Skype announced the release of a beta version of Skype 2.0 for Linux. The new version supports video, so Linux Skype users can now put the webcam to good use.

The Linux beta can be downloaded here. Hardware requirements are:

  • Processor: 1GHz or faster
  • RAM: 256MB
  • Hard disk: 20MB free space
  • Microphone and speakers, or headset
  • Internet connection, broadband is best, GPRS is not supported for voice calls, and results may vary on a satellite connection.
  • Videocard driver with Xv support
  • Qt 4.2.1 or higher
  • D-Bus 1.0.0
  • libasound2 1.0.12

The page has versions for Ubuntu (7.04 - no 7.10, although this version should work fine with Gutsy), Fedora (Core 6, and 7), Debian Etch, OpenSUSE 10+, Mepis, Mandriva, Xandros and CentOS. There is also a generic Dynamic and Static package.