Skype 4.0 For Linux Now Available

An anonymous reader writes "Anyone who uses Skype on Linux will be happy to hear that a new version has been made available today, bringing with it a host of essential updates and new features. Skype 4.0, codenamed "Four Rooms for Improvement," is long overdue, and Marco Cimmino makes a point of thanking Linux users for their patience on the Skype blog. The main improvements Skype is delivering include much improved audio call quality, better video support, and improved chat synchronization. For video specifically, Skype has spent time implementing support for a much wider range of webcams, so if your camera didn't work before today you might be surprised to find it does in Skype 4.0. Visually, Skype has received a new Conversations View, which brings all chats into a single, unified window (you can revert to the old view if you prefer). There's also a new Call View, presence and emoticons have been redesigned, and you can now store and view numbers within each Skype profile."

Comments

Just in time for the Ads

[Anonymous Coward]

Just in time for the Ads

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[Anonymous Coward]

Aren't the ads only there if you want to call for free?

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[artor3]

Yes, but that doesn't matter to the sort of people who have turned hatred of a particular company into a sort of religion.

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Heh yeah, they'll be rolling in hundreds of click-throughs!

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[ozmanjusri]

People who have turned hatred of a particular company into a sort of religion.

The foundations of most religions are based on common sense. Some of their beliefs and activities seem ridiculous now because they're responding to events or conditions that ended centuries or millennia ago.

For many contributors here, our distaste for matters Microsoft are based on things that happened during our lifetimes, and are often still happening.

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[Anonymous Coward]

Freeloading? I cannot freeload what is mine by rights. We are pretty much living in a post-scarcity society. Denying me the fruits of that civilization is an affront to my humanity. It's the same reason why I don't work for a living, and never have. Yet all my needs are met. We don't need everyone to be able to pay for things anymore. That age has ended.

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[LordLimecat]

Which would you rather have: skype for linux which has received precisely no updates in something like 6 years because it gives no benefit to the vendor, or an update with ads which at least ensures that it will receive future attention?

You know, if you dont like the ads you can use your own VoIP service. Ekiga is right there waiting, if you want your small userbase and your poor bandwidth usage.

You do realize that ads are responsible for the wide variety of free services we receive on the internet, right? That includes slashdot, in fact, in case you werent aware.

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[LordLimecat]

Microsoft just gave Skype on linux the first update its had in about 6 years.

How exactly is this a bad thing?

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[MrKaos]

It's really odd to you that "MS", an abbreviation that Microsoft itself uses, doesn't get the same attention as M$?

Boy, did you wake up on the wrong side of the smarts bed today.

MS has long been the abbreviation for Multiple Sclerosis. M$ has long been the abbreviation for Microsoft. I don't understand why it's such a big deal to call Microsoft by the long known abbreviation to some people.

Anyway I'm just glad that skype client for Linux has been updated - so thanks.

Re:Just in time for the Ads

[Bernal KC]

OK, I'm about an eon late in /. time, but as an author of the update, let me clue you in. No ads in this client. Not in any screen or in any form.

Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[icebike]

Years and years waiting for a decent version of skype for linux drove me to other solutions.
I no longer use skype for anything.

Still I'm utterly astounded that it took Microsoft ownership to finally pry a halfway decent and up to date version from the developers. I presume all the wiretap hooks are now in place, now that all the calls are routed thru Microsoft's servers, and the CLEA people are happy?

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Hatta]

Indeed. Why skype when SIP supports video?

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[busyqth]

Honest question: What's the SIP solution for receiving calls on my PC/Cellphone in America that were placed to a foreign telephone number by people in that foreign country?

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[jawtheshark]

A local SIP/POTS gateway?

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Riceballsan]

Not sure of a SIP one, but there is the XMPP route of google voice.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

However, it is entirely possible that their house counsel takes a slightly different view of their obligations under CALEA than some Swede with an LLC in Luxembourg and a p2p network...

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Gadget_Guy]

Still I'm utterly astounded that it took Microsoft ownership to finally pry a halfway decent and up to date version from the developers.

I think it is interesting how Microsoft didn't get a mention at all in the summary or the article considering that the story is about them release software for Linux. And yet prior to Microsoft aquiring Skype they were directly blamed for Skype dropping other clients. It seems we only want to mention Microsoft when bad things are happening, even if it has nothing to do with them.

That said, it is interesting that the Skype website wasn't immediately rebranded with Microsoft logos. It seems MS are underplaying their ownership of this cross platform service. Perhaps they did some market research and found that their name would make users on non-Windows platforms aprehensive. You only need to look at the predictions of doom and gloom in the various Skype stories here on /. to appreciate that.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[symbolset]

Microsoft and Linux go together like gasoline and chocolate. No way am I installing their ware on my stuff.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[guisar]

Well under Linux many solutions such as Ekiga can accomplish this either entirely under SIP or with a bridge to other systems like XMPP. If you'd like a less technical solution, you just open an account with a provider (I use sipgate and voipcheap but there are thousands of others: http://www.moreofit.com/similar-to/www.sipgate.co.uk/Top_10_Sites_Like_Sipgate/?&page=2), configure your client (I use the one built into Android and Yate) and go! Obviously you can't call a phonenumber with video call but SIP has an email like "address" or you can directly call international and national phone lines for voice com. I regularly talk to mobile users in Ghana from the US for around 7 - 15cents/ minute. In the US and to many european countries the calls to landlines are free and to mobiles are virtually free. All SIP to SIP calls are free with my providers.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Guspaz]

Best avoid the Linux kernel, then; there's Microsoft code in it.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Edwin_OS]

What worth Skype alternatives have you found?

