Hi all
I thought I'd give some quick instructions to get skype, pidgin, and
Orca working together without needing sighted help. I'm not going to
cover how to install the Pidgin plugin or Skype itself, just how to
get them to work together and what you need to do. Note this is with
the latest version of Skype and the most recent version of the
Plugin.
These instructions are for those who wish to use it, I am not trying
to start nor am I interested in a debate over the ethical issues
surrounding Skype.
1. After Skype is installed, log into your Skype account. The easiest
way to do this, for an Orca user anyway, is to open a terminal and
type the following:
echo username password | skype --pipelogin &
Obviously, replace "username" and "password" with the appropriate
values. If this is your first time with the skype client, you will
get
the end user license agreement. To get around this, make sure you are
in the window (alt-tab will speak Skype's window titles), press
shift-
tab twice, followed by the spacebar. After the license agreement, you
will get the "update your profile" dialog. Simply wait a few seconds
then press enter here to bypass it without changing anything. If all
goes well, you'll here the Skype login sound and the window title,
when alt-tabbing, will list your Skype username. The license and
profile windows will not appear again.
2. Press ctrl-q to quit skype.
3. We need to edit Skype's configuration file to allow Pidgin to
communicate with Skype's API. Typically this would be done through
Skype itself but, as Skype will not read with Orca and what's more
that particular window has no support for keyboard navigation, we
work
around it. Change to the folder:
$HOME/.Skype/username
$HOME is your home directory, username is your skype username. There
will be a file in here called "config.xml". Open this with whichever
editor you prefer. NOw, find the API tag, a quick search for "API"
without the quotes should get you to it. The tag looks like:
<API>
On the next line you should see the following:
<Authorizations></Authorizations>
Change this to read:
<Authorizations>Pidgin</Authorizations>
Note the capital P in Pidgin, that's important. If you don't have the
authorizations line don't worry, simply paste the above line
underneath the line with the API tag, and above the line that reads:
<BlockedPrograms></BlockedPrograms>
Save the file and exit.
4. Start skype as in step one, it should log you in immediately and
you'll here the login sound.
5. Now add a new account in Pidgin, choose "Skype" as the protocol,
and enter your skype username. You need not enter your Skype password
in Pidgin as you are already logged in, so don't be concerned about
the absence of the password field. Finish adding the account, and you
should be up and running. If all has gone well, a new Skype group
will
appear in your Pidgin contacts and the Skype window itself will
disappear. From this point on, Pidgin takes over handling the
essential functions of Skype (calls and messages). Your Skype
contacts
appear under the Skype group, and more Skype functions such as the
ability to call a phone (if you have Skype credit or a subscription,
of course) are under the Accounts/Skype menu in Pidgin.
I hope this was helpful. Let me know if I need to explain it
better, I
realize this looks a bit complicated although it looks much more
complicated than it actually is.
Jake
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