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Skype 4.0 for Linux
- sciurus 14y agoThey used to have a statically-linked version available for download; where did that go? It's the only one that didn't crash on my Debian testing system.
- Toshio 14y agoObtrusive conversation ads coming to a Skype-for-Linux near you in 3... 2... 1...
- o1iver 14y agoArch Linux AUR packages available at: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=60059 http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=60059 I have tested it; works great!
- mcrittenden 14y agoThe community Skype package has been updated to Skype 4 now, so no need for the AUR. http://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/i686/skype/ http://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/i686/skype/
- drizzt 14y agoIt works like a charm!
- phenom 14y agoYou should probably stay on 2.2 beta.... 1. Skype 4 require download 95 additional packages for ubuntu version (all marked i386 even if you using amd64) 2. I am not sure but giant ads probably included too [1] [1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/skype-calls-to-feature-ads-big-enough-to-interrupt-any-conversation/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/skype-...
- reidrac 14y agoOn Fedora (17 here, 32 bits) replaces the old package without installing any extra stuff. I haven't tested it deeply, but looks like runs smoother than the previous (quite unstable) version.
- ajross 14y agoThe point was that skype has no x86_64 version. So if you have a 64 bit install (random aside: I hope you're on an Atom netbook and not running a 32 bit linux on a desktop/laptop) it will pull all the i686 versions of its dependencies. This probably works now on Ubuntu, which has finally rolled out a multilib implementation (that I haven't kicked the tires on yet).
- reidrac 14y agoThis a i3 M370, but I run a 32 bits OS because I got tired of running 64 bits with applications with no support for 64 bits (read: Flash browser plugin and Skype). After some time I've found that there's no real advantage for me on a 64 bits OS for a laptop (ie. I have only 3GB of RAM, performance looks the same, etc).
- rmk2 14y agoFlash has been X86_64 compatible for a while now... sh-4.2$ rpm -q flash-player flash-player-11.2.202.236-91.1.x86_64 (rpm query on openSUSE Tumbleweed) sh-4.2$ file /usr/lib64/browser-plugins/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib64/browser-plugins/libflashplayer.so: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, stripped
- reidrac 14y agoChoppy sound (if not completely broken depending on the audio codec), crashes (I got core dumps daily), absurd CPU usage and made Firefox unstable. I'm not a heavy flash user, but after 6 months I was really frustrated. The 32 bits version works great in comparison.
- lsaferite 14y agoDid hell freeze over? I've been waiting for an update to the Linux Skype client for years. Years! Of course, if I have to install a ton of i386 packages or have big ass ads all over the place I think it's not worth the effort. Is it too much to ask to give paying customers access to just a lib that can be used in other GUIs? :(
- whacker 14y agoThe rpm package has a bug: It has a bunch of translation files that conflict with the older skype version. So remove the old version of skype first before installing the new one.
- Shish2k 14y agoClicking from the linked article to get to the download page, the download is still for 2.2 :-/ Anyone got a direct link to the 4.0 page? ED: The English version is 2.2, the American version is 4.0... For non-americans, use the american link: http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/linux/ http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/l...
- pbhjpbhj 14y agoWorked fine for me, file dl-ed from http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-ubuntu_4.0.0.7-1_amd64.deb http://download.skype.com/linux/skype-ubuntu_4.0.0.7-1_amd64... -- Edit had to install 6 deps using gdebi; when I ran the app it crashed before authentication completed and took down my desktop session on Kubuntu 12.04.
- factorialboy 14y agoNot bad. Not close to Skype for Windows, but that's not a bad thing. Plus no ads. I'm primarily an Ubuntu user (Unity or XFCE) and use a secondary Windows 7 laptop with Skype as a communication device.
- ArchD 14y agoUbuntu 12 and Fedora 17 are the latest versions of Ubuntu and Fedora but apparently not supported according to the download distribution list. (s/11/12/, basic idea remains -- only old distros are listed)
- reidrac 14y agoHave you tried the actual packages? The download page is confusing. I believe it should read "Fedora X or later". Previous package was for Fedora 10 I think, and I've been using it since Fedora 12. EDIT: typo
- SafeSituation 14y agoUnless I'm mistaken, the latest version of Ubuntu is 12.04
- ArchD 14y agoIt would be more accurate to say seemingly instead of apparently. The nuance is that the description in the download list implies that only the old distros are supported, but actually at least on F17, the F16 package still works. Why on earth they would release a 32-bit package but not a 64-bit package in this day and age, however, is a mystery.
