net-im/skype(forlinux) x86

josephg · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 2:40 pm Post subject: net-im/skype(forlinux) x86

i just got this message during --update

fedeliallalinea · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 2:56 pm Post subject:

josephg · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 3:23 pm Post subject:

shentino · n00b Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Posts: 63

Regular net-im/skype works for now (but microsoft will be EOLing it soon apparently).

My advice is to manually unmask it if you want it, or just use https://web.skype.com to use the web version.

Personally I'd rather use discord

shentino · n00b Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Posts: 63

Honestly if people (including myself) weren't still using it I'd have lastrited both of them as an unworthy pain in the ass.

Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:28 pm Post subject:

As the old Skype for Linux (net-im/skype-4.3.*) will stop working on 1st July 2017, a couple of days ago I uninstalled it and installed the new Skype for Linux 5.3 Beta (net-im/skypeforlinux-5.3.0.1). The latter is only 64-bit, by the way, as Microsoft has decided not to release a 32-bit version.

Anyway, I have already had to use it for many hours (Skype-to-Skype, Skype-to-landline and Skype-to-mobile) and the new version works well for me, including one-to-one video calls, although occasionally video stopped streaming and I had to turn it off and on again. The 5.3.0.1 Beta does not support Screen Sharing, which is something I used occasionally in the old version. Hopefully Microsoft will be adding that function in one of the next updates.

I find the UI of the new version less intuitive than the old version. Although the new UI looks very contemporary, I find it less ergonomic.
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josephg · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 7:10 pm Post subject:

Ant P. · Watchman Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 6920

Most of the former Skype users I know moved on to other things a while ago: Google Hangouts/Voice, Discord, Telegram etc.

They're all equally bad — Electron's bloat really levels the playing field (and the stadium and surrounding town) — but that might paradoxically make it easier to convince others to move away from Skype.

StaffanP · n00b Joined: 01 Oct 2002 Posts: 35 Location: Sweden

Are there still people running a 32 bit OS in 2017?

josephg · Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 9:21 am Post subject:

Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 9:51 am Post subject:

josephg · Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:22 am Post subject:

Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:41 am Post subject:

josephg · Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 11:50 am Post subject:

StaffanP · n00b Joined: 01 Oct 2002 Posts: 35 Location: Sweden

bunder · Bodhisattva Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 5934

A lot of applications these days are going the Electron route, Discord is the same way.

I mean, I can't say I'm happy about some buzzword-laden web platform that isn't the same C that we've used for ~45 years, but if they can decide on one standard and stick with it, then I guess I can grow to live with electron.

Look at Spotify, they use something called Chromium Embedded Framework, which basically works the same way as Electron. Whether CEF is better than Electron, I don't know. I'd rather not use javascript at all personally but it is what it is.

njsg · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 88

depontius · Advocate Joined: 05 May 2004 Posts: 3509

We have a daughter out-of-state, our main reason for Skype. When all of this thrashing about was happening, we moved to HangOuts, and had better luck than we ever did with Skype. Not perfect, but a lot better.
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njsg · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 88

Good to hear that the Google one worked out better for you. In my case, it didn't — massive performance issues with Google's in-browser plugin. That happens to be the major reason why I am using Skype. Seeing as I moved several years ago, perhaps things have improved?

Meanwhile, one alternative could have been video chat over XMPP, but psimedia was removed from the tree recently.

depontius · Advocate Joined: 05 May 2004 Posts: 3509

I've used "google-chrome-stable" when doing video chats with HangOuts - if that makes a difference. At one point I'd installed the firefox plugin, but that seemed to get stale fast. I normally use firefox, but for our video chats I stay inside the Google ecosystem.
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njsg · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 88

net-im/skype-4.3.0.37 is now logged out automatically upon login. In what appears to be a brilliant UI design, this closes skype and it does not print any message, in the GUI or in stdio/stderr, explaining the reason behind this.

Microsoft seems to be doing this on the server side, solely based on the reported version number. But there is a workaround to log in with 4.3.0.37.

1clue · Advocate Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 2569

I don't have skype installed on Gentoo anywhere, because I don't want that crap on anything I actually care about.

That said, there's a skype binary installer as a deb or rpm package. It's a monolithic binary. It actually works pretty good, I have it on Ubuntu 16.04 and I know a couple other guys who I think are on 15.xx or 16.10 *buntu. It even does multiuser desktop sharing, which has never happened to me before.

https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/

1clue · Advocate Joined: 05 Feb 2006 Posts: 2569

Actually I'm curious about things that work well on all platforms which also support group desktop sharing.