality, this client is unusable to me. I'd also like them to add an option to use the same GUI layout that Windows uses, but that's not as critical.

Or, better yet, since the Skype development team has proven incompetent, just open source it. Overnight, the OSS community will create a better client. But of course, that makes too much sense, so it'll never happen.

xinoef commented Friday, Sep 24

There is a bug in this blog page:
The link "Old articles" at the bottom redirects to the previous post instead of just going at the top of the page...

rolandixor commented Monday, Sep 27

Anybody home? It's been a bit of a while... Skype kit was a nice try (and way to make money) I commend that... BUT WHERE IS SKYPE 3/4/5 FOR LINUX!

ENOUGH WITH TELLING US LINUX IS HARD TO PROGRAM ON AND BLABLABLA...

WHERE IS THE SUPPORT?

power.of.thought commented Wednesday, Sep 29

Hi Skype, long time user, first time poster. It's not been quite a while since the last update, and to be honest after the announcements you made I did not expect this silence from you.

Well anyway, my question: HD video for linux, when?

docplenitude commented Friday, Oct 1

It's been almost ten months. Time to give us a news or something, please.

fulopattila122 commented Tuesday, Oct 5

Yes, please consider us, Linux users too. I don't agree with the rudeness of those comments above, however.

dsaiko commented Sunday, Oct 10

As for me - recently Skype as a company sucks in general.

Skype marketing policies - very bad.
Skype for Android - fiasco.
Skype for Linux - fiasco.

Hope some Skype alternative takes it place soon ....

carusk commented Sunday, Oct 10

I am a paying customer, and this linux client is really lacking

cesar.izurieta commented Monday, Oct 11

An update please!

power.of.thought commented Monday, Oct 11

For a company focused on enabling communication, you sure are piss-poor at the communication part :/

samdec.colegrove commented Sunday, Oct 17

Since Skype Version 2.1.0.81 was released, many updated distributions have been released. I am currently using Kubuntu 10.10 and Skype is available from its repositories.

Could you please let me know if Skype 2.1.0.81 has been recompiled to use the kernel and libraries for ubuntu 10.10. On your download site the ubuntu distribution cited for this version is 8.10, which is 2 years old.

sebastianh05 commented Monday, Oct 18

Oh well, the longer Skype waits and holds of ANY form of communication (when was the last blog entry? is there anything of substance on Twitter? What about a new beta version?), the more people will just leave Skype alone and use Google Talk or something other in the VoIP world.... thanks Skype..... u used to be cool

ikamaconsult commented Monday, Oct 18

Hi all Skype users,

this is great! At least we have an very important announcement from berkus at the end:

" Hey, people. I'm currently not involved with Linux client and cannot comment much - busy with other projects. Marco will update you soon on the progress. "

For me it's like a joke, a BIG joke!!!

Thanks!

sebastianh05 commented Tuesday, Oct 19

Oh I am sure I will see it it, I am checking this "blog" regularly (yet I wonder why since per definition, a blog gets updated)

brittyazel commented Saturday, Oct 23

I'm sorry, but I have been reading this blog for a long while now, but Burkus, it sounds from the way you say things and keep us in the dark that you really dont care about us. It actually sounds from your tone like you are annoyed at us for asking basic questions. You answer roughly once a month, you actually pawned off your responsibility to this community to "marco" but he was a no show. But I am honestly stunned by the way you guys treat your support community. Most companies would be supplying little updates here an there just too keep us happy, but you guys wont even do that! lol Oh, by the way, it was very nice to poke your head in after a month of inactivity to say rudely, "There's new exciting stuff coming up, would be a pity if you couldn't see it." And the best part, is that after a month of waiting for something, you'll make a snide remark to a customer but will not even give any info about what this "exciting stuff" is. I personally have nothing against you Berkus, but from a business standpoint....I dont even know where to begin....

jsardid commented Tuesday, Oct 26

Yeah, with all the respect, we linux users don't deserve to be treat like this. You, skype are lucky that we don't have that many free alternatives yet, but time to time...

oddie82 commented Tuesday, Oct 26

Come on guys. How long can you beg for an update? It's pathetic. If Skype don't care, why should you? Go use alternatives.
Google Voice Chat works in Empathy, Pidgin and lately even from Gmail web on linux too.
And there are others (Ekiga / other SIP solutions). Pick, test and use - don't waste your knees here. It's obviously pointless.

