Centos 6/RHEL install Skype

Skype is a very popular cross platform VOIP service giving you free Skype to Skype calls over the net in addition to many other services including video calls. It is available to download from them in a variety of formats and the one we use here is the tar.bz2 Dynamic version.

Below are two ways to install Skype on Centos 6/RHEL, one using the Skype web site and the other using nux-dextop repo.



First we need Qt4 as it is a dependency for both.

$ sudo yum -y install qt4        or

$ sudo yum --enablerepo=epel install qt4    

Skype web site

First go there and get the Dynamic version in tar.bz2 format

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/linux/

Download to your home directory.

$ sudo su

Move to an install dir and extract it (I use /usr/share)

# cd /usr/share                  and untar it
       
# tar xjf /home/<user_name>/skype_version.bz2

Create a symlink in /usr/bin

# ln -s /usr/share/<skype_directory>/skype /usr/bin/skype

# exit

Switch back to normal user and run it with

$ skype

Skype Logon Centos

Skype UI Centos

Nux-dextop repo

To obtain the repo first install wget if not already installed

$ sudo yum -y install wget                           

$ wget http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el6/i386/nux-dextop-release-0-1.el6.nux.noarch.rpm 

or

$ wget http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el6/x86_64/nux-dextop-release-0-1.el6.nux.noarch.rpm            

for the repo pack

$ sudo rpm -Uvh nux-dextop-release-0-1.el6.nux.noarch.rpm

to install it, then disable it.

$ sudo vi /etc/yum.repos.d/nux-dextop.repo   set enabled to '0'       

$ sudo yum -y --enablerepo=nux-dextop install skype

Run it with

$ skype 

See Fluxbox key bindings for more.  

For additional repos see the repos page.