Hi Berkus,

could you also build an amd64-version for Debian Lenny (like the Ubuntu amd64-version) ? Also, I think the SMS-dialog is a bit confusing. It states, that one can send the first SMS for free but when I try to send one, I'll get an error message (even though Skype states I have 1 Euro credit, I didn't buy any credit though).

Still looking for more issues to give you feedback. Great work .

Adrian

Bravo! It looks nice!

Thanks for the update!

The only problem I see so far is that it seems to require PulseAudio. Given your track record (that's meant as an observation, not as an insult), if PulseAudio isn't around--or if it changes much--in 2 years, Skype will be pretty much useless. I'd suggest that a modular output plugin architecture (as used by many multimedia apps under Linux) might be very valuable.

On a peripherally related note: can I tell Skype to always output to my laptop's internal card while XMMS outputs to my external USB sound device?

Cheers!
-Ben

@genki-adrian
Just grab the Ubuntu's version and install that. It has no depencies that would prevent you from installing it. So far I've tried that on 3 different amd64 Lenny systems, and it worked for every one of them.

The downside is, that it didn't work for my desktop, which is Debian testing; entering the audio settings page makes it crash, as does anything else that makes a sound.

Hi,
Thanks for the beta.
For me one of the problems with the past release was that skype liked changing sound devices all the time. So having it use pulseaudio sounds good.
However:
1. Reiterating the comment in the previous thread, it would be nice to have the ability of specifying different devices for the ringing and speakers. I tend to use USB headset for conversation but would like to have ringing sent to the speakers so that I do not miss the call.

2. On ubuntu the only sound device I see is "PulseAudio (local server)" just as stated in the release notes. But on Fedora 11 I still have the full list of sound devices to choose from (which makes me worried that skype will have the past tendency of choosing wrong devices on restart).

Yuri

Avatars are not shown—whether in chat dialogs or in Edit Profile window. I'm using 64-bit Ubuntu 8.10 and downloaded appropriate version.

Sorry, I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 actually, but downloaded version for 8.10 as most recent available.

Thanks a lot for this nice news! One more issue—when making a call, recording level stays the same, though I checked the box "Allow Skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels" in settings.

Minor issue—instead of Ctrl+Enter you need to use Shift+Enter in chat window to enter new line.

Wooow, it feels so good to have a skype that JUST WORKS!
Now a 64 version for the latest Fedoras would be nice...
Any idea how close we are from final release?
a- soon
b- very soon
c- very very soon (TM)

Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX doesn' work.
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 046d:08d7 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Communicate STX
Driver gspca zc3xx
Kubuntu Karmic 9.10

It works out of the box with 2.0.0.72

Works great over here, using straight ALSA. Whoever said PulseAudio was required, it's not true in my case (I don't have it installed) FWIW.

I just installed it on Ubuntu 9.10 alpha (64-bit version), and I can already say it works much better than the previous version of Skype. Way to go!

> Reiterating the comment in the previous thread, it would be nice to have the ability of specifying different devices for the ringing and speakers. I tend to use USB headset for conversation but would like to have ringing sent to the speakers so that I do not miss the call.

I second that. That's the one thing I'm missing from the old version, where you could "circumvent" PulseAudio for the ringing and send it directly to the chosen ALSA device. I'm not sure if you can have different "audio groups" for the same application to route differently in PulseAudio at all, though.

Except from that, it's great to have a new Skype version after all this time. The contact groups are something I've been waiting for since they have been removed in 1.4(?). I'm looking forward to the first call with the beta, and to not having to check the sound devices every so often, because Skype changed from my headset to the (unused) HDMI device

- Henning

after a first quick test things seem to work fine.

@berkus: will you release smaller incremental updates based on 2.1 beta?

thank you for the new release,
the sound seems to have improved, but unfortunately the webcam only produces a colorful pattern. i never had video a problem under the previous stable version. I am using a logitech quickcam which otherwise performs well with all other apps.
thank you for all the efforts,

martin

@da_apz:

No, you cannot install the Ubuntu version on a stock Debian Lenny version, I already tried. It depends on a newer version of libasound2 (0.1.17 and Lenny comes with 0.1.16).

Adrian

The 64-bit installer contains a 32-bit executable:
# file skype
skype: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.8, stripped

So, it's still only 32-bit.

To Berkus and the Skype for Linux team: thankyou thankyou thankyou!
Works like a charm (on F11). Now I can finally make calls again! You made my day.

Additions to my previous report:
1. Pulseaudio on my Fedora machines did not show in Skype because i586 archive of pulseaudio-lib libraries was not installed (I am on x86_64 architecture). A bit strange since I installed 64bit version (by converting Ubuntu deb to rpm with alien). With i586 libraries installed, skype uses Pulseaudio as it should.
2. However, on 2 out of 4 machines skype crashes pulse and then crashes itself. Machines that work: Ubuntu and Fedora 11, x86_64 architectures; machines that don't work: one x86_64 and one i386, both with Fedora 11. On x86_64 machines the problem exists both with the fedora i586 rpm and with converted x86_64 deb package.

Symptoms are the same as mentioned in the previous thread: try test call, hear ringing sound and then no sound at all. Checking running processes I can see that pulseaudio process disappears. Remove pulseaudio and skype works. On problematic x86_64 skype sometimes works with pulse (I can't test extensively on i386 machine since I administer it remotely). For example, a few times skype worked after reinstalling pulse client libraries. But problem comes back after rebooting the machine. A couple of times restarting X solved the problem but that also did not always work.
Yuri

Thanks a lot for new Linux version of Skype! Hope in future development of linux version will be faster, at least as fast as MacOSX one!

:( Does not work at all:

> skype
Aborted
>

No error message, nothing! So what should I do now?
(Using Suse11.1 and the RPM provided for Suse11.x by Skype.)

opensuse 11.1 64-bit kde 4.3.0 = no problem with skype 2.1beta

will be skype complet in qt4.4 or higher? /i think "send file dialog" for example..

i would like to see mandriva builds too

Don't work on debian unstable amd64

Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 623: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

:(
I don't use pulse audio server just plain alsa

@ Berkus, no Arch Linux packages? as far as i know, u're using Arch Linux x86_64 too , Thanks.

@Berkus

(Sorry for my bad english)

Hey. Skype has an odd behavior with the HQ video. I have added

<Video>
<CaptureHeight>480</CaptureHeight>
<CaptureWidth>640</CaptureWidth>
</Video>

in the config.xml file, under lib section, in order to make it work.

However, when I start the video call only a 240*320 resolution is used. Then I stop my video using the "Stop my video" option in the call window. Finally I restart it using the "Start My Video" option and video is sent using a 480*640 size

I don't know if this is normal and if someone else is having the same problem.

Thanks

Its great that you've got this new version out...well done! Just in time, as I was considering a switch to google talk since pidgin and empathy are able to connect to it. There is no Arch linux package? Hopefully it should be in the Arch repos very soon.

Skype protocol for Kopete (in KDE 4.3) has own action handler.
It has netscape plugin for registring x-skype mime type for javascript skype checker and application skype-action-handler

It use skype.protcol and call.protocol for work in konqueror from http://share.skype.com/sites/linux/2006/08/making_skype_links_work.html

dadypt: I'd recommend not using these hard-coded values anymore, and Skype should automatically scale up to 640x480 when it finds the webcam supports it, and there is another CPU power on both ends, and enough bandwidth to do it.

Andy.

@andypoo

Ok However the camera supports this resolution and the network too, and Skype never scales up to 640x480... In Windows everything works fine.. What a pity...
I start to think that the problems of Skype will never end.

