skype on amd64 and sound problems

[Michelasso]

Hello everybody,
I have spent a lot of time trying to solve these problems, without luck, so i am here asking for help.

The starting point was how to get skype working on dapper amd64: I have read about several ways to do this, and I have tried almost all of them, but audio problems are still here. That is:
- first I tried to install it from the .deb package available on skype web page
(skype_1.2.0.18-2_i386.deb) with dpkg -i -force-all. The package has been installed without problems; I have read that to avoid sound problems, it should be launched using artsdsp -m, but I get this error:

ERROR: ld.so: object '/usr/lib/libartsdsp.so.0' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/usr/lib/libartsc.so.0' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.

that seems to refer to some incompatibility in libraries.

However skype starts, but when I try to test the sound calling echo123 I can hear no sound. If i try without artsdsp -m the result is the same.
(Question: is artsdsp -m really needed? Isn't enough to set 'auto suspend if idle' in system settings -> Sound&Multimedia to a very small (say 5 seconds) period of time ?)

I have tried then to install the .deb in the dapper i386 chroot I have, but again using both

dchroot -c mychroot -d 'artsdsp -m skype'

and

dchroot -c mychroot -d skype

I have no sound, even if the error message reported above about preloading of libraries has obviously disappeared.

(Question: I have also tried to mix artsdsp from 64bit environment with skype from 32bit one, using

artsdsp -m 'dchroot -c mychroot -d skype'

but I get an error message saying "artsdsp works only for binaries"; is there any way to have this working?)

So I started to think there could be some general problems with audio settings in my laptop (an Acer Aspire 5024, Turion ML-34 based). But I have sound working in other apps (say Amarok);
here's
what lspci -v says about my audio card:

0000:00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI]: Unknown device 0079
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, slow devsel, latency 64, IRQ 225
Memory at c0003400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [40] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0
Enable

And all relevant modules seem to be loaded, according to sudo lsmod|grep snd:

snd_pcm_oss 58784 0
snd_mixer_oss 19968 3 snd_pcm_oss
snd_atiixp_modem 18828 2
snd_atiixp 23128 7
snd_ac97_codec 109628 2 snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp
snd_ac97_bus 3456 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm 104136 5 snd_pcm_oss,snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_c odec
snd_timer 28424 4 snd_pcm
snd 68000 17 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_atiixp_modem,snd_ati ixp,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 12640 3 snd
snd_page_alloc 13328 3 snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp,snd_pcm

(btw, I am using kernel 2.6.15-23-amd64-k8)

I have checked kmix settings, and everything seems ok there; but I have noticed that if i try to record any sound using krec I have no success.

Also here's what aplay -l shows:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: IXP [ATI IXP], device 0: ATI IXP AC97 [ATI IXP AC97]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: IXP [ATI IXP], device 1: ATI IXP IEC958 [ATI IXP IEC958 (AC97)]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Modem [ATI IXP Modem], device 0: ATI IXP MC97 [ATI IXP MC97]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

and also arecord:

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: IXP [ATI IXP], device 0: ATI IXP AC97 [ATI IXP AC97]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Modem [ATI IXP Modem], device 0: ATI IXP MC97 [ATI IXP MC97]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

I can play sounds with aplay, but I cannot record anything with arecord, even if I try several differen input sources in kmix

Any help will be appreciated.

[Michelasso]

Re: skype on amd64 and sound problems

Update: after some other testing, it seems now I have been successful using the rpm for mandriva in i386 chroot, and NOT using the .deb, that should be the primary choice for debian based distros.
That is: I have noticed that I had two sound devices available in Options-> Hand/headsets: /dev/dsp and /dev/dsp1. With the .deb installed, and launching skype through artsdsp, I had no sound if using /dev/dsp1 and a segmentation fault if using /dev/dsp when starting a call.
So I downloaded the rpm for mandriva, that seems to have a more recent revision number, 1.2.0.21 vs 1.2.0.18 of the .deb, I have alienized it and I have installed the .deb obtained, and now everything seems to work (using /dev/dsp).