Skype 'musings' & related stuff...

[Mike Walsh]

Morning, CatDude. Long time no see....

Hello CatDude ..... how do you convince Skype v 4.3.0.37 to think it is version 8.3.0.37? What is the modification? Is your version 32 bit?

Very similar to what watchdog used.

Code: Select all

sed -i 's/4\.3\.0\.37/8\.3\.0\.37/' /usr/share/skype/skype

Change the path to your skype binary location, if different to above.

Just a query, really. Does this code need to be applied every time you start Skype? Or do you just apply it the once?

I don't intend re-installing this right across the kennels, but just in a couple of my favourite Pups. Obviously, if it needs running every time, 'twould be easier to put it into a script for ease of operation.....


Mike.

[CatDude]

@ Mike Walsh
Hello Mike

Just a query, really. Does this code need to be applied every time you start Skype? Or do you just apply it the once?

Just the once mate.

CatDude
.

[Mike Walsh]

@ Mike Walsh
Hello Mike

Just a query, really. Does this code need to be applied every time you start Skype? Or do you just apply it the once?

Just the once mate.

CatDude
.

Fair do's, mate; much appreciated. I replaced Tahr 6.0.5 a while back with the newer 6.0.6; let's see what happens with watchdog's 'workaround' and your version 'fix'. (I even had audio and video-calling working properly in 605; I want to see if I can repeat it..!)

Cheers.


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

Hi again, CatDude.

Gracias, mi amigo! That's worked nicely. Skype 4.3 now seems to think it's 8.3.0.37 (*hee, hee*)





Nice one.

Like so many of us, even though I'm not a die-hard Skype user (it's there more for friends & family who refuse to even try any of the multitude of alternatives that are now available), I detest the 'new-look' version.....I'm happier with the older GUI if I have to use the darn thing.

Personally, I much prefer WIRE.... Far more intuitive, to my way of thinking. Hell, even Google's Hangouts is preferable..!! That's one good thing about MyCrudSoft's 'messing about' with Skype the way they have this last year or so; it's triggered an explosion of development. And there's some decent alternatives out there. I just like WIRE, though.....and the fact that the AppImages run in Pup without issue helps enormously.

Anyway, cheers for this, mate. Much appreciated.


Mike.

(EDIT:- Curiously, since re-installing Skype, along with pulseaudio and pavucontrol, Openshot, the video editor, has now started working. I installed this when I upgraded from 605 to 606 about 4-5 months ago; it never did work properly, and I seem to recall it wanted PulseAudio (which I was loathe to install just for that).

Oh, well. I'm not complaining. Openshot's always been my favourite video editor, despite being a major PITA to get running sometimes..!)

[peebee]

Anybody got webcams working in new 64-bit SkypeForLinux??

With skypeforlinux_8.17.76.3_amd64.deb
it detects I have a webcam plugged in
but doesn't display any video from the webcam (screenshot #1)

Pavrecord shows that the webcam is working fine (screenshot #2)

Test system is LxPupSc64

[Mike Walsh]

Afternoon, peebee.

I suspect it's more to do with the webcam itself than anything else, y'know. I've always found that they just seem to work better under Linux if you go out of your way to make sure the model you want to purchase is 'UVC-compliant'.

That way, it makes use of the built-in UVC kernel driver module. Mine have always been UVC-compliant, and they work without issue in the majority of VOIP apps that are available. There's always the odd one that refuses to play ball, though. I'm afraid I don't have any 'pearls of wisdom' to dispense regarding those..!

Weird codecs, perchance? (There again, Skype just is 'weird'...)


Mike.

[watchdog]

Anybody got webcams working in new 64-bit SkypeForLinux??

With skypeforlinux_8.17.76.3_amd64.deb

skypeforlinux_8.17.76.3_amd64 does not work at all in fatdog64 721: it does not start and no errors I have found in log. skypeforlinux-64 stable release works with webcam too. I have ceased to test experimental builds of skypeforlinux.

