Re: [gentoo-user] skype experiences: good/bad/etc

[Ralph Slooten]

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Jason Weisberger wrote:
> Apparently Skype has been working furiously on a newer version where
> alsa support and the like will be built in, but I'm waiting to see that one.

Just to give a little inside heads-up ~

Firstly I would not call it "furiously" ... it's more like "when they
have time". Yes it's true that alsa-support is being developed, and the
current "beta-beta" builds (not available to the public) use alsa, but
since they released their first alsa-supporting version until the
present it has _never_ worked on either of my gentoo machines. I do beta
testing for Skype btw. Some users on other distros (like redhat) report
success, but I still have to find a gentoo-user who has. The idea of
alsa is great, but the fact that it's all pre-compiled delivers the
issue of compatibility problems with the different alsa versions.

So don't hold your breath ;-) I think the current public release of
Skype will be around for quite a long time, until either:
a) they get more personal to develop the Linux port
b) they open up certain parts of the application (like it's alsa
integration) for self-compiling (like vmware and it's modules) which
imho would solve some compatibility issues.

They also have to eventually rebuild the whole Skype application too it
seems, as it has many design flaws apparently. I'm not saying security
flaws though, just limitations due to it's design.

That being said though, I still think Skype is great. I use it quite a
bit from time to time with good friends and all the main features work
pretty darn well, even with plain OSS-emulation (/dev/dsp).


Greetings,
Ralph

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