Great news!
But in this beta I can see only five of my contacts and all of them offline - but they are online (checked on Win version). Any chance to find out where the problem is? System, router, bad ISP...? It's distro independent.

Hi,
Thanks a lot for all your work!
From my experience the new version consumes more CPU power than the previous one during the call.
At my little ALIX board with AMD GeodeLX@533MHz and Xubuntu 8.10 the sound is very choppy and CPU is at 100%.
I guess it is given by the fact that new SILK codec is used.
Compared to 60-70% CPU usage with previous version and G729 codec.
Could you provide us some info about required CPU usage for SILK, SVOPC and G729 codecs?
I wonder if I have any chance to use the new Skype with SILK codec on such a low power machine.
Is it possible to force or to disable the specific codec?
Thanks

In case anyone's trying to get up to the recommended PulseAudio 0.9.15 on Ubuntu, here's the link for a PPA that has that version:

https://launchpad.net/~themuso/+archive/ppa

dadypt: This is our first release of high quality video for Linux, so bear with us. We'll look into your issue. Can you let us know what camera you are using?

@andypoo

Thanks It's an integrated HP webcam (HP Pavillon dv9000), codec VP71. As a said before it works fine when I had the hard-coded values...

Skype 2.1 beta seems great!

Sound works much better. Looking forward to testing out video when I'm at home.

Looking forward to more great updates.

hey , thanks for the updated skype.
it is working with ubuntu 9.10 alpha 4. but there are issues with the video.
can only see red and green lines.
i think it needs a fix.
although fixes are available on the net and I got it working but its far from working out of the box!

nevertheless , a good job done. kudos!

One more issue, on another laptop of mine: Ubuntu 9.04, on a Dell XPS M1210.

Audio works fine, but the webcam will not turn on. lsusb shows:
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:08c6 Logitech, Inc. QuickCam for DELL Notebooks

This webcam worked fine for me with skype 2.0.0.72 (or whatever the previous one was).

But when will Skype in Linux get the same fancy layout as in Windows? The way it looks now is just old and crappy. I'm still exited by the updates though and has already downloaded the Beta for this new skype version.

It can't be that difficult to update the layout...

@andypoo

BTW, lsusb shows:

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 064e:a101 Suyin Corp.

It doesn't work on debian unstable amd64:

$ skype

Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 623: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

Any idea?
Where can I find the old Skype version 2.0.0.72 for Linux?

my os is FC11 and the latest beta, skype-2.1.0.47-fc10.i586, is much better than the fc5 version.

however, i get a pulseaudio crash as, ...
pulseaudio[3400]: resampler.c: Using resampler 'speex-float-3'
pulseaudio[3400]: resampler.c: Using float32le as working format.
pulseaudio[3400]: resampler.c: Choosing speex quality setting 3.
pulseaudio[3400]: source-output.c: Created output 0 "Input" on alsa_input.pci_8086_24c5_sound_card_0 with sample spec s16le 1ch 16000Hz and channel map mono
pulseaudio[3400]: protocol-native.c: Final latency 199.89 ms = 99.94 ms + 99.95 ms
pulseaudio[3400]: source.c: Assertion 'pa_cvolume_compatible(volume, &s->sample_spec)' failed at pulsecore/source.c:666, function pa_source_set_volume(). Aborting.

is there a useful diagnostic i can provide or a workaround?

also, happy to test patches...

tia, jackc...

Question: From what decides Skype that PulseAudio is available?
Background: I run KDE 4.3 (on OpenSUSE 11.2 Factory and x86_64 architecture) with the following KDE (Phonon) Multimedia settings:
1. Intel ICH5 with ALC655 (Intel ICH5)
2. PulseAudio
Testing the first one shows that ALSA is working normally, but in the Skype sound device settings I can see only "PulseAudio server (local)" for all sound device types.
Isn't it possible for Skype to handle both interfaces parallely?

I tried the Fedora 10 rpm version on my Fedora 11 x86_64 system. It fails immediately, complaining about missing libraries. A quick ldd shows this:

$ ldd /usr/bin/skype|grep not
libXss.so.1 => not found
libQtDBus.so.4 => not found
libQtGui.so.4 => not found
libQtNetwork.so.4 => not found
libQtCore.so.4 => not found

Note that all of these do exist in /usr/lib64. In other words, the dependancies in the rpm are broken, since it installed with no complaints (I actually used "yum localinstall ..."). I don't really want to install the 32-bit libs as that would mean installing a 32-bit version of Qt among other things. Is there any reason we can't have a 64-bit version? A lot of Linux users are on 64-bit now (unlike Windows users).

@berkus
Wouldn't it be helpful for you if you integrated some menu item "Report a bug" or something similar, which collects all diagnostic information from the local system you might need for analyzing and connects directly to your bugtracker to push this and additional user comments? A lot of people won't report you everything you might need, and this could save much time and work. The diagnostic data could include the skype and qt version, information about ALSA and PulseAudio, the kernel and architecture (x86, x86_64) and some more.

@genki-adrian

I have a amd64 stock lenny, with lib32asound2 1.0.16. Looking at the package manifest of the "Ubuntu 8.10+ 64-bit"-package offered at skype.com, it seems to depend on version 1.0.14, thus it works fine. The official download page says it depends on 1.0.12, but the depencies of that .deb say otherwise.

If you want further proof, you're free to chat with me on Skype, and I'll be happy to paste you the output of dpkg with Skype 2.1.0.47-1 installed.

@da_apz:

I have to check again, I tried to roll out Skype 2.1 on all the computers at my university but apt complained about the version of libasound2.

Anyway, I am having again the problem that Skype turns mute when a call is established on Ubuntu 9.10. Also, I am having the same problem with Skype like "capriott" installing on Debian Squeeze/amd64. *annoying*.

Adrian

@da_apz:

Ok, found the problem. It's a matter between i386 and amd64.

amd64:

root@iris:~> lsb_release -c
Codename: lenny
root@iris:~> dpkg -i skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.47-1_amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 409813 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace skype 2.1.0.47-1 (using skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.47-1_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement skype ...
Setting up skype (2.1.0.47-1) ...

i386:

root@flexo:~> lsb_release -c
Codename: lenny
root@flexo:~> dpkg -i skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.47-1_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 461507 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace skype 2.1.0.47-1 (using skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.47-1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement skype ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of skype:
skype depends on libasound2 (>> 1.0.17); however:
Version of libasound2 on system is 1.0.16-2.
dpkg: error processing skype (--install):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
skype
root@flexo:~>

So the Skype guys had a bad hand packaging.

Adrian

@genki-adrian

Yup; in my original post I was talking about the amd64 packaged version (as that was what you originally asked for), which again worked for me.

Anyway, good to hear you got it installed

Hi,

I have a Dell XPS m1330 with Ubuntu 9.04, 32bit. When I was using Skype 2.0.0.72 all was working fine, but I had to set sound in/out and the ringer to be on HDA Intel.

With this new version, I can hear fine, the webcam works and I can send SMS. However, I am not allowed to change the sound options (I only see PulseAudio around). I can hear others speaking, but they cannot hear me (they can only hear a hellish noise). Luckily, I kept the previous version of Skype too and am now gone back to that.

Is there anything I can do to tweak it to let me switch to HDA Intel again or should I just wait for the next beta (warning: I am a Linux newbie).

Thanks for all your work

Uhm,

I just checked the release notes posted by berkus in his post. It seems I am experiencing the PulseAudio bug. I have to find out how to deactivate it.

