so as the topic says, i am running jolicould (ubuntu based), on an acer aspire one 150. i have skype 2.1b installed, and my mic does not work.

i tested the mic in sound recorder, with no issue. in skype however, all my contact gets is static. loud static.

i started to do some research, and i think ive limited the problem to skype itself. but i am such a beginner to linux, that i have no idea what alsa, oss, and pulse are (besides knowing they are different methods of handling sound), how they are related to each other, or how they are related to skype.

i do have a bunch of settings and sources available in the sound settings, including oss, alsa, and pulse devices/sources. in skype though, all that is available in its internal sound settings is "pulseaudio server (local)", with 0 other options.

so im not sure if there are specific fixes for ubuntu, specific fixes for jolicloud, or specific fixes for this acer (i seriously doubt there would be for this condition), or if there is even a fix at all for linux ubutntu 2.1b.

that is, it seems a lot of people are having sound issues right now, so i am probably not alone in the general problem (but probably unique in my skype version/os/computer model setup). [the reason i did not post in the 2.1 feedback threads, is merely because of my seemingly unique setup.]

can any patient linux guru perhaps address all or some of the above? [for the record, im not so much a beginner that i dont know how to access terminal -- i just dont know any of the general commands.]

thanks a lot!

matthew

You didn't see the "Skype does not detect mic" or read early on in the 2.1 Pulseaudio thread under "Important Topics"?
"Two 'ears', one 'mouth', to be used in that ratio" Maybe you folk* learn to write before you read?? Even if so, I'm sure you can still read much faster.


*(a prev thread should be titled "No audio. I can't work Pulseaudio".. And then one of them asked for help in the ALSA thread, a bit below a helpful link to the dev's blog!?!)

yes yes yes. as hard as it is to understand your english, im not about to read though pages of conjecture and trial and error, involving linux distros other than my own, running on systems other than my own. i was merely basing my thread off the possibility that my situation is different than say, someone running non-ubuntu on an eee pc, etc.

if however you are attempting to say that the linux distro and the computer model are both irrelevant to "the problem", and that "the problem" is skype itself, then i can admit that i am at fault for cluttering up the forum. my apologies.

so, answer me this: is "the problem" due to skype itself, and not due to the computer model and/or the linux distro?

matthew

Hi,

the problem is that you can not configure properly or there is a bug in pulse audio for this audio system resulting in broken sound (not working mic) for you computer.

Please be aware that pulse audio is extention meant to easy the simultanious use of the audio device BUT it is still not working perfectly as far as I know.

So because skype is working pretty well for most of us, I don't think it is a skype problem and you should be looking somewhere else for a solution.

So I would try disabling pulse and trying with pure alsa, or I would look where exactly the problem is. I guess your problem is somehwere in the system chain (sound card -> OS/driver (alsa) -> sound system (alsa) -> sound wrapper (pulse) -> skype (with pulse)

So may be there is someone else with exactly same pc model, same ubuntu version who can tell at least if s/he has the same issue.
It could be also that you have some local problem (library mismatch - custom installation or experiment ;-).

And about reading and trying different solutions - I don't think it hurts. Nobody here will solve your problem - you should do it yourself and be cooperative.

regards

Hiya Deloptes,

Thanks for your many contributions.
Actually PA isn't as buggy as it once was, and I'd go with Steve in saying this's a bug in skype's new interaction with PA, such that it doesn't "just work". Unmuting in the ALSA mixer may still be needed too..
Anyway it then becomes a distro issue as to whether pavucontrol is installed and part of Sound setup generally, or requires "pavucontrol &" in a Terminal.


Hi Matthew,
I've no idea why you'd rather this might be a hardware incompatibility or poor distribution of Linux, instead of issue with skype 2.1 beta. As Berkus notes in my second ref, that static issue possibility is in the release notes!
You've already noted that Sound Recorder records fine, so it's not a Linux (kernel)-Acer issue, and needn't be a sound system problem. Moreover, according to Softpedia, Jolicloud has that Acer on their HCL.

Clearly you didn't register what I said. I know habits take conscious effort to replace, but that follow-up is hilarious in a bad way; LMAO. I like giving help to people, but the proverb is right: "teach a man to fish". I additionally went the f'lame button cos time is valuable, and that and mutual respect is what netiquette is about, and I hoped to help you remember that. My references were specific. You could've evaluated one in much less time than it took to write (never mind waiting for me to revisit). And you're asking me if I knew what I was talking about - even though you didn't trust me.. ?!?
If you had looked, you'd be done days ago. Yes, I'm serious, dammit. How - before you even opened this thread - could you have disregarded the "skype does not detect my mic" page? Are you afraid of wasting time, or learning? A third+ of people here use Ubuntu, and it's all Linux (ok.. some un*x too). Half of them may be (Ub-er)n00bs, but we can learn even from less experienced people - just from mistakes or different perspectives. Please wake up. "The teacher will appear when the student is ready" i.e. life is always giving us feedback, if only we have the open mind to actually see it.

P.S. I would agree with you that things will be better when original posters remember to hit the [solved] flag, so others know there's definitely value in reading a thread.

"Experience is what you find when you were looking for something else."

Hi all,

unfortunately, skype 2.1 doesnt work for me. (ubuntu 9.04)

I use usb headset (logitech) for voice and loudspeakers for ringing.
Had to change in skype 2.0 away from pulseaudio because of 100%cpu problem.
Everything worked fine for months.

Now after update to 2.1 skype is unusable!
I cant get usb headset to be configured or accessed by pulseaudio, and cant change from pulseaudio to alsa.

Some suggest that pulseaudio should be removed, but when trying to do so, synaptic forces me to remove also ubuntu-desktop! that cant be right.

Tried also isntalling PA manager, but there is nothing to manage except volume. cant find any way to select which device to use.

how can i do to get either the previous skype running, or to fix the config issue. Please not i need to run ringing on speaker and voice on headset.

kind regards
Tibor