Installing Skype on an XO laptop

I successfully installed Skype with video and did a test call from my XO laptop (build 720) today. I used a version of these instructions. Note: Skype will probably need to be reinstalled each time the xo laptop is upgraded. Warning: Skype isn't really meant for the xo - this install creates several zombie processes each time Skype is started, and the sound quality is definitely inferior.

1. Install Skype

   $su
   #mkdir /home/olpc/skype
   #cd skype
   #wget http://skype.com/go/getskype-linux-fc7
   #yum --nogpgcheck -y localinstall skype-2.0.0.72-fc5.i586.rpm
   #wget ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/atrpms.net/el5-i386/atrpms/testing/#libasound2-1.0.15-33.el5.i386.rpm
   #rpm -i libasound2-1.0.15-33.el5.i386.rpm
   #wget http://dev.laptop.org/~ffm/gstfakevideo.zip
   #unzip gstfakevideo.zip
   #chmod +x gstfakevideo
   

2. Skype doesn't have a sugar package, so it must be started by root with the command /home/olpc/skype/gstfakevideo. This is cumbersome and hard to remember, so use nano .bashrc to create an alias. Add this line to the 'alias' section of the .bashrc.
   

   # User specific aliases and functions
   alias skype 'sudo /home/olpc/skype/gstfakevideo'
   

   Now the user (not root) can start Skype from any prompt with the command skype.