Installing Skype

[pilarp]

Hi,

does anyone know which version of Skype one should use for kbuntu? Does rpm work in kbuntu? Or is it tar.gz?

[ajgreeny]

You need the .deb version, available if you add the following repo to your sources.list file. The version is now a beta 1.3.0.30_API, but it works very well. Give it a try.
deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

Alternatively you can just download the debian package from the skype website and install it with a double click, I think, or in a terminal type:-

cd /folder_where_you_downloaded_debfile
sudo dpkg-install xxxx.xxx.xx.deb

(the xxxx.xxx.xx.deb is the name of the package you downloaded

[jtibau]

I've found useful to also install the "alsa-oss" package through apt-get:
Type "sudo apt-get install alsa-oss" in a shell.
Skype uses oss, which is old and doesn't support multichannels or something. I read this somewhere.
The alsa-oss package is a wrapper that makes skype work with alsa.
So after installing both the Skype 1.3b (even though it's beta works way better than the older stable one) and alsa-oss.. Type in a console:
aoss skype
to run skype.
Alternatively, using alacarte you can modify the link on the applications>internet menu. On the "command" box type "aoss skype" instead of just skype.
Good luck

[Rastareefer]

I was using the beta deb version in Kubuntu 6.06 LTS which worked great until a few days ago when I did an adept update which seems to have screwed it up so that I try to run skype and it just spins its wheels till it stops abruptly without opening.