@andypoo:

I'm having the same problem with HQ Video that dadypt mentioned. I've tried all manner of hacks and I still only transmit 320x240 at 15 FPS, as shown by the technical call info. I'm using a Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF (USB ID 046d:0994) on Ubuntu 9.04 with the UVC driver on a quad-core system. When I last tried it on Windows, HQ Video worked.

And FWIW, standard video seems to work fine...

Outside of this problem Skype 2.1 is great so far.

@berkus
It was great news to see the 2.1 beta. I have it installed on a 1GHz machine with 1GB RAM running Ubuntu 9.04 and pulseaudio 0.9.14. The audio quality is really mediocre so I guess this pretty much makes upgrade to 0.9.15 mandatory. I am also using a Logitech headset so I was wondering if there are instructions to direct ringing to an alternate sound device. I noticed other users are having the same problem and it is serious because we cannot hear incoming calls (which pretty much makes it unusable) Thanks again for the release and keep up the good work.
btw Is this the proper forum for this discussion?

The 64-bit package listed on the downloads page is not 64-bit.
$ file /usr/bin/skype
/usr/bin/skype: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.8, stripped

Fedora 9 is no longer supported. Why is a package posted? Fedora 11 is the current release.

Please post a Fedora 11 x86_64 package and other real 64-bit packages instead of doing half the job. Thanks!

@mooninite2:

It was clear all the time that there won't be a native 64-bit version of Skype in near future, berkus has stated that several times. The packages for amd64 which contain the 32-bit version are provided since they depend on necessary 32->64-bit libraries and install them during package installation if necessary. Furthermore you cannot simply install an i386-package on amd64, it's just provided for convinience.

The reason why there won't be a native amd64-version is certainly analogous to Sun's Java Plugin and Adobe's Flash. Both use some highly optimized assembler code which you can't just port from i386 to amd64, you'll have to rewrite it. Skype uses alot of Assembler for performance reasons and for protecting the binaries against disassembling and debugging. They use alot of tricks which can be put into practice with Assembler only.

So, you can only wait until the amd64-version is ready. But I guess the Linux version for amd64 will be first like it was the case for Flash and Java, there are still no native 64-bit plugins for Java and Flash on Windows or Mac.

Adrian

> It doesn't work on debian unstable amd64:
> $ skype
>Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 623: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!
> Any idea?
> Where can I find the old Skype version 2.0.0.72 for Linux?

I fixed this issue on my computer:
- deinstall pulseaudio
- open mc as root and go to /usr/lib32 and remove libpulse* (or move it to the other location)
- execute ldconfig

Now should skype work

@czarnyckm:

Thanks alot, will give it a try ! So, the 32-bit compatibility versions of pulseaudio seem to be the culprit.

Adrian

Ok, where the MANDRIVA version is????
Put it back, now!

Hello Skype devs,

Thanks for the new version! Unfortunately no native x64 version, but at last skype is doing its job again, very cool!!

Currently it is not possible to send the ringing and calling sound ('Speakers' and 'Ringing' devices in sound options) to different devices because they appear in pulse as the same application. I don't know pulse that well, but is it possible to change it so that they appear as different entries is pavucontrol?

Regards,
Jens

@czarnyckm

That did it for me, it now works with amd64 sqeeze

Thank you very much for this update. I had no opportunity to test the high quality video (to see )? but I know, that I was seen in high quality. The sound was perfect.

The only problem is that I cannot use my usb-cam microphone, there's no such option, just pulseaudio. I had to use another mic. My OS is Ubuntu 9.04.

I have Karmic Koala 64bit Alpha 4 on my system. I had to install skype-static-oss on my system to get audio and vidoe to work for 2.0.72. But when I installed the beta of 2.1 my audio and video stopped working. Just an observation. I will keep my eyes open for any solutions to this issue.

If it's QT4 why doesn't take my QT4 style? Scrollbar and others are not the same as KDE.

If it's QT4 why doesn't take my QT4 style? Scrollbar and others are not the same as KDE or QT apps.

@ramon.parada

Run skype with

./skype --disable-cleanlooks

This way skype looks like other kde4 applications

nice job! I am using 64-bit ubuntu 9.04. But, 64-bit ubuntu 8.10 works fine.

Good work but..

ONE PROBLEM:

In Audio Devices Options I cant choose the microphone I want, it's set on pulse and there are no other options. (I have both integrated and external usb mic and I'd like to choose)

ANOTHER:

Cant see the buddy icon of mine as well as the ones of my contacts!

One comment, and one tip that it took me a bit of Googling to find.

Comment: As others have noted, it would be nice to have the option of selecting PulseAudio or ALSA. I had pulseaudio installed but not working (as I'm awaiting an updated version to sort out some problems). I had to uninstall it to get the option to use ALSA. A '--no-pulseaudio' command-line option would be lovely.

Tip: I couldn't find a way to hide offline users. Maybe I missed the option in the GUI. Either way, I found that a keybinding from Skype1.4 still works: Ctrl+U will hide offline users. (It also took me a while to find out where to disable the extra default contact groups, but that at least is in the menus!)

All in all, now that I've got it working with ALSA, that contact groups are enabled, and that I can hide offline users I'm extremely happy!

(Sorry for my bad english)

Just one more idea

It would be nice to review how to select the groups to show. It would be preferable to see a window appear to choose groups. This window would have checkboxes to select all groups at once (and optionally, to choose the order in which the groups appear in the main window). Or do so that the current menu does not disappear each time a checkbox is selected.

As joss.wright said, it would be nice to have an option to hide offline users. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to have an "offline" group that could always show offline contacts (even when the option to hide offline users is activated). Thus the visualization of users would be facilitated, as happens with other programs (ex: sort contacts in hybrid mode option in Amsn). By default, this group would appear last in the list.

Great, just waiting for a x86_64 version to appear as well

The new skype beta works perfectly fine for me (including video) except one issue I discover so far.

If a call is dropped (not properly hang up), the microphone does not work anymore for all the new calls. The other side cannot hear anything from me. The only way to resolve the issue is to logout and login again.

I am running ubuntu 9.04 (x64).

Ok, after happy two days it stopped working. I have Ubuntu 9.04. Other side hears SHHHHHHH SHHHHHHHH instead my voice

Some people have mentioned problems with the microphone stopping working and having to log in and out.

When I had the box checked for skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels I found that often skype would turn the level to zero so that the person on the other end couldn't hear anything. Unchecking that box solved it for me and microphone always works. hope this helps others.

Using Ubuntu Jaunty 64bit.

Hi and thanks a lot for this new release. Soon gonna try and tell how it worked here on Mandriva 2009.1.

However I see that Mandriva has been removed from the officially provided packages, and I will have to blindly install something else (like Fedora or Suse or the generic version) and cross fingers.

I'm sure you know that Mandriva, be it less on the fashion side than Ubuntu or Fedora, is still one of the most used distributions (for example on distrowatch.com it is the 5th in the list on the right).

I'd really like official Skype packages for my favourite distro... This would help more newbies to install them and use Skype. Do you plan to provide them later?

regards

Finally used Skype with video on my Ubuntu 9.04 laptop, rather than having to use a Windows machine. Fantastic! Audio and video worked great for a 30 min conversation. Better late than never! Thanks so much, guys.

@jc-cardot: I don't think the packages really for the several distros differ from each other or to say it differently: I guess they don't compile several versions for several distros but only a static and dynamic version. I think so because I could always run the Ubuntu versions on Debian and vice versa and also the dynamic/static version on any other Linux. Back in the days I build Debian packages of Skype myself, just from the static version provided.

