Beware Skype 4.3 -- PulseAudio only

[dyfi]

Skype alternative - there are versions for mac, microsoft and linux.

https://jitsi.org/

[GuiGuy]

Skype alternative - there are versions for mac, microsoft and linux.

https://jitsi.org/

There is NO alternative if you want to continue contacting all your non-geek friends and relations (and don't want to give your existing Skype credit to Microsoft).

[newkansan]

Just a heads up to those who may not know. Skypes latest release (4.3) no longer supports Alsa, so MX and other debian distros won't work with it. You either need to upgrade to PulseAudio, or find an old version of skype (I found a download link to the Ubuntu 4.2 .deb which worked in MX-14).

I thought they had stopped supporting pre 4.3 versions of Skype.

I don't know, I just know it worked for me. I wonder if when I installed 4.3, then uninstalled it, it left behind some bits that let 4.2 work.

[uncle mark]

Skype alternative - there are versions for mac, microsoft and linux.

https://jitsi.org/

There is NO alternative if you want to continue contacting all your non-geek friends and relations (and don't want to give your existing Skype credit to Microsoft).

That is exactly the type of submission MSFT is counting on.

[GuiGuy]

That is exactly the type of submission MSFT is counting on.

True UM, but I have installed Jitsi and it appears to be working - the trouble is I have no contacts (not even a test call) so what can I do with it?
As you have often pointed out, non-geeks will not listen to any recommendation for software which is outside their Microsoft/Apple/Android walled garden.
I do find Skype very useful and I have some unused Skype credit. What would you do?

[joany]

That is exactly the type of submission MSFT is counting on.

True UM, but I have installed Jitsi and it appears to be working - the trouble is I have no contacts (not even a test call) so what can I do with it?
As you have often pointed out, non-geeks will not listen to any recommendation for software which is outside their Microsoft/Apple/Android walled garden.
I do find Skype very useful and I have some unused Skype credit. What would you do?

A bit off-topic, but I think you will inevitably run into problems when you use one type of device to do the job of a different type of device, e.g. using a telephone as a computer or computer as a telephone.

[namida12]

I have been using Google Video Chat to talk to relatives in japan twice a week for over 18 months on the desktop. We talk for hours, at a time. Most of all it will work in many WiFi locations with the chromebook, however some locations have slow internet. But if you subscribe to the successful Microsoft marketing plan :"Google Is Bad", I guess this would not be a useful alternative.

Have never used skype. I understood it was problematic for Linux since Microsoft purchased skype and played with the code.

Also what are the reported problems with pulse audio, it seems to work well in Mx-14 and provides a more volume than Alsa in all systems i have installed MX-14 as a replacement for WinXP.

JR

[Siles]

I had a problem with the Skype upgrade (?) and the webcam built in mic not working. Found the solution here <http://askubuntu.com/questions/222765/u ... ot-working>.
Everything now works as it should.

Siles

[GuiGuy]

I should add that the mic does not work--never did, there are lots of hits on a web search.

Finally got my AspireOne to work with the new Skype.
New install of MX-1.4.2 , full update, added codecs/firefox/thunderbird, installed pulseaudio/pavucontrol, downloaded and installed the new Skype.
When I logged into the new Skype it seemed to work except for capturing the internal mic, but after a while and some fiddling with the options
the mic started working.
I wonder if the Skype server was peeking around my machine for some time before it found the mic.

BTW the new Skype works fine on my wife's eeepc901 with Zorin.