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Skype 2.0 Beta for Linux with VIDEO

share.skype.com — In the past, we have struggled in a world of glass panes and fruits. Forbidden from seeing the world around us. Denied the possibility of showing who we are. But today, our eyes open. We ’re not afraid to see, and we’re not afraid to show ourselves. This is a time of excitement. And

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  • andypoo, on 11/11/2007, -22/+3Dupe
    http://digg.com/linux_unix/Skype_2_0Beta_for_Linux ...
    • ChuqAU, on 11/11/2007, -4/+31True, but this one points to the Skype site and that one is blogspam.
      • berkus, on 11/11/2007, -11/+4So you call Skype developer's blog a blogspam? Interesting point of view.
    • alanr19, on 11/11/2007, -4/+3If its a dupe then bury it as such, thats what the feature is there for. Nobody really cares if you noticed.
      • carly34, on 11/11/2007, -0/+3Roy cares if you, or anyone else noticed. That's the whole point. Interesting he should be criticizing someone else for 'blogspam' when that's exactly what many of his own posts are. Just bury it and be done.
    • schestowitz, on 11/11/2007, -4/+3Why is s/he being modded down? People are duping and those that ignore dupe warnings take credit. That said, I agree it's 'blogspam', so the right item made the front page.
    • setdosa, on 11/11/2007, -1/+3before you guys digg him down more, you should realize that he was one the developers who made this possible. I think hes entitled to post the article from his blog. Thanks Andy for making this available
      • schestowitz, on 11/11/2007, -4/+1Yes, do try again. Digg didn't have so many dupes 1.5 years ago when people actually got told off for it.
        • harlowsmonkeys, on 11/12/2007, -1/+2Apparently, people ignore it when Digg staff tells them off about it. (Such as when they told you off about those long quotes with the weird quote style you posted. Being told off didn't slow you down at all. Why should the dupe posters be any better about following the rules than you are?)
  • slashbot, on 11/11/2007, -25/+2Sorry I can't hear you with all that static.

    Why don't you try calling on a real line?

    Buried
    • Malarie, on 11/11/2007, -0/+5Because if I want to call my GF who is doing volountary cooperation work in India atm, it would cost me more than 9.2 cents per minute to call her on her Cell Phone. Skype allows me to do that, just by clicking her name on my contact list.
    • shavenlunatic, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2oops.. comment system strangeness
  • MeatBiProduct, on 11/11/2007, -19/+3/yawn
  • ArthurArchnix, on 11/11/2007, -7/+11Awesome!

    Oh, and I don't care that it's closed source. My girlfriend won't install wengo.
    • alanr19, on 11/11/2007, -10/+13If you had a girlfriend you wouldnt need skype with video.
    • 0xFEEDFACE, on 11/09/2007, -3/+4"Oh, and I don't care that it's closed source. My girlfriend"

      The first part of the second sentence makes the whole of the first sentence a bit superfluous. :-D
  • alanr19, on 11/09/2007, -0/+14Wow that opening paragraph is lame. Its like the crap oprah would spout. Linux Skype gets video.

    Now lets try and keep it together guys.


  • foofightrs777, on 11/11/2007, -0/+4I wish Trillian would call me on video chat.

    Oh well, probably saves me from needing to hire a telephone sanitizer to avoid a massive plague.
  • sukimashita, on 11/11/2007, -1/+11Descriptions for human beings please.
    • stalefries, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1Something about hating Macs and Windows PCs.
  • timothyparez, on 11/11/2007, -5/+30Skype should be avoided at all cost! It's not compliant with VoIP standards, all it has is a lot of fuzz...
    Go for SIP based solutions, such as the free service provided by http://www.freeworlddialup.com/

    If you're looking for a good SIP client for Windows/MacOS/Linux, try X-Lite.
    If you would like to be able to make phone calls without turning on your computer, get a hardware SIP solution.
    We use Cisco SPA922 phones, and there are cheaper models out there as well.

    Combine that with an Asterisk server and you can replace the telephony in your company (and even hook it up to FWD).

    OPEN STANDARDS, that's what we need !
    • uberon, on 11/11/2007, -1/+6With all the respect to open source standards, I thank for the opportunity to use Skype with video on Linux. I think it's a blessed move because it eliminates for me the need to dual-boot just to use one application. skype is still the de-facto software in its field, after all, whether we like it or not.
    • gavintlgold, on 11/11/2007, -0/+3Here's my story: I have a girlfriend in Europe who I like to talk with on skype. She has a windows computer, and though she dual boots ubuntu she doesn't have the tech savvy to set up Ekiga correctly. We managed to call each other through it, but then her camera did not work.

