Skype 4.0

Unia · 2012-06-15 12:07:29

Hey,

I'm having two issues with the new Skype. I don't know who to adress these to, but before I find that out (I think it'd be upstream instead of Arch) let me share my issues and see if it's only me.

First off, the webcam picture has green stipples/pixels on it with a blue "wave" above it. Perhaps this is related to my driver (Catalyst) but it could also be Skype, as I didn't have these with the older version.

Second, when I get an incoming call the notification stays up even if I pressed 'accept'. When I try to close the notification, it also closes the call I'm in. Again, I did not see this behaviour with the old version.

Do you have these too, or do you perhaps have suggestions on how to fix these?

Unia · 2012-06-15 12:16:41

It seems that I have fixed the notification issue by turning off the auto-accept calls feature in the Privacy settings. All that's left to fix now is the green dots/artifacts I'm encountering.

Pres · 2012-06-15 14:56:59

Does the webcam picture look fine using another application (mplayer, cheese, etc.)?

Unia · 2012-06-15 15:25:13

Pres wrote:

Does the webcam picture look fine using another application (mplayer, cheese, etc.)?

Oh, it's my contact's webcam that has the green dots. Although, when I'm in a longer conversation, they do suddenly (at random) dissapear.

I also just noticed that on my webcam view, I have a red circle, an orange one, a blue one and a green one. The other areas are grey. My contact doesn't see those though, so that's not that big of an issue.

Pres · 2012-06-15 17:19:06

I would try using the radeon driver to see if that fixes it (since the Catalyst driver always has numerous problems with it). If that doesn't work, report it upstream.

Unia · 2012-06-15 17:20:05

Pres wrote:

I would try using the radeon driver to see if that fixes it (since the Catalyst driver always has numerous problems with it). If that doesn't work, report it upstream.

These issues are not worth the hassle of getting that to work and then reverting back to Catalyst again..

jcci · 2012-06-16 04:00:03

Another problem:
Skype login fails.
First it showed some I/O problems, but after removing the .Skype folder this message was gone.
Using "gksudo Skype" it works well and logs in. So I tried "chmod -R 777 .../.Skype" - doesn't help.

peoro · 2012-06-16 11:39:24

jcci wrote:

Another problem:
Skype login fails.
First it showed some I/O problems, but after removing the .Skype folder this message was gone.
Using "gksudo Skype" it works well and logs in. So I tried "chmod -R 777 .../.Skype" - doesn't help.

I'm having your same issue.
Using skype with a brand new user, created just for this (wiki) works, anyway.

scottro · 2012-06-16 13:28:09

Camera seems Ok for me. I am having an issue where, if I click on history, skype just closes. Haven't tested that on more than one machine or distribution besides Arch yet, so I'm not sure where the problem lies.

By the way, I don't know who maintains the Arch package, but they seem to have gotten it out right away. My thanks, as well as congratulations, if they see this.

atanas · 2012-06-16 14:19:15

scottroI wrote:

am having an issue where, if I click on history, skype just closes.

Confirmed. I have the same issue using skype 4.0.0.7-1 from [multilib] on Archlinux x86_64. It also happens with skype-staticqt.

Last edited by atanas (2012-06-16 14:25:19)

scottro · 2012-06-16 14:57:12

Thanks. And, I just confirmed it on a second laptop running Arch. (Both using openbox as desktop.

On a Fedora install, also using openbox, I had a slightly different layout, but going through history (though I didn't see the same sort of history button) I didn't have the issue.

Due to the way I use skype, it's not a big deal for me, and doesn't mitigate my gratitude to the maintainer.

scottro · 2012-06-17 11:38:37

I'm having a few issues back and forth. The trouble is, the only place I use it is with a rather aggravated wife who is overseas, so not much chance to test it. I downloaded the static tarball (but haven't tried it yet), and I noted this in the README which might help Unia.

 If your camera capture is showing a green, scrambled or black image,
    this workaround may help:
    - Ubuntu 32 bit: install "libv4l-0" package and launch Skype with: 
      LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype
    - Ubuntu 64 bit: install "lib32v4l-0" package and launch Skype with: 
      LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype
    - Other distributions might have the same library, but may have a 
      different path.

EDIT: I don't think I've mentioned that I've been using it on a 64 bit machine--so my problems may all be related to this.