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[humanrev]

Interesting yes, but not totally surprising. For all the legitimately intelligent people here, a lot of them (as well as the rest I suppose) are total hypocrites. There's a reason Slashdot is laughed at by other tech sites.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Gadget_Guy]

Microsoft and Linux go together like gasoline and chocolate. No way am I installing their ware on my stuff.

I think that this was probably meant as a to reply to this post rather than mine.

But seriously, if you really want to avoid Microsoft software (and let's face it, we all know your feelings on that subject) then it is even more important to mention the name of the company in the summary. And even if you do not want to use the software yourself, you can at least become better informed as to what modern Microsoft practices are like so that you don't continue to make the assumption (which was not unreasonable at the time) that Microsoft would drop Linux support for Skype.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

My suspicion would be that Microsoft doesn't much care about what Slashdoters think about Skype(though they do run an awful lot of banner ads here, so maybe we should feel valued...); but that they(likely correctly) wanted to maintain a marketing separation between 'Skype', which has a very strong brand as a cheap-n-consumery chat setup with some low cost and reasonably functional POTS add-ons and whatever iteration of 'Live Communications Server' or 'Microsoft Voice Foundation for SharePoint Server' or similar product will end up incorporating the core technology in Active Directory-integrated and definitely not cheap-n-consumery form.

The matter isn't quite as urgent(because there isn't an obvious strong contender in danger of eating Skype's lunch); but Microsoft's stance on email has been fairly similar: 'Hotmail' did, eventually become 'Windows Live Mail'(some of the time); but you never, ever see any marketing link between 'Exchange' or 'Outlook' and 'Hotmail' or 'Windows Live Mail'(they even killed 'Outlook Express' as the name for their free-and-lousy consumer mail client).

It remains to be seen how much their competitors will allow them to continue doing this; but it looks to me like Microsoft has a distinct aversion to drawing too-close a tie between 'consumer' and 'enterprise' products.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[jedidiah]

Are you sure that's necessary.

You can probably just get away with avoiding the relevant Microsoft-centric kernel modules. It's not their so-called contributions are very wide in scope.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[jedidiah]

Modern Microsoft practices?

You mean like subverting standards bodies, patent trolling over vfat, and pushing ARM vendors to lock their bootloaders so Linux can't even start?

Those modern Microsoft practices?

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Trogre]

As another person dissatisfied with Skype, could you please take a bit of time to describe what other solutions you are using?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[symbolset]

Words mean things. An expectation is not quite an assumption. The meaning of these two words is close but not quite the same.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[ozmanjusri]

Turns out Microsoft is really interested in your conversation with your grandma.

Possibly not. But they would be interested in cooperating with governments for this sort of behaviour.

In 2001, the Australian government refused permission for the Norwegian ship MV Tampa to enter Australian waters because it was carrying 400 refugees who had been rescued from a sinking boat. Prime Minister John Howard sent Australian special forces to board the ship and prevent the refugees from being disembarked.

This created a major controversy in the run up to a general election.

Years later, the inspector general of Intelligence and Security found that in addition to the "extensive-and legal-surveillance of communications" to and from the Tampa, the government used illegal phone taps to monitor the communications between the lawyer for the shipping line and his clients.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_affair

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Gadget_Guy]

What is the difference between the words that would impact my original post?

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[jo_ham]

So my grandma uses that too, right?

The point of widespread communication systems is that you can get in touch with people.

The answer to "why skype [on Linux]?" is "because it works". How is the increased number of choices bad? It's almost infinitely more likely that someone will be reachable via Skype than via something that really doesn't have traction beyond geeks using Linux and OSS exclusively. Part of the whole battle to make Linux much more accessible to the general public is having software that people want to use. Up-to-date Skype on Linux is a win/win for all concerned; both from Microsoft's end (more users make the service as a whole more valuable) and for users (since the software is available) and since it removes one more hurdle to Linux adoption for the general public ("I might try it out, but can I run [$piece of common software] on it?").

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[symbolset]

You're putting words in my mouth.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Com one, it was over four years ago when they bribed ISO delegates to pass OOXML as an international standard. They're totally over it by now!

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[shutdown -p now]

That said, it is interesting that the Skype website wasn't immediately rebranded with Microsoft logos. It seems MS are underplaying their ownership of this cross platform service

It was actually a demand from Skype to be left alone as a team. Apparently, their CEO even demanded that their office keycards would have Skype logo on them, and not MS.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[houghi]

I use http://www.poivy.com/en/index.html to make my international calls.
It is just one of the Betamax VoIP providers. A list can be found here:
http://www.backsla.sh/betamax

What I do is call a fix number, which asks for the line I want to call. Or when I have an Internet connection, I use the Android app.

When I do a payment, I get 90 days free calling. After that it is still extremely cheap. Now it is 2 cents per minute for Spain.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Vintermann]

Google+ Hangouts. The only people I regularly video chat with is my family.

