Speakerphone for Ubuntu 8.10?

[Jamon Camisso]

Tyler Aviss wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 3:43 PM, Lennart Sorensen
> <lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 03:22:45PM -0500, Alex Beamish wrote:
>>> Looks like I might have to be on a work conference call tonight, using Skype.
>>>
>>> I had Skype working when my system was using Fedora 8, but an upgrade
>>> to F9 went badly so I moved to Ubuntu 8.10. I installed Skype recently
>>> but couldn't get it to work with my USB headset. Now I'm looking at
>>> have a colleague over for the conference call, so I'd like to have
>>> some sort of speakerphone setup.
>>>
>>> I've googled for this (skype ubuntu speakerphone -headset) and found
>>> this page from 2.5 years ago:
>>>
>>>   http://www.hotvoipnews.com/blog_46.shtml
>>>
>>> The unit sure looks cool, but I'm not sure I can source one here in
>>> Toronto in the next six hours .. unless someone on the list can a)
>>> suggest a local store that might carry this unit or b) tell me that
>>> using a bog-standard microphone plugged into my sound card should work
>>> fine.
>>>
>>> Comments?
>> Skype sucks.  The protocol is disgusting from a network point of view.
>>
>> So far I highly encourage people to switch to something standards
>> compliant, like sip and h.323.  I use ekiga, which uses those standards,
>> and has windows and linux software available and works with lots of
>> other programs (including I believe microsoft netmeeting).
>>
>> Avoid vendor lockin by refusing to use skype.
>>
>> --
>> Len Sorensen
>> --
>> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
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>>
> 
> I don't really want to start a flamewar here, but I've been noticing a
> lot of responses like this lately in the list. A well-intended
> suggestion is one thing, but a response such as "what you're using
> sucks, switch to what I'm using" isn't very productive, and doesn't
> really paint the group overall in a good light (these emails becoming
> part of a longer-term archive).
> 
> I'm not about to volunteer myself as a list-PR-overlord, but it would
> be nice if people would perhaps consider slightly more constructive
> way of going about things.
> 
> People having varying preferences, and varying amounts of time to try
> new ideas, so when they're asking for "suggestions on using X" I don't
> think that "X sucks, dump it and use Y" is overly constructive.

True enough, but in the case of skype, it really does suck, 110% of the 
time. Admittedly the OP did note that it would be required and some 
suggestions were given before the skype bashing began in earnest. 
However, as a part of a public record and archive, it should certainly 
be made known that, at this point in time, skype truly does suck as 
understood by a particular set of users (those using Fedora 9, Ubuntu 
8.10, and USB headsets).

Jamon
--
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