Installing skype will not work - skype-bin not installable, and 'held broken packages'

Solution 1:

I found the solution to this problem from a different post.

First a downgrade is required and done with the following:

create the 'preferences' file:

sudo vi /etc/apt/preferences

and insert the following lines:

Package: *       
Pin: release a=quantal*
Pin-Priority: 2012

enter :wq to write the file. Pin-Priority must be greater than 1000.

Then you may downgrade the offending applications with:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

That's it.

Now use sudo apt-get install skype

And it works!