There are a lot of interesting tech contacts I have too, that it could be potentially interesting to video chat with. They are also on Google+. My old high school classmates aren't on Google+, but I wasn't planning on video chatting with them.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[silentcoder]

Doesn't have to - you can configure and compile your kernel with only the pieces you want, and leave the Microsoft code out if you don't want it.

If you use the Linux-Libre builds of the kernel from Gnusense (which are already packaged so they can be installed on Ubuntu-like systems) then there is nothing in there which isn't GPL'd.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[david.given]

At work we use Skype. The features we use include: IM, IM chat rooms, direct file sending, audio calls, audio callout to real phones, audio conference calls, audio conference calls with real phones, screen remoting, video calls (occasionally). This all has to run on Linux, Windows, OSX, and Android.

I've been unable to find any competing product that does all of this at the same time. So we use Skype, which I loathe.

(Skype's notifications on Linux are so terrible that people have got into the habit of talking to me by IM and then sending me a text message to remind me to look at the Skype window. That's poor...)

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Z_God]

Jitsi should do all of this.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Alex Belits]

Actually no, there isn't. It's only compiled for kernels intended to run under Microsoft virtualization. No one but Microsoft and its best friends is stupid enough to do that.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Alex Belits]

You are an idiot. Shut up.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Alex Belits]

Black slaves wearing cotton shirts were hypocrites by your definition, too.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[hobarrera]

So my grandma uses that too, right?

The point of widespread communication systems is that you can get in touch with people.

The answer to "why skype [on Linux]?" is "because it works".

"Because it works" isn't enough. There's plenty of solution that "just work", I expect more. Like reliability, the ability to use it anywhere, a standard protocol, and no "unknown stuff" going on in the background. The client reading /etc/passwd and lots of encrypted transmission even when not in use isn't an atractive feature when there's plenty of other choices that don't do obscure stuff.

How is the increased number of choices bad? It's almost infinitely more likely that someone will be reachable via Skype than via something that really doesn't have traction beyond geeks using Linux and OSS exclusively.

I know two people who use skype. I have circa 100 XMPP contacts. Mainly gmail users, but I still say people are most reachable by skype.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Guspaz]

Microsoft's contributions are GPL'd.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[LordLimecat]

Because skype is far more reliable and better quality, as well as being free and 0-hassle setup.

Skype also supports video, incidentally.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[atisss]

You can actually run external notifications script from skype and tie that into zenity or gnome-notify (Notifications -> Extended):

/home/atis/.Skype/notify.sh "%type" "%sskype" "%sname" "%smessage" "%type" "%sname" "%fname" "%fpath" "%smessage" "%fsize" "%sskype"

Doesn't work correctly for group chats however.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[david.given]

Don't tell everyone! Then I won't have an excuse for ignoring people any more!

(Thanks.)

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[humanrev]

I don't understand your example.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[jo_ham]

And again, you demonstrate why Linux is a niche on the desktop market.

You expect "more", so do I, but my mum expects to be able to chat with her friends and relatives. I can't "force" them all to use something different when Skype works very well for them. With an updated version of Skype on Linux it removes one more barrier to adoption for those looking outside of Windows (or who have technical help who can now consider more options).

It's not all about the technically literate any more - it's about everyone.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[hobarrera]

But my mom already used something different.
Why would I want to adopt skype because there's a new version, if I don't have a reason to do so, and why would my mom? Or anyone else?

I expect MORE benefits on skype if I'm to ever consider using it. Otherwise, I'll just stick to what works.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[hobarrera]

XMPP. Google Talk also speaks XMPP, so you get a huge userbase from them.
Personally, I use pidgin as an XMPP client.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[jo_ham]

You and both other people can keep on doing that.

Everyone else will keep using Skype, and are glad that MS is keeping it up to date on platforms other than Windows after their acquisition of the software.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[hobarrera]

As I said before; I only know two people who use skype, while I have circa 100 XMPP (mostly gmail) contacts.
Skype isn't the dominant player in the market, and there's no reason for people to adopt it unless it offers extra feature/benefits. "just works" isn't enought to migrate over to a non-dominating platform.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying Microsoft

[Bernal KC]

You presume incorrectly. Its part of the /. DNA, post quickly, having a clue optional.

The update has almost nothing to do with the Microsoft purchase, other than to server as more evidence of their commitment to building Skype as an ubiquitous, network-wide, open (as in platform neutral) platform for real time communication. The credit for this release belongs to the devs that kept the build alive over the years so our release team could hammer this release home. I will note that the Skype network and product ecology has always benefited from our Linux builds. I'm personally gratified to finally reward our Linux users with a long overdue infusion of the latest Skype tech.

64 bit?

[metageek]

The most important question is whether they made a native 64 bit version? [for those of us who don't want to pollute our machines with 32-bit compatibility libraries]

Re:64 bit?

[blackpaw]

Yes they did, though I haven't tried it yet.

Re:64 bit?

[metageek]

Great!

Weird times, though: this puts me in a position of wanting to thank Microsoft...

Re:64 bit?

[metageek]

Are you sure?
I've downloaded both the static and dynamic versions and they are only 32-bit... where did you find information about a 64-bit version?

