Topic: Skype

[arne]

that's Not true... if you install windows you need a license.. no, oem one is not good.

if the OP has/wants only a pc running, the better is to use windows (and skype), install vmware and setup a virtual sme..

my 2c
Stefano

Of course you will need a valid license. But most Windows 2000 licenses are not in use any more. It is actually possible to byu a second hand license for allmost nothing. I think I have something like 10 or more myself that normally would be used for nothing.

I actually tested for a while with Vmware on XP and Centos 64 for a while, running two PC's side by side.

What I ended up with as the best performing, and overall the best solution is without doubt Vmware on a minimum installation of Centos.

Taste might be different, and opinions might be different. After ten years with servers at internet, my opinion is that Centos 64 with Vmware and then some installations of Smoothwall, SME server, Asterisk, Windows 2000, and other Linux and Unix distros as required, this is the best server/gateway installation I have tried ever. Skype is just a OK addon on that.

The only real physical requirement is I belive 1 GIG of RAM. I'm using 4 Gig and thats leaves approx half of the RAM unused according to "top".  Average processor load is close to zero. (As the virtual Smoothwall firewall filters all network traffic and reduce it to/from only approved source ip's. This leaves the SME logs for zero registred hacker atempts and zero irregular traffic for the last eight months)

If you do not have to much ram you just have to reduce the number of virtual machines you run at one time.

Treads should not be off topic, but if the fact is that Skype can run and perform very well together with eveything else, via virtualization, it should not be off topic.

[arne]

I did some more testing. I were not able to get the onboard sound card to work so I installed a USB mini soundcard adapter.

I know got Skype up and running at the server gateway with streaming video pluss sound in both directions.

It can be confirmed that virtualization is a way of running Skype on the server/gateway that can work. (The way that the Windows 2000 sees the mini sound card is like a USB unit, so I think in this case it uses the Windows driver for that soundcard.)

The reason that I choosed Windows 2000 was that I had a windows 2000 client running on the gateway anyhow.

As I also have installed Centos, a Suse and a Ubuntu with X-Windows these could also have been used. As these will be normally closed down, to keep down the average load on the server, I choosed the running Windows 2000 Pro.

I don't know for sure, but I would guess virtualization is the only practical way of running Skype on a gateway server (???!!!)

The ability of running a application like Skype on the gateway is only one advantage of virtualization. There are some other, also as well.

 

[Bud]

Thanks for the Info Guys much appreciated.

Trashman - Thanks for Pointing me to Jabberd. That solved my Problem.

I am rolling out Miranda as the IM Client. I am however looking for both a voice and chat Client.

There was mentioned that Skype would Work, are there any others that you can mention for me to look at.

Thanks again 

Long Live SME

[arne]

If you want a true Skype installation to be running at the gateway with all functions working, this can be done via virtualization. The easiest way to get started with that is this: http://wiki.contribs.org/Vmware The virtual workstation with Skype can be Windows 2000 Pro or some other workstation. Gateway/server will need at least 1 Gig of RAM.

I will use this solution myself with an automated answer with video and sound from the gateway, to be able to check my home when I am on travel. There might be other uses as well.