A workable way to install skype 4.3 in puppy

[CGP]

@OscarTalks and watchdog

My garbled-voice problem when running Skype-4.3.0.37 on Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 must not be a connection or hardware problem as described below:

I'm still getting garbled voice playback from skype test calls using skype-4.3.0.37-lucid.sfs on Lucid Puppy 5.2.8. I downloaded it and pulseaudio-2.0-lucid.pet from http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks/. I checked the md5sum for the .sfs file. It is correct. At times the voice is garbled, at times not.

Also, I installed Slacko Puppy 5.7 on the same computer as is running Lucid Puppy 5.2.8. Exactly the same hardware, speakers, wires, ... . On Slacko I installed pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet and skype-4.3.0.37-experiment.pet downloaded from the same website. On Slacko, skype runs fine. No garbled voice at all from skype test calls. And I have made a few calls on it to actual people with no problems.

So, my problem on Lucid Puppy is not a connection problem and must not be entirely a hardware-related problem.

@watchdog: No, I have not tried your workaround yet. I will try to test pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet with libspeexdsp.so first. If that doesn't work, I'll try the workaround.

@OscarTalks: what is PPM?

Thanks for your many efforts.

[CGP]

@watchdog

My lucid is well working for skype with OscarTalks pets.

I should have asked this before: Are they the pulseaudio-2.0-lucid.pet and the skype-4.3.0.37-lucid.pet?

Thanks.

[OscarTalks]

@ CGP
PPM is Puppy Package Manager. Please try uninstalling pulseaudio-2.0-lucid.pet and replace it with pulseaudio-2.1-lucid.pet though I have to say that a sometimes garbled voice problem is a bit of a mystery.

@ Fiddlesticks
Yes, pavucontrol is supposed to be the GUI for pulseaudio but I believe it has quite a few dependencies if you want to compile it. Let us know if you are able to get one working from Slackware or Debian or something. I used it briefly in Xubuntu a few years ago, but found that it was not very user-friendly in terms of device selection and other controls. We are just trying to get a very simple form of pulseaudio going out of necessity for those people who want to use Skype in Puppy. Usually once people have got their device configuration correctly set they don't need to change it, so if we can come up with a simple method of editing a couple of numbers in a file it is almost easier than having to use a drop-down menu for device selection which often can be very confusing for inexperienced users in fact.

[Fiddlesticks]

Thank you Oscartalks for all your efforts. I downloaded the 2.1 pulseaudio and skype 4.3 from the link you posted and installed pulse audio then skype.

I tried the second fix you mentioned with editing default.pa
the first time I edited etc/pulse/default.pa
### Make some devices default
set-default-sink 0
set-default-source 0

Then started skype and got sound in the speakers which was exiting.
Echo test however I could hear but it did not pickup mic. So I unchecked let Skype adjust your settings in skype options audio. I could still hear Echo test but mic did not work.
I signed out and quit skype.

the second time I edited etc/pulse/default.pa
### Make some devices default
set-default-sink 0
set-default-source 1

Then started skype and got sound in the speakers and
Echo test AND I could hear mic test playback. So I unchecked let Skype adjust your settings in skype options audio. I could still hear Echo test AND mic still did work. It seems for me that box does not make any difference but that editing of default.pa really made a difference.

I tried to reach someone for an actual call but everyone is busy or offline. But this seems like it should work fine.

One more thing that is different when I go into Skype 4.3 Options SOUND the VIRTUAL DEVICE is not on the mic, speakers or ring - instead it says Pulse Audio Server. I don't know how this happened but when I did Slacko 5.7 and Skype 4.3 it alway said VIRTUAL DEVICE under sound options.

Thank you very much Oscartalks for so quickly finding this solution to the Skype 4.3 audio problem. I hope this works for many more people.

[CGP]

Sorry, pulseaudio-2.1-lucid.pet does no better than pulseaudio-2.0-lucid.pet. I still get garbled voice played back from the skype test calls or, more often, no sound played back at all. I tried setting 'set-default-source 0' and 'set-default-source 1' in /etc/pulse/default.pa. It did not help. I used pacmd list-sources and pacmd list-sinks to find that I had only 1 sink index (=0), and 2 source indexes (0 and 1). So, I have tried all the possiblities. I changed the settings in alsamixer a few times, too. By the way, the 2 files in ~/.pulse did not change after changing 'set-default-sources' from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0 and killing and restarting pulseaudio.

Also, I tried pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet on lucid puppy 5.2.8 after copying libspeexdsp.so.1.5.0 from slacko puppy 5.7 into the same directory in lucid puppy 5.2.8. (I also had to create 2 symlinks to that file in order to match what was in slacko). After doing that I got the following error message when starting pulseaudio:

pulseaudio: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/libpulsecore-2.0.so: undefined symbol: orc_program_append_2

so, that did not work.

I am ready to give up on Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 and migrate to Slacko 5.7. But first I will try saintless' workaround.

[CGP]

I tried saintless' workaround, copying the 29 MB executable from skype 4.2 into skype 4.3 on Lucid puppy 5.2.8. When I started the executable, I got this error message:

skype42: error while loading shared libraries: libQtDBus.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

I don't know what to do to fix that.

