can't get microphone working on krec or skype
 

To All:

I am having trouble getting the microphone to work
on this laptop. The speakers work just fine.

Background:

I originally installed Skype, an internet phone.
[Curious ones can look at www.skype.com .]
I installed ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
and Skype and got the speakers to work fine, but not
the microphone. After fiddling with permissions for
/dev/dsp -> /dev/sound/dsp, I logged in as root to
make sure I did not have a permission problem. But
the microphone with Skype still failed.

So now I am trying to see if the microphone would
work for another program, KRec. So far the microphone
is still not working, but it maybe a setup problem.

From KRec handbook:

First you have to select the recording source
in your soundcard. You need your favorite mixer
(KMix), where you should select the source you
need for recording. You also need to configure
the aRts-server for full-duplex (and your
soundcard and drivers should support this too).
If you need to restart aRts you should also
restart KRec

From the handbook, I see I need to configure the
aRts-server for full-duplex. How do I do this?
Also, how do I ensure my soundcard and drivers
is correct?

Everything in KMix is at the max or near max.
I believe aRts came with this Xandros 2.0
distribution. For your infos, Xandros is
debian-based and many of the system file
include debian lines. Linux kernel is version,
2.4.22.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sheng-Chieh

p.s. Fyi, I have a Mercury 700m laptop from
Element Computer. In the Control Center,
it say

Sound Driver: 3.8.la-980706 (ALSA v0.9.8 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux mercury700m 2.4.22-x1 #1 SMP ...date...
Config options: 0

Installed Drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
SiS SI7012 at 0x1c00, irq 5

Audio devices:
0: SiS SI7012 (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi Devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: Realtek ALC200/200P rev 0

try using both the mic inthe line in and the mic jacks. Also make sure your audio source is configed in the setup proberly (becasue it works dosn't mean it's done proberly)

if all else fails...

Thank you for replying.

I'm not sure what you mean by a few things. Pardon my ignorance.

>>> mic in the line in and the mic jacks

Can you explain?

>>> make sure your audio source is configed in the setup proberly

I have no clue to how to set the audio source correctly. Can you
explain or point to docs that explain?

Again, thanks in advance.

Sheng-Chieh

I am having similar troubles
 

skype just complains about a sound error..

I am using debian from a knoppix install.

I have kde 3.3

intel i8x0 style sound driver (this is an amd box)


Also, there is some warning about cpu overload when the sound server starts...

pretty goof ball, if you ask me...


Ah, I just noticed, I also have an sis mobo / chip


0000:00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0)
Subsystem: C-Media Electronics Inc: Unknown device 0300
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
I/O ports at d800 [size=128]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2

root@simpflex:/home/aaron# alsamixer

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory


I'm pretty sure that I'm using alsa...

lsmod reveals: (partial listing)
snd_intel8x0 33512 0
snd_ac97_codec 59268 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm 86144 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_timer 25344 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 13060 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart 10496 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 23552 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 10756 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 49540 8 snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_devi ce
pciehp 92676 0

slackware and microphone.
 

Hi,

I had this same problem as do others as I have seen this problem posted around the internet. The problem is the kmix config files in your home directory. They aren't set right and no amount of tinkering with KMix seems to set them properly. The files in question are in $home/.kde/share/config. The names are kmixctrlrc and kmixrc. I just deleted them and then copied these files over from a distribution that has a working microphone. I used a live CD - SimplyMepis 2004 (which has Skype already set up) and now the microphone works dandy and I'm Skypeing like there's no tomorrow!

Full Duplex
 

Hi!
I got the Mic working just making enabled full duplex in kcontrol (KDE Control Center), Sound System, Hardware.

Made sure the mic capture was enabled in kmix and I was able to rec with krec. I’m using a brazilian Debian unstable based distro, kurumin.

Also, my sound driver is Alsa, but I think it's runnig in OSS Emulation mode or by the arts KDE sound server, cause I can't run alsamixer or any program that