      Skype on the other hand, works fine on her windows install, so if I can get it working on my linux install, I won't have to keep going downstairs to our mac to do video skype with her.

      So though open source is certainly better, and an open standard would be great, it's still not as easy to set up yet, so I do welcome skype with video on linux. (now if only my camera would work with it...)
      • srg13, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2Can't you SSH into the machine and fix it yourself?
    • shanesemler, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2Yawn.
  • jellygraph, on 11/09/2007, -7/+2video chat is very nice, but does skype still look ugly as ass? screenshots please
    • Greeneemer, on 11/11/2007, -0/+10IMO, Skype on Linux is one of the better-looking IM clients. It is not bloated(!!) and it has a nice colour scheme.
      • nandasunu, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2skype on mac is much nicer.. windows skype has become pretty fugly tho..
        • gavintlgold, on 11/11/2007, -0/+2I don't know if it's because I'm running panther or not, but when I use skype with video on OS X, it sucks all of the CPU from the computer (this doesn't happen when I use ichat to video call)... I can barely run anything.

          Of course, i have a G4, so that might be the problem...
    • Aitese, on 11/11/2007, -0/+3Wow...you're so informed!

      Why not take your head out of your ass and check out the NUMEROUS Linux desktop customization sites around...
  • kingp, on 11/09/2007, -1/+19I can honestly say that I'm surprised. It usually takes (between updates for the Linux client) about 4-6 months to get a new beta. This, to me, is exciting news. Maybe us Linux users haven't been forgotten after all. ;)
    • MasteRR, on 11/09/2007, -0/+7I am actually surprised as well. I am glad that the Linux support wasn't dropped after ebay bought them (they have never been one to support Linux), and it seems to be improving.
  • huertanix, on 11/08/2007, -8/+3At last, the world can get a first-hand look into the basements of Linux geeks across the world!
  • Werrismys, on 11/09/2007, -11/+6...and still, closed and proprietary, thus useless.
    • PJBovoNox, on 11/08/2007, -4/+1Like Microsoft Office has proved to be throughout the business world?
    • tripzero, on 11/08/2007, -0/+8closed and proprietary != useless. I prefer open stuff, but closed stuff has it's purpose in the world and can be very useful.
    • DagMX, on 11/08/2007, -3/+1you know open source doesn't really make sense for a lot of commercial apps. Its not like open source is a god-send...
    • sumguy231, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Calm down, Mr. Stallman. It will be okay.
  • digitallysick, on 11/09/2007, -2/+15dugg anything with the word linux and video i will digg, linux needs more video incorporated apps
    • gavintlgold, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Yeah, we need an easy video editing software (that's not buggy like kdenlive) and is userfriendly...
  • MasteRR, on 11/09/2007, -2/+7Nice. Now I just need some working Linux webcam drivers.
    • jcronkhite, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Thank you! I agree! I'll try the new beta with my hp DV9000 built-in cam, but have low hopes that it will work (unless skype has built-in support, which would be nothing short of a miracle).
      • evilregis, on 11/09/2007, -0/+3My DV9000's built-in cam works out-of-the-box for me. I'm going to test it in Skype tonight, but I did test it using Ekiga (Ubuntu 7.04) and it worked just fine there. Here's hoping for similar success in Skype. I've since upgraded to 7.10 so I hope there wasn't a regression there.
    • mooninite, on 11/09/2007, -0/+3Buy a logitech quickcam 9000 pro. Install the Linux UVC driver. Enjoy a perfect web cam experience. I use mine through Ekiga (free SIP client) without any problems.

      The trick is to get a UVC camera... not a proprietary one.
    • ISIfunded911, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1There is this topic on Skype's linux forum for live support by Skype's devs about drivers and any other problem with this new version:
      http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=101297& ...
  • ghebert, on 11/09/2007, -2/+4I wish I could digg this twice!!!
  • 9a3eedi, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2Is it in portage?
  • gorndog, on 11/09/2007, -1/+13Hello, Skype (and Adobe, and etc.) it is 2007 .... We use 64 bit Linux now!
    • burkay, on 11/09/2007, -2/+11Actually I was using 64bit in 2006. In 2007 I just gave up.
    • ricercia, on 04/21/2008, -0/+3I got it working on 64-bit using 32-bit libraries, so I don't see the problem.
      • peppeqsvk, on 11/15/2007, -0/+0Hi, first i am wondering just for reply to this comment there will be probably no more readed by anyone I had to register and give my personal data. Wondering that they wasn't asking for number of my shoes. :) but i would like to find out if u see problem with 32 bit libraries and skype 2.0 with video calls?? if not please try to explain how did you install it. I am using ubuntu amd64 Gutsy Gibbon. Thanx
  • johnnybluejeans, on 11/09/2007, -1/+14But the real question is... will she take her top off?
  • dukeinlondon, on 11/09/2007, -0/+9Dell (laptop), Asus (eee), Nokia(n8x0) probably have a lot to do with that. Great
  • sn00kie, on 11/08/2007, -0/+3Sweet, now all I need is to get my web cam working in linux.... DAMN IT
  • shotgunefx, on 11/10/2007, -0/+10You know, when my girlfriend left for LA for a semester, I actually had a need for something like this. We knew being apart would be tough, we wanted to be able to see each other, and have privacy. ;)