[saintless]

skype42: error while loading shared libraries: libQtDBus.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Is skype 4.2 working from separate sfs or pet for you? I guess something is missing in your system needed for skype4.2 to work (maybe only symlink libQtDBus.so.4). Find working on your system sfs or pet and start skype 4.2 from there or copy the executable from there.
Also try not to replace the executable. Rename it to skype-old and start it from terminal typing skype-old.
All you need to do with Skype 4.3 is to setup autologin and no update for your account in /root/.Skype. Then backup /root/.Skype and you can remove Skype 4.3 and install working Skype 4.2. It will autologin now. If something goes wrong in time replace /root/.Skype with your backup copy.

[watchdog]

@watchdog

My lucid is well working for skype with OscarTalks pets.

I should have asked this before: Are they the pulseaudio-2.0-lucid.pet and the skype-4.3.0.37-lucid.pet?

Thanks.

Yes. In lucid pulseaudio-2.0-lucid.pet and skype-4.3.0.37-lucid.pet are working well with my hardware. I use these settings in default.pa:

Code: Select all

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

[baszek]

All in all could you tell me how to make skype work in precise 5.7.1 ?
I should install pulseaudio 2.0 and then skype 4.3 from Oscars Pets ?
did anybody make it in precise ?

Skype is like number one app which I use in precise puppy, that is why I am considering going back to windows

[saintless]

Skype is like number one app which I use in precise puppy, that is why I am considering going back to windows

Better do not choose XP then. It took me 5 hours yesterday to make it work with SP3 preinstalled on my brother's computer. And it was official Skype update for XP users. Do not think it is just update and run process.

[baszek]

I am considering sth newer like windows 7 or even 8.

By they way I have read that in precise skype is working when you install these packages from OscarTalks:
skype-4.3.0.37-experiment
pulseaudio-2.0-test.pet

Is it usable or still buggy ?

[OscarTalks]

All in all could you tell me how to make skype work in precise 5.7.1 ?

Latest suggested method for Precise Puppy
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 8&start=56

[baszek]

Thx a lot Oscar - it is working!

Heh, but I have another problem - I have build in mic in laptop, which is probably detected as default in skype - pulse audio. The problem is that this mic is broken - has got lot of noise and I would like to use my mic from logitech usb camera (as I used to in skype 4.2). Is there any way to configure some how pulseaudio to change default mic when I am pluging my usb camera ?
I have found that if I add to /usr/etc/pulse/default.pa

Code: Select all

load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:1,0

it should change it as pernament logitech mic - because my second device is logitech mic - I will test it asap, but is there a way to change it on the fly while using skype or just change mic to camera when I will plug it to pc ?

P.S
Sth is not working - could you help me setup otput and input (mic) devices in default.pa ?
arecord -l shows to devices:
card 0 - hdaintel device 0
card 1 - WebcamC110 device 0
at the end of the default.pa I added:

Code: Select all

load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:1,0  
load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:0,0 

but some how it is not working

[watchdog]

arecord -l shows to devices:
card 0 - hdaintel device 0
card 1 - WebcamC110 device 0

Try:

Code: Select all

load-module module-alsa-sink 
load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:0,1

EDIT: I tried to use my webcam mic. Pulseaudio does not start with the above settings. I am not sure: open with geany client.conf in the same dir of default.pa and change the following line after uncommenting it:

Code: Select all

default-source = 1 

In default.pa i have used:

Code: Select all

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

I put one finger on the internal mic and pulseaudio seems to use the webcam mic. Yet not sure.
Are you able to disable in bios your broken mic?

[OscarTalks]

@ baszek
The ability to switch devices on-the-fly is a bit more complicated. I believe it is possible but only with commands from terminal. With pulseaudio running try pacmd --help and see if you can figure it out.

A webcam usb microphone will usually show up on the system as a different soundcard (a usb soundcard - not the default soundcard) when you plug it in. If your internal mic is not working and you only use the usb webcam mic I suggest the best thing is just to set up your default.pa for that. The only thing is you might have to make sure the webcam mic is plugged in before starting Skype.

Those 2 lines are already in the default.pa file so you just need to edit them and make sure they are uncommented. Don't add them again at the end with different device settings.

[OscarTalks]

I have uploaded a new pulseaudio-2.1-i486-w5.pet which is compiled with the latest configure options. Perhaps people could test this one in the recent Pups.
http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks

In the file /etc/pulse/default.pa this one now has:-

Code: Select all

### PUPPY USERS EDIT THESE 2 LINES TO SELECT SOUND DEVICES
load-module module-alsa-sink device=hw:0,0
load-module module-alsa-source device=hw:0,0

and also at the bottom:-

Code: Select all

### Make some devices default
set-default-sink 0
set-default-source 1

In my testing, leaving these 2 index numbers like this and changing the hw:0,0 number to switch devices is now giving me the best ever method of simply selecting inputs and outputs, but you may wish to try changing the index numbers as well or commenting/uncommenting any combination of those 4 lines. You still may find that device=dmix and device=dsnoop work better for you as well but I think they may only apply to the default soundcard, not sure.