[peebee]

In the transition from skypeforlinux-8.29 to 8.30 a dependency on systemd-logind has sadly been introduced.....

There has been discussion on the Slackware forum on how to deal with this in non-systemd systems.

It can be fixed by including elogind from antix in the sfs - as described:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/question ... ost5904826

I have an sfs which works on LxPupSc64-18.06 .... if anybody is interested I could upload it.....

[watchdog]

I have installed skypeforlinux in xenialpup64 via flatpak:

https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.skype.Client

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=114155

At this time the latest skype at flathub is 8.29.0.50. I'll report if I get skype 8.30 working by this way when it comes out at flathub.

[Mike Walsh]

@ peebee:-

Thanks for the info, Peter.

I don't use Skype4Linux at all regularly (it's more there for family/acquaintances who refuse to try anything else), but I do look at/update/try out on a semi-regular basis.

I'll check that link out, and see what the SP is.

Cheers.

EDIT:_ Mm. Looks easy enough to do. The only drawback I can see is that that needs to be repeated every time you upgrade.....and given the frequency with M$ keep releasing new versions, and disabling older ones..... Unless, of course, you can keep a copy of /usr/bin/skypeforlinux, and it'll continue to work with subsequent releases.

It's a possibility.....

EDIT2:- What about the 'elogind' stuff in /etc and/init.d, Peter? Is that required, too.....or just the libs?

EDIT3:- Peter, where did you get that libselinux from? I tried obtaining it both from your link, and direct from packages/ubuntu.com. Both times, it refuses to extract; Xarchiver shows it as being empty, and UExtract says it's not a genuine Debian package.....

Does it actually install? What about the RPM package from pkgs.org?

(Follow-up:-) An equivalent Fedora 27 RPM package from pkgs.org extracted quite happily. Y'know, that's not the first time I've had problems like that with Ubuntu .deb packages; I think Canonical need to be a bit stricter with their Q.C.....

Still, given how many hundreds of thousands of packages their maintainers have to keep track of, it's hardly surprising there's the odd cock-up from time to time.

EDIT4:- Does this little lot look about right? It's all the libs/ELF shared objects I could find in those packages...





Mike.

[peebee]

EDIT2:- What about the 'elogind' stuff in /etc and/init.d, Peter? Is that required, too.....or just the libs?

Hi Mike

I copies all the contents of the .debs into the .sfs only moving the libs as described. I had no problem extracting the debs using dpkg-deb

A reboot is needed after loading the .sfs to initialise and set everything up correctly.

The beauty of an sfs if you name it properly is that you just replace it with an updated version as these become available - reboot and you're using the new version.

The sfs also works on philb's new bionicpup64.....

[rockedge]

hello peebee!

where is this sfs or should I make one? I need skype to run on Bionic64...which is running very very well on my Dell Optiplex 990

[peebee]

hello peebee!

where is this sfs or should I make one? I need skype to run on Bionic64...which is running very very well on my Dell Optiplex 990

https://sourceforge.net/projects/lxpup/ ... s/download

but..... update to 8.31.76.88 has already appeared...

[rockedge]

Thank you peebee..the updates to skype seem to come often....

I have Skype installed from flatpak running now but it is also behind update wise. I am going to use the sfs on a new setup of bionic64...Flatpak has some overhead I think

[Mike Walsh]

Just keeping this information thread alive; I've a wee bit of new info for y'all.

Most of you probably know this by now, but for the last few releases it appears that Skype has now joined the ranks of other apps that insist you run only as a 'normal user'... I've only just discovered this; I last re-installed around mid-September, and I'm already several versions behind!

The trouble with Skype, of course, is that even starting it from the terminal gives absolutely no clues as to what may be wrong. It was only the fact that it immediately went back to the

Code: Select all

# root

....'prompt' that made me suspect it wasn't even trying to start. And knowing the way that everything else seems to be getting built nowadays, this was why I investigated starting as 'user' spot, before trying to dig deeper into the guts of the thing.