I have discovered another issue with the new version, btw. When I chat to another person (who uses Skype 4.1 for Windows) I experienced the following: I see the person come online, double-click his/her name to chat and type something. However, when the person answers, the answer will not appear in the chat window I opened but Skype has a "new message"-notification and would open a new window once I click the notification.

@berkus:

Couldn't you open a thread/website for collecting all the issues discussed here?

Adrian

Feature request: Call users and phone numbers from command line.

Applications like KAddressBook allow you to configure a command to make calls directly from your address book, with a single click. Very interesting for SkypeOut users and for having more SkypeOut users!! Also being able to send messages/SMS would be great.

Solution1: There are some scripts suposed to do this using Python and DBUS but didn't got any of them to work. Fixing/creating one to be included in the official release.

Solution2: Including that option in the binary command line.

Feature request: Import contacts

One the things I never understood was why Skype doesn't allow you to import contacts from email services like Gmail (remember about Google Domain Tools users), Windows Live, etc like many social services do. Such a feature that made the success of many social websites, also improving user adquisition.

Most of the times you don't add a person directly to your Skype. You start chatting using IM services, more focused in acquisition, and when you canna make a conference you ask "Got Skype?" for it's video and sound quality.

PS: I think Windows Version allow to import contacts from some services and CSV address list but not Gmail.

Feature request: Call alternative number when offline

I may want to call a user while offline. Users can specify home, office and mobile phone numbers at their profiles. But it is not easy to call, you got to rightclick contact, click "View Profile", copy the number, click "Call Phones or Send SMS" and paste the number. So for many users I got mutiple contacts (an Skype user and 1-2 SkypeOut contacts). That could be easier.

PS: Also I may have multiple numbers for contacts who haven't specified any at their profile.

Feature request: Call users and phone numbers from command line (2)

I just checked action_handler script and works!!!

1. Save script to /usr/local/bin/action_handler_1.0.py
2. Open KaddressBook
3. Goto "Settings" menu
4. Select "Configure KAddressBook..." option
5. Introduce "/usr/local/bin/action_handler_1.0.py skype:%N?call" in the "Phone" field

So the idea would be that legal issues where solved to make this script in the package and maybe KDE could introduce that line as default for that line, instead o a blank line.

Problem with dependences with amd64 (64bit version!?!)

Rozpakowanie skype (z .../skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.47-1_amd64.deb) ...
dpkg: problemy z zależnościami uniemożliwiają skonfigurowanie skype:
skype zależy od lib32stdc++6 (>= 4.1.1-21); jednakże:
Pakiet lib32stdc++6 nie jest zainstalowany.
skype zależy od lib32asound2 (>> 1.0.14); jednakże:
Pakiet lib32asound2 nie jest zainstalowany.
skype zależy od ia32-libs (>= 1.6); jednakże:
Pakiet ia32-libs nie jest zainstalowany.
skype zależy od libc6-i386 (>= 2.7-1); jednakże:
Pakiet libc6-i386 nie jest zainstalowany.
skype zależy od lib32gcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1-21+ia32.libs.1.19); jednakże:
Pakiet lib32gcc1 nie jest zainstalowany.
dpkg: błąd przetwarzania skype (--install):
problemy z zależnościami - pozostawiony nieskonfigurowany
Przetwarzanie wyzwalaczy dla desktop-file-utils...
Wystąpiły błędy podczas przetwarzania:
skype

So its a 32bit version packed as amd64 !?!? Thats a obvious lie!!

Then after installing shit load of 32bit libraries on my system.
skype
Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-open.c: 623: _dl_open: Assertion `_dl_debug_initialize (0, args.nsid)->r_state == RT_CONSISTENT' failed!

Hopefully there are now many alternatives like Google Voice/Video working with empathy and pidgin, psi-plus and sip clients like ekiga !!

Again epic fail of Skype!

Ah, I see. Skype starts PulseAudio if it finds it on the system. I'd prefer for Skype to only connect to PulseAudio if the latter is running, or even to have a "Try to start PulseAudio?" checkbox. Possible?

Very nice job with the apparently-device-numbering-proof (?) audio selection under ALSA. I withdraw my previous concern. Of course, now it won't play to my MobilePre ("ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave") (other apps work fine), but things are looking up.

Oh--latest Debian Unstable, 2.6.30, Skype static.

@ramon.parada

Regarding the feature request: Call alternative number when offline

You don't need to do that.. Just rightclick the contact -> Start Call or Send Sms -> Choose the way you want to contact the user.

Nevertheless, it would be nice to "have multiple numbers for contacts who haven't specified any at their profile".

@genki-adrian

I have the same issue. The previous version of skype had the same problem.

Speaking for myself, here is what I can report.

1) On CURRENT, Ubuntu such as 9.04, both of my newer Logitech cams work great (including my STX). And for the guy with 9.10...that would be a driver issue, not a Skype issue.

2) If you don't like Pulse, use mediabuntu repo and install skype-static-oss. From there, setup things however you wish for your audio needs.

3) While it took way too long, you appear to have done a FANTASTIC job for Ubuntu 9.04 32bit users who had no issues with Pulse except on Skype. CPU is no longer hitting 100% and my mic is no longer dropping out during a call.

GREAT JOB, keep up the good work.

@alessandro.ghersi :

Try the tip in this otherwise add-filled website for 9.10.

http://blog.dipinkrishna.info/2009/08/webcam-display-problem-in-skype-on.html

Thanks Skype team. I have been waiting for this update for quite a while. Now I can finally Skype from my Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit system. It is also a relief it now works with Pulse audio.
Great stuff, thanks again!

i agree. we need mandriva and mandriva 64 builds.

Waiting 64-bits packages, at least Static build to run on my Slackware 64.

Thanks for the new Skype 2.1 beta! Some feedback:

Positives:
1. Sound and video quality seems to have improved significantly
2. Like all the improvements to the app itself; maybe a few UI tweaks for the date shown in the message history (separator lines should be better spaced from the messages) and the mood message (option to show mood message as now and also under/on right perhaps?)
3. Liking the new bigger tray icons, although it would be nice to see the same icons in the contact list and "change status" menu.
4. Relieved that the app has NOT gone the same way as the windows Skype. I much prefer the "older fashioned" separate windows of Skype for Linux. It's also much easier for newbies. Please don't start redesigning the app to make it like the win version!
5. As reported by another poster, Skype 2.1 seems to play fine with ALSA and does not need PulseAudio. Are there any benefits to using PulseAudio for Skype?

Negatives:
1. Still having an issue with "show my video"; it shows an empty box to the bottom left of the other caller's video. Also saw this issue in the old version. Turning off and back on 'show my video' will sometimes fix the problem, sometimes not.
2. CPU usage on a video call seems to be very high. On my Core Duo 2Ghz laptop, Skype is using 50% on a 2 way video call using normal quality video (ie. no HQ/HD). CPU use on audio-only is far lower (~9%). The skype guys posted up some time ago that this has to do with drawing video in X using v4l, but how come luvcview can refresh video at 640x480, 30fps using only 8% CPU on my laptop? It's open source guys - why don't you take a look-see at how they do it?
3. Skype is not autodetecting the higher res of my webcam and defaulting to standard res (Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks, up to 2Mpix capable; works in luvcview)
4. Seeing a lot of error/warning messages in the konsole from where I launch skype:

E: socket-client.c: socket(): Address family not supported by protocol
ALSA lib conf.c:3952:(snd_config_expand) Unknown parameters CARD=Intel,DEV=0
ALSA lib pcm.c:2144:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM hdmi:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
ALSA lib conf.c:3952:(snd_config_expand) Unknown parameters CARD=Intel,DEV=0
ALSA lib pcm.c:2144:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM hdmi:CARD=Intel,DEV=0
ALSA lib pcm.c:2144:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM null
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:996:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
...repetitions removed for sanity

Could you post up which versions of QT you have successfully tested this version with? There were lots of bugs with the Video window (buttons disappearing etc) with Skype 2.0 and QT 4.4+, so I had to resort to the static version. Has Skype 2.1 fixed those issues ie. does it now play nice with QT 4.4 and 4.5?

