Skype Video on Ubuntu 64 Bit

I was very happy when I had got my new Core 2 Duo E8400 processor. I immediately installed Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 64Bit on it. Everything I wanted to use worked, except Skype.  After a lot of research, I did manage to install Skype, but the Video always gave a green screen, and crashed when I started the video. Here’s how to make it work successfully.

1. Download the Skype for 64Bit Ubuntu OS. It is not a true 64Bit version, but manages the dependencies well. http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-ubuntu-amd64
2. Sign In to Skype and see all works as per requirements. You may need to go to Skype Options and fiddle with the Audio settings and select your audio card instead of pulseaudio.
3. Through Synaptic, install lib32v4l. Through console, you can do apt-get install lib32v4l
4. Download skype.start script (right click and select Save Link As) and save it in the /usr/bin directory. You may need root privileges for that. Otherwise save it on your Desktop, and use it to run Skype with Video compatibility. The privileges of the script need to be made executable. Through console you can do chmod 755 /path/to/skype.start and through GUI you can right click on the file, select Properties and under the Permissions tab, select “Allow executing file as program”. Remember, you need to start skype.start and not skype for the video to work.

The new version of Skype probably will fix the issues. There has been a long thread on Skype Forums regarding Linux this where the developers have promised that it will be out “Real Soon Now(tm)”. However, a month and a half has passed. Regardless, the solution works for voice and video both, and I’m happy using it.

And yes, if you need the content of the skype.start script, here it is

#!/bin/bash
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype

Have fun Skyping!

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