Thanks for all the replies!
@ Julia:
I saw the wah!-moh! emotion, but can you write out what you wanted to say?
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Yoldering - 2011-08-15 9:53 AM
I have not tried from a HPC yet...
that is the essential part of this thread, how to use Skype on a truly portable device! and I'm still searching...
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takwu - 2011-08-12 8:55 PM
...to be able to receive calls, don't you have to have a computer connected to the internet at all times? Like you can't even put it on any kind of standby mode if you want to be alerted to incoming calls, right?
True - if I need a call back I either get a phone appointment so I can be online, or I switch to cell phone communication, or I let the caller leave voicemail, which by the way is really super on Skype, just a click away/no dialing, and plenty of space for a long voice message.
But the gist of my topic here is really not comparing Skype to other VOIP services, although that is interesting too;
most of the other services mentioned in this thread do not run under CE or on an HPC, so I'm still at it for that goal here...
I've talked about what I like in Skype to explain the need I feel, to be able to use it on a portable device, hoping to get help to accomplish that.
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takwu - 2011-08-12 8:55 PM
Wow Jacobi this thread is like a promotional webpage for Skype.
Well after the initial post I felt I could not just re-write my own request over and over, for help in using Skype in CE6, with no one to answer to, so I wrote in some news at the time, for fear that the thread would die. The news were all in the public domain, and as for what I described about Skype features/use, this can be corroborated by other Skype users.
Note that actually, I myself, am not a "good" Skype user, because I stick to an older, uncluttered version
(3.8 on the PC
), and I only use it as a phone, I bypass all the other bling and video and social media features that Skype offers.
On a personal level, I do appreciate Skype a lot, because,
(at least when the communication is good, without echo or cuts etc., in which case I redial the call
), it has the highest and clearest speech sound I have ever found. People I call also tell me, that they hear me much better this way than on my cell phone, it's like being in person.
(Google voice sound on the other hand, is really low
). Also, Skype has been steadfast from the start to encrypt calls, something that cell phones have not been able to do except RIM. MagicJack has NO security. I don't know about Vonage; as cable internet service is wide open, I wonder how their VOIP technology works. Google voice does use SSL, BUT it also says it records your calls, and it does use Web 2.0 technology. AFAIK Skype service is free of all interference when using SkypeOut, it's the closest thing to untapped landline security,
(except for well-done, secured, corporate-exclusive private intranet VOIP service I guess ?
).
Recapitulating the situation that started this thread -
I'm trying to find a portable device + OS that will enable me to use SkypeOut, the Skype service that works like a regular phone, i.e. receiving calls to your Skype phone number, and placing voice calls to phone numbers.
No one, so far, has reported any success doing voice calls to phone numbers in Win CE, although many CE6 netbooks come with Skype installed. Is it lack of support due to lack of interest, or do these netbooks come with a truncated version of Skype that offers no more than a sort of voice-enabled chat?
For security and privacy reasons, enabling P2P connection from username to username is not my cup of tea! I've always used Skype solely as I would a land phone, to make calls to actual phone numbers, and to receive calls to my Skype phone number, not my Skype username, which I do not give out.
It's a bit strange to find so little info on Skype for CE6, since Skype for WM6 works well, by using wifi hotspots on smartphones to call phone numbers,
(or by connecting to a friend's wifi home network etc.
), though it is a bit choppy.
So as yet, I've decided NOT to buy a CE6 netbook, and to try instead to use my old Psion Netbook Pro, though the lower CPU speed is kind of at the limit, for Skype use.
But again, that would not be under CE.NET 4.2, for which I have found no Skype support.
So it would have to be under Linux, as Skype for Linux works very well on the PC. I have tried it myself under Puppy Linux, and there is a large community of users working on new, possibly as yet unstable, distros for the Psion Pro.
The big problem is, how to successfully load & run Linux on a Psion originally sold with CE, starting with, at least, the Linux version that was made for some units of Psion NBP.
(For me, beta-testing newer distros would be for much later
).
And you might wonder, why would I want so much to make SkypeOut calls using an HPC, when I can already do that on my WM6 phone? First of all, for the possibility to have files open on the screen at the same time for reference data you need let's say, for a business call etc., and in which you can type the new info you get in the call as well, and save it, etc. Second, the voice communication is a bit choppy in WM6,
(I believe Skype has intentionally kept the WM6-compatible CE version old and less adequate that the PC Windows and Linux versions
), and most importantly, one of the essential benefits of Skype so far, over all
(I believe
) other VOIP possibilities, is the full screen-height, width-expandable phone directory you can scroll up and down on
(or filter as well with preemptive entries
), to view your phone directory.
By contrast, the MagicJack screen is tiny tiny, and the Google voice interface is clogged up with other modules and your email all over the page. I can't see how one can manage there, when one has a large amount of phone directory contacts/entries.
The Skype phone directory is invaluable as you can keep it dense and clearcut, while at the same time adding your own pointers right inside the name of the contact, like closing hours for a store, or a preferred staff name at an office, etc. I have made it a point to enter contacts with just two lines, 1
)- name
(+ notes
), 2
)- phone#, and to NOT load any extraneous Skype functionality besides phone calls, so my Skype interface is very lean and very functional, it comes up with JUST the phone directory showing, full-screen height, clear and lean and fast, as if I had a column off the
(legacy
) white pages phone directory in front of me.
Of course I see much less of that phone directory list on the tiny smartphone screen, so
an HPC or a netbook are ideal to fully use Skype on a portable device.
So to conclude - I'm not very hopeful at present, to succeed in using Skype under CE on an HPC, so I've tried and asked for help to install the basic Linux version that was made for some units of Psion NBP, ...and I am still waiting for answers, here:
How to Install Linux on a 128MB CE.NET 4.2 Psion NetBook Pro
http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=15975&start=1
I know from other threads on newer Linux developments, that MANY HPC Factor users have succeeded first, in installing the basic original version, though they are now involved into a much newer and still developing version...
Hopefully, someone seeing this current thread may bring some life to that other thread, and help me there?
I would be very grateful!
Edited by Jacobi 2011-08-16 5:58 AM
