I managed to get Skype working on Ubuntu Dapper AMD64! But what a undertaking. The repositories are not accessable. A load of setting are required to do manually after reading every forum entry available in Skype, Ubuntu and else.

The reward - a version 1.3 in Beta when the windows version is already at 2.5 or something.

Hardly worth the trouble. This might not be the right place to ask. But - is there an alternative to Skype available? I am using mainly Skype out and video would be a nice feature too.

Michael

In the matter of fact Skype for Linux sucks It's troublesome, lacks many usefull features. For me it was a disappointment. Sooner or later Skype will be open source hopefully and there will be enough people to make it more usable than it is now. Unfortunately there's no alternative client program for skype network

Come on guys. Cut the guys on linux some slack. As far as I get it.... For linux there are currently two developers (if I read Berkus' blog correctly): Berkus and a new guy. Mac and Windows have a bit more people. And I must say that Berkus has really done a good job by listening to us and getting us already ALSA in the current beta. It's just a matter of time that we get Video and SMS (in whatever order).

As far as I am concerned I criticised SKYPE as a company and its policies. Not the actual employees working on the job. Its a management decision how many resources Berkus has available to produce a well working feature rich Linux version.

I am having a look at jajah.com. No chat and no video but cheap telephone and SMS Service worldwide. Might be the alternative I was looking for.

If you understand German have a look at http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/technologie...,434800,00.html

Speed up Skype or you will be left behind!

i would suggest wengophone as a good alternative to skype
http://www.openwengo.com

Funny thing: I was using SkypeOut with Windows the last time to call to a co-worker in the US (I'm from Germany) and after a short discussion Skype hang up and I found out that my Skype credit was gone. My buddy suggested to try JaJah.com (he has a usual telephone) and after the first three seconds he said: "Whow, the quality is like 100% better with JaJah.com". So we use this now all the time.

So much for this.

I second OpenWengo, an excellent piece of Software. Also available as a Firefox extension for Linux too.

On my webpage, http://shengchieh.50webs.com/index.html,
Linux Documentation Links, I have


Phone (including video phone)
http://gphone.sourceforge.net/ (non-commercial; Gnome-o-phone)
http://www.antcom.de/ant-phone/ (non-commercial; ANT)
http://phpaint.sourceforge.net/pyvoicechat/ (non-commercial; Gyach)
http://www.gnomemeeting.org/ (non-commercial; GnomeMeeting)
http://www.qnext.com/ (commercial; Qnext; free basics)
http://skype.com/ (commercial; Skype; free basics)
http://www.gizmoproject.com/ (commercial; Gizmo; free basics)
http://www.twinklephone.com/ (non-commercial; Twinkle)
http://www.linphone.org/?lang=us&rubrique=1 (non-commercial; Linphone)
http://kiax.sourceforge.net/ (non-commercial; Kiax)
http://www.openwengo.com/ (non-commercial w/ future commercial options; OpenWengo)
http://www.vocpsystem.com/index.php (non-commercial; VOCP; call answering/voice messaging)
http://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/zfone/index.html (commercial; Zfone;secure)

Sheng-Chieh

Hey,

If you are seeking an alternative to Skype this website might help you.

http://www.voipproducts.eu/

In this site you can compare VoIP rates of every provider. Very useful!

Jani A.

I think comparing versions between linux and windows is not correct: linux skype 1.3 has more feature than windows skype 1.3 had.

The posts on this thread about your dilemmas with Linux Skype are the first I've seen of the problems you've had.

Would you mind outlining the problems you had and how you overcame them, and then perhaps Skype can work on fixing these issues?

To say that it's poorly maintained is unfair imo. Sure, there has been a slow pace of development and extremely tiny development crew, but this is relative to the number of users of the Linux Skype client.

I'll admit, things are a bit behind, but in the last couple of months alone, we've seen activity again. There are 1.3 betas now, and things are starting to look positive again, so just hang in there and see how things go. And if you don't like it, well, that's unfortunate, but I don't really think this is the place to advertise alternatives.

And if you _are_ having issues with the latest beta, perhaps outline them instead of just posting a message looking for an alternative to a product on that product's forum. The post is nothing but flaimbait otherwise. Let's work together and make up for there being a small team. Provide useful feedback and let constructive results flourish, and I'm sure you'll see an even more active development cycle.

Andypoo.
"a new guy"

Hi Andy,

Running Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

1 - Trying everything under the sun to get my sound card to ring and my usb headset to work for calls to the point of completly hammering my sound subsystem and having to reinstall. I know can't see any of my sound devices under preferences but it works now sometimes so I will leave well enough alone. However I always have to call Echo123 just to make sure whether the call is going to come out of my speakers or my headset. Skype seems to completely ignore the settings under sound devices when it feels like it..

