Saturday 13 September 2008

How-To: Install Skype 2.0 in Ubuntu 8.04

Skype is a popular closed-source application for voice chat and telephony which is probably now the most used application for internet conversations. The last Skype release for Linux is 2.0.

One way of installing Skype in Ubuntu 8.04 'Hardy Heron' is to get all the dependencies and then install the DEB package provided on the official website. In order to do it, follow the steps below:

Installation in Ubuntu 8.04

1. Install the needed dependencies
Type in a terminal application and provide your user's password:

sudo apt-get install libasound2 libc6 libgcc1 libqt4-core libqt4-gui libsigc++-2.0-0c2a libstdc++6 libx11-6

2. Download the DEB package and install it
Download the package from the official website here (the one under Ubuntu 7.04+). At the time of writing the package is called skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb. To install it, just type:

sudo dpkg -i skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb

The Skype binary should now be installed in /usr/bin/skype. You can run it by typing ALT+F2 and entering skype in the run dialogue that appears.

3. Removing Skype
To remove it, issue the command:

sudo dpkg -r skype

With your user's password.

Installation in Debian Lenny

Installation in Lenny is similar with the one on Ubuntu, except that you'll have to login as root using su to issue the commands preceded by sudo. For example:

su
apt-get install libasound2 libc6 libgcc1 libqt4-core libqt4-gui libsigc++-2.0-0c2a libstdc++6 libx11-6

Download the same package as downloaded for Ubuntu, or select the one for Debian Etch (they are one and the same), then issue:

su
dpkg -i skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb

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Updated: Sep 16, 2008

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Another way of doing this in *buntu is:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

and installing from synaptic, adept, sudo apt-get install

Craciun Dan said...

Yes, Medibuntu is probably the preferred way over this since it also provides other non-free software in the same repository, like libdvdcss2 or w32codecs and dependency fetching is done automatic.

The downside of this is that sometimes it can lag behind, don't know exactly how much (haven't used Ubuntu in a while, I'm coming from Debian for a couple of days now). I think both ways are OK after all.

Anonymous said...

would be nice if there was a 64bit version :(