Skype w/ Quickcam Messenger

[sripplinger]

I tried installing Skype when I had Jaunty. I now have Lucid and have the same issues.

My webcam is a Logitech Quickcam Messenger. I can see it using cheese or kopete. In Skype I apparently have a detected video source named "Camera", but when I try clicking the test button nothing happens. I have also tried loading skype with

bin - c 'LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype'

but results are the same. What now?

[meho_r]

This worked for me:

1. Rename skype in /usr/bin to skype.real:

sudo mv /usr/bin/skype /usr/bin/skype.real

2. Create a new skype file in /usr/bin:

sudo gedit /usr/bin/skype

3. Paste inside the opened file these lines:

#!/bin/sh 

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so  /usr/bin/skype.real "$@"

4. Save the file and make it executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/skype

P.S. Log out once, just in case. And don't forget to turn on the camera before starting Skype

[dodle]

I see that this thread is a couple months old, but I am having the exact same problem. The above solution did not work for me. The only difference from the OP is that I am using Ubuntu not Kubuntu. Has anyone figured out a solution for this? According to the wiki, https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SkypeWebCams, the Logitech Quickcam Messenger should work with some "fiddling", but does not say what "fiddling" needs to be done. It says the driver is "gspca", but I do not see it in the repos. Is it pre-installed? The webcam works great with Cheese, but not at all with Skype.

[energybeing]

What worked for me is do everything the same as he said other than when you open skype with gedit, use this code instead

#!/bin/bash
export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype.real

[sripplinger]

I actually ended up having to purchase a more modern webcam. I got a Rosewill one for about $20 and it's working fine.

[dodle]

What worked for me is do everything the same as he said other than when you open skype with gedit, use this code instead

#!/bin/bash
export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype.real

No success .

[wgarcia]

I also have a Logitetch Quickcam Messanger, and the solution suggested in #4 worked for me.

There is no need to change the name of skype to skype.real and to create a new file called "skype". THere is already a file called "skype-wrapper" in /usr/bin which you can edit and add "export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1" there. Skype-wrapper ends up looking as:

#!/bin/sh

if [ ! -e ~/.Skype/shared.xml ]; then
mkdir -p ~/.Skype
cp /usr/share/skype/shared.xml ~/.Skype/shared.xml
fi

export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype "$@"


The advantage of doing it like this is that you don't have to touch the menu as it already points to "skype-wrapper".

[Wolf-Ekkehard]

Thanks wgarcia! If you are running a 64 bit OS, you have to change to

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype "$@"

i.e. pointing to the lib32 libraries for skype.

I have an additional favor to ask: You all obviously got the Quickcam Messenger working under 10.10. Where and how did you get the drivers?

For me it didn't "just work" when I plugged the camera into the USB port (no drivers built into the kernel?). I had the camera working on a previous 32-bit machine that I had running for years, and I recall that I had used the qc-usb-messenger-1.x driver from Christian Magnusson. Is that still the preferred method to get a driver, or is there something else/better?

Any additional insight would be highly appreciated!!!

Edit: The drivers were there, but I couldn't get the Quickcam Messenger to work in my 64 bit system with reasonable effort, so I just picked up a Logitech HD Webcam C310 for less than thirty bucks. I should have done that a long time ago - the image quality is so much better, and the camera portion of it works out of the box without loading special drivers or the need of a wrapper around skype for any reason.