Really great to see a new version. Big improvements where they're needed. Keep up the good work!

hi,
its nive to see that the work around the linux client is still going on.

i dont know where to tell bugs so here two issues i`ve found:

1. i have to start skype as following to use successfully my webcam (like with the old version)

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

2. i couldnt choose my webcam-mic as microphone in the skype-options, there are only pulseaudio entries in the list

greets
phil

Hi everyone,
it seems some are happy with this new version and some not so. I am unfortunately in the latter clutch of miserable users. Why are there NO drop downs to select an audio device? Am I missing something here, as the pulse default is NOT working for me? My pro 9000 webcam is working for video, whilst the Echo Test service is a no go. Absolutely NO sound is evident. I have read some threads which suggest to remove pulse. Is this a viable option, as some users could not log in after this alteration? I am using Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit, which has worked with a previous version of Skype (unfortunately I can't remember exactly which). The older versions seem to be unavailable now though, so I'm stuck with Windows for Skype until a genius out there can offer me some help. I'm sure it will be worth the wait.
Thanks for reading my moan,
Dave

I still can't see pictures of contacts on ubuntu 9.04 x86_64 when using 64bit skype...

@berkus as others pointed out, the said 64bit package for ubuntu contains a 32bit binary. would you, anyway, please make available a (true) 64bit as a tar.bz2? (those files you provide as static/dynamic, since I don't use any of the distros you provide packages for)
thanks in advance!

Awesome.

I am using ubuntu 9.04 and works like a charm. especially like the bigger icons.

one minor glitch though.
Video!
ID 046d:08da Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Messanger works very well with the older version of skype but i get green screens with the new beta

I've tried installing this version on an eee 1000 with opensuse 11.1, pulseaudio upgraded to 0.9.15 and libasound2 v 1.0.20 - it's even worse than before.

It correctly shows the pulseaudio local server as the in/out devices, and makes startup sounds, but if I try to call the Skype test call, it half rings, then crashes PA.

With 0.9.10, it didn't crash, but dropped half the sounds, so unusable.

I see Ubuntu users saying that this works nicely, so I'm hoping that this can be resolved. Thanks for working on this

Clint

@ genki-adrian "Couldn't you open a thread/website for collecting all the issues discussed here?"

If you ever bothered to open skype forum you'd find 4 (FOUR) threads specifically dedicated to that.

@a.asatiani "Other side hears SHHHHHHH SHHHHHHHH instead my voice"

Awsom! It means you can finally open and read that shiny manual called KNOWN ISSUES.

webcam creative live! webcam vista im doesn't work

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 041e:4052 Creative Technology, Ltd Live! Cam Vista I

$ lsmod |grep gspca
gspca_ov519 32900 0
gspca_main 31104 1 gspca_ov519
videodev 44192 1 gspca_main

It is recognized by Skype but show only green and black pixel. It work great with other software.

It works great for me in Ubuntu 9.04 (Pulseaudio 0.9.15). The only issue I've come across is that sometimes received voice and video pause for a few seconds, then the "missing seconds" are being played very fast, as if in fast-forward mode. But I suspect my wireless connection for that. Thanks!

So, I'm on Kubuntu karmic i386.
My first try wasn't so cool, I had only one choise on my audio setup (pulse) and I had frequent freeze of skype.
After that an aptitude safe-upgrade removed all my pulse/gstreamer libray, now I have, in audio setup, my old list (defaut device, HDA Intel, etc...).
Leaving default device will result in a perfect sound, video, and overall working.
So people using karmic should try an aptitude safe-upgrade to remove pulseaudio.

Berkus, I'm impressed about the audio quality skype 2.1 has. Thanks

Thanks a lot for this update -- I've been waiting for it ever since pulse audio has been integrated into ubuntu. Also, yet another thumbs up for deciding NOT to push the interface to look more similar to what windows users get; I believe that the current mac-inspired, more streamlined UI is just perfect.

If Skype crash after start call (pulseaudio enabled) then try uncheck "allow skype to adjust mixer settings" This help me.

Mandriva 2009.1
Pulseaudio 0.9.15

Works very well on a HP dv7 notebook, with Fedora 11.
Thanks again guys, that's what I'm waiting for months!!

Everything works here out of box:
Arch Linux x86_64 with ALSA 1.0.20, without Pulseaudio. Cam was working with 2.0. But I've only tested it with "test" in Skype options, so I don't know if quality is hi. Audio tested with Skype test call.
My camera:
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0c45:62c0 Microdia Sonix USB 2.0 Camera

And one big drawback: I had to install additional 14 libs, which are already on my system (but in 64bit version). So next most important "feature" for me (and probably other 64bit Linux users) is native 64bit version. I hope that you'll release it soon.

regards,
Maciek

On debian amd64 unstable I have following issue:
The sound disappears in the conference call for the conference creator. The conference members have no problems even the creator can speak to them.

Tested on two computers without pulseaudio - pure alsa (audigy 2zs and x-fi)

@berkus

Having trouble with the current beta of Skype. I can hear everything just fine, but my voice is heard very faintly and in the midst of other strange noises...like a radio that hasn't been quite tuned into the correct station. Odd...Skype 2.0 worked just fine after selecting the correct Alsa device. The new version only gives me the PulseAudio option :\

Two thumbs up! Great Job! Thank you, berkus, and the whole skype for linux team!!
Works great on my lappie...)))
Telling all my linux using friends about the news!!!

@Berkus,

Great Job! But for me it is too late. After wait, wait, wait, wait and wait for a pulseaudio support, I changed my voip provider to a local SIP provider to make long distance calls. Now I use ekiga, it is not perfect, but is open source.
With skype, in last few months, I feeled abandoned.

regards,
pativanjf

Finaly SMS function in Skype Linux. Now it would be great if Skype is in my language. Dutch. Anyone know how to add Dutch language support to Skype?

hffrerejean/at/gmail.com

Rob

My laptop microphone doesn't work with this version, all I get is a buzzing sound. Could be a PulseAudio issue as I haven't tested using a mic with PulseAudio through any other apps. It worked through ALSA on the previous Skype though.

Ah, it seems to be working now.

the new skype look better, i use it on 3 computer (only the linux versions).
i cant use on my netbook (and very important), it crash if i write in chat
and i havent backup from older skype version

please help me

3 computer is with Ubuntu Janty (with last upgrades).

w00t!!!!
Works like a charm on a Lenovo SL300 with Ubuntu 9.04 32-bit and Pulseaudio 0.9.14. Even the freakin' video! Still have to try a conference call, which is where is used to really choke, but this is one happy monkey here today.

Can't wait to test it later this evening! Actually all I was really expecting was "the new" audio and codecs, and enhanced/simplified appearance. Two former mentioned ones already seem to be there, but the third is, of course, yet to be tested .

Anyway, great to see some progress, and I'm already thrilled to see some positive feedback!

I would love to see a FreeBSD (7+ or version using OSS.

In Linux world hardly ever anyone is still using 32bit systems. Even adobe and java managed to provide 64bit packages (few years too late though), so what's stopping skype??

Also pulseaudio support doesn't work too well:

*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
E: shm.c: Invalid shared memory segment size
*** PULSEAUDIO: Unable to connect: Connection refused
....