--------------------------------------

So; just to make life a bit easier all round, please find attached a MenuEntry .pet that will start Skype as 'spot'. Just install the Skype .deb package from

https://repo.skype.com/deb/pool/main/s/skypeforlinux/

....as normal, then install this MenuEntry .pet afterwards. It uses the exact same name as the existing .desktop entry, instead re-directing to a simple script in /root/my-applications/bin that fires up Skype with the 'run-as-spot' parameter, thus:-

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
#
# Fire up Skype as a 'normal user'
#
run-as-spot /usr/share/skypeforlinux/skypeforlinux

Works fine in both Xenialpup64 and Bionicpup64. For me, it's the first time in a long while that I've had current, up-to-date Skype running in more than one Puppy.....


Mike.

[rockedge]

the main problem is running Skype as root.

The people over at micropuppet have made the code for skype unable to be started with --no-chrome-sandbox which used to work or any other work around that I have tried. Search engine the issue and you'll see the attempts.

So I revert back to the last newer version that will run as root.

This also has become a problem in WeeDog as well. The Void Linux package manager installs the latest skype but since WeeDog setups I made run as root I have no joy running Skype. So also there I go back to an older version

I do not like to be forced by know-it-all's to not use root.....I run as root with no fear and NEVER had an issue to this very moment running as root

Skype version 8.50.0.38 works well still in Bionic64.

I am going to use your suggestion Mike which looks like a great way to start skype with the run-as-spot wrapper!

**

[rockedge]

Nice!!

Hello Mike...I don't know why I did not think of using run-as-spot before but I used your suggestion with the latest preview version of Skype and it started and works great.

Thanks for the tip!

[Mike Walsh]

Hi, rockedge.

Ah, you know me by now; if there's an easy, simple way of doing summat, it's what I prefer to go with. We get so used to thinking of everything we do in 'complex' terms, we tend to forget to try the simple things first.....

I always start stuff like this from the terminal to begin with (I keep remembering all the different hassles the early 'beta' versions of SkypeforLinux presented us with, a couple of years ago.) When it just kept returning to the prompt, I immediately suspected permissions, since it's happening with pretty much everything else these days!

'Run-as-spot' worked perfectly for me, so I figured I'd put together a simple MenuEntry 'overwrite' for it; should work for everybody else, too.

That start script in /usr/bin is a bloody nightmare; I know it's fairly 'standard' as far as mainstream distros are concerned, but TBH, most of it is totally unnecessary.....and anyway, we're used to 'hacking' things to get 'em running in Puppy, aren't we?

I'm like you; there's no end of perfectly good, open-source replacements for Skype that I'd be more than happy to use instead.....but when everyone you know refuses to use anything other than Skype, it doesn't leave you a lot of choice..! I'm just glad the current versions seem to be fairly well 'sorted' at long last.

-------------------------------

Hang on to the Menu 'overwrite' .pet, 'cos you'll need to re-install it each time you upgrade Skype.


Mike.

[rockedge]

Hi Mike,

Good stuff...so far just the small script I put into /root/my-applications/bin is doing the trick starting the latest Skype. Which I don't think will be affected.

I have the PET and will keep it stored in case I need it!

I still use it since my world wide connections are still using skype as well.

[Mike Walsh]

Just some info:-

Have just this moment installed the 'current' version of this in Bionicpup64 - 8.57.76.109. I'm noticing a degree of 'sluggishness' & 'hesitation' with this version.....and this is on the new, modern hardware. God knows what it'd be like on the old Compaq!

Apart from that, everything appears to be still functional, though I can't say as I'm keen on MyCrudSoft having removed the ability to 'maximize' the app. It's now either 'fullscreen' (via F11 - covering the tray up), or a smallish window off to one side of the screen.

Ah, well; I guess I shouldn't complain. It does still work.....


Mike.