What must be done to get Skype running?

[Alan Pope]

On 18/11/11 18:06, Bill Stanley wrote:
> I see that the software repository has Skype on it but is it acceptable.
> Microsoft has recently bought Skype so I'm wondering if they will
> support Skype on Linux. Is the version on the repository all the
> software that is needed to run Skype?
>

Install it and find out. It works fine for me.

> Now as for the hardware component... My laptop is a Dell with an AMD 64
> bit processor, and 2 Gbytes of ram. It's a bit old but is still quite
> usable. There is no microphone but do any webcams come with the needed
> microphone? What webcams are best to avoid?
>

I have two webcams:-

Philips Toucam 740K
Logitech Pro 9000

Both work just fine in Skype and have built in microphones. I would 
personally avoid the absolute cheapest of the cheap because they are 
generally pretty crappy quality.

Many webcams these days have mics built in, and in the auto mixer you 
can mute/unmute and adjust the volume of them easily. Indeed newer 
versions of Skype are pulse-audio aware and can manage the audio for you.

Mostly just works.

Al.