(it was working much better using alsa->pulse plugin in previous version). All other programs I'm using work flawlessly with pulse.

I hope one day, skype on linux will be actually usable (maybe recent change of ownership will speed it up).

@berkus:

I was rather thinking of some kind of website for collecting bugs solely so it would be easier for you guys to collect all issues, but ok, I will check the forums .

@r.piasek (and others still waiting for the amd64-version like me):

You shouldn't urge berkus and his team for the 64-bit version, the code seems to contain alot of i386-specific code and it doesn't seem to be an easy job to port things to 64 bit. I know there are Java and Flash for amd64, but remember how long the Linux community had to wait until it was ready, it tooks several years, didn't?

I think if you're system is setup properly, that is you have the ia32libs installed, there shouldn't be any problem running the 32-bit version on 64 bit and, in fact, I do myself. There was just one issue with the 32-bit compatibility layer of pulseaudio which seems to cause trouble on some versions of Debian but czarnyckm already found a solution for that, please see above.

@maashuk:

Your problem with 64-bit can be fixed easily, see the post from czarnyckm.

Adrian

I was excited to install the beta and it did fix all my previous bugs, however my microphone sound is now so heavily garbled that people can't understand me at all. I can hear perfectly.

In an attempt to fix the problem I disabled my pulse audio with these instructions http://www.jeffsplace.net/node/12 (my version 2.0 had to use the ALSA settings to get it working) and tried all the options that became available with Pulse audio disabled. Unfortunately the garbled sounds were not improved (using skype test call).

I have an HP Pavillion dv6000 with built in speakers, mic and web cam. I am running Ubuntu 9.04. Any help would be appreciated.

@berkus
I have installed skype 2.1beta on Ubuntu 9.04 and upgraded pulseaudio to 9.15. While it somewhat worked with pulseaudio 9.14 now it is completely unusable. No calls can go through and there is no sound at all. The hardware is Intel Pentium III 1.133GHz with 1GB RAM. I am using a Logitech headset (which seems to be working)

The message log indicates this message:
warning: `pulseaudio' uses 32-bit capabilities (legacy support in use)
process `skype' is using obsolete setsockopt SO_BSDCOMPAT

I had to use kill -9 to exit skype as it would not exit the normal way.
Is there something else I can try? What is wrong?
btw I de-installed and installed skype again to see anything will change.

@berkus:
Would it be possible for Skype to detect that the webcam is not natively supported (like mine , and if not, search for v4l2convert.so and use it like in
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype
(and if not present print a message saying that one should install the libv4l-wrappers package from the distribution)?
This would help a lot and save a lot of questions...

Nice update, but on my Ubuntu 9.04 x86_64 install, custom contact icons do not display. Just the generic head w/ green shirt.

Nice update, but on my Ubuntu 9.04 x86_64 install, custom contact icons do not display. Just the generic head w/ green shirt.

Sorry... had to downgrade back to 2.0. The new PulseAudio only requirement means that the microphone in my Logitech Pro 9000 cam is not recognized. Anyone now how to get this mic to work with PulseAudio/Skype?

Berkus,

First, thank you, thank you very much for dealing with the Linux community's complaints about slow release cycles and lack of feature parity with the Win versions. Even though the complaints are justified I think most of us know you are doing the best you can with what you have to work with and we do appreciate your efforts even in the same breath we lament Skype's shortcomings. I am very pleased with the latest release, its stable, supports pulseaudio, and looks and feels very clean and efficient, bravo!

Second, I would like to ask if you have any way to add a feature to simply block all incoming contact authorizations. I know the implications of this and I do not personally care if I never ever receive another contact request (I will add people manually and they will do the same for me). I ask because I, as well as many others, receive close to 100 of these requests per day from spammers trying to get me to click some link or view some webcam, etc. I deny the request and block the user, but it never seems to help. (I do have my privacy settings set to allow only people on my contact list to contact me, but it does not have any effect on contact requests)

You can see more information about what I speak in the following skype forum threads:

http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=49841&st=200
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=370161,
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=360781&st=280
http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=99101&st=0

Most of them are running the windows version, but because you are in direct contact with the linux community so frequently I thought maybe you would have some insight for us.

Is anyone else out there having this problem as well?

@rldasilva: Skype 2.1 does not require PulseAudio. I don't have PulseAudio installed; it runs perfectly with ALSA on my opensuse 11 setup. I am also using the microphone built into my webcam, which is a Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks - afaik exactly the same cam as the QCP 9000 but in a different form factor. So it should all work fine. If you're having issues with PulseAudio, either upgrade it to the latest or remove it altogether.

nb. I am running the Skype beta static build; in the past I found the static build to be more reliable due to conflicts between Skype and the newer versions of QT. Don't know if this has been fixed, but you might want to try the static version.

Custom contact icons display fine here.

I don't want to steer people away from PulseAudio since I believe it is an emerging standard for audio on Linux platforms, however for users who are just interested in getting Skype going and having issues with the new version and PulseAudio, it *does* work with ALSA, and very well in my experience.

@orco.andrea
I have same webcam
You can use ov51x-jpeg (http://www.rastageeks.org/ov51x-jpeg/index.php/Main_Page) driver (and blacklist gspca_ov519) or preload v4l1compat.so library

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

**BUG REPORT**

This concerns contact groups: When logging in, the contact list slowly builds up, and is usually complete in ~10 seconds. However, while building up, the number of online contacts that's written next to the group name doesn't update till you click on any contact name.

So say I had a group called "University (0/20)", and 5 contacts appeared online upon logging in, the number in parentheses still shows (0/20). Once I click anywhere, it jumps to (5/20), and updates in real time.

Nothing major, just a bit strange. I've seen this on the 32-bit Ubuntu package, the static package on Ubuntu 64-bit and Slackware.

**BUG REPORT**

This concerns contact groups: When logging in, the contact list slowly builds up, and is usually complete in ~10 seconds. However, while building up, the number of online contacts that's written next to the group name doesn't update till you click on any contact name.

So say I had a group called "University (0/20)", and 5 contacts appeared online upon logging in, the number in parentheses still shows (0/20). Once I click anywhere, it jumps to (5/20), and updates in real time.

Nothing major, just a bit strange. I've seen this on the 32-bit Ubuntu package, the static package on Ubuntu 64-bit and Slackware.

*************[BUG]****************

amd64 does not contain 64bit binary!!!!

Its ELF32 !!!!

**********************************

Again epic fail

***Bug(s) Report***
64-bit Ubuntu 9.04 - Pulseaudio 1.0.9.15

The Skype 2.1 beta looks really great; but I haven't been able to have a successful call in it yet.

(1) When ever I have called some one, my entire Skype audio (system sounds and call) will go out, so that I cannot hear the other person, and they cannot hear me.

(2) One time, the call froze and Skype crashed randomly.

(3)) Just yesterday, I was adjusting some settings in the options, and Skype froze on me, and then subsequently crashed silently, with no error, or anything of the sort.

I'll give it another whirl later today - thanks!

I installed skype 2.1 beta on a eeepc 701 4G with orig xandros using this tutorial
http://www.eeepc.de/thema-8066-Skype_2.1_beta_installieren.html
works pretty.
thanks for this version- i waited esp for the sms ability

@berkus

"Having trouble with the current beta of Skype. I can hear everything just fine, but my voice is heard very faintly and in the midst of other strange noises...like a radio that hasn't been quite tuned into the correct station. Odd...Skype 2.0 worked just fine after selecting the correct Alsa device. The new version only gives me the PulseAudio option :\"

UPDATE:I believe this was a Linux issue with my built-in mic. I used a headset with Skype 2.1 and it worked wonderfully. Thank you so much for this new version.

