Install Skype 5.0 in Ubuntu and Linux Mint

By Bob L | March 26, 2017

Good News for Linux Desktop Users from Skype point of view that the Skype 5.0 is now available (deb and RPM package). Some of the noticeable updates in Skype 5.0 are listed below :

Enhancement in Calling : Skype Users can easily make a call to mobiles and land lines with Skype Credit. Linux Skype Users can make one to one video call and to other Skype users which are using Skype for Android, iOS, Mac and Window
Linux Skype Users can now view the shared screen from the other Skype desktop clients (Windows 7.33 and above, Mac 7.46 and above)
Linux Users can now easily set their online status as Away or Do Not Disturb
From Unity launcher we can now view the number of unread conversations

In this article we will discuss how to install latest version of Skype 5.0 on Ubuntu 16.04 and Linux Mint 18.

Note : At this point of time Skype 5.0 beta version is available.

Below steps are tested on Ubuntu 16.04 and Linux Mint 18

Step:1 Download Skype Linux Debian Package

Download the Skype Linux Debian package from its official web site

https://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-computer/

Skype Debian package will be downloaded in the Download folder under user’s home directory.

linuxtechi@linuxarena:~/Downloads$ ls -l skypeforlinux-64.deb
-rw-rw-r-- 1 linuxtechi linuxtechi 50661108 Mar 23 18:24 skypeforlinux-64.deb
linuxtechi@linuxarena:~/Downloads$

Step:2 Install downloaded skyforlinux Debian package

Open the terminal and go to the downloads folder and run the beneath dpkg command

linuxtechi@linuxarena:~$ cd ~/Downloads/
linuxtechi@linuxarena:~/Downloads$ sudo dpkg -i skypeforlinux-64.deb

In case you got any dependency error, then run the following apt command to resolve dependency issues and re-run dpkg command to install downloaded Debian package.

linuxtechi@linuxarena:~/Downloads$ sudo apt install -f

Step:3 Access Skype now either from GUI or command Line

If you are using Unity Desktop then search skypeforlinux from dash and in case you are using cinnamon desktop use the below

click on ‘Skype for Linux Beta’

Access Skype from the command line

Type the command “skypeforlinux”

linuxtechi@linuxarena:~$ skypeforlinux

Enter Your Skype ID

Enter Your Skype ID Password.

Click on “Sign in”

That’s all from this article. Hope you guys got an idea how to install latest version of Skype on Ubuntu and Linux Mint Desktop. If you like the article please share your feedback and comments

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Posted in Blog, General and tagged Mint, Skype, Ubuntu