Last edited by scottro (2012-06-17 11:45:59)

Unia · 2012-06-17 11:54:56

^ Oh, thanks! I will look into that, currently trying on getting my Lumia800 working with Arch

EDIT:

Oke, it does seem to give less stipples but it won't remove them completely. If you want to try this, the package to install is lib32-v4l-utils. The path is the same so you can just copy that. Thanks for the suggestion, but we'll have to look into this more to remove them completely!

Last edited by Unia (2012-06-17 12:16:28)

scottro · 2012-06-17 14:42:23

Just for fun, I tried putting in the static build.
However, it gave me similar issues. So problems seem to be upstream.

Anyway, if anyone feels like trying it.

pacman -R skype

mkdir /usr/share/skype

Download and untar skype_static-4.0.0.7.tar.bz2

After untarring, it creates a directory skype_staticQT-4.0.0.7
The README suggests copying the skype binary into /usr/bin and the avatars, lang and sounds directories to /usr/share/skype (which is why we created it above)

Now, the thing is that it says static, but they lied. <insert evil laugh--better yet, listen to Barney Stinson's> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFg7esxnrXs

Anyway, when you start, you will find that you get an error of missing libtiff.so.4. Simple fix, just symlink it to /usr/lib32/libtiff.so.5 (This is assuming you're on a 64 bit system, using multilib. On a 32 bit system, you'd use what's in /usr/lib.)

ln -s /usr/lib32/libtiff.so.5 /usr/lib32/libtiff.so.4

Start skype and it runs.

However, as I did say, at the very beginning, I was still having issues, so for now, I'm staying with the pacman build. I really do think the trouble is upstream, since it had the same slight (but not horrible) flakiness.

Unia · 2012-06-17 15:01:56

scottro wrote:

However, as I did say, at the very beginning, I was still having issues, so for now, I'm staying with the pacman build. I really do think the trouble is upstream, since it had the same slight (but not horrible) flakiness.

First off, let me thank you for the work you've already put into this! Whilst I'm working on other issues (got my Lumia working though!) you're putting work into this, which is great! If you need anyone testing something, drop me an email.

Now, to stay on-topic. I do think the issue is upstream (since it all worked before an my other applications still work fine) so I guess we should file a bugreport. We don't have any 'hard' proof/evidence such as logs though...

scottro · 2012-06-17 16:29:42

Thanks for the very kind words, but I've not done very much--just tried the upstream static version.

Hopefully, upstream will get it fixed quickly, I doubt we're the only ones with issues (and the fact that they specifically mention your camera issue is a good sign.)

jcci · 2012-06-20 05:56:20

peoro wrote:

I'm having your same issue.
Using skype with a brand new user, created just for this (wiki) works, anyway.

Thanks, but this is not really a good solution.
If sudo solves the problem, does anybody knows which user right is causing the trouble? On my home computer it works, at the company my home is on nfs4.

babel · 2012-06-20 13:45:34

scottro wrote:

EDIT: I don't think I've mentioned that I've been using it on a 64 bit machine--so my problems may all be related to this.

I wanted to ask about this. Why is not a native 64 bit version of skype? Maybe we could solve this if would had one. Maybe all the lib32 libraries have some trouble... I don't know.

drcouzelis · 2012-06-20 15:45:38

scottro wrote:

I don't think I've mentioned that I've been using it on a 64 bit machine--so my problems may all be related to this.

I'm sorry, I haven't been following this thread too closely, but I just wanted to mention that I'm using Skype 4.0 on Arch Linx x86_64. It works fine for me.

babel wrote:

I wanted to ask about this. Why is not a native 64 bit version of skype? Maybe we could solve this if would had one. Maybe all the lib32 libraries have some trouble... I don't know.

That's one of the punishments of using closed source software. We are at the mercy of the developers, Microsoft.

peoro · 2012-06-21 15:14:44

jcci wrote:

peoro wrote:
I'm having your same issue.
Using skype with a brand new user, created just for this (wiki) works, anyway.
Thanks, but this is not really a good solution.
If sudo solves the problem, does anybody knows which user right is causing the trouble? On my home computer it works, at the company my home is on nfs4.

My home directory is on NFSv4 as well (while the "skype" user I created lives on the local fs), I guess that might be the problem...