humufr commented Tuesday, Oct 26

9 months without any news for skype and the old version start to not be usable on some distribution (try to use it with the pardus 2011 x86_64...) because of the decreasing quality with the linux version I stopped to buy any new credit (the sound was so bad when using linux that my correspondant cannot heard anything but with windows version it was ok...). Next time I am going to my parents I will install google-talk and my use of skype will be mostly done. And for I see around me it's a general movement.

dr.frankinfurter commented Wednesday, Oct 27

Yeah, is there going to be an update... any time in the future?

bogdan_bartos commented Thursday, Oct 28

Hey Berkus, It's about time to release a Beta 3 or something better because Skype on Linux is just not good enough and it's actually a shame. It's good that it exists, but it's bad the way you do it. Linux has it's own market place and it will become more and more used. Windows will eventually go down. It's just a matter of time. And I don't understand - you just have to maintain one app, not 100, or more! A reliable Linux app!!! We NEED it!!!

iwillky commented Thursday, Oct 28

Quit complaining! Jeez! It's not like these guys completely left the linux version in the dark *coughoovoocough*. Also, not only do they have for eg Ubuntu to deal with, they have Fedora, debian, gentoo, opensuse, mandriva, pclinux, etc. So many systems! (granted, they don't HAVE to make skype optimized for every linux system).
But yeah this blog should be updated more nonetheless.
finally, idk if this is the place for it, but on Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 32 and 64 bit, when i sign out of skype, some of the ui is gone. upon quitting from the toolbar, there are some remains leftover. switching to a new window or clicking on it make it go away, but still something to fix. also, the account settings aren't applicable unless signed in. in other words, when i am signed in, the sign in sound does not play. once signing out, the sign out sound plays even though i have those sounds disabled in the account options. also under the blocked users menu, i have "add unblocked users back to my address book" checked off. but upon signing in and out, it unchecks itself. just to point out a couple of things.

karl.schmidt36 commented Friday, Oct 29

"Our next logical step on the road to the open client is the update of the current beta."

Struck me as true today 9 months later?

Works well enough to play with - have to restart once in a while.

drakethegreat commented Friday, Oct 29

Yes guys there's exciting new stuff coming, 1 year from now if you are patient enough to wait. Don't worry if by then there are so many alternatives that Skype is irrelevant, it's not their fault it takes a year to release an updated GUI on Linux... oh wait yes it is their fault.

xtreme.xecution commented Tuesday, Nov 2

Can anyone tell me why Skype Linux can not accept transferred calls?

Using a C++ program I wrote myself (yea, thanks Skype for making this essential feature so easy to use.. the average user just has to learn a programming language, find and read the API docs, learn how dbus works, write a program to communicate with Skype...), I can easily transfer a call from our Online number to another Skype user, but for some reason, any attempt to transfer TO me always fails.

Sadly the Skype client provides error messages such as 'Transfer failed' with no other helpful info at all. The logs are garbled binary (although I'm sure someone at Skype has the means to read them.. of course there is no way to get hold of someone who could actually help there) and useless, so there is no way to figure out why the transfer is failing.

I think the state of Skype Linux is pathetic. While Windows is on v5, we are still on v2. Seems that Skype doesn't care at all about their Linux users, even those that purchase services from them.

gaygerbil commented Tuesday, Nov 2

Does Skype not realize that Linux distros have probably overtaken people who use Mac? And that Linux is gonna be a lot more popular the smarter people are, the Linux distro is becoming more of a default with netbooks now which is a huge portion of Skype users cuz most people use Skype on netbooks cuz of the built in webcam and mic.

gaygerbil commented Tuesday, Nov 2

Also to people who are frustrated with Skype, Google Voice has came out for Linux and it's looking really good so far the CPU usage is less and cam/mic quality is about the same, it's also supported in Empathy with voice and cam. It also supports calling phones for FREE and works great.

