[Testing] [support-gang] Questions Re: Skype on XO

[Yioryos Asprobounitis]

Skype was probably the second most requested feature, after flash, among G1G1 owners. 
I'm happy to report that both work _very well_ on the XO-1.5 running os11 thanks to the new Chrome video driver. 
Installation is a breeze even for the non-technical if you use Fedoraplus ( http://www.dnmouse.org/autoten/ ). You just need to "yum install usermode" first. 
The only problem I found in Skype is that the alsa-plugins-pulseaudio dependency brakes alsamixer. 
Not alsa just the mixer. 
"yum erase alsa-plugins-pulseaudio" remedies that and everything works just fine. 
Two way video conferencing or even desktop sharing!

Unfortunately my XO-1's camera ribbon is loose again and after the 5-6th reattachment I'm giving up on this (any spare XO-1 anyone... ;). 
So I can not testify how Skype works with F14 builds. But with F9/F11 builds 2-way video crashed Skype and/or the system.

What I know, second hand from user-reports, is that Skype video conferencing works on the XO-1, using XOpup (puppy linux for the XO). 
Given that the kernel/alsa/video driver is pretty similar with official builds it means that is possible in Fedora too. 
The Skype/Qt combo that is used can be found here 
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pet-packages-lucid/skype_static-2.1.0.81.pet
http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pet-packages-lucid/skype_static-2.1.0.81.sfs
and my serve as guidance. (.pet is really .tar.gz with a hash)
One additional (but unfortunately still second hand) info is that geode 2.11.9 appears to work better than 2.11.11 or 2.11.12

Sorry if it got too technical.
Short answer Skype video-conferencing on the XO-1.5/os11 works fine. 
On the XO-1, I do not know but believe is feasible. 

--- On Tue, 3/1/11, Jon Nettleton <jon.nettleton at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Jon Nettleton <jon.nettleton at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [support-gang] Questions Re: Skype on XO
> To: "Luke Faraone" <luke at laptop.org>
> Cc: "Developers List" <devel at lists.laptop.org>, "SugarLabs Testing" <testing at lists.laptop.org>, "IAEP SugarLabs" <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>, support-gang at laptop.org, "Community Support Volunteers -- who help respond to "help AT laptop.org"" <support-gang at lists.laptop.org>
> Date: Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 11:22 PM
> 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
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