Tip - Improving Jackd for SSGWPE
The Skype Sip Gateway (Personal Edition) is dependent on the Jackd, a sound server, functioning effectively. While using Jackd, there are many observed occasions with errors “cannot connect ports owned by inactive clients”. When that happens it is not possible to connect the audio ports between Skype and Sip. So far, despite the many discussions on the internet, I have not found a solution to this.
When this errors occur, SSGWPE attempts at recovery by re-starting the various processes involved in the gateway. Most times the problem disappears, but sometimes the problem is more persistent. In the latter case, the repeated re-starting can be a rather painful experience to the user.
Having tested SSGWPE on a number of PCs, it is found that the above mentioned error is very much reduced on more powerful PCs. With more powerful PCs, recovery from such errors is also faster. It appears that Jackd needs a steady state before receiving audio connections, and with faster PCs, that steady state is reached earlier, resulting in less likelihood for the error occurring.
So, do try out SSGWPE on faster PCs if you encounter the above problem.
Finally, remember that some sound cards to not like the “-s” option for Jackd. So instead of “/usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:0 -r48000 -p1024 -n2 -s” use “/usr/bin/jackd -dalsa -dhw:0 -r48000 -p1024 -n2″.
