Skype client for Linux

[dale]

I wonder if there is a Skype client for Linux that isn't released by Skype?

Skype has its own release, but it doesn't work very well...

[Sinister_Diagram]

I have made attempts to use the official Skype program on Linux and experienced several problems, so you are not alone! Ekiga seems to be quite the popular video chat/instant messenger program when looking for Skype alternatives. This program is available on Windows and Linux. Ekiga claims to support HD sound quality and DVD quality video chatting.

Empathy is another alternative that offers voice/video chat through various server settings - not sure how similar of an experience it will be when compared to Skype. There are not a huge variety of options available, unfortunately, but maybe these two will offer something that you are looking for when it comes to Skype features.

Ekiga - http://ekiga.org/
Empathy - http://live.gnome.org/Empathy

[dale]

Thank you very much! I missed the notification of this thread in my mailbox.

[scotty]

Thank you!! I keep on having problems with Skype in my Windows environment, i just cannot get video with my parents back home to work at all. I'll give this a shot in my Linux partition!

[Maye]

Skype won't work properly with Linux? Oh no! I need Skype! That's the only way I keep in touch with people from back home.

[DaReaper]

Skype for Linux is in it's beta, the last time i ran it on Ubuntu it was on 2.2 beta and it lacked a lot of features, was probably buggy and i'm sure i couldn't find the voice quality as good as it were on Windows.

I would suggest you to use Ekiga it's fast and efficient, Google Voice/Google talk (You can get the plugin for your chrome browser for video and voice support), Tinychat(Fully browser enabled video/voice chat), Jitsi (It's similar to Ekiga and skype could be worth a try).

[Stefano Messicano]

An alternative to Skype for Linux is Ekiga, Formerly known as GnomeMeeting, it's an open source VoIP and video conferencing application for GNOME. Besides SIP, Ekiga also supports the H.323 videoconferencing protocol. With this protocol, Ekiga supports Microsoft NetMeeting interoperability. It does not, however, support Microsoft's newer Windows Meeting Space replacement for NetMeeting.

[cluckis]

Skype for Linux is in it's beta, the last time i ran it on Ubuntu it was on 2.2 beta and it lacked a lot of features, was probably buggy and i'm sure i couldn't find the voice quality as good as it were on Windows.

I would suggest you to use Ekiga it's fast and efficient, Google Voice/Google talk (You can get the plugin for your chrome browser for video and voice support), Tinychat(Fully browser enabled video/voice chat), Jitsi (It's similar to Ekiga and skype could be worth a try).

Yes that was my experience exactly, also I noticed that it could not handle group calling at all. Which is a must for me. As of now, i haven't tried anything else, but from whats here I would try Ekiga.

[DaReaper]

Yes that was my experience exactly, also I noticed that it could not handle group calling at all. Which is a must for me. As of now, i haven't tried anything else, but from whats here I would try Ekiga.

Well, i'm not exactly sure if Ekiga supports group voice calls. It's hard to find one which supports even video group calling. Skype did best in that on windows while in linux, yes it has yet to come.

[sam300]

Ekiga is a good choice, as Skype BETA is quite buggy.