Re:64 bit?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the "64bit" version is still 32 bit:

$ dpkg-deb -I skype-ubuntu_4.0.0.7-1_amd64.deb
  new debian package, version 2.0.
  size 29342422 bytes: control archive= 4552 bytes.
            32 bytes, 1 lines conffiles
          904 bytes, 21 lines control
        9835 bytes, 137 lines md5sums
  Package: skype
  Version: 4.0.0.7-1
  Section: non-free/net
  Priority: extra
  Architecture: amd64
  Depends: lib32stdc++6 (>= 4.1.1-21), lib32asound2 (>> 1.0.14), ia32-libs, libc6-i386 (>= 2.7-1), lib32gcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1-21+ia32.libs.1.19)
  Conflicts: skype-mid, skype-common
  Replaces: skype-mid, skype-common
  Installed-Size: 34742
  Maintainer: Skype Technologies
  Description: Skype
    .
    Skype is software that enables the world's conversations.
    Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls,
    send instant messages and share files with other Skype users.
    Everyday, people also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles.
    .
    * Make free Skype-to-Skype calls to anyone else, anywhere in the world.
    * Call to landlines and mobiles at great rates.
    * Group chat with up to 200 people or conference call with up to 25 others.
    * Free to download.

Re:64 bit?

[jawtheshark]

The poster is probably just confused by the fact that there are 64 bit packages available, with 32 bit binaries inside.

Re:64 bit?

[blackpaw]

Well bugger. I stand corrected.

Re:64 bit?

[whoever57]

I've downloaded both the static and dynamic versions

Where did you find a static version of 4.0?

Re:64 bit?

[Ingenium13]

Exactly. The 64-bit version won't even install on my 64-bit version of Ubuntu 12.04. It complains of dependency errors with ia32-llbs and how it can't install it or ia32-libs-multiarch. That said, the 32-bit version installs and runs just fine. It also finally fixes the nasty bug of using 100% CPU while on a video call.

Re:64 bit?

[mister_playboy]

It's no more dumb than the fact the Skype devs apparently can't figure out how to compile using 64-bit libs.

Even the cheapest machines come with 4GB of RAM nowadays, so the time to go 64-bit is now.

Re:64 bit?

[diego.viola]

$ readelf -a $(which skype) reports ELF32 on archlinux.

http://sprunge.us/RTJa

Re:64 bit?

[Robert Zenz]

Wait until you've used it.

No, no snarky undertone...I didn't use it (never will), but wait until you've actually used software before thanking the developers.

Re:64 bit?

[galanom]

You have to pollute it. Wine needs to install 32 bit compatibility libraries. Unless you're satisfied with humble indie games.

Re:64 bit?

[bill_mcgonigle]

Is there a context switch performance hit when the kernel is doing its multilib thing? Do registers need to get swapped out, for instance?

Re:64 bit?

[mrdtr]

Strange - I installed the 64-bit version this morning, no dependency errors, and it runs fine. I'm on Kubuntu 12.04 64-bit.

I know people are complaining

[bogie]

But at least they are supporting linux with it vs not. The bottom line is when your trying to use Linux as your desktop OS and need to Skype with someone they don't want to hear "Just download X client and we'll use that instead of Skype". Maybe the people forcing you to run Skype to communicate with them should care about open standards but like most people they probably just want to use something that's familiar and easy to use.

Great news

[Anonymous Coward]

I have been quite happy with the Skype client for Linux up to this point and I am excited to see what new improvements they have. I know a lot of people were worried MS might kill Skype on Linux, but it looks like they are going in the opposite direction. They are using Linux for super nodes and updating the Linux client. This is great!

I'll remain firmly in the past, thank you.

[notgm]

The last time I allowed Skype to update, it broke Excel.

No thanks.

Re:I'll remain firmly in the past, thank you.

[busyqth]

Was that the Linux version of Excel?

Re:I'll remain firmly in the past, thank you.

[jampola]

C'mon, some people clearly run Excel in Wine!

Re:Oh Linux...

[semi-extrinsic]

I don't get this part. Skype should only interface with libv4l, an the kernel handles the drivers. We've had support for pretty much every webcam out there since 2.6.27, so what has Skype improved?

Re:Oh Linux...

[Jorl17]

Exactly. Skype uses an interface, it shouldn't adapt to webcams -- that paart of the implementation. As far as I know, most webcams out there are also supported implementation-side. What *could* happen is a misuse of the interface by Skype. For the record, I never had issues with my 4 webcams in skype, though I really don't videochat that much.

Re:2.2 version no ads.

[Jorl17]

Exactly. I, for one, as an occasional skype-to-skype user, very much plan to stay with my version -- It just works.

Piss poor distro support

[fnj]

Ubuntu 10.04, Debian 6.0, Fedora 16, and OpenSUSE 12.1 ONLY. Are you kidding me?

Re:Piss poor distro support

[redneckmother]

Ubuntu 10.04, Debian 6.0, Fedora 16, and OpenSUSE 12.1 ONLY. Are you kidding me?

Perhaps those are the distros they wish to "embrace, extend, and extinguish"? (/cynical)

Re:Piss poor distro support

[xororand]

There's a generic dynamic & a generic static binary tarball.
I'm using the former in a TinyCore virtual machine.
The complete VM is about 140 megabytes and includes ALSA sound, Fluxbox, Chromium and Skype.

I can upload it as a VirtualBox appliance if anyone's interested,

Re:Piss poor distro support

[jedidiah]

Use alien and treat it like a generic tarball if you need too.

