Mint 10 Skype Sound & Video Tutorial
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:04 pm
This is meant as a Common Issues Tutorial for How To get Skype working in LinuxMint 10.
(LMDE 64bit users Only, need to sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-gtk)
Sound.
output (speakers)
The most common reason for sound not working in Mint 10 is that Pulse chose the wrong driver. The fix is to click volume icon, choose preferences, (LMDE users, this is PulseAudio Volume Control found in the Video & Audio menu, it has a slightly different layout)
Up top is a slide bar, make sure this is at or near Maximum and the "Mute" is not on.
In the 'hardware' tab, down the bottom is a dropdown box, select each driver, one at a time and play sound as the "Test Button" doesn't work so ignore it, use a video or mp3 file as a test, to make sure, play the sound 'fresh' after each change of hardware driver as continuous play may only use the driver it first started playing on.
input(mic)
step 1
Following on from the above 'output' sound issue, go to the 'input' tab , make sure the input volume is at least halfway and that it is Not muted. For the 'Connector' choose which microphone you think is correct Microphone 1 or 2. Talk to the microphone, if the input level indicator shows that it's working , move to step 3
step 2
If neither work, go to the hardware tab, as in the above 'output' guide, check the driver, In theory, you should have sound output working first, so will have something like "Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) input", speakers work, but Microphone doesn't. Check the dropdown box and see if there is another "Analog Surround 5.1 Output" most likely with "+ Analog Stereo Input" , try that one, and go test the sound input again, sound output as well to be safe. If you can not get the 'input' indicator to work, then it's beyond this tutorial, but trying step 3 won't hurt, and maybe it will work with one of the drivers...
step 3
To verify and test sound input, go to mint menu -> Sound & Video -> "Sound Recorder". This application has had a few issues over time and to be on the safe side I recommend that you use "Record as: Voice, Lossless (.wav type)" to make sure it's not the app that is the problem. Make a short recording testing the mic, play back.. If sound is too soft or too loud and distorted, go back to the 'volume preferences' Input tab and change the input volume to suite , Under normal circumstances the marker 'Unamplified' is the optimum, past that your voice becomes distorted.
step 4
Open Skype, click the little blue icon bottom left corner, choose 'Options' , then choose "Sound Devices" in the Options dialog. Here , the first three settings should all be "PulseAudio server (local). If not, make them so. Try the test sound and test call. If you got your speakers and mic to work in the previous steps, then these should work.
If there is still a problem, then it's past the purview of this tutorial, suggestion is to google your sound device with the words "Skype Ubuntu Maverick" and hope to find a forum where someone has solved your specific hardware issue. To get your sound device information, open a terminal and type the following in..
Note! in a terminal alsamixer , is a last resort. Sometimes you need to find 'capture' , mic and mic booste, and raise their volumes and some cases un-mute them. Read it carefully it has a help option. (LMDE users Only, you must run "sudo alsactl store", to save the settings, most cases it will reboot fine, for some reason on rare machines "sudo alsactl restore" at each boot is needed to bring settings back)
Webcam
To check if your webcam works do the following.
Hit Alt and F2 , in the dialog type "gstreamer-properties". in that dialog, the second tab 'video' , test the "Default Input" , make sure the "Device" is your webcam, the "Plugin" usually defaults to "Video for Linux 2 (v4l2)" which is the most common driver base for most webcams. Usually nothing needs to be changed here and the test works fine. If fiddling doesn't produce any results, google is your friend, use the make and model of your webcam along with "Ubuntu Maverick" and hope to find a forum where someone has solved your specific hardware issue.
Webcam is Working, but Not in Skype.
This is a common issue with version 2.1.0.81 of Linux Skype and Mint 10 . I've had this issue myself and a search of google came up with a solution. Some simple, some very complex. I'll write as simple as possible for people who are not that familiar with Linux.
First , Make sure Skype is NOT on. turn it off!
Open a terminal, you'll find that in mint menu. Read this little help on how to copy paste.
There are Two ways to paste in Linux , the ctrl+c to copy and ctrl+v to paste (in a terminal it is shift+ctrl+v to paste) OR highlight text, hover mouse at insertion point and Click the Middle Scrollwheel button.
now copy paste ONE of the following two lines in the terminal and hit enter in the terminal to run skype. Click the bottom left blue icon in skype, choose "Options", find "Video Devices" , and click the 'test' button.
Skype Webcam Test Options image. Does your webcam show up? No? , quit skype, try the second line, paste it in the terminal, hit enter, do above and test the webcam. Does it work? if yes, continue, if no, sorry, you'll have to google your webcam details along with the words "Ubuntu Maverick" and hope to find a forum where someone has solved your specific hardware issue.
The Two Different Lines..
32bit OS use these
64bit OS use these
If your Webcam Now works in skype with one of the above commands in a terminal, this is the simplest method I can find, unfortunately it's no a simple point and click one.
Make an executable bash file in /usr/bin called skype.sh and change the mint menu skype app to use skype.sh
How to achieve this.
In a terminal paste/type the following
You will be asked for your password, do not panic, it will not give feedback of dots or * as you type your password, that is normal, just enter your password and hit enter. An empty document will appear. In that document paste/type the following. Make sure you use the line that worked for you in the following script, replacing the example one. NOTE, in the script skype is on it's own line...
Double check you have the right line that worked for you, in front of the word "export" in this document , then:-
Save and close the document.
Open a terminal paste/type the following. This will make the file executable
If this was done right, typing skype.sh in a terminal, will have skype open, double check the cam still works. If it doesn't , go back and check you put the right line in front of the word 'export' in the skype.sh script you just made, and that you made the script executable.
Now Fixing the skype launcher in mint menu.