    Nothing I found open or closed really seemed to meet those goals. There certainly could have been something I missed, but most I found wouldn't encrypt video, and either worked through a central server or p2p or were meant for business meetings and super expensive. One had ZRTP encryption on the way, but not in time.

    Don't know if this will come in handy to anyone else, so I'll relay my experience.

    VLC and SSH to the rescue! I knew there would be some lag, so for voice, my girlfriend had Verizon Wireless, so I switched to a cheap VZW phone. Now all our long distance talking was free.
    I grabbed a couple of bluetooth headsets anticipating being on the phone a lot. So voice is taken care of.

    For the video, I instructed her how to get and install the putty ssh. With the proper local and remote port forwarding on both sides, we had a secure connection and her being behind her school's NAT was out of the way.

    Then fire up two copies of VLC on each side, one streaming and one client (you want to make sure you don't look bad right? ) and done. It made being apart MUCH easier. We could even watch shows, etc together on it. I've really come to appreciate VLC and how flexible it is. (I already knew SSH kicks ass).

    Even though she was on her school's wireless, we could usually manage at least 500k streams both ways. There was a little lag (2 or 3 seconds usually), but having the audio in sync alleviated that for the most part.
    • KhaaL, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1I've been struggeling getting VLC to stream and recieve streams... And I didn't even try encrypted streams! You should definatly write a guide and help us who're in long-distance relationships!
  • alanic, on 11/08/2007, -6/+2OH SWEET LORD! OH MIGHTY, MIGHTY LORD!
  • EvanVolm, on 11/09/2007, -4/+6Skype is absolute ***** now. Get Gizmo.
  • TechCF, on 11/09/2007, -0/+10Now will Pidgin get webcam support? I wish I could code
  • godzilla8nj, on 11/09/2007, -1/+2On the Skype download page: "Insert Linux HARDWARE here...Blah". Hmm.
  • gep642, on 11/09/2007, -2/+2Ekiga, anyone?
  • mikeyhell, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1that has to be the cheesiest intro i've ever seen.. are you serious, i thought you were unveiling a real live superman or something
  • OrangeTide, on 11/09/2007, -2/+2"This is a time of excitement." ... Why? What is exciting about video conferencing? I don't want to waste bandwidth looking at people, nor do I want them looking at me. Plus people are always looking down in the video conference because they are looking at the window not at the camera. Video is a misleading more than a helpful addition to human communication.
  • jouissance, on 11/09/2007, -1/+1Would've dugg if it wasn't for that god-awful description.

    Buried.
  • martalli, on 11/09/2007, -0/+6Everyone can complain about it being closed source, but among all the regular folks out there, the fact that skype is on Linux is the sort of info that makes a linux computer sound like a "real computer" to them. Program like Ekiga just won't be familiar.
  • Flamekebab, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Awesome. Especially well timed as I said to my folks yesterday that I'd be able to video call them in New Zealand as soon as the linux Skype devs pulled their fingers out (they're having a two-way satelite uplink installed in order to get decent up and down internet speeds, being installed within this week.). Brilliant!
  • nomechingues, on 11/09/2007, -0/+7THANKS SKYPE
  • lemur, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1Well, that's nice... except like a BILLION years too late!
  • briguy, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2About time! Now the last reason to have a Windows partition is gone...
  • jamesshuang, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1I have two words for this. ***** FINALLY

    I've been waiting TWO YEARS for this damned thing. Parents refuse to use anything else x_x
    • berkus, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2Just replace your parents with Ekiga-compatible ones.
  • LoneShadow, on 11/09/2007, -0/+1Great news!! Should open up competition for other clients to support cross-platform video conferencing
  • Rebeca, on 11/20/2007, -0/+0I still prefer gizmoproject. The skype client for Linux still needs more improvement, but I'm glad they finally got this done.
  •  

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