IT Gang - A place for tips and tricks

Since I installed my brand new Fedora 10 distribution a while ago I was unable to use Skype for more than just a chat engine. I had no sound and no recording device, so I was unable to call my friends. And since I am using Pidgin as a Yahoo Messenger replacement on Linux, which I am not really familiar (or fond on the other hand), I was getting a little frustrated of the silence and loneliness surrounding me.

Today I decided to fix this matter so I started searching for what to do to enable Skype sound. I found many threads, but none of which really fixed the issue. In the end, I started the plain old fashioned way of testing the configurations one by one to see which will work. And eventually, I did find the right one. I make a succesfull Skype test call to echo123 and also called one of my friends, Paul (thankx), to confirm that my "out-of-the-barrel" sounding is gone forever!

Please note that because of the many things I tried before getting this to work, I might miss something from this process. If this will not fix the Skype sound for you too, then what you can try is to remove the "Alsa to PulseAudio backend" (alsa-plugins-pulseaudio-1.0.18-2.fc10) rpm (I did it using the System->Administration->Add/Remove Software GUI tool, search for "alsa").

Ok, so I set my audio settings to look like the image below (System->Preferences->Hardware->Sound):



Then, in Skype Options (right click the tray icon, choose "Options", then in the left select "Sound devices") you should have something like below:



Again, this is not a general tutorial, guide or FAQ about how to enable Skype sound/mic, this is what worked for me and might also work for you. If you have problems, leave your comment and maybe we can sort it out for you too.

When I first found out about Linux, it was during one of my High School classes. We were using a text based Internet browser to navigate the world wide web. Oh, those days were beautiful! No worries, no cash, just pure old fashioned teenager fun! :)

Since then, I had always thought of Linux based systems as being a very simple text based window in which you type commands and hope to correctly interpret the text results printed on the screen. Many of my friends still see Linux as a "geek" thing, something that needs to be fed with lots and lots of text commands in order to do just a simple task. Way not user friendly in what all Windows users are used to.

But now that I have installed my own Fedora distribution and started using it on a daily basis, I keep getting amassed how simple things really are and how similar to what I had been trained for so long in my Windows days :)



In the first couple of days after I installed my brand new, soon to become old (since the release of Fedora 11), Fedora 10 distribution, I had convinced myself to learn and use the terminal and learn as many commands as I can so I can, someday, rule the Linux World. As I needed to perform an action, I would search for the proper command to use, learn how to use it, and then write it down on a paper to remember. I filled this way both sides of an A4. But today, a couple of weeks since my Fedora installation, I realized that I am no longer using the commands I laid on that paper, nor am I using the terminal. I do get prompted for the root password on a daily basis, for the administrative tasks, but no more Mr. Terminal for me.

What is the explanation for that? Simple: I discovered the UI tools that do most of what I need (actually even more than I need) so I am now back in the world of mouse moving and clicking, no need for commands anymore. I far far away of being a Linux master, but I am one of those who actually enjoyed MS Dos and the command prompt in Windows. Still, I do not feel the need to use commands on a daily basis, I prefer to use the visual tools that allow a more user friendly interaction. And since I am a Linux novice, user friendliness is exactly what I need!

If I were one of the Discovery's Myth Busters, I would say a BIG "BUSTED" to the "Linux is a text based commands geek tool" myth. This to say at least, because I find the Windows equivalent UI tools to be even better than what I was used to on Windows. Just take a look at the System Monitor tools (monitors CPU, RAM, HDD usage, processes, etc.):



And another screen shot:



One cool feature that I remembered now (because of the two above screen shots) is that on Windows, when you print screen, you need to open Paint and paste, then save the image. On Fedora, you are automatically prompted to save the file. You can also copy it to clipboard if that's your desire:



To conclude this post I would ask you to always try something before you jump with conclusions. I know this is an old advice, but the least you can do is ask around about Linux before you categorize it as a text based tool.