2 - This has been mentioned ad nauseum. My PC / Laptop / Other PC all freeze sometimes for up to 5 minutes and it is ALWAYS caused by either an incoming IM or incoming skype call. I've tried everything with NICE but it really freaks me out. I have a windows machine also and really the Linux version has a LONG way to go.




Best Regards,
Brian

I agree w/ "andypoo".

It is utmost disrespectful to post advertisements of competitor's products on the Skype website.

deltatux

would it been better if it was rewritten in Java. It would work on all platforms, and the developing process would be shorter. Or would that take too much time? I'm not verry good at programing and I only know a lil' bit of Java.

Java has heavy penalities like long loading times and having it taking too much memory. Furthermore, a large Java application is slow and clunky.

However, these penalities aren't too servere for Skype to NOT be written in Java. Heck, it would be easy for all of us to have it written in Java, so that they don't need to rewrite it so many times.

deltatux

It is utmost disrespectful how Skype handels their support calls. I am only using skype until my skype out credit is used up.

how are they disrespecting you?

deltatux

I started this thread after finding that the Skype Repositories where down (are they up again?). Install Instructions referred to them however. I also downloaded the file and could not install it on Ubuntu Dapper. Then I noticed the low Version number against my windows notebook installation.

Anyhow. I do not consider changing OS so the only alternative would be to change provider - isn' t it?

But this Java idea sounds interesting. You should really consider this. You would serve everybody equally well (or bad), and you could implement many new features.

Michael

PS: Just had a look at skype.com . I can send SMS via Skype! Not for Linux people

The Skype Repositories are now up to date with the latest (1.3.0.53) build of Skype for Linux.

Skype 1.3.0.53 for Linux most definitely works for Ubuntu Dapper, I had it running on this machine for weeks now, and I've just upgrade to Edgy today, and still works like a charm.

- Ryan.

I am also on Edgy since a week now and can confirm that Skype is working. Version 1.3.0.50 is in the Edgy Repositories. No need to revert to Skype for updates. Maybe you could see that the Repositories have the latest version.

But still features are lacking which are pushed as "must have" on the Skypes main website skype.com .

I think we should leave this thread alone as the original subject has been explored and everything said. New feature anouncements (what we really are interested in) should be made elsewhere. And, please let people know that the skype repositories are up again.

Michael

No, deltatux, it's not disrespectful to discuss alternatives to skype. That is a consequence of how skype is treating its customers - and that's the only disrespect I see here. In fact, doing this may help skype realize they have a problem and prevent massive switches.

If I were you, I'd be curious why people are looking for alternatives. Why did I even google "Alternatives to skype"?

I use skype regularly, and have spend hundreds of dollars so far. Now I have a problem - and nobody to talk to. I have purchased $30 or $40 of skypecredit in the last 15 minutes, and none of it is showing although the orders seem to have gone through (PLUS I have pay-as-you-go which is not working). Obviously skype is not in a hurry to give me what I paid for.

Well, I am in a hurry, and even if skype doesn't care about my time I DO, and that's why I'm going to stop using skype as soon as I spend the credit when it eventually arrives. There are alternatives which will try to keep a customer who is spending approx $500/year on their service.

I will also ask my friends to do the same - there are about 20 people that are using skype only because I set it up for them - I'll set up something else and that'll be it.

Whatever reasons are for not automating payments and skype credits (possible fraud or whatever) - I DON'T CARE, I expect skype to deal with it on ITS, not MY time. Or AT LEAST have somebody who can QUICKLY fix problems when they arise (aka live support). But no - they charge a connection fee, but don't offer refunds when the call drops in the first 5secs, charge paypal but it doesn't show in skype credit, etc. and all that without actual possibility of help. Even when I buy $5.99 wire from compUSA I have somebody to talk to, and here - for hundreds of dollars - nobody!

Anyway, when you ask yourself how did it happen that one day skype was the thing, and the next everybody is using gTalk or something else, this may provide a clue. Arrogance and lack of customer support brought down bigger players than skype... and the web is fluid, people can easily switch to whatever, and snowball effects are common.

Skype will be happy to have the great CEO who managed to increase profits by increasing prices, cutting customer support, and annoying the users (wow, genius!). The competition will be happy that skype has driven away its power users... who in turn got others to follow. I guess everybody is happy, and I like it that way.

Oh, and I will be on a lookout for class action suit against skype for charging the not-really-connected calls thing (one of which now costs me fifty cents! (connection fee and the first minute)). I wonder what bonus will their CEO get when that gets through? Or will he be 'saving' another company by then?

So.. if anybody is being disrespectful here, it's skype. And they should be grateful for the time I spent to write this because they may prevent the next dozen of people from overcoming inertia (oh, it's good enough...) and searching for alternatives.

I think there will be soon numerous alternatives. One that seems promising is Google Voice and Video. OK, it's only PC to PC, but for many that is already something...

Besides, I wouldn't hold my breath for any new version of Skype any time soon:

http://forum.skype.com/index.php?s=&sh...t&p=1103251