Some people even call those "Slackware packages".

Re:Piss poor distro support

[iroll]

Well, since Debian, Fedora, SUSE, and their derivatives probably have a >90% "market" share, I'd say it's a pretty good start.

Or was that the joke? =)

Re:Piss poor distro support

[pithdillinja]

Works fine on Arch Linux. I don't see that in your list.

Re:Piss poor distro support

[Vintermann]

Tarball: .tar.gz.
Slackware package: .tgz.

Slackware packages are also tarballs, but they contain some standardized scripts for configuration and installation on slackware. They are typically binary-only packages as well, as opposed to regular tarballs which typically (but far from always) are used for source distribution.

Re:Piss poor distro support

[silentcoder]

>Tarball: .tar.gz.
>Slackware package: .tgz.

>Slackware packages are also tarballs, but they contain some standardized scripts for configuration and installation on slackware. They are typically binary-only packages as well, as opposed to regular tarballs which typically (but far from always) are used for source distribution

Actually that's not quite true. Slackware does still support tgz packages but ever since slackware 13 they have not been standard. All standard slackware packages are in, and all official slackbuilds produce, txz packages which are compressed with lzma.
The slackware package tools handle the two formats interchangeably (it's just the compression that's been changed) but I'm not sure that alien is even aware of that - and all official slackware scripts as well as any post slack-13 accepted SBO slackbuilds are required to produced txz instead.

Chat window width?

[White Flame]

One of the STUPIDEST and most annoying things about the newer versions on Windows is that chat windows have an arbitrary fixed max width to the text, with forced linewrapping! You can fullscreen it to your widescreeny heart's content, and be greeted with nothing but giant blank white areas on either side, with just a slit of text down the middle furiously wrapping itself.

This SUCKS for pasting in source code or any other material with intentional linebreaks, and I haven't found anything to be able to allow the text to flow freely through arbitrary window widths, like old versions did. (If there is such an option, please let met know!)

I'm quite content to keep my Skype version outdated, because we use it a lot for communicating with remote developers and this comes up a ton.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying GV.

[busyqth]

Ok, but I don't need an external device or a foreign landline to do this with skype...

4.0 with new improved annoyances!

[nurb432]

No thanks.

So who is doing video/audio over jabber?

Re:4.0 with new improved annoyances!

[silentcoder]

>So who is doing video/audio over jabber?

Google ? Jingle is just a jabber extension.

Re:4.0 with new improved annoyances!

[nurb432]

I was thinking more open than google, but yes they would qualify too.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying GV.

[Guspaz]

You don't need an external device or a foreign landline to do it with pure SIP either...

For example, say you're in the US, but you want calls to a Canadian number to be routed to your PC/cellphone/landline/whatever. You'd pay $1/mth to a company like voip.ms for a DID (Direct Inward Dialing, basically a phone number), and set it up to forward calls to either an existing telephone number (cell, landline, etc) or some SIP software client. You'd pay something like a cent a minute.

The same principal applies overseas; get a DID with a company, set it up to forward to a US phone number or SIP address.

I'd like to give Asterix a try. Have any tips?

[Anonymous Coward]

I finally have static IP 12 MB/sec cable into my place.

I figure I'll have to keep paying for my Skype Online Number as long as I want that same number, but if I get an Asterix number somehow, then put that number on my website, give it out to all of my friends and clients, eventually I can let my Skype Online Number expire.

But I don't have the first clue about Asterix. I could use some hand-holding if you have some for me. I'm quite an experience Linux sysadmin and developer.

One hour ...

[Mipsman]

... after installing it and I had the first crash.

They really took the consistency in the user interface a bit too far. And while I'm at it, can I have a 64-bit rpm, pretty please? With a Fedora on top? Really folks, forget about 32-bit. It's wasted time. Nobody sane is still running 32-bit software on an x86 Linux system. Oh and there are new artifacts in the video. I guess that's what's called inovation.

Re:One hour ...

[shibashaba]

No your just insane. Plenty of people are still using 32 bit linux, and I'm sure plenty are still using it on 64-bit hardware even.

I don't even think most netbooks are fully 64 bit yet(I know my friends wasn't when he tried to install a 64bit version of windows on it, and it was just over a year old with an atom processor), which are all the rage if you pay attention to anything other than your big black rig.

Really, no one sane cares about 64 bits for what amounts to an accessory. Which is what skype pretty much is. Are you crying about your mouse not being usb 3.0? I doubt my keyboard is either, and it cost close to a hundred bucks. Hell, my monitors probably still worth more than my computer and 4 tb of storage attached to it, and it was made in 2004! Nice though, looks the same from a right angle as it does from the front. If I were to just leave a picture on it, it would look like a backlit painting, from whatever angle your at! Yes, it is a lcd and not a crt. I have upgraded some stuff in the past decade.

Of course my printer is the oldest of the bunch, it's a laser printer I got for 15 dollars. Nice just being able to print up 50 or 100 pages at a time just for the convenience of it, and not worry about the cost. The local computer store that still has plain VESA video cards on display(along with books on 2.0 linux based distros) in the back was shocked when I came looking for memory for it. I do have an inkjet for the fancy stuff, but I use it maybe once a year. Before anyone crys about the enviroment, yes I do recycle.