[CGP]

@saintless

Is skype 4.2 working from separate sfs or pet for you? I guess something is missing in your system needed for skype4.2 to work (maybe only symlink libQtDBus.so.4). Find working on your system sfs or pet and start skype 4.2 from there or copy the executable from there.
Also try not to replace the executable. Rename it to skype-old and start it from terminal typing skype-old.
All you need to do with Skype 4.3 is to setup autologin and no update for your account in /root/.Skype. Then backup /root/.Skype and you can remove Skype 4.3 and install working Skype 4.2. It will autologin now. If something goes wrong in time replace /root/.Skype with your backup copy.

Your explanation is not clear. Why would I copy the executable from skype4.2 into my installation of skype4.3 and then delete my installation of skype4.3?

What I did is this:

I have skype-4.3.0.36-lucid.sfs working on my system (except that pulseaudio does not work). I set up autologin and turned off automatic update in skype. Then I quit skype. I downloaded skype-4.2.0.13-4-i686.pkg.tar.xz using the link you provide in your initial workaround explanation. I extracted it I did not try to install skype4.2; I did not try to run it. I copied /usr/lib/skype/skype from the extracted skype42 into /usr/bin on my running Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 system, renaming the file to skype42. I opened a terminal into which I typed 'skype42'. I got this error message:

skype42: error while loading shared libraries: libQtDBus.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

That is as far as I have gotten.

Yes, maybe all that is needed is a symlink to libQtDBus.so. But where do I put the symlink?

[saintless]

I'm asking again - Is there skype 4.2 sfs or pet that works for you without installing 4.3.0.37? I guess it is not the first time you run skype 4.2. There should be some working sfs.

Yes, maybe all that is needed is a symlink to libQtDBus.so. But where do I put the symlink?

Explore the working skype 4.2 sfs or pet and you will copy the symlink from there (or add the missing dependencies from there).

It is written here:

Skype versions could be in separate sfs files to load and unload when needed instead installing Skype 4.3.0.37.

Use sfs with Skype 4.3.0.37 to login and setup the account, then unload it and load sfs with working for you Skype 4.2.
This is the easy way if skype 4.2 executable does not work for you. I can't help you guessing what are the missing dependencies for Skype 4.2 in your Puppy. It could be only one or many more. Maybe someone else will know better.

[stemsee]

Yes, maybe all that is needed is a symlink to libQtDBus.so. But where do I put the symlink?

My gues is just right click on libQtDBus.so and select link in the menu, then enter libQtDBus.so.4 fot the name of the link ... in the SAME location!

EDIT: I speak 6 languages (not including bash) ! But I couldn't explain these procedures in a language other than English as clearly as Saintless can in English!

[Fiddlesticks]

Just an observation for people still struggling to get Skype 4.2 and earlier versions to work, Skype will not log in on those versions. I thought it was a network problem but Skype 4.3 logged in immediately on Lucid 5.28. As far as I can tell Skype has turned off all versions before 4.3.
For those frustrated with Lucid 5.28 installing pulse 2.1 and Skype 4.3, I started from a clean live session of 5.28 with no skype or pulse audio installed. I did make an initial save file on the shutdown and a remaster to CD after installing pulse audio 2.1 and skype 4.3
Oscartalks has these two files
http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks
Here is a repost of what I reported on during and after the install just so it is all in one place. The editing of default.pa is courtesy of Oscartalks and is posted on page 6 of this thread.

I tried the second fix you mentioned with editing default.pa
the first time I edited etc/pulse/default.pa
### Make some devices default
set-default-sink 0
set-default-source 0

Then started skype and got sound in the speakers which was exiting.
Echo test however I could hear but it did not pickup mic. So I unchecked let Skype adjust your settings in skype options audio. I could still hear Echo test but mic did not work.
I signed out and quit skype.

the second time I edited etc/pulse/default.pa
### Make some devices default
set-default-sink 0
set-default-source 1

Then started skype and got sound in the speakers and
Echo test AND I could hear mic test playback. So I unchecked let Skype adjust your settings in skype options audio. I could still hear Echo test AND mic still did work. It seems for me that box does not make any difference but that editing of default.pa really made a difference.

I tried to reach someone for an actual call but everyone is busy or offline. But this seems like it should work fine.

One more thing that is different when I go into Skype 4.3 Options SOUND the VIRTUAL DEVICE is not on the mic, speakers or ring - instead it says Pulse Audio Server. I don't know how this happened but when I did Slacko 5.7 and Skype 4.3 it alway said VIRTUAL DEVICE under sound options.

Note, I did not make any changes with this recommendation from Oscartalks

Using the commands "pacmd list-sinks" and "pacmd list-sources" as provided by jamesbond I grabbed the names and inserted them in the 2 lines (which I also uncommented) in default.pa like this:-
Code:
### Make some devices default
set-default-sink alsa_output.0.analog-stereo
set-default-source alsa_input.0.analog-stereo