UPDATED 11/15!! How to get Skype 2.8 to work once again [Guide]

[gavinstubbs09]

Updated November 15, 2014. The next step in keeping Skype going! Oh and when I sign in on the G4, the skype symbol under my location lights up too. Sweet!

Ahh the time has come where Microsoft has attempted to kick us to the curb, and they sure aren't stopping the community from making old versions of Skype work I actually used my 1GHz QuickSilver, and it was pretty bone stock since I don't have the ML theme or my Yosemite Icon Pack installed.

Alright. So before I had the command where you would change ui.skype.com to 127.0.0.1 however that has stopped working. Good news however, there is a new fix that works.

The unfortunate thing is some contacts show up and some don't. I signed in at the same time on my iMac (running SL with latest Skype 6) and counted 20 online contacts. On my G4 I counted 7. In the chat with Tim I sent "Hi Man!!" from my G4 and the iMac sees it.

1. Open Terminal (Applications/Utilities)
2. Type

sudo nano /Applications/Skype.app/Contents/Info.plist

and press enter. You'll be asked for your password.
3. You'll see the contents of the .plist file. Use the arrows to navigate to the bottom.

4. Go down quite a ways until you find "CFBundleGetInfoString" and change it from 2.8.0.866 to -

6.15.0.344

5. Locate "CFBundleGetInfoString" and change it from 2.8 to 6.15 like above.
6. Locate "CFBundleShortVersionString" and do the same as above.
5. Save the file by pressing Control+O then Enter to confirm your settings.
6. Control+X to exit the nano editor.

You're now good to go! Of course some contacts may not appear but this is just another finger to Skype proving to them that we will continue to use PowerPC I got the info from mortar who replied later in the thread.

G4 online contacts and chat:

Contacts currently online with iMac:

Chatting with Tim on iMac:

 

[hamis92]

This trick also enables you to still use Skype 2.8 on a Mac that could support a newer version. In addition to my PowerBook, I applied this to my MacBook Pro running Mavericks and it works perfectly.

 

[sailmac]

Well, that was useful. Thanks for posting the tip!

 

[nineteen73]

Does this version utilize a server different than those using the most updated version of Skype?

 

[gavinstubbs09]

How it worked was every time you would sign in it would check the Skype server to see if you are running Skype 6.x and if not you can't sign in.

127.0.0.1 is your machine's local to itself IP address. Somebody might find your computer at 192.168.1.xx but it is impossible to find a machine if you lookup 127.0.0.1 as it's local to your own computer.

So the skype updater looks at the local IP address and sees there is no update available so you are golden!

 

[eyoungren]

I've got to be missing something. I have yet to have any problems with Skype.

My Hosts file is unmodified, Little Snitch is set to Allow All Connections and I had zero issues logging in and am online right now.

I'm using Skype 2.8.0.866 if that makes any difference. Although I must say that it's nice to be on the OPPOSITE end of a problem.

 

[gavinstubbs09]

It's weird, I would start to sign in fine then it would close out and give me a message saying 6.3 is here and to download it. Seems like a mixed boat!

 

[eyoungren]

It's weird, I would start to sign in fine then it would close out and give me a message saying 6.3 is here and to download it. Seems like a mixed boat!

Wierd. I haven't seen that warning in quite a while. But I turned off check for updates automatically a long time ago. You wouldn't have that checked in preferences would you?

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Wierd. I haven't seen that warning in quite a while. But I turned off check for updates automatically a long time ago. You wouldn't have that checked in preferences would you?

It's checked. Unchecking didn't help. But I did just try signing into 2.8 on my DA with Tiger and I get connection issues and can't sign in. I'll try the hack and report back! Hey that rhymed haha

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Alright. The network connections was the cable being loose. 2.8 signed in fine with no problems under Tiger

 

[eyoungren]

Man, I have not used Skype seriously in just about three years. Used to use it every weekend for gaming with a friend in California.

Anyway, I vaguely remember this box being a problem at some point when Skype made that big version jump and left PowerPC behind. I spent several hours trying to find a version that would run (it was also being slow to login, so two issues).

I cannot recall what I did to fix it, but I'm guessing I found instructions somewhere on some site. I just cannot recall what that was.

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Very similar to what I did! I had a friend that ended up backstabbing me about 3 years ago but for about 2 years we would talk on skype every day (lived in Wisconsin). Now I use it very rarely.

When I had all windows machines I stuck with Business 5.0 where there wasn't ads and crap, but since MS bought it everything has gone down the tank!

 

[nineteen73]

I feel like I should try Skype at least once on my life, lol.

 

[Altemose]

Very similar to what I did! I had a friend that ended up backstabbing me about 3 years ago but for about 2 years we would talk on skype every day (lived in Wisconsin). Now I use it very rarely.

When I had all windows machines I stuck with Business 5.0 where there wasn't ads and crap, but since MS bought it everything has gone down the tank!

Well Microsoft ruins everything. Leave it to them to ruin ... an operating system ... they wrote! *cough* Windows 8 *cough*

 

[roadbloc]

Had no problems with Skype. I made the change to the hosts file anyway just to be sure for the future, but for me Microsoft haven't done a thing. Not even a reminder to update to a new version.

 

[Intelligent]

For the people that dont know what this does, it blocks your computer from accessing "ui.skype.com".

If you are not comfortable with terminal editing (you can't move the mouse, etc.)
i would recommend you run this instead

sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts

and then add the line

Lol! i looked at my G5 and i have Skype 1.3.0.14
Do all of you use 2.8? My version 1.3.0.14 has this copyright "Copyright © 2004-2005 Skype Technologies S.A." Can you even log in with that? The one i use on my modern mac is 2.8.0.851, it also has the same copyright as 1.3.0.14

 

[eyoungren]

Yeah, I'm using 2.8.x. Still have zero problems logging in.

I did get this email earlier, but so far nothing has prevented me from logging in.

 

[Altemose]

Yeah, I'm using 2.8.x. Still have zero problems logging in.

I did get this email earlier, but so far nothing has prevented me from logging in.

I got that email too and instantly thought of why I love iChat and AIM.

 

[sarthak]

Set it up today. Works fine except it's not using my iSight camera as the microphone.

Anyone else know if Skype supports iSight as the Webcam and Mic?

 

[Altemose]

Set it up today. Works fine except it's not using my iSight camera as the microphone.

Anyone else know if Skype supports iSight as the Webcam and Mic?

Yes. I use an iSight as the microphone. Video chat is not supported in Skype for PPC!

 

[sarthak]

Yes. I use an iSight as the microphone. Video chat is not supported in Skype for PPC!

I managed to get the iSight to work.

It does say "Video" tab in the preferences for Skype. The iSight shows up with a preview of what the camera sees and there's options for video chat when doing a regular chat.

I assume you mean it doesn't work rather than it's not supported? As long as voice works to dial out, it should be fine for my use case.

 

[Altemose]

I managed to get the iSight to work.

It does say "Video" tab in the preferences for Skype. The iSight shows up with a preview of what the camera sees and there's options for video chat when doing a regular chat.

I assume you mean it doesn't work rather than it's not supported? As long as voice works to dial out, it should be fine for my use case.

It originally worked. Microsoft has slowly stripped us of our features.

 

[Altemose]

I think Skype finally died for us PPC users.

 

[hamis92]

I think Skype finally died for us PPC users.

Still works fine here. Yours doesn't log in at all?

 

[Sergey.P]

A few days ago same thing started on both my G5s, Skype on neither of them can log in saying "Unable connect to server". Unfortunately this looks like a dead end, the only hope is for the new Skype legacy version, although I'm almost concrete that they won't make a PPC support in it