Yes I take it personally that people ignorantly assume everyone upgrades every two years for no real reason other than to run bloated software. Which is the great thing about linux, there's more distro's dedicated to being light weight than there are being filled with the latest eye candy. Then again, my old as dirt Pentium 4 is still well within the requirements of the most popular distros. Which should make it obvious that, most people using desktop linux are using it on older hardware.

Re:One hour ...

[Vintermann]

No your just insane. Plenty of people are still using 32 bit linux, and I'm sure plenty are still using it on 64-bit hardware even.

I was one until fairly recently. I tried to switch many times, but inevitably there would be some pain which would make it not worth it. Problems with Flash and graphics card drivers mostly. For quite a while, I had to choose between utilizing the 8 GB memory on my laptop or the NVidia graphics card (the driver still has issues, it crashes the kernel and corrupts my files, but at least I get good 3d acceleration when it works.)

Re:One hour ...

[silentcoder]

You mean aside from the fact that it means installing a crap load of duplicate libraries ? Some of us find that er... incredibly annoying to have to do just to support one single app.
The only other app where this is still needed is wine and at least the wine guys are working really hard to fix that - and they have an excuse (the difficulty of supporting the very different multilib architecture that windows 64-bit uses) - skype is just too lazy to set up a 64-bit build-box.

Re:One hour ...

[shibashaba]

I knew there was something I was forgetting.

Re:One hour ...

[silentcoder]

>Which should make it obvious that, most people using desktop linux are using it on older hardware.

That is just plain not true. In fact the vast majority of desktop linux users happen to be technical people, programmers and sysadmins and such - and most of us like to have new and fast computers.

Granted I also have several older computers which I run older distro's on - but I don't use them as my day-to-day desktop, and I have no need to put skype on that - I use it where I actually work most of the time which is my laptop and my big gaming box at home. A core i5 and core i7 respectively - both with more than 8gb of ram.

Re:One hour ...

[shibashaba]

Yes, I do realize that most linux users are technically orientated. Programmers especially as they need the power if not for compiling then virtualization. And of course, programmers and sys admins have real work to do so having a light weight distro that can allow them to take advantage of their hardware is probably preferable. Now that I want to get back into programming I probably am gonna buy a new computer, definitely at least something that has virtualization extensions. Which still won't be too modern.

I should have said that a lot of people using desktop linux are using it on older computers. I'm also of the belief that theres a hidden percentage of regular users using linux that just doesn't get headlines. If you wanna count POS systems as desktop linux, then the vast majority are still running 32 bit :). I just think it's crazy to assume theres next to nobody using linux on 32 bit systems is all.

And yes, I do think it's short sighted on skype to not have a 64 bit client. The day is getting close to where 32 bits are as obsolete as Pentium 2's. If not just for the hassle they cause people, there missing out on years of testing.

Re:One hour ...

[shibashaba]

But yeah, I do tend to ramble on at times if you haven't noticed. I'm not trying to back peddle, I just forgot about the other side while I writing that.

Re:Too late, but hey, thanks for trying GV.

[busyqth]

Thanks, this is helpful.

User exodus from MS Skype?

[Xarvh]

Too late for me.
I didn't like Skype and it being bought by MS only hastened my transition to GChat.

I think many non-Windows users made a similar move, and this is why MS is hastening to show that it has no intentions of making Skype a MS-only creature.
As others have noted, MS is not keen to put its logo on Skype.

Despite being a rabid Linux fanatic, I must recognize that MS pushed the first Linux Skype update in, like, two years.
Not enough to make me go back using it, but it's not MS fault.

Re:Oh Linux...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

The world's supply of truly dreadful webcams also seems to be drying up a bit. USB Video Class came too late, and is still rather 'creatively' interpreted in some quarters; but even cheap crap and laptop-integrated webcams of the past few years commonly purport to hew to standard, and often aren't actually lying...

Re:Oh Linux...

[malloc]

Maybe they just fixed their usage of V4L. A lot of cameras didn't work unless you did a stupid hack like :

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype

RPM's and DEB's

[Trogre]

I see RPM's and DEB's but no static nor dynamic tarballs. In the past these have been useful for installing to other distros like Arch, and cases where the packaged versions conflict with existing libraries. Are they available somewhere?

Not that I'm a big Skype user nor supporter myself, but I know I'm going to get bugged by other people about this.

Re:RPM's and DEB's

[xororand]

http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-beta-dynamic
http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-beta-static
Also see: http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2916797&cid=40330813

Re:RPM's and DEB's

[fritsd]

I see RPM's and DEB's but no static nor dynamic tarballs.

You can extract those from the .deb, like so:

• copy skype-xyz_i386.deb to an empty directory
• ar x skype-xyz_i386.deb
• # N.B. that command was "ar", not "tar". "ar" is from the GNU binutils package, like nm and ranlib and as.
• tar xzvf control.tar.gz
• # this time use tar :-) control.tar.gz contains 3 files md5sums, control and conffiles. read the "control" file
• # as it contains useful info about package dependencies.
• # the data.tar.gz file contains the actual installation tarball. it unpacks in the root directory (/) and contains usr/bin/skype and assorted files.

Any Skype-similar, Open Source VoIP S/W?

[ivi]

So, if Skype is now such a dog (eg, due to coming ad's & its previous acquisition by Microsoft), where are all the Open Source counterparts?

