Speakerphone for Ubuntu 8.10?

[Jamon Camisso]

Tyler Aviss wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 7:26 PM, Jamon Camisso
> <jamon.camisso-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> 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
> 
> 
> I actually have a USB sound-adaptor which I need to use for skype or
> any other input (soundcard in my laptop is newer and the mic isn't
> working with ALSA). It's actually worked OK for me, but it shows up as
> just a regular ol' C-Media card for most apps anyhow.
> 
>  I was considering a USB headset for convenience though, likely one of
> the logitech ones used with PS3, etc. What's broken with them?

I've got a logitech as well (admittedly I use it with Ekiga). They're 
not broken with Skype I'm sure. But skype itself isn't nice, the 
protocol as Lennart pointed out, is not a friendly one. No 
interoperability, some serious NAT trickery involved to frustrate 
firewall administrators, and they abuse bandwidth of users who aren't 
using NAT (Skype will route traffic from other users through those un 
NAT'ed systems if it can). That and no one can verify the security of 
the protocol or see if backdoors exist..

Jamon
--
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