Thank you very much for this release. I have been waiting very anxiously for it.

I have installed it on Jaunty x64 and Jaunty i386. Both are working very well.

The x64 version is not showing avatars - but that is same as last release, and is fine.

The i386 version is working well on the MSI Wind u100 netbook. Finds the camera fine, and pulse is doing the job on the inbuilt hardware.

My only problem is that I had a BT Headset configured to work under ALSA in version 2, which I cannot yet use with pulse. I will try the "sudo aptitude safe-upgrade" as mentioned here, and failing that, try uninstalling pulse to see if Skype will then give my ALSA options back.

Outside of that - Brilliant, THANK YOU! I Love the UI the way you have done it. Great Work Team!

Just an update on my last.

Un-installing pulse (and rebooting) has given me the ALSA options back. That's all I need

for anyone else in the same boat using Intrepid/Jaunty/Karmic, from the terminal:

sudo aptitude safe-upgrade

then

sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio

Then reboot. You should have your ALSA settings in SKYPE V2.1 Beta

Hello Skype Community,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 with Ubuntu 9.04, 32bit, with Skype 2.0.0.72 installed. When I run the "Video Devices" "Test", I get green grained lines all over. My usb cam lights up which means the OS is detecting it.

Can some one please help me with this?

Thanks!

Hmmmm hello. I installed the new beta version on my computer, Ubuntu 9.04.
I'm happy to finally be able to edit my message, thanks^^

I only have 3 problems.
1- I cant hear the other side in a voice call
2- the other side can't here me
3- I wanted to un-install this version but I cant. I don't find the way.

In version 2.0 everything worked right. in the beginning I had the same one and two problems on 2.0 version but I could solve it by changing the sounds' options. On version 2.1 I cant change it. There is no other option then that pulseaudio, which non of my microphones work on.....

I want to have Skype 2.0 back only because I cant hear and cant to be heard eventually, but I don't know how. When I press on the file named “skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386” I get a message “Error: A later version is already installed”.

Please help me to un-install 2.1 beta version. (I loved it very much, but most of the time I'm talking on Skype, not typing...)

thank you for building Skype for Linux:)
Shay-li

@samirsajana

Why don't you try skype beta 2.1. That version worked a lot better on my Dell inspiron 15 with Jaunty 64bit.

@sai147

If you installed skype beta using the deb file you should just be able to uninstall in using the "synaptic package manager" on ubuntu and then just install the old version.

Have you opened the volume control on ubuntu and made sure that all the mixer levels are turned up. I found that when I allowed skype to automatically adjust the mixer levels it kept turning them right down. So I switched off this option under skype settings.

Can you tell me what's happened to the CentOS/RHEL versions please? I'm running RHEL5 and from the looks of things I'm not going to be able to upgrade.

I tried it @sai147. Still same green lines, when I do a video device test.

@effzee25 > 5.As reported by another poster, Skype 2.1 seems to play fine with ALSA and does not need PulseAudio. Are there any benefits to using PulseAudio for Skype?

Yes, there are some benefits, for example easy re-routing of skype audio to an appropriate device, saving appropriate volume for this device and auto-pausing of audio/video players when skype call is being made.

> It's open source guys - why don't you take a look-see at how they do it?

We cannot look at GPL code for obvious reasons. So called "open source" is not always very open.

> Could you post up which versions of QT you have successfully tested this version with?

I'm running on Qt 4.5.2 without any problems.

@gsuveg Try removing or completely disabling pulseaudio on the netbook, might help not only with skype, but with overall audio latencies.

@scfarley OSS will be back later, and specifically i'm aiming for an universal build that would work on fbsd as well as on linux (and might work on solaris as well, in emulation).

@r.piasek Do you have 32-bit pulse libraries?

@genki-adrian There's public JIRA, but I think our QA guys still didn't clean up all the 2.0 bugs reported there, so filing more is kinda pointless there, forum threads provide at least some collection points for now. Also, as I see feedback is mostly positive with only several problems with 64 bits (unsurprisingly) and video cam drivers here and there.

Everybody who has issues with audio, please take a look at the next post here, in explains some problems and suggests workarounds.

@berkus:

Thanks for your reply. I could get Skype 2.1 running with ALSA on Debian Squeeze amd64 with the tips mentioned above to delete the pulseaudio stuff in /usr/lib32 and running ldconfig.

However, I cannot get it to work with pulseaudio on Ubuntu 9.10. The sounds works until I call someone, at this point sound is muted and I cannot close Skype without kill -9 anymore. But I blame Ubuntu for that, they are using a beta version of pulseaudio (0.9.16) in Ubuntu 9.10. Hope they will downgrade before release or this gets fixed in pulseaudio soon.

Adrian

@berkus:

Very good! Thanks for the Updates page--sounds like a FAQ. The additional Pulse tips were especially good. Now if only I spoke Russian...

Bug report/feature request? Make Skype respect the windowmanager size advice upon startup. My skype seems to respect position, but is always about 240x505 or so (Skype static 2.1.0.47, Debian Sid, Sawfish 1.3.5.2 (not that you should have to support every window manager out there, but I assume they all do things similarly... of course this _is_ Linux...), looking for Class "Skype/skype"). It looks like Skype might start up at one size (which may respect the WM's hints for all I can tell...?) and then very quickly resize, losing the info? A great alternative might be to remember the size of the window at shutdown and to restore that.

Another startup annoyance: sometimes I'll minimise Skype rather than closing it. Then when I start it, it pops up saying "Another Skype instance may exist". That's great, but if I now close both, and start Skype again, it's lost the fact that I want it to remember me and log me in. My favourite choice for an alternative would be to kick off older instances or to send chats/calls to all instances--whenever I log in, all chats/calls go to the Skype most recently started or to all of them, etc. This would be especially handy if I have Skype at work and at home (or several virtual machines etc), and I miss calls because they're going to where I'm not.

Thanks!
-Ben

Skype 2.1 is absolutely terrible. The second i installed it everything stopped working. My mic, my speakers and all my sound applications. After i rebooted i found that it ONLY recognizes pulseaudio, so i cant use my ALSA headset. Ive been lookin all over the internet for a downgrade but couldnt find one. Does anyone know where i can fin Skype 2.0?

@cazmeus Take a few deep breaths friend! That's even more hysterical than complaining here about problems on Karmic Koala alphas.
This is a beta; expect to meet some issues. If you want to downgrade despite below, there is a skype.com link in prev blog comments - although I'd be surprised if it's not simple via Download.
You might also have read a thread on re-disabling pulseaudio in the forums. First note Berkus' next blogpost.
Best wishes

Is there any reason why this isn't updated in the Skype repository? This one: http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/

Still showing the old version.

Just found this update today and installed it. Really smooth install on Ubuntu 8.10 (amd64) from the package file.

Everything works well and there are some great new features (although I am very jealous of a friend on a Mac who can share his screen - this is very cool!)

My only issue is that when I call someone (or vice versa), the microphone is picking up the sound from the speakers and so they get an echo. The did not happen with the previous version (2.0.0.72) - anyone else having this problem and any ideas on how to fix it?

the debian package doesn't install for me. this is what i get:
# dpkg -i skype-debian_2.1.0.47-1_i386.deb
(Reading database ... 257273 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace skype 2.0.0.72-1 (using skype-debian_2.1.0.47-1_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement skype ...
dpkg-deb (subprocess): short read in buffer_copy (failed to write to pipe in copy)
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste returned error exit status 2
dpkg: error processing skype-debian_2.1.0.47-1_i386.deb (--install):
short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/bin/skype')
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
skype-debian_2.1.0.47-1_i386.deb

well, nevermind... apparently my download got interrupted. i downloaded again and everything worked great.

