Hello
I'm using Gentoo Linux with a ALSA only configuration, I don't use pulseaudio and don't want to use it.
I'm currently running skypeforlinux-8.11.0.4 and when I click on Tools -> Audio & video settings, I can choose the audio card for the microphone and speakers, this version recognizes all my ALSA devices without a problem.
However this version has been warning me that a newer version is available and so I updated toskypeforlinux-8.15.0.4. When I started and made a call, everything was working fine, I could hear the music that plays while waiting for the other party to accept the call, but as soon as the other party answered the called, I saw a pop up telling me that no device has been found and that I should add a microphone to the system. The other party could indeed not hear me.
So I went to Tools -> Audio & video settings and the window showed me "No device found" in the microphone and speaker sections. I have aLogitech, Webcam C310 with included a microphone, the video section displayed that webcam without problems. The other strange thing is that I was able to hear the other party talking, even though the settings window showed me that it didn't found any device and my ~/.asoundrc is empty. So skypeforlinux-8.15.04 must still be using ALSA behind the scenes.
I reinstalled the skypeforlinux-8.11.0.4 version and when I click on Tools -> Audio & video settings I can see the C310 device again in the list of found devices.
Is this a bug/feature, is this happening because I don't use pulseaudio? I've tested the skype web version which looks almost identical to the linux client, and there it worked (although I presume that's because the web browser is the one doing the connection to the ALSA devices).
So, what can I expect? Is skypeforlinux also going to drop support for ALSA devices and force users to install pulseaudio? Should I stick to the web version instead? Because I'm definitely not going to install pulseaudio, not even for Skype.
Thanks.