Right click mint menu, "Edit Menu" , find Skype click on it then click the "Properties" on the right hand side of that dialog (LMDE users double click it). In the command where it says 'skype' , replace that with skype.sh
Now skype will call skype.sh and use that script everytime it launches. Hope all went well, happy skyping
This has been edited 2011-01-02 , and a thanks to miisterwright for having an issue with it
(LMDE 64bit users Only, need to sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-gtk)
Sound.
output (speakers)
The most common reason for sound not working in Mint 10 is that Pulse chose the wrong driver. The fix is to click volume icon, choose preferences, (LMDE users, this is PulseAudio Volume Control found in the Video & Audio menu, it has a slightly different layout)
Up top is a slide bar, make sure this is at or near Maximum and the "Mute" is not on.
In the 'hardware' tab, down the bottom is a dropdown box, select each driver, one at a time and play sound as the "Test Button" doesn't work so ignore it, use a video or mp3 file as a test, to make sure, play the sound 'fresh' after each change of hardware driver as continuous play may only use the driver it first started playing on.
input(mic)
step 1
Following on from the above 'output' sound issue, go to the 'input' tab , make sure the input volume is at least halfway and that it is Not muted. For the 'Connector' choose which microphone you think is correct Microphone 1 or 2. Talk to the microphone, if the input level indicator shows that it's working , move to step 3
step 2
If neither work, go to the hardware tab, as in the above 'output' guide, check the driver, In theory, you should have sound output working first, so will have something like "Analog Surround 5.1 Output + Digital Stereo (IEC958) input", speakers work, but Microphone doesn't. Check the dropdown box and see if there is another "Analog Surround 5.1 Output" most likely with "+ Analog Stereo Input" , try that one, and go test the sound input again, sound output as well to be safe. If you can not get the 'input' indicator to work, then it's beyond this tutorial, but trying step 3 won't hurt, and maybe it will work with one of the drivers...
step 3
To verify and test sound input, go to mint menu -> Sound & Video -> "Sound Recorder". This application has had a few issues over time and to be on the safe side I recommend that you use "Record as: Voice, Lossless (.wav type)" to make sure it's not the app that is the problem. Make a short recording testing the mic, play back.. If sound is too soft or too loud and distorted, go back to the 'volume preferences' Input tab and change the input volume to suite , Under normal circumstances the marker 'Unamplified' is the optimum, past that your voice becomes distorted.
step 4
Open Skype, click the little blue icon bottom left corner, choose 'Options' , then choose "Sound Devices" in the Options dialog. Here , the first three settings should all be "PulseAudio server (local). If not, make them so. Try the test sound and test call. If you got your speakers and mic to work in the previous steps, then these should work.
If there is still a problem, then it's past the purview of this tutorial, suggestion is to google your sound device with the words "Skype Ubuntu Maverick" and hope to find a forum where someone has solved your specific hardware issue. To get your sound device information, open a terminal and type the following in..
Code: Select all
inxi -xA
Webcam
To check if your webcam works do the following.
Hit Alt and F2 , in the dialog type "gstreamer-properties". in that dialog, the second tab 'video' , test the "Default Input" , make sure the "Device" is your webcam, the "Plugin" usually defaults to "Video for Linux 2 (v4l2)" which is the most common driver base for most webcams. Usually nothing needs to be changed here and the test works fine. If fiddling doesn't produce any results, google is your friend, use the make and model of your webcam along with "Ubuntu Maverick" and hope to find a forum where someone has solved your specific hardware issue.
Webcam is Working, but Not in Skype.
This is a common issue with version 2.1.0.81 of Linux Skype and Mint 10 . I've had this issue myself and a search of google came up with a solution. Some simple, some very complex. I'll write as simple as possible for people who are not that familiar with Linux.
First , Make sure Skype is NOT on. turn it off!
Open a terminal, you'll find that in mint menu. Read this little help on how to copy paste.
There are Two ways to paste in Linux , the ctrl+c to copy and ctrl+v to paste (in a terminal it is shift+ctrl+v to paste) OR highlight text, hover mouse at insertion point and Click the Middle Scrollwheel button.
now copy paste ONE of the following two lines in the terminal and hit enter in the terminal to run skype. Click the bottom left blue icon in skype, choose "Options", find "Video Devices" , and click the 'test' button.
Skype Webcam Test Options image. Does your webcam show up? No? , quit skype, try the second line, paste it in the terminal, hit enter, do above and test the webcam. Does it work? if yes, continue, if no, sorry, you'll have to google your webcam details along with the words "Ubuntu Maverick" and hope to find a forum where someone has solved your specific hardware issue.
The Two Different Lines..
32bit OS use these
Code: Select all
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype
Code: Select all
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
Code: Select all
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so skype
Code: Select all
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
If your Webcam Now works in skype with one of the above commands in a terminal, this is the simplest method I can find, unfortunately it's no a simple point and click one.
Make an executable bash file in /usr/bin called skype.sh and change the mint menu skype app to use skype.sh
How to achieve this.
In a terminal paste/type the following
Code: Select all
sudo gedit /usr/bin/skype.sh
Code: Select all
#!/bin/bash
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l2convert.so
skype &
Save and close the document.
Open a terminal paste/type the following. This will make the file executable
Code: Select all
sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/skype.sh
Now Fixing the skype launcher in mint menu.
Right click mint menu, "Edit Menu" , find Skype click on it then click the "Properties" on the right hand side of that dialog (LMDE users double click it). In the command where it says 'skype' , replace that with skype.sh
Now skype will call skype.sh and use that script everytime it launches. Hope all went well, happy skyping
This has been edited 2011-01-02 , and a thanks to miisterwright for having an issue with it