Microphones and Skype on Ubuntu 7.10

I wrote a post a while back about getting Microphones and Skype working in Ubuntu. This has been one of my most viewed posts, and as Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is about to be released, I thought I would update my previous post.

Turning on the Microphone
Getting the microphone working in Ubuntu 7.10, was really easy, I did the following:

• Plugged the Microphone in.
• Double clicked on the volume icon in the panel.
• Clicked Edit then, Preferences.
• Ticked the Microphone, Mic boost, and Capture boxes.
• Once they were ticked a Recording/Capture tab and a Switches/Options tab appeared in the volume control panel.
• I went through each volume setting and made sure nothing was turned down or muted.
• In the Switches/Options tab select Mic Boost.

Done, the microphone worked just fine, I tested the Mic using the Sound Recorder tool found in: Applications -> Sound and Video -> Sound Recorder

Installing Skype

• Add the Skype repository (If you don't know how to add repositories please see: Repositories/Ubuntu) deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free
• Reloaded or updated the package information
• Install Skype: # sudo apt-get install skype

Security and Skype
I no longer have the need to use Skype, however there is a security problem with Skype running on Linux, for more information please see: http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=95261

I suggest using AppArmor, (which is now a default application on Ubuntu 7.10) to create a security profile for Skype.

Microphones & Skype on Ubuntu

Today I installed Skype in Ubuntu 7.04. There can be a number of problems running Skype in Ubuntu. Yet my biggest concern was getting my microphone working.

Microphone Troubleshooting
After doing an Internet search I found the following things to try:

A) The microphone capture is turn off by default to turn it on:

1. Double click the volume icon on the panel.
2. Now click Edit, Preferences.
3. You then need to make sure Microphone, Mic boost, and Capture are ticked.
4. Now there should be a Recording/Capture tab in volume control panel.
5. Go through each volume setting and make sure nothing is turned down or muted.
6. In the Switches/Options tab make sure you select the Microphone as the input source.

B) Edit /etc/esound/esd.conf to look like this:
[esd]
auto_spawn=1
spawn_options=-terminate -nobeeps -as 1
spawn_wait_ms=100
# default options are used in spawned and non-spawned mode
default_options=

C) Restart alsa-utils:
# sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart

D) If all of the above fail you can try installing the new version of the alsa drivers. This is the only thing that worked for me:
# wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.14.tar.bz2
# tar -xjf alsa-driver-1.0.14.tar.bz2
# cd alsa-driver-1.0.14
# ./configure
# sudo make
# sudo make install

If all of these things fail you can visit: Ubuntu Forums.

For more info please see: Zero-Sum: Ubuntu Microphone Problems and solutions, and DebuggingSoundProblems

Installing Skype

I installed Skype from the Skype Repository

1. Add the Skype repository*: deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free
2. Reload or update the package information
3. Install Skype: # sudo apt-get install skype

Once Skype was installed I went into the options and played around with the sound device settings until they worked. Now I have Skype running in Ubuntu.

If you have problems running Skype Please see the Ubuntu community Skype page. If you need help adding a repository then please see: Repositories/Ubuntu.

**Edit 29/10/07
Update: I've written a new post called: Microphones and Skype on Ubuntu 7.10.