A workable way to install skype 4.3 in puppy

[DM was on fire!]

text

Proposed changes didn't work.

Here is my hardware. I've been working fine on default soundcard (0). The headset is something I'll work on later, but I just want to get the basic sound working for now.

By the way, those of you seeking a method to log into Skype with 4.2, don't bother. Support for it is dead and gone.

[vicmz]

I took the dynamic version of Skype 4.3.0.37 from the website and repacked it along with 01micko's Qt libraries (including the plugins for avatar support) as before.

My pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet reduces the size of pulseaudio-2.0.w53orig.pet from 5977 K down to 1059 K and still works for me, so quite a significant reduction!

Both of these are uploaded to http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks for now. Strictly for testing of course, always take the usual precautions.

Hi OscarTalks

Working well here - both cam and mic with your provided default.pa - many thanks.

I've put the 2 pulseaudio lines into /usr/bin/skype - running as root - no need for "su spot".

Cheers
peebee

I couldn't test audio/video yet but the SFS for Slacko seems to work in OB-Precise 14.07.26, I only had to install libpng. I didn't install pulse-audio, I wonder if the screenshot attached below means I already have it built in.

[DM was on fire!]

That's how it sounds to me.

[saintless]

By the way, those of you seeking a method to log into Skype with 4.2, don't bother. Support for it is dead and gone.

Thanks for advice.
I'm happy to use Skype 2.1, 2.2, 4.0.0.8 and 4.2 with dead support:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 829#792829
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 895#792895

[watchdog]

Hi

...I can't start pulseaudio as root

No problem here running it as root in fresh frugal of Slacko-5.7
.

Confirmed. As root pulseaudio gives a warning but it starts and skype works. Tried my original pets in wary and the new OscarTalks' pets in slacko. I don't remember why I decided to run pulseaudio as spot user: I have experienced several pulseaudio's start fails in my attempts.

[stemsee]

I installed skype-4.3.037.pet and pulseaudio.pet from OscarTalks, I also had to install libpng14.so.14.pet which I made from an rpm package, running on EmSeeV2.2 (Dpup Wheezy CE)

I get the same warning about 'not intended to run as root.' but it works fine. After quitting skype I fired up vlc and played music normally without killing pulseaudio daemon. Skype must have killed it on exit. This Skype version seems a lot better.

[watchdog]

text

Proposed changes didn't work.

Try these settings in /usr/etc/pulse/default.pa:

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load-module module-alsa-sink device=dmix
load-module module-alsa-source device=dsnoop

What above works on both my laptop and the netbook using wary and my original pets.

[drblock2]

Downloaded and installed OscarTalks' skype-4.3.0.37-slacko14.0.sfs and the pulse audio pet pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet. As stemsee pointed out, libpng14.so.14 seems to be missing so I downloaded and installed his pet.

Starting pulse audio in root, as reported several times above, does work despite error message. The difficulty was that the sound level on receive was very low despite maximum settings for master and headphones in retrovol.

As I have the headphone jack connected to an external hifi system, I was able to solve this problem by simply turning up the volume on the amplifier.

I can also confirm that Skype terminates pulse audio on shutdown and returns control to ALSA.

Many thanks to watchdog, OscarTalks, stemsee and all the others who have contributed to this discussion. This is a real triumph. M$ made our existing linux Skype installations unusable and our guys got it up and running in less than a weeks time!

Bravo!

[OscarTalks]

Slacko has libpng14 but other Pups such as Precise and Wheezy do not. I think this dependency arises because the Slacko Qt libs are linked against it. Anyway I have added the libpng14 inside the private libs directory and I have also added the pulseaudio --start command to the launcher script. This is now uploaded to http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks as skype-4.3.0.37-experiment which works in Precise and Wheezy (although avatars and some other cosmetic graphical bling is not working in Wheezy for some mysterious reason - these do work in Slacko and Precise).

So if you now install the pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet and then install this Skype you should be able to just start it from the menu if you don't like using the terminal. You may still need to edit the sound device numbers if you are not using your default soundcard. This issue will tend to crop up if you are using a USB microphone or something like that. Using a headset which plugs into the jack sockets will more likely be using the default card which should only need you to work out the correct settings in Retrovol.

[Dpup]

I installed the Pulseaudio test and Skype 4.3 experiment pets in Slacko 5.7. . Used retrovol to setup mic. Skype works fine in HP dv6833, ASUS 1000HD, ASUS 1000HE.

Thanks, had tried several other tests but always had problems with audio.

[ozsouth]

Works in Upup Precise 3.8.3.1 - thanks!

[FeodorF]

Hello everyone!