Also, Ekiga is getting updated much more frequently than Skype for Linux and is turning out to look pretty good it also supports cross platform VoIP. Skype will lose its market share because of it's irresponsibility towards its users, what a shame it started off so well too. But if you treat your users like crap expect your users to treat you like crap back, especially when it comes to Linux users who understand a lot about programming and understand you're just full of bull when you say it's hard to do updates for it or w/e john you have about not updating. It's not hard to put a print screen button on Skype and call it an update you just don't care.

ed1934158 commented Tuesday, Nov 2

How about Skype for Debian Squeeze, it's not working right now.

donjorge22 commented Tuesday, Nov 2

Hey folks at Skype,

Please do keep up the development work for the Linux client... it's not going to stop me recommending Skype to my friends, but it's a shame for y'all to drag you feet over improving the Linux client surely it can't be that hard to port newer versions? Or even keep everyone posted?

The current version is functional and all, but lacks pizzazz.

bogdan_bartos commented Tuesday, Nov 2

Nowadays, a 64 bit architecture is a standard. I've been using Skype on Linux on 32 bit all this time until today when I upgraded to 64 bit, therefore I am not using Skype anymore for several reasons. It doesn't properly work on 32 bit and to make it work on 64 bit is a total pain. I had 3 PCs with Skype installed on them and right now there's only one left. As soon as I get an alternative for Skype, I will jump on the new one. Skype is a shame for the Linux community! I hope you really understand this!

xtreme.xecution commented Thursday, Nov 4

gaygerbil: How does Googlevoice with a real phone number compare to Skype? Our main use is to allow clients to call us, but not being able to transfer to the Linux client is a deal-breaker, so I'm looking at changing our SkypeIn (online number) to Google voice, but can't find many reviews of it on Linux?

To be honest, Skype has just about the worst customer service of any Online company these days, with no way to get hold of anyone real. Seems they love taking our money, but when we need help, no one is around.

feranick commented Thursday, Nov 4

"hope you stay with us to discover how much more surprises we have up our sleeve. Let's talk!"

Sure, let's talk. Let's talk about group talk available on Windows and Macs. Let's talk about stagnating development and sketchy communication. Keep on talking like you did in these past 11 months. In the meantime I am moving to greener pastures.

Skype, what a disappointment.

pierge_46 commented Saturday, Nov 6

It's Possible that we have the 5.0 version for windows and mac, and linux stopped at 2.1 version?? HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN Linux OS ?? I'm very disappointed !

bobrob4066 commented Saturday, Nov 6

i want skype 5.0 for ubuntu...windows is dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stuart221lg commented Tuesday, Nov 9

When is there going to be an update to a new Version ?

sabas88 commented Tuesday, Nov 9

I wrote to the customer care and they said they has not scheduled any release for Linux -.-"
Spam messages to the customer care, so they will notice us!

Berkus commented Tuesday, Nov 9

Please, do not spam customer support, they have no idea.

pmatthias164 commented Tuesday, Nov 9

Thank you Skype!

You were the first to enable me free Skype 2 Skype calls and cheap calls landline abroad. However, installation espeacially on 64 bit became desastrous. Google Talk now is avaiable with 64bit on Linux. You are obsolete now.

ezequiel.partida commented Wednesday, Nov 10

Berkus

Please give us the good news!! At least: We are working on it.

I love Skype and I would love to have Skype 5 on linux.

max_der_dax commented Friday, Nov 12

@bobrob4066
Why would you want that? There is nothing lacking in the linux version really and the interface for the windows version and for the mac beta are god aweful! The Linux version is the only sane one left. I dread the thought of skype pushing a similar interface there as well.

sonux78 commented Friday, Nov 12

And now it's official! They have no idea!!!

lanevorockz commented Friday, Nov 12

Well I am very disappointed about Skype leaving Linux behind. I hope this is only temporary, or else I will have to move to other alternatives.

sonux78 commented Saturday, Nov 13

They have no idea!

sebastianh05 commented Monday, Nov 15

all we're hearing is "no, don't leave" and "there's cool stuff coming soon". But the reality is that this blog post dates back to JANUARY and there has not been a tweet or update of substance ever since. I am sure you're working on it, I really believe that (despite the measly resources skype probably has allotted to the Linux client which is certainly not the fault of those working on its realization). BUT what's so hard about 21st century customer relationship management? I mean just post an update, some screenshots, a road map, something. Something to show those few but sincere users that there is something coming and it's in fact worth waiting. Why not release a few more Beta version itinerations before going final, after all you're dealing with Linux users here, people who are used to testing software that's still rough around the edges. Why not harness Q&A man power you don't have to pay for? I don't get it. That's like first semester business knowledge