Skype under WINE
Sure, there's a skype for linux, but it doesn't support Video or Skypecasts or Games, etc. So I decided to try skype under wine. There isn't much documentation for it on the wine AppDB (it's old data), but it actually works amazingly well, considering it's a complicated program which uses one of the worst-implemented parts of WINE, the sound system.
You have to choose the Windows 98 option for it to log you in. It logs in, and looks nice and pretty, and you can even call people and the call works--the only problem is: people can't hear you, because WINE's audio input is horrible ;)
I tried calling my house with skypeout, and it worked. I even could hear myself talking on the phone. But nothing worked to get the audio input working... This looks promising though :) Wine is updated frequently, and maybe one of the next updates will get there...!
Also, no video, or skypecasts. So it's not any more useful than Skype for Linux. But it looks cool ;)
3 comments:
What's the name of that leave wallpaper you're using? Where can I get it?
Thanks a lot, mate! Great theme!
Most useless blog post ever?
"Skype under Windows does video and other stuff, so I run it under wine, even though the video and other stuff don't work!"
And you wonder why there's so little information on the appdb? At least the native version works...
Also, the Windows version of Skype is horrible. It's so bloated it's not even funny. Why would you want games in a VOIP client? To play them while you wait for your call to dial in? If I want games, I'd install games, not a VOIP app.
Note the age of this post--this was made before skype Linux had any sort of video support. I had been experimenting in case the wine version happened to work with video.
Nowadays I use normal Skype for Linux and the video works fine. Also, Empathy supports buggy video calls with Jabber. Hopefully that will get better soon.
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