Edit:
It looks like that's a know bug: https://jira.skype.com/browse/SCL-837

Last edited by peoro (2012-06-21 15:15:28)

Unia · 2012-06-21 15:38:41

Anyone got any further with the green dots? I tried the suggestion from the README but that didn't help. I can't do any more testing ATM cause all my contacts are on holiday :forever alone:

Unia · 2012-06-23 19:52:45

I just tested it with some more contacts and using LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype does indeed fix it. You can edit the .desktop file in /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop to always launch it this way.

Thanks guys! Should I leave this topic as it is, or can I add [SOLVED]? I noticed some of you do have some other problems....

scottro · 2012-06-23 21:07:20

Hrm, I am not a mod or even a frequent poster, but assuming it doesn't violate forum rules, I think I'd start a new thread, something like

Skype 4, green or scrambled video (or better description of issue), and then give the solution and mark that one solved.

Last edited by scottro (2012-06-23 21:07:33)

Unia · 2012-06-23 21:52:01

Well, it turns out I don't even have the lib32-v4l-utils installed. I reinstalled Arch two days ago and obviously forgot that package. It does work properly (without dots) when I link to it. When I don't, it shows dots.

Weird, or what?

EDIT: Argh, I should do some proper testing before concluding my results here

I did some more testing and I came to the following results:

I get green dots both when running with LD_PRELOAD and without it, but here's the catch:
When my contact starts the webcam first and mine stays off, I get no dots. Even when I turn mine on after the other webcam has started. When I start mine earlier or simultaneously, I do get green dots.

So, LD_PRELOAD doesn't matter, all that matters is the moment you start your webcam. Can anyone confirm this?

EDIT2: Although the above doesn't show green dots at first, it will do when there's a "flashy moment" on the other webcam, for example a fast moving object. Initially, these things would remove the green dots you would get when the webcam started. That was without LD_PRELOAD.
With LD_PRELOAD, I did not get any green dots when my contact moved fast (same movement which caused the green dots without LD_PRELOAD).

It might just be random, but perhaps some of you can check this (with a willing partner )

Last edited by Unia (2012-06-23 22:10:47)

tinhtruong · 2012-06-24 07:06:46

scottro wrote:

Camera seems Ok for me. I am having an issue where, if I click on history, skype just closes. Haven't tested that on more than one machine or distribution besides Arch yet, so I'm not sure where the problem lies.
By the way, I don't know who maintains the Arch package, but they seem to have gotten it out right away. My thanks, as well as congratulations, if they see this.

I confirmed this (on a 64bit machine). My cam works just fine in skype, but skype 4 is extremely unstable! Everytime I clicked on the search text box of the contact list, it crashed. Sometimes it just crashed randomly without any interaction from me!

Arch Linux

#1 2012-06-15 12:07:29

Skype 4.0

#2 2012-06-15 12:16:41

Re: Skype 4.0

#3 2012-06-15 14:56:59

Re: Skype 4.0

#4 2012-06-15 15:25:13

Re: Skype 4.0

#5 2012-06-15 17:19:06

Re: Skype 4.0

#6 2012-06-15 17:20:05

Re: Skype 4.0

#7 2012-06-16 04:00:03

Re: Skype 4.0

#8 2012-06-16 11:39:24

Re: Skype 4.0

#9 2012-06-16 13:28:09

Re: Skype 4.0

#10 2012-06-16 14:19:15

Re: Skype 4.0

#11 2012-06-16 14:57:12

Re: Skype 4.0

#12 2012-06-17 11:38:37

Re: Skype 4.0

#13 2012-06-17 11:54:56

Re: Skype 4.0

#14 2012-06-17 14:42:23

Re: Skype 4.0

#15 2012-06-17 15:01:56

Re: Skype 4.0

#16 2012-06-17 16:29:42

Re: Skype 4.0

#17 2012-06-20 05:56:20

Re: Skype 4.0

#18 2012-06-20 13:45:34

Re: Skype 4.0

#19 2012-06-20 15:45:38

Re: Skype 4.0

#20 2012-06-21 15:14:44

Re: Skype 4.0

#21 2012-06-21 15:38:41

Re: Skype 4.0

#22 2012-06-23 19:52:45

Re: Skype 4.0

#23 2012-06-23 21:07:20

Re: Skype 4.0

#24 2012-06-23 21:52:01

Re: Skype 4.0

#25 2012-06-24 07:06:46

Re: Skype 4.0

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