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How to use Skype 2.8 on a PowerPC mac

Perhaps you had the disgusting experience of Skype cutting off your service if you were running version 2.8 because it's cleaner than the current spammy crappy versions or because you have a PowerPC (PPC) mac that can only run this earlier version, or whatever your reason, and you have been informed that MS / Skype will no longer work on your computer. I am practicing my best restraint here not to use all the 4-letter words that came to my mind when MS did this and screwed us.


It took a lot of searching, but I found a work-around that solves the problem for the time being. You have to edit a .plist file so that the Skype server thinks you are running a modern version when you are actually still running 2.8. Here is how to do it:


I will write up the geeky way that definitely worked. You may be able to accomplish the same thing using the Finder, Show Package Contents, and an editor like TextEdit, but I ran into permission problems when I tried that, so I switched to doing this through the Unix terminal and this worked fine.


1) make sure Skype is not running (Quit if it is) and run /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. From there....

2) cd /Applications/Skype.app/Contents/ (if this is where your Skype is)

3) ls (this (LS in lower case) will list the components there, and you can confirm that one is named Info.plist)

4) sudo vi Info.plist (this opens Info.plist in the vi editor) you will need to type your admin user password.

5) /2.8 <return> (this searches for and finds an instance of 2.8 in the file, so you can edit it and change it to the currently "acceptable" skype version)

6) type the letter i. this puts you in insert mode and you can edit the file.

7) replace whatever 2.8 version you have with 6.15.0.334

8) type <esc> to exit insert mode

9) repeat steps 5-8 until you have replaced all instances of the 2.8 version number. (I found 3)

10) after done editing, type :wq (this saves the file and quits the editor

11) launch Skype, and you should be good to go!


On some later versions of Mac OS X, the package contents are more challenging to access, but you can search for how to do that, separately. The main take home from this is that you need to edit the Info.plist file in package contents of the Skype application and change the version number from 2.8.0.866 (or whatever version you have) to 6.15.0.334 (of whatever version skype is now requiring). There are other terminal editors, such as "nano" and "pico" that you can use instead of "vi". Please post other methods to accomplish this in a more streamlined way if you find something that works better for you.

Mac OS X (10.5.8), PowerPC

Posted on Sep 17, 2014 4:59 PM

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24 replies

Sep 23, 2014 6:50 AM in response to Andyyyyyy

Hi! Thanks for the great tip! The only streamlining would be using vi's search-and-replace with command, so, instead 5-9, enter just one line -

:%s/2.8/6.15.0.334/g

In short, it enters edit mode (:) and uses search-and-replace (%s) and takes arguments: 1. position=what to search for, 2. position=what to replace it with. /g says to go without confirmation. There should be only three instances to replace.

By the way, for the 4. sudo isn't needed as You have sufficient rights on Info.plst.

Oct 25, 2014 7:48 AM in response to Andyyyyyy

Wizard, you!

But being unable to use Terminal and the sudo vi method, I simply used TextEdit to modify info.plist as you instructed... replacing all instances of 2.8.0.866 with 6.15.0.334.

To get there, I right-clicked Skype in my Applications folder, clicked the Show Package Contents. Double-clicked "Contents" folder and edited and saved info.plist.

Skype started right away!

Feb 8, 2015 9:18 AM in response to Andyyyyyy

I am new to terminal commands but these instructions worked perfectly the first time. I'm deeply grateful for this advice so I can continue using my Powerbook G4 machine 5/8 running 10.4.11


You saved me buying a new Macbook Air to site on my Nordic Track Ski machine so that I can walk at 1.5 mph while I skype. 3 miles yesterday.

Hope to walk off the 10 pounds gained over the holidays in no time.

Feb 10, 2015 4:33 PM in response to RobRockOn

Hi Rob, Andyyy's instructions worked fine for my OS 10.4.11, but for some reason not in my OS 10.5.8...?? And not that the terminal commands weren't correct, but more because the vi search couldn't find instances of "2.8" in the Info.plist file....?? Never could figure out why....??


But I did another workaround to this workaround 😉 : I simply copied the changed parts of the application from my OS 10.4.11 to my OS 10.5.8, and it worked!!! 😉 So this would be the application itself, then all the supporting files from Users/Library/Application Support/Skype.


So I guess if you've successfully changed the program on another computer, you can then copy those changed files to another computer and they should work as well.....;)



--Jackie

Feb 28, 2015 9:18 PM in response to mrkapqa

The key, as Andyyyyyy and geowcarrington suggest, is to be able to modify the Info.plist file with some command or text editor, replacing all instances of 2.8.0.866 with 6.15.0.334.


If you can find and replace that version each time it occurs in the file (like I did in my OS 10.4.11), it'll work; if you can't find and replace it (like I couldn't in my OS 10.5.8), it won't.


Not sure why I could do the find and replace in one OS but not the other, but there it is.......


--Jackie

How to use Skype 2.8 on a PowerPC mac

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