Hi all

Skype 2 was downloaded and runs well from the command line

$ ./skype &

Even video works!


Only problem is Skype has no sound it seems and each time an outgoing call is made (incoming not tested b.t.w.) the message returned in the call window is "Call Failed: Problem with Audio Playback".

This is also an issue with v1.4 which was installed and uninstalled via Gentoo emerge.

What process should be followed and commands used in order to test different sound configurations?
For example:
1. Open GUI control, make changes and save.
2. Restart sound. /etc/init.d/some-app restart
3. Start / Sign In Skype. Test call.
4. Exit Skype.
5. Start at pt. 1 again.

Below are the relevant results of "emerge -s alsa".
Is media-sound/alsa-driver required for Skype OR is this not already configured in the kernel?

Also, should OSS be configured in the kernel?

Many thanks
Graeme

Laptop: Sony Vaoi SZ3XWP.

OS: $uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.20-gentoo #21 SMP Thu Dec 13 10:09:41 GMT 2007 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux



If comparing these to your own system pls see the "update" at the end.

$emerge -s alsa
* media-libs/alsa-lib
Latest version available: 1.0.14a-r1
Latest version installed: 1.0.14a-r1
Size of files: 767 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org/
Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Library
License: GPL-2 LGPL-2.1

* media-libs/alsa-oss
Latest version available: 1.0.14
Latest version installed: 1.0.14
Size of files: 242 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org/
Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture OSS compatibility layer.
License: GPL-2

* media-plugins/alsa-plugins
Latest version available: 1.0.14
Latest version installed: 1.0.14
Size of files: 298 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org/
Description: ALSA extra plugins
License: GPL-2 LGPL-2.1

* media-plugins/gst-plugins-alsa
Latest version available: 0.10.14
Latest version installed: 0.10.11
Size of files: 1,587 kB
Homepage: http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/
Description: plugin for gstreamer
License: GPL-2

* media-sound/alsa-driver
Latest version available: 1.0.14-r1
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of files: 2,539 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org/
Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture kernel modules
License: GPL-2 LGPL-2.1

* media-sound/alsa-firmware
Latest version available: 1.0.14
Latest version installed: 1.0.14_rc1
Size of files: 3,120 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org/
Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture firmware
License: GPL-2

* media-sound/alsa-headers
Latest version available: 1.0.14
Latest version installed: 1.0.14
Size of files: 2,539 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org/
Description: Header files for Advanced Linux Sound Architecture kernel modules
License: GPL-2 LGPL-2.1

* media-sound/alsa-tools
Latest version available: 1.0.14
Latest version installed: 1.0.14
Size of files: 1,511 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org
Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture tools
License: GPL-2

* media-sound/alsa-utils
Latest version available: 1.0.14
Latest version installed: 1.0.14
Size of files: 990 kB
Homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org/
Description: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Utils (alsactl, alsamixer, etc.)
License: GPL-2

* media-sound/alsamixergui
Latest version available: 0.9.0.1.2-r4
Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
Size of files: 68 kB
Homepage: http://www.iua.upf.es/~mdeboer/projects/alsamixergui/
Description: AlsaMixerGui - a FLTK based amixer Frontend
License: GPL-2

* media-sound/gnome-alsamixer
Latest version available: 0.9.6
Latest version installed: 0.9.6
Size of files: 91 kB
Homepage: http://www.paw.za.org/projects/gnome-alsamixer
Description: Gnome based ALSA Mixer
License: GPL-2

Update: note that "# emerge -C alsa-oss alsa-plugins gnome-alsamixer" after this as they are not required for an alsa enabled kernel.

Right,
how many people would like to know how to solve this?

The workaround that I have found is to run Skype as root.
However as root my web camera shows a test pattern. This leads me to believe that perhaps the users / groups require further configuration.

Any ideas on which group(s) the local user should be added to or removed from?


Root:
# groups
root bin daemon sys adm disk wheel floppy dialout tape video vmware

Normal user
$ groups
adm lp wheel floppy cron audio cdrom dialout tape video users portage plugdev vmware nobody



Thanks in advance
Graeme

You have GOT to be kidding. No offense, but to call that a phenomenally bad idea would be to insult all the truly phenomenally bad ideas out there.

Skype has vulnerabilities and since it is closed source, there is no way to track it down. Running it as root is just ASKING to have your system compromised.

A HUGE part of the problem is that the Skype 2 beta for Linux is a pile of garbage. It has an enormous number of bugs, particularly in the video support. To be honest, your better off not using this, particularly if running as root is the only solution. I use Skype as well, and I only use the Linux client if I can get by with just voice. If I need video I either boot into Windows or turn on the Mac.


Seriously, the Linux Skype beta is that bad......

"The workaround that I have found is to run Skype as root."

Hangdog, sorry but which part of "workaround" didn't you understand? Granted I did get carried away and type "solved" in the title ;-)

So to clarify, the solution lies in the allocation of my user to the correct group.

Looking at the list above which is the correct one?
Or is there a "# netstat -someMacic" that will give me a clue?

Maybe its just me, but any time running something as root is suggested, either as a workaround or as standard practice, alarm bells should go off. And yes, I probably did misread your first post a bit, but given the problems with the Skype Linux client, I'd bet quite a few people could see this post and start running Skype as root on a routine basis.

To be honest, I'm not sure that the problem you're seeing is entirely due to a permissions problem. The 1.4 version was an attempt to recover from the completely disastrous 1.3 version. They both were an attempt to move from OSS to ALSA. If I remember correctly, the 1.4 version was pretty picky about what version of ALSA was installed. On my Slackware rig, Skype 1.2 was really the last one to function correctly. When I did get 1.4 running, it only worked with OSS, not ALSA, even after I upgraded ALSA to the recommended version.


As far as video goes, it looks like they've flubbed that a bit too. There are a LOT of video cameras that work well otherwise in Linux, but don't work with Skype. I've seen some suggestions that they haven't really implemented the V4L interface correctly, but I'm not enough of a programmer to know if that is true or not. If you haven't already, head over to the Skype Linux forum. I know there is at least one thread there about running a script to modify how the video managed by Skype and it seems to have made a difference for a number of people.

For the groups, I would add your user to the groups one at a time and see which one allows Skype to function properly. Looking over the groups that your user is part of, the obvious ones are already there. My problem is that of the remaining groups, I'm not sure that I would want a normal user access to those, but trying and seeing might be a way to figure out what is going wrong.

This thread has moved here...
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-4842167.html