Can't Install Skype on Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit

[Nils Kassube]

James Freer wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Nov 2014, Nils Kassube wrote:
> > James Freer wrote:
> >> Skype claim the download is dual arch... which it obviously isn't.
> >> Those packages are 32 bit so a 32 bit ubuntu install would seem to
> >> be
> >> a solution.
> > 
> > The skype version available for Ubuntu 14.04 from the Canonical
> > partner repository is certainly a 32 bit application, that's why
> > there are many i386 libs necessary.
> 
> I used the download from skype.com which is 10.04 32 bit or 12.04
> multiarch

I suppose the packages from the Skype download page and from the 
Canonical partner repository are more or less identical, so there should 
be no difference where the package comes from. The advantage of the 
Canonical repository is that you don't have to check the Skype download 
page every now and then to find out if there is a new version available. 
And the claim of a dual arch package is correct. While the application 
itself is 32 bit, it can also run on a 64 bit system, if the necessary 
32 bit libraries are installed. That's what the multiarch support means.

> > However I could install that package on my 64 bit
> > machine yesterday. So it should be possible to run skype on a 64 bit
> > Ubuntu 14.04 system. The OP has a problem of package dependency
> > conflicts for some reason.
> 
> I don't follow you. The 12.04 certainly works on 32 bit and I am using
> xubuntu 14.10. It would seem that 64 it is best avoided.

On my 64 bit Kubuntu machine I can install skype from the Canonical 
repository, IOW it is possible to run skype on a 64 bit 14.04 system. 
IMHO it doesn't make sense to claim, that 64 bit should be avoided, just 
because a single application can't be installed on one machine while the 
same application can be installed on another machine running the same 
Ubuntu version. Granted, I'm using Kubuntu and not the "real" Ubuntu, 
but there should be no difference.

> > If he installed the 32 bit version of Ubuntu
> > there might be the same dependency problems.

The problem is that there is some dependency conflict due to another 
package installed on the machine of the OP. That dependency conflict 
seem to come from the fact that the OP first installed the server 
version and then added the desktop parts. If he did the same with the 32 
bit version, the dependency problem might be the same because the 
installation procedure would be the same. I don't know if he could 
install the 32 bit Ubuntu directly. But as he has problems with the 
graphics driver of the Ubuntu desktop, I think it is unlikely that the 
32 bit version could be installed directly. 


Nils