skype, menu and shortcut (statler, openbox)

Very new to #! and had trouble to find how to install the 32 bit version of Skype on my Acer Aspire One. Could not find it in the repositories, a search here mostly referred me to the 64 bit install or resulted in very old posts so I tried it myself based on some links that I found. For some of you this is probably very obvious but maybe this helps some others that have the same 'insecure' feelings as me.

getting skype
I went to the skype website and eventually ended up on http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/ … ter/linux/
I selected debian 5+ 32 bit; there is a 64-bit version available as well so I guess that that will take care of library issues that I've read about.

finding it back
In case you're like me and don't know where the downloaded file went, start a terminal (you have to do this anyway for the install

wim@aa0:~$ find . -iname "*skype*"
./downloads/skype-debian_2.2.0.25-1_i386.deb
wim@aa0:~$ 

installing skype

wim@aa0:~$ cd downloads
wim@aa0:~/downloads$ ls -l
total 23040
-rw-r--r-- 1 wim wim 23590390 May 19 17:38 skype-debian_2.2.0.25-1_i386.deb
wim@aa0:~/downloads$ sudo dpkg -i skype-debian_2.2.0.25-1_i386.deb 
[sudo] password for wim: 
Selecting previously deselected package skype.
(Reading database ... 91004 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking skype (from skype-debian_2.2.0.25-1_i386.deb) ...
Setting up skype (2.2.0.25-1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils ...
wim@aa0:~/downloads$ 

You should now be able to start skype by typing 'skype' and pressing <enter>

adding a shortcut key
edit the file ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml
e.g. using menu->settings->openbox config->edit rc.xml

search for the word 'keyboard'
when found, search for a word that occurs in the conky shortcut section on the screen; e.g. 'terminal'

you should now have a section like

    <keybind key="W-t">
      <action name="Execute">
        <startupnotify>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <name>Terminal</name>
        </startupnotify>
        <command>terminator</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

copy and paste it and modify the new section

    <keybind key="W-s">
      <action name="Execute">
        <startupnotify>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <name>Skype</name>
        </startupnotify>
        <command>skype</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

save the file
reconfigure openbox
e.g. using menu->settings->openbox config->reconfigure

you should now have a working shortcut <super>s

conky
It would be nice to see the availability of this shortcut under the conky shortcuts

edit the file ~/.conkyrc
e.g. e.g. using menu->settings->conky config->edit .conkyrc
I found the shortcuts at the end of the file and added the line after the webbrowser entry (second line below)

 
Super+w$alignr Web Browser
Super+s$alignr Skype
Super+l$alignr Lock Screen

There was no need to restart conkey,the new entry showed at the moment that the file was saved.

One note:
I'm new to skype under Linux as well and could not find how to start the video. I did read somewhere something about cheese and installed that as well (using synaptic). I however doubt that that is necessary as I must just learn to click all kind of things to find thefunctionalities

Last edited by wim sturkenboom (2011-05-20 17:58:48)