Windows' ubiquity may have contributed to Linux & FreeBSD's growth...

Won't the ad's and/or Microsoft refurbishing of Skype contribute to the growth of Open Source, Skype-counterparts?

If not now / soon, when?

where's the punch line?

[technosaurus]

Is it 1 April already?

Repository

[MonsterTrimble]

A quick Google search says there was a repo for Ubuntu at one point in time, but it looks to not exist anymore. Is there still one somewhere?

Re:Repository

[batistuta]

Ubuntu gives you Skype through Canonical partners repository. I think you are asked whether you want it there during the installation, in the same window where they ask about multimedia support and updates during installation. Downside is that we will probably not see the new version for while.

Google Talk

[dlenmn]

I switched to Google Talk. I use the browser plugin in chrome, which is fine for me since I use gmail for my mail client anyway (ever since kmail broke down...) There isn't official voice/video support for other linux clients, but some claim to support it (e.g. Empathy says lists "Voice and video call using SIP, XMPP and Google Talk." as a feature).

Re:Google Talk

[gr8dude]

I use it extensively since I got an Android phone, but one problem with it is that it doesn't support video or audio calls.

People who use other clients see me in their list of contacts, but the video/audio call option is grayed out. That is strange, because the phone has a video camera, the Internet connection is reasonably fast, and Skype works well on it.

Is there some magic checkbox I have to tick to enable audio calls on the GTalk client for Android?

Re:Google Talk

[dmbasso]

Probably the problem is your Android version. After I upgraded mine to 2.3 the audio calls started to work.

Re:Google Talk

[gr8dude]

Thanks for the feedback. I thought so too, but I believe that is not the case - I have 2.3.7, Cyanogenmod 7.1.0.1.

My version of Google Talk is 1.3, can you tell me if yours is newer?

Re:Google Talk

[dmbasso]

I use DarkyROM, which bundles Google Talk 2.

is it worth upgrading?

[batistuta]

I'm glad that Microsoft is working on Linux, but I was just wondering whether I want to update. I use Skype on both Linux and Windows and to be honest, I prefer the old version from Linux. Sure: it crashes more often, and has somehow less features. But for what I mostly do, it works ok. And the interface is much less cluttered, I can quit the app without having to read a manual, no ads, really slick.

I haven't looked at the new Skyp 4 yet, but I don't find it unlikely that I switch back to the old version at some point. One nice thing about Skype being so closed and proprietary is that the chances of seeing a Linux exploit based on Skype are extremely low.

Re:is it worth upgrading?

[Bernal KC]

We made sure we kept true to the original UI. Seeing how the Mac user base had a collective cow when we went to a unified single window, we were pretty sure the Linux users would have gone nuclear if we'd done anything similar. There is a unified chat window that we think is an improvement over N separate chat windows. But you have a config option to go with the original N separate chat windows if you prefer. The rest of the UI is very similar to what you have been using. The real value in this release lies in the internals. Many, many person-years of improvements in A/V/Core technology since the last update that make a very tangible difference to end users.

And I repeat myself in case anyone is looking at this old thread: no ads of any kind in any screen in this client.

Re:is it worth upgrading?

[batistuta]

awesome and thanks for the clarification. Now what puzzles me here: if you really care about people using it: why is the only supported Ubuntu Version 10.04? Wouldn't it be meaninfull to support a later release?

Re:is it worth upgrading?

[Bernal KC]

we have packages for Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and SuSe, as well as a static package. The versions listed on our download links are minimum versions. It is supported on latter versions as well. Many resourceful folks have it running on unsupported distros. We do have a system requirements page, but as I write this it is out of date: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA10328/What-are-the-system-requirements-for-running-Skype

Common Sense

[dutchwhizzman]

The foundations of most religions are based on common sense.

Show me one religion that can be completely explained by common sense and I'll be a convert.

Re:Common Sense

[Anonymous Coward]

My friend... how do you feel about pasta?

Re:Common Sense

[silentcoder]

The GP only claimed it could be explained by common sense at it's foundation. Practically all of them can be explained by common sense 4000 years ago !

The start of the Abrahamic religions for example may well have been something like this. There was this dude called Abraham - we know he WAS real (there is massive proof) who lived in a city called Ur. Ur's reality is beyond question - we've FOUND the place, part of the old Mesopotamian civilization - one of the first large human settlements. They were a polytheistic culture that set great store by physical symbols of idols (e.g. statue worship and the like) - this too is well verifiable fact (the archeologist found some of the idols and their religious scripture).

Abraham however wasn't satisfied with the fickle gods, they just didn't conform to his experience of the world - as a shepherd he encountered seasons and the way nature worked - regularly, and things weren't fitting.

So he moved out and began to think, clearly there was something bigger than himself out there (up to this point, science says the exact same thing)... then he made one small logical error - he turned "something bigger" into "Someone bigger".
He named that some-one El Shadai - which means "That which is" (in the modern Bible it is translated as "God".
Suddenly everything made sense- this much more powerful being controlled all the things that happened apparently randomly and senselessly yet showed clear patterns. They showed patterns because they were logical and wise, but they were unpredictable because they were the wisdom of a mind far greater than his own. Throw in a bit of the mythology from his homeland (Gilgamesh becomes Noah) and you have the book of Genesis resulting.

