How to install Skype on Debian 7 Wheezy 64bit

[cra1g321]

Notes -
This tutorial assumes you have a user account setup with sudo privileges
To make the screenshots bigger just click on them

How to install Skype on Debian Wheezy 64bit

Step 1 - Downloading Skype deb file

Open a Web Browser and go to http://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/ ... -computer/ and choose Debian 7.0 (multiarch) from the drop-down menu and save it to your system.


Step 2 - Add multi-arch support

Open a terminal, type in

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sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

[/b] Press enter on your keyboard then type in your password and hit enter again (Note that your password is not shown while you are typing it in)
Check the i386 architecture has been successfully added by typing in this time

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 sudo dpkg --print-foreign-architectures

[/b] you should then see i386 in the terminal, then type in

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sudo apt-get update

and hit enter


Step 3 - Install the skype deb file

Now in the terminal, navigate to the directory where you saved the skype deb file you downloaded in Step 1 by using the cd command (cd = change directory).
For example if you saved it to the Downloads folder then type in

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cd Downloads

Now type in

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 ls

and you should see the skype deb file displayed, for example in the screenshot below it is skype-debian_4.2.0-13-1_i386.deb
Now install the package by entering into the terminal

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sudo dpkg -i skype-debian_4.2.0-13-1_i386.deb

NOTE - At the time of writing this tutorial the skype package is named skype-debian_4.2.0-13-1_i386.deb, don't use it unless the ls command outputs the same. If the ls command outputs something like skype-debian-5.0_i386.deb
then you would do sudo dpkg -i skype-debian-5.0_i386.deb


Step 4 - Install the missing dependencies

You will notice when you installed the skype deb file, dpkgs ends with a message about errors, like in the screenshot below


To install the missing packages that skype requires to run, enter into the terminal

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sudo apt-get install -f 

You will then see that apt-get displays a list of packages that are required by Skype, it then asks "Do you want to continue [Y/n] ? " , enter in the Y letter and press enter to confirm you want to install the packages.


Step 5 - Check Skype loads and runs
NOTE - depending on what desktop environment you use or none (gonme3, KDE, LXDE, etc) this step might be different.
After the dependencies are done installing, you can now check if skype will run by going go to the Application menu of your desktop, go to the Internet and then click on Skype, Skype should then load like in the screenshot below.

[edbarx]

This tutorial assumes you have a user account setup with sudo privileges

OR better do it the Debian way, after all, this is a Debian forum.

To become root, open a terminal, type 'su' followed by Enter, type your root password and press Enter. The command prompt will change from including $ to #.

Now, instead of having to repeatedly (aka ad-nauseam) type sudo for every command , you can skip 'sudo' altogether.

If you want to avoid having both the i386 and amd64 libraries gobbling up your precious RAM, you can opt to install Skype on 32 bit Debian Wheezy. I run Skype on a 32 bit system because that is more economical on resources.

If you find that Skype unscrupolously is forcing your CPU to full throttle, you can make use of a very nifty little CLI tool called cpulimit. Its manpage is very easy to understand.

[cra1g321]

OR better do it the Debian way, after all, this is a Debian forum.
To become root, open a terminal, type 'su' followed by Enter, type your root password and press Enter. The command prompt will change from including $ to #.
Now, instead of having to repeatedly (aka ad-nauseam) type sudo for every command , you can skip 'sudo' altogether.

I thought that most users will have sudo setup anyway and that asking them to use sudo is slightly safer than asking them to use the root account.

If you want to avoid having both the i386 and amd64 libraries gobbling up your precious RAM, you can opt to install Skype on 32 bit Debian Wheezy. I run Skype on a 32 bit system because that is more economical on resources.

This tutorial is for users who have a 64bit system already installed, i don't see why you would suggest to use 32bit system to avoid as you say "both the i386 and amd64 libraries gobbling up your precious RAM" whenever they are going to be losing out on the amount of RAM they have by using 32bit anyway.

[edbarx]

asking them to use sudo is slightly safer than asking them to use the root account.

I will not enter into the merits of the rather religious sudo vs su argument, but are you sure? Sudo can be abused just like a root account as follows:

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sudo passwd

and

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sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root /

and

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sudo echo "deb http://ftp2.fr.debian.org/debian/ wheezy main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo echo "deb http://ftp2.fr.debian.org/debian/ jessie main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

i don't see why you would suggest to use 32bit system to avoid as you say "both the i386 and amd64 libraries gobbling up your precious RAM" whenever they are going to be losing out on the amount of RAM they have by using 32bit anyway.

A 32bit system does not have any 64 bit libraries, otherwise it would be multiarch. Opting to load one set of libraries is definitely saving on resources.

[man_without_clue]

Today, I installed skype 4.3 on Debian Wheezy 64 bit.

I had previously installed Skype 4.2.
Had problem with microphone not picking up sound. I was hoping updating to 4.3 would fix this problem but no luck.

I just want to know if those who installed Skype here can use Skype without any problem.

[Bulkley]

I just want to know if those who installed Skype here can use Skype without any problem.

A few weeks ago I installed Skype on my dual boot laptop (Wheezy 64bit). It worked, sorta. I also installed Skype on the Windows boot on the same machine (Win 7). On this machine, the Windows Skype is dramatically better, so much so that I removed it from Wheezy. I don't like using Windows and avoid it most of the time but with Skype it is a no-brainer. The truth is, I don't like Skype either but I can't get anyone else in my family to even try any alternatives; it's either Skype or bury my head in the sand. I find it stunning that such a flawed product can get such loyalty.

[man_without_clue]

Can you elaborate more why you are saying Windows Skype is better?
Is your Debian skype working with microphone?

[Bulkley]

Can you elaborate more why you are saying Windows Skype is better?

Faster, smoother, clearer, better GUI. To say any more would take it too far from the OP's intent with this thread. Do what cra1g321 says and troubleshoot.