[support-gang] Questions Re: Skype on XO

[Jon Nettleton]

On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 7:30 PM, Luke Faraone <luke at laptop.org> wrote:
> I'm not sure this is an apt question for IAEP.
>
> On 03/01/2011 09:24 PM, Caryl Bigenho wrote:
>>
>> I need to be able to do a 2-way video chat.  I would like to know...
>>
>> 1) How much memory does Skype take up?
>
> Disk space: the RPM page is 18.7MiB, so I'd imagine it takes up a little
> bit more than that on disk.

Skype also requires Qt to be installed.  My static version of 2.0.0.72
takes up 26.5Mb.

*snip*

>> 3) What is the difference in performance between the XO-1 and the XO-1.5?

I don't think that the XO1 supports the multiple XV surfaces needed to
run skype video out.  This has just been added to the XO 1.5 11.2.x
series.

>> 4) What is the reason for the difference, memory or speed or both?

I think I have probably worked the most with getting skype running on
the XO 1.5 platform, so I will try to sum up my experience.

The most recent version of skype that I suggest running is 2.0.0.72.
It has its quirks and problems but still uses the old codecs for audio
and video compression.  The 2.1 series introduced the Silk codecs that
require much more CPU than the XO's have available.  The video does
now work with the most recent development builds for the XO 1.5, but
there is still more tweaking that is necessary to get skype working.
You need to do some specific configuration for both the soundcard and
the camera to get everything working.

I spent an hour or two pulling together all my notes and starting an
RPM installation this weekend.
When is your video chat and do you have any other computers available?
 You can e-mail me off list and I will try to help you out as much as
possible.

-Jon