All very common sensible - for 6000 years ago. Not so much today.

Re:Common Sense

[kh31d4r]

Show me one religion that can be completely explained by common sense and I'll be a convert.

Scientology, you can even tell from the name that its based on science!

Re:Common Sense

[Aighearach]

Buddhism is based totally in common sense. Guatama Buddha even said not to believe something because he said it, or because it is in a holy book, but only to believe it if it is consistent with your own experience. He also said not to worry what happens after you die.

Re:Common Sense

[Anonymous Coward]

"Massive" proof of the biblical Abraham? Care to make a few citations? Enough to quality as "massive" proof would be a minimum (so I'd guess a couple of dozen of similar strength to a grave marked "The Biblical Abraham" would do it).

Also, Gilgamesh didn't become Noah. Utnapishtim eventually became Noah.

I can give a rational explanation for Islam. A man who one day started to hear voices and have visions? The same man who had headaches of increasing severity? Who eventually had intense pain in his head, that caused him to fall into a coma from which he never woke? Brain tumour.

Re:Common Sense

[galanom]

Scientology? No?

Whats poor about that?

[dutchwhizzman]

With those distro's supported you have quite a large part of the Linux desktop community covered. Others are usually inventive enough to support themselves just fine with the binaries for the above mentioned distributions to work with. For a binary only release, they're doing better than quite a few other major software vendors. Adobe's flash? The last version ever to be put out messes up color space with hardware acceleration and the list of supported distributions is .... ehr what again? Oracle's RDBMS, what is supported exactly? Maya? What other binary only applications that are multi-platform did you say supported Linux again?

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty to choose from if you want find something to bash MicroSoft for, but this list isn't one of those things.

Re:Install problems

[Tanuki64]

Don't worry, I am sure they are already working on a solution to lock old clients out.

Re:Still brain dead

[CronoCloud]

The Fedora 16 version WILL install and run in F17.

Re:Oh Linux...

[Robert Zenz]

Well, now I know what to think of Cimmino...

Re:Oh Linux...

[silentcoder]

There's a major factor here on top - which is that there are two major versions of libv4l - with incompatible interfaces- for a long time skype didn't support v4l2 but I think they fixed that now.

Even that isn't all of it, many webcams (my own logitech for example) require codec-style interpretation to be done by the drivers/apps. For a long time I couldn't get my cam to work with skype despite it being fully supported on Linux. Why ? Because the codec part of the driver was in a 64-bit kernel and skype didn't implement any alternative to handle the job as a 32-bit app.

If they had added a fix to interpret the signal correctly for cams like that (the ovl series for example) that would be a major boon, and my cam would actually work with skype.

I've been using google video for camming for a long time now because of this. Mind you - skype just saw a horrible image, adobe flash can't see my camera at all despite every attempt I've made to adjust settings, I've given up on ever using omegle. ...what do you mean "pervert" ? :P

Re:Oh Linux...

[semi-extrinsic]

There's a major factor here on top - which is that there are two major versions of libv4l - with incompatible interfaces- for a long time skype didn't support v4l2 but I think they fixed that now

I guess this is exactly what they've done. But then the summary should be more along the lines of "Skype finally managed to stop using webcam library from the previous millenium that has been deprecated for over a year.", instead of the positiv spin they've put on it where it sounds like they actually did some good work.

Re:Oh Linux...

[silentcoder]

That is very likely, but I'll have a look tonight and see if my home-cam actually plays nice with the new skype.

Re:what the heck ...

[Noughmad]

Wouldn't the devil say "what the heaven"?

This is like, so... 2010

[halfkoreanamerican]

It seems like it's been years since this was promised. Not that I'm complaining... better late than never, but I have almost stopped using it as a result!

Welcome to 2005, Skype

[hobarrera]

All conversations in one windows? Sounds like most clients already have tabbed views. (it surprises me to find out skype still didn't!)

The rest is mostly sugar candy, new emoticons and stuff. As for "more webcams support"... if voice+video is your main bussiness, it sounds like a bug-fix, not a "new feature".

Re:Too late... [ DID tel.no's for Au$5 / year ]

[Guspaz]

I can't say if they let you buy them from outside of Australia (I'd probably have to order one and pay for it to find out), but voip.ms does have a few international DIDs:

http://voip.ms/intldids.php

Australia is a heck of a lot more expensive with VoIP.ms ($7/mth compared to $5/yr), but the voip.ms one is unlimited while the mynetphone one is $0.10 per call, if I'm understanding right.

I'm not saying the VoIP.ms one is necessarily a better deal, only that it proves that the option is available, that there are companies that sell Australian DIDs that include enough built-in features (VoIP.ms basically gives you the feature set of a full hosted PBX for free) to do the forwarding and routing rules entirely server-side.

If MyNetPhone supports at least call forwarding to an international number at reasonable rates, it could very likely end up a bunch cheaper for light to moderate use.

Re:Install problems

[galanom]

Try to get a version with statically linked libraries.

wow!

[CosaNostra Pizza Inc]

Would someone check if Hell has frozen over?

Relieved

[Lord Lode]

I was always kind of happy to be stuck with an old Skype version on Linux, because the Skype client I saw on the computers of Windows users looks kind of bloated to me. But I received the Skype 4.0 udpate on my Linux, and it looks very similar to the previous version, so I'm relieved.