Hello

First of all, thank you very much for this new release !

Since it's a beta version, I would like to install this new release without uninstalling my current version that took me time to configure correctly.

is there a way to do it ?
a kind of sandbox for testing compatibility with my system ?

I would like very much to try this new version, but I really don't want to lose my audio configuration and being on a situation where I can't call or can't receveive call

Thanks you very much

FYI: I'm on Ubuntu

Thank you very much for your linux support efforts. I guess I was not easy since the community is quite often angry on Skype for long release periods and lack of some basic features like type notifications, contacts management, etc.

I'm very pleased with new Linux demo version since it addresses all good things I was missing as a Linux only user. Good work and thank you once again.

Sinisa Perovic

Like many others, I'm looking forward to using this, but all 3 of my machines are now running Fedora 11 x86_64 - and the 2.1 beta for Fedora is still just a 32-bit app.
Please, please give us a native 64-bit build for Fedora!

I discovered, by the hard way, that if I let "Allow Skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels" turned on, it freezes skype audio when starts a call. The skype UI keep working, but no sound at all and the only way to close skype and reopen it to get the sound back, is killing the process, sometimes only root can kill it, I don't know why. But let this option off and all works as expected.

Only one thing! I'm able to pair and connect to my Bluetooth ear-peace using blueman but I can not find a way to tell Skype or Pulseaudio to use it.
What is the secret, guys?

Thanx
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Mandriva 2009.1 (2.6.29.6-desktop-2mnb #1 SMP i686 AMD Athlon(tm) X2 Dual-Core QL-62 GNU/Linux)
pulseaudio-0.9.15-2.0.6mdv2009.1
alsa-utils-1.0.19-1mdv2009.1
bluez-alsa-4.33-3.2mdv2009.1

Here's a problem you might be able to address before the 2.1 final release ...

My webcam, according to lsusb is:
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:08ae Logitech, Inc. QuickCam for Notebooks

In skype 2.1.0.47 the video image I get is gibberish, but in older 2.0 versions of skype I got a fairly good image. In other apps, e.g. ekiga, I get an ok image.

Part of this can probably be blamed on the webcam as even in applications that "work" the bottom few lines in the video is garbled. I ekiga I get warning messages printed to the console like these:

libv4lconvert: Error decompressing JPEG: unknown huffman code: 0000ffff
libv4lconvert: Error decompressing JPEG: unknown huffman code: 0000ffff
libv4lconvert: Error decompressing JPEG: unknown huffman code: 0000fff6
...

So the output from the webcam is not correct, but both ekiga and earlier versions of skype are much better than the skype 2.1 beta in dealing with this problem.

It turned out to be a v4l2 problem ... Using v4l1 get me back to the old behaviour:

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

Thanks for the new version. I wasn't looking forward to having to capture with PulseAudio, but in fact it works very well, a great improvement on 2.0.

I have encountered two bugs, one of which is a showstopper unfortunately (which means I am going to have to go back to 2.0):

1. Video on my SPCA 561 device no longer works. I have tried restarting Skype, also rmmodding and modprobing the drivers, but all I get is green garbage. On another application (Cheese) I can still see the video fine. Could this be due to the changes in the SPCA drivers with kernel 2.6.31? This particularly affected my camera in that certain serious bugs were corrected.

2. I sent an SMS yesterday, having previously had my mobile number validated as the "from" number. However the reply that the recipient sent me did not arrive. I would be surprised if this was due to the cellular network since we are both with the same mainstream Belgian service provider and I have not heard of this kind of problem on domestic SMS's within Belgium.

I report the same problem. Using skype linux 2.1 beta with a Logitech Orbit AF webcam (ie. one of the "official" HQ video cams) on a core 2 duo system in 64 bit mode, I find that after putting in the 640x480 lines to config.xml, the first video stream sent is 320x240, and if I stop and restart it is then sending 640x480. Though not more than 15fps but that may be bandwidth related, though we got faster on windows.

However, there is a problem the other way. The other computer is also sending 640x480, but Skype's standard window is 320x240, and when I ask to view it double size or full screen, it certainly appears to me that I am seeing a blown up 320x240 video, not a 640x480 video but of course this can be difficult to tell.

Too bad because I have certainly been waiting for HQ video for a while on linux. HQ video is the best thing about Skype and it's been annoying to have to boot up Windows to get it!

@claumond.bd.mu Just download the tarball version and uncompress it into some directory. Run skype binary from there.

My microphone quit working.
I cannot configure the pulseaudio tool to work properly.
Will someone PLEASE make the old verison available?
-John (pentium 4, ensoniq audio, ubuntu 9.04)

Update: Works now. Uninstalling all the pulse libraries forced Skype back to ALSA.

Thanks to Berkus for clearing things up over at http://share.skype.com/sites/linux/

It would be very nice if you could implement an option to not show skype in the notification area. This way an integration with the "messaging menu" on ubuntu could be made very nice (see http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=7530321&postcount=12) for an example). Users controlling skype through i.e pidgin using the api would also benefit from such a feature.

One bug I see with the chat windows:

Sometimes, I'll write a message to someone, and they will reply, but a new window will appear with their reply. The result is I have 2 chat windows with the same user open at the same time. This was also the case for Skype 2.

Thanks, Skype 2.1 is great!

With the previous skype version for linux, I could search for and chat to new people.

In 2.1 beta I seem unable to chat to anyone new. It usually says something like "Cannot add unauthorised person" even though I am not trying to add anyone. I've gone back to the old version twice now just to make new friends.

Congrats for the new version!

hi there,

when removing pulseaudio on ubuntu 9.04, it says that it will remove along with it also the ubuntu-desktop, which i probably need, as im on a desktop machine.

how to procede?

can not use pulseaudio since skype doesnt allow me to select usb headset for voice

regards
Tibor

Tibor, you can simply disable pulseaudio server, there are numerous howto's and links from forum and posts in this blog also.

I gave the new beta a good run and found cam and voice were well supported in Ububuntu Jaunty. But as I stated in a previous posting, whenever I want to chat to someone new I have to uninstall the beta and go back to the old version because the new one just doesn't let me message anyone new!!! It is very annoying. If people don't want to receive messages from people they don't know they can set that preference in the options. The new linux beta takes that one step further but not even letting you message someone not on your list. Please address this bug.

I have Kubuntu 9.10 and I'm having problems getting my external USB speakers working with Skype. In Phonon, I set up the USB speakers to have precedence over the other audio output options. When I test the USB speakers in Phonon, they work and they work with Amarok too. In Skype, when I look at the options for sound devices, the USB speakers are detected when they are plugged in, but when I test them, there is no sound. Also, even though I have the USB speakers at the highest precedence in Phonon, the sound will come out of the laptop speakers when I choose the default device for the speakers. Is this something that can be configured away, or is this just part of the difficulty with Linux sound? Thank you for any help, and I will happily provide more information if needed.

@natsbar Your description is a bit confusing. Do you have USB speakers selected as output device in Skype? If so, please produce logs and send them to me (how to make logs you can find on our forum).

Hi,

I am on Ubuntu 9.10 AMD64 and Skype 2.1.0. Everything works great with me except one thing: I can't copy text in the chat windows.

Anyone help, please?

Thanks.

Works great on Ubuntu 9.10 64... Now hopefully, you'll start working on full screen video and we can move on from windows to Linux...