I wrote earlier about Skype 2.0 beta with Webcam support for Linux detected my webcam. I also wrote that I have to chat with someone to see if it works. There are 2 issues here.

Issue 1: Skype detected my laptop’s (Acer Travelmate 8204) inbuilt webcam (Logitech orbicam), but the video didn’t work. The test screen was showing a blank video window. I’m not sure if it’s due to the webcam model or the video card (ATI Radeon Mobility X1600). There are some issues related to ATI’s Linux driver. I have listed the known problems with Skype beta 2 below (after Issue 2).

Issue 2: As I wrote earlier, Skype detected my desktop webcam (Logitech Quickcam) and the test video was good. I then initiated a video chat with my parents yesterday. The video started fine and the quality was pretty good initially (close to Windows), but then the video got quite darker. They could see only the table light, outline of my face etc. Everything else was dark. I then stopped my webcam and restarted it. The video again started fine and went dark after a minute or two. It doesn’t go blank, but it gets too dark. I have NVidia GeForce FX 5600 card in my desktop.

Here are the list of issues that are fixed and would be available in the next release:

•  Using uvc webcam driver with new Logitech cameras can cause a split video effect which does not recover until you restart video.
• Using uvc webcam driver with ATi fglrx graphics card driver results in a memory leak and potential crash currently.
• v4l webcams (including gspca) causes a crash when changing to low-quality mode (160×120) when there is no camera support.
• v4l webcams that only capture in 352×288 are not supported.

Here are the list of issues that are being worked on currently:

• There is a noticable flickering effect if you focus in/out of the call window during a video call.
• V4L (1) cameras can sometimes crash upon conclusion of the call.
• Drivers which don’t support capturing at 320×240 cause Skype video feature to not function (V4L) or display many broken lines in the wrong resolution (V4L2).

Here are other known (outstanding) issues:

• Full-screen mode stretches out of aspect on widescreen monitors.
• iSight camera doesn’t work due to currently unsupported UYVY image format.
• Syntek/stv680/quickcam_messenger cameras don’t work due to currently unsupported RGB image format.
• Using a display driver with only a single Xv port means you can only see video in one direction currently.
• Using a display driver with no Xv support will not work at all.
• ATi fglrx driver versions before 8.42.3 may crash your X server and lock up video during the call.
• ATi fglrx driver version 8.42.3 may crash your X server and lock up video at the beginning of the call.

Source: Skype Forum.

Technorati Tags: Skype Beta 2.0, Linux, Ubuntu 7.10, Gutsy Gibbon, ATI, NVidia, Radeon X1600, GeForce FX 5600, fglrx, Logitech, Webcam

I did a fresh install of Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 3 on my laptop on Saturday. It has ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card. I had problem with the Live CD as usual. The X server didn’t work. I had to use the safe graphics mode in Live CD to get it to work. I then installed Ubuntu from the Live CD. The installation went fine, but Ubuntu didn’t install the proprietary driver for ATI card by default. I had to manually install and reconfigure my xserver. ATI support really sucks in Linux. Gutsy is slightly buggy, but it didn’t prevent me from doing the regular work.

The good news is, AMSN detected my built in webcam automatically and the video chat worked fine. AMSN in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn didn’t detect the built in webcam in my laptop. It did detect the external webcam in my desktop. I’m not sure if the fix was in AMSN or Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. The video chat with my parents worked fine.

The audio doesn’t work by default in AMSN. To get the audio setup appear in the preferences, you have to install the package libsnack2. Open a terminal and type
sudo apt-get install libsnack2

Once done, Open the preference box in AMSN, go to Others tab and you’ll see the video setup option at the bottom. The setup will guide you through audio and video tuning similar to audio and video tuning wizard in MSN. I couldn’t get my built in mic to work with Skype or AMSN in Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon. It was working fine in Feisty. The new beta version of Skype offers 6 options under the mic setting and I’m not sure which one to select. The default one is not working.

The UI of AMSN also underwent a change in Gutsy. I’m not sure if they changed the default theme, but it looks good to the eyes now. It’s much more fancier and neat. Once I get the mic to work, I’m all set.

(New chat window)

(Video window. I Captured the video at the wrong moment, when the video was refreshing)

(AMSN Main window)

Technorati Tags: Ubuntu, Gutsy, Gibbon, Feisty, Fawn, Webcam, AMSN, ATI, Xxserver