I have tried to get Skype (from Oscar Talks) to work with my Precise 5.7.1 -frugal- but it's a no go. PET- or SFS-file makes no difference. xerra.log only shows:

W: [pulseaudio] main.c: This program is not intended to be run as root (unless --system is specified).

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#!/bin/sh
pulseaudio --start
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/share/skype/skypelibs:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export QT_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/share/skype/skypelibs/plugins
exec /usr/share/skype/skype "$@"

Nothing shows/pops up on the screen. 'export ...' does not work. 'set' in the console does not show the new links.

PC looks like this: Motherboard: K7S41GX (SiS), CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+

Can somebody help me out please.

[OscarTalks]

Installing the 2 packages
pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet
and skype-4.3.0.37-experiment (.pet or .sfs)
works for me in a virgin (or pfix=ram) Precise 5.7.1

As has been mentioned before, the run as root message is a warning but is not a fatal error.

I suggest installing the 2 packages and then try typing skype into terminal and see what the output is. Ignore the run as root warning. Could be that changes within your frugal install are preventing it from starting.

The most important hardware details are your soundcard(s) and microphone and speakers or headset.

If you can get Skype to start, look in Options>Sound Devices to see if it reports that pulseaudio is running on your system.

Otherwise try skype-2.2.0.35-new
People are reporting that this works. (Thanks to Toni saintless)
Fingers crossed Microsoft/Skype will release a new Linux version soon with alsa support restored and we can put these problems behind us.

[drblock2]

I tried to replicate my results with my ThinkPad R400 yesterday on my Acer Aspire netbook today.

To make a long story short - sound works fine on receive, but the built-in microphone is not being recorded (Skype test call). I have checked the settings with

Code: Select all

arecord -l

and they are the expected card 0, device 0.

This is properly entered in /usr/etc/pulse/default.pa.

Any ideas?

[redandwhitestripes]

It never ceases to amaze me how innovative and resourceful the Puppy crowd are. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this workaround for Skype. Much obliged.

[OscarTalks]

@ drblock2
Looks like your device=hw:0,0 settings are correct so I suspect you probably just need to set things up correctly in retrovol.
There should be a setting to select the capture source. Make sure the internal mic is selected (as opposed to line in or any other) and then make sure the capture fader is turned up. Usually any fader which is named "Microphone" does NOT need to be up and in fact is best kept right down because it controls the mic volume coming back out of the speakers rather than the record or capture or send level. This often misleads people. Try posting a screenshot of your retrovol mixer controls if you have any problem. This will vary depending on your soundcard.

[Geoffrey]

I tried this in Carolina, I have the wary script less the QT plugins as I use Carolina's inbuilt QT, this works for me, I still have alsa sound working also.

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#!/bin/sh -x
pulseaudio --start "$@"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/share/skype/skypelibs:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
/usr/share/skype/skype "$@"
killall pulseaudio

I needed to change /usr/etc/pulse/default.pa as watchdog suggested

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load-module module-alsa-sink device=dmix
load-module module-alsa-source device=dsnoop	

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# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: ALC662 rev1 Analog [ALC662 rev1 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 1: ALC662 rev1 Digital [ALC662 rev1 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[stemsee]

Try these settings in /usr/etc/pulse/default.pa:

Code: Select all

load-module module-alsa-sink device=dmix
load-module module-alsa-source device=dsnoop

That works a treat now i can use skype and vlc without intereference. Cheers!

[nilsonmorales]

Everything ok, i just had to edit the category in the .desktop file, Telefony to X-Internet.

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[root@Fixerdog ~] $ skype
W: [pulseaudio] main.c: This program is not intended to be run as root (unless --system is specified).

[drblock2]

@OscarTalks

I compared the retrovol menus of Precise 5.61 in my lenovo R400 (where Skype functions perfectly) and my acer aspire (where the microphone does not work).

The lenovo R400 menu has entries for Mic Capture, Dock Mic Capture and Internal Mic Capture. The acer menu, on the other hand, has only one entry for capture - on or off with a volume bar.

In fact, I am using an external USB camera plus microphone with the lenovo. Mic capture is at nearly full volume. So you were quite right - it is a capture selection problem.

The acer, however, has no obvious way of controlling the capture function although the microphone worked with Skype 4.0.0.8, where the user had an extensive choice of audio devices, not just one: "pulse audio".

To make things worse, the option of dropping out to Windows XP for Skype no longer exists for this machine. Skype refuses to dial, with an error message informing me that the computer is too slow and I should try closing other programs. You bet, this is what Linux is for!

The Acer uses a Realtek ALC272X sound chip. Does anyone have an idea about how to control the capture function on this chip?