SDB Talk:Skype

13.1

(November 23rd 2013)

Follow these instructions to install and use Skype on Open SuSE Linux 13.1 64-bit edition.

Download Skype RPM installation package from http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-computer/. Note that this is a 32-bit version that does not list the correct dependencies and requires tweaking. Install it, but do not start it yet. Instead, open YaST and go to Software Management. Open it and search for packages named "pulse". Select to install packages such as pulseaudio (the default is 64-bit version for 64-bit Linux), pavucontrol and alsa-plugins-pulse the default version and the alsa-plugins-pulse-32bit version. You may also install other pulseaudio packages if you wish. Next, search for "v4l". Install all libv4l* packages, including the 32-bit versions. Accept changes and finish.

Create a script for running Skype. First of all, you can find the executable Skype link among the applications in the "start menu" (depending from the desktop manager that you are using), so you can put it to your desktop. This was originally installed by Skype installer. However, you should not execute just that link (or the command skype). You should instead execute:

PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC=60 LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype %U

every time you start Skype. That can be accomplished in several different ways, one of which is to edit the desktop link to Skype and add the above command. Another way is to create a script file:

emacs skype.sh

in which you should paste in the previously mentioned command. Close the Emacs editor and execute

chmod +x ./skype.sh

to make it executable. Now run that script from console or make the desktop Skype link point to this file. You should visit the Skype options to verify that you have Pulse Audio and a button to its volume control. Press the button to the Pulse Volume Control where you can select the audio card, the microphone and volume levels in that program, apart from Skype. The webcam should work immediately. You should see it in the Options menu of Skype.

It seems as if with Skype version 4.3.0.37 the wrapper script is not needed anymore. --Buschmann23 (talk) 11:20, 19 June 2014 (UTC)