- MidwestMuster 14y agoWhat kind of codename is "Four Rooms for Improvement?" (what they called this release)
- technomancy 14y agoI've moved as much as I can over to Jingle via Empathy, but so far when I haven't been able to avoid Skype I've found the Android client much preferable to the old Linux one.
- Paul_S 14y agoThe best thing about how big skype is is that they have to maintain backwards compatibility (hardware skype phones that can't upgrade) so you can use whatever old version you want and it has to be supported by them. Which means you can stick to the old version which works fine without having to suffer through the new and "improved" glitzy version that is popup crazy and wants to hog all your system resources for what is essentially a chat program.
- slig 14y agoWell, I suppose they can identify exactly what version (and machine/OS) the client is using and specifically block old PC apps if they wanted to.
- fredsted 14y ago> old version which works fine And has a bunch of security holes.
- Paul_S 14y agoWhich specific ones do you mean?
- baby 14y agoI can't use Skype because I have an iPhone 3GS which doesn't have the latest iOS (available only on iPhones 4). So I don't really get your point.
- smoyer 14y agoDo you think they heard my comment yesterday (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4107759 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4107759)? Thanks for finally deciding to provide me with new Linux software. I'm also super excited about seeing more meaningless ads ... but where were you when I needed you? I'm actually a bit surprised that you're even trying this since it seems to be a well-proven fact that Microsoft can't make money on search or ads. And if you needed additional revenue, did you ever consider asking people to pay you for your service? As an interesting aside, Skype's move to using super-nodes that are controlled by them is also useful for the change to an advertisement supported business. Can you imagine how hard it would be to share ad revenue with regular users whose computers had been promoted to super-nodes simply because of bandwidth capacity and their up-time numbers?
- scribu 14y agoAt some point, Skype announced that it would open-source the UI part of the Linux client, allowing people to implement whatever interface they wanted. I guess that was before they were bought by Microsoft.
- decklin 14y agoYou can communicate with the Skype client over DBus, which allows you to replace a lot (although not all) of the UI with something else. Two examples: http://code.google.com/p/skype4pidgin/ http://code.google.com/p/skype4pidgin/ https://github.com/technomancy/dotfiles/blob/master/bin/skyyy https://github.com/technomancy/dotfiles/blob/master/bin/skyy... The protocol is incomplete (the "native" Qt UI isn't built on it), but it is at least documented on their dev site.
- scribu 14y agoThere's also https://launchpad.net/~skype-wrapper/+archive/ppa https://launchpad.net/~skype-wrapper/+archive/ppa but it's buggy and still requires you have the main Skype window running.
- olenhad 14y agoJust opensource the damn thing. It would profit them far more than anyone else.
- mkenyon 14y agoI'm curious to see your numbers on that.
- olenhad 14y agoopensource-> fewer bugs -> more users -> more satisfied users -> firefox style extensions or even an "app store" -> code improvements -> support for more platforms -> praise of the world's hacker community
- takluyver 14y agoThe missing bit of that is the actual profit. The praise of the world's hacker community does not pay off the mortgage. On the other hand, if it's open source, anyone can compile a client which doesn't show their ads, and give it away. Don't get me wrong, I'd love Skype to be open sourced. But I can see why they haven't done so.
- eric_bullington 14y agoActually, it looks like a lot of what you're referring to has been possible since fall of last year. See: http://developer.skype.com/ http://developer.skype.com/ Skype now has an enhanced API and plugin architecture that allows exactly the type of firefox extensions that you're referring to. Unfortunately, the underlying communications protocol remains closed, and so requires a binary that appears to only work on 32-bit systems (not to mention ARM). I'm actually OK with them keeping the communications protocol closed-sourced, but they need to provide binaries for a greater variety of architectures if they really want this program to work.
- Zash 14y agoIs that really compatible with FOSS?
- SnowLprd 14y agoOoh! Ooh! Does it have the new Conversation Ads feature? http://blogs.skype.com/en/2012/06/skype_advertising_update.html http://blogs.skype.com/en/2012/06/skype_advertising_update.h... I, for one, cannot WAIT to see these new ads, which Microsoft describes as "content that could spark additional topics of conversation that are relevant to Skype users." Isn't that great? Ads are now "content." And the motivation isn't to make a bundle of money on ads, it's to "spark conversations." Add this to the craptastical user interface and built-in backdoor eavesdropping, and it's plain to see that Skype has a bright future ahead! http://memeburn.com/2011/07/microsoft-and-skype-set-to-allow-backdoor-eavesdropping/ http://memeburn.com/2011/07/microsoft-and-skype-set-to-allow...
- bernalkc 14y agono ads in this client, on any screen, presumptuous one. next time look before you embarrass yourself.
- SnowLprd 14y agoTo be fair, I wasn't presuming anything. While I applaud the release of the Linux version, I was merely trying to show that Microsoft's stewardship of Skype seems to be headed in a rather unsavory direction.
- throwaway64 14y agoto be additionally fair, the Skype interface was heading in a downhill direction well before the Microsoft acquisition.
- davidandgoliath 14y agoHow are advertisements unsavory? Is this same opinion of yours applicable against google, for the ads on it's search engine? Just curious. I've never had anything against ads personally unless they're intrusive -- or that my data is being bought & sold to show them. Not that I trust $vendor to keep that data private, but showing me the latest advertisement for some movie coming out next week isn't going to ruin my experience. Youtube's advertisement implementation for example, I find intrusive & frustrating as it literally displays over top of the content and returns on every video you watch. Until skype starts strapping a pepsi logo to my partner-in-chat's face, I'm content. If it helps keep skype around longer, kudos. I enjoy using the app.
- benatkin 14y agoI'd rather run Skype inside its own virtual machine, with ads blocked by restricting network access. Since a full Linux distribution can be obtained for free, this could help enable that.
- theatrus2 14y agoSince Skype is one of the slipperiest applications out there in terms of network access, I'd imagine ads could be served by any node in the network.
- vegardx 14y agoI find it sad that Skype has evolved to be MSN Messenger-replacement, there were so many good alternatives. At one point MSN was even usable-ish, as you could choose whatever client you wanted. With Skype, not so much. I'm switching a lot between OSX and Windows, and sometimes even Linux, and the clients are totally different on each platform to the point where it get's hard to use. And don't get me started on that Android-client they have made, total utter garbadge.
- fepa 14y ago>> the clients are totally different on each platform to the point where it get's hard to use. I've been annoyed by this too, how hard is it to keep the UI somewhat alike, at least between the desktop applications?
- leke 14y agoIt's a trap.
- forg 14y agoOMG THIS IS FUCKING GREAT
- Bjoern 14y agoCurious question, is there any good open source application out there supporting voice and video? Possibly, multiple people as in G+ Hangout?
- sciurus 14y agoOn linux Empathy, Gajim, Jitsi, and Pidgin all support audio and video chat. I believe they're all interoperable with each other and with the video chat in gmail. I think that Jitsi (formerly named SIP Communicator) supports audio and video chat on Windows and OS X as well. I don't think that any of these projects support video conference calls yet, but it's on the "near future" section of Jitsi's roadmap. https://jitsi.org/ https://jitsi.org/
- Bjoern 14y agoGreat stuff, thanks for the tips.
- perssontm 14y agoIt still says try skype 2.2 beta on the page, but when I download it, I get a file called skype-debian_4.0.deb :)
- keporahg 14y agoAnyone know if the version in the Debian Skype repo (http://wiki.debian.org/skype http://wiki.debian.org/skype) will be updated?
- donniezazen 14y agoIt has been already updated in Arch Repos. I see no reason Why Debian would block it.
- keporahg 14y agoI meant if anyone knew whether Skype had any plans of updating the repo since it's owned by them (http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/), or whether they intended for people to just use the provided packages.
- barbs 14y agoCan't wait to try this! But I'm on my mac at work atm. I'm worried they've bloated the interface and made it horrible like they did with Skype 5 for mac...has this happened?
- balac 14y agoso far it seems ok to me, it hasn't got the super huge interface like on mac & windows, apart from the call window it largely looks the same.
- zfran 14y agoCan't run two instances at the same time. Complete deal breaker for those of us that use a personal account and a professional one.
- baldfat 14y agoJust happy that M$ is showing more love of Linux. I never thought a new version would ever get out!
- Arare 14y ago>M$ Success! I've finally done it, ineluctable proof that my time machine works. The Nineties was a great time, I'll be able to experience the release of the PlayStation again, Ultima Online in its prime and the Initial release of Linux; just in time to get rid of that pesky Finnish fellow before any widespread adoption.
- BitMastro 14y agoI think the future is WebRTC, it's an open standard and the browser is one of the most ubiquitous software you'll ever run. I don't use Skype much, but I have friends using Skype, MSN, Facebook, gchat (I still haven't used hangouts). All these services requires registration and sometimes a specific software to communicate. I wish that by the end of the year it won't matter what service you're using, you'll just send a message like "Hey let's talk, click on this link"