Maui Forums

Just thought I'd post a successful use case for replacing Skype for business aka Lync with Pidgin and pidgin-sipe, if anyone uses it. With the new pidgin-sipe plugin, it's possible to do desktop sharing - that was the last missing piece, so now it is fully usable for conferences and Lync (Skype for business) is not needed anymore via VM. What needs to be done:
1. add pidgin-collab ppa: https://launchpad.net/~sipe-collab/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
2. upgrade pidgin and all other packages from the ppa to the newest version
3. start pidgin, go to Accounts->Manage accounts, select Office communicator account and in the Advanced tab at the bottom select xfreerdp for Remote desktop client. By default it sets Remmina, but I had problems with it - it wouldn't connect in some cases. xfreerdp works like a charm.

And that's it - for me it works completely transparently, people on the other side of the line have no idea it's not Skype for business.

Some usage tips:
1. to join a conference, go to Accounts->select the Office communicator account->in the dropdown menu select Join scheduled conference and just paste the URL
2. calling someone is completely independent from desktop sharing, so when a call is underway, to share a desktop, right click on the contact and pick Share desktop
3. in a conference call there is an option for that.

Hope it helps someone Wink

Hi
When I attempted Accounts->Manage accounts, select Office communicator account and in the Advanced tab at the bottom select xfreerdp for Remote desktop client; I didnt see this option.
My sequence was

523 add-apt-repository ppa Confused

ipe-collab/ppa

524 apt-get update
528 apt-get upgrade

I can see the following
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpurple.so.0

/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpurple.so.0.10.12

and my pidgin reports

pidgin -v

Pidgin 2.10.12 (libpurple 2.10.12)

Really interested in repeating your success, can you help please?

Hi rumex,

The version of Pidgin and libpurple in that PPA is 3.0.0 (as you can see in the PPA -> 1:3.0.0~collab-1+201706131018~ubuntu16.04.1). So you should install that version of Pidgin and also verions of pidgin-sipe 1.23.0+sipe-0+201711221332~ubuntu16.04.1. Please try to do it via Synaptic for example, so that you are sure that the version is proper.

Then it should work.

The only thing that hasn't worked are the notifications via libnotify - that was kind of a showstopper for me at the end, why I reverted back to the old Pidgin, while using the Lync 2010 in my Windows Virtualbox for conf calls (since I have to run Windows in VB for SAP tools anyway). To be precise I wasn't able to make any notifications work, so I couldn't see when somebody was writing to me, unless noticing that a new window appeared on the taskbar. So I traded the notifications for the ability to do the calls Big Grin

Maybe the current development state allows the notifications to work, but I don't have time to test it now.

Thanks for the reply, I'm clearly getting the wrong version, so possibly havent set up the repositories correctly. ...

(28th March 2017, 11:51)rocky7x Wrote: [ -> ]Just thought I'd post a successful use case for replacing Skype for business aka Lync with Pidgin and pidgin-sipe, if anyone uses it. With the new pidgin-sipe plugin, it's possible to do desktop sharing - that was the last missing piece, so now it is fully usable for conferences and Lync (Skype for business) is not needed anymore via VM. What needs to be done:
1. add pidgin-collab ppa: https://launchpad.net/~sipe-collab/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
2. upgrade pidgin and all other packages from the ppa to the newest version
3. start pidgin, go to Accounts->Manage accounts, select Office communicator account and in the Advanced tab at the bottom select xfreerdp for Remote desktop client. By default it sets Remmina, but I had problems with it - it wouldn't connect in some cases. xfreerdp works like a charm.

And that's it - for me it works completely transparently, people on the other side of the line have no idea it's not Skype for business.

Some usage tips:
1. to join a conference, go to Accounts->select the Office communicator account->in the dropdown menu select Join scheduled conference and just paste the URL
2. calling someone is completely independent from desktop sharing, so when a call is underway, to share a desktop, right click on the contact and pick Share desktop
3. in a conference call there is an option for that.

Hope it helps someone

Hi, This could potentially be very useful.
What credentials should I use when adding the account? Do I need a "Skype for Business" account? Without an "login" and "Password" credentials, I am not even able to add an account.
Thanks!

I use my company e-mail address and the domain password.

Hello,

I'm having issues with the connection on Linux with pidgin-sipe (can't access any finance assignments and tasks assigned to me). It happened after my company upgraded to Skype for business account to . Should I change the SIPE settings perhaps? Where can I change them?

Thanks.

rocky7x

rumex

rocky7x

rocky7x

rumex

jbehura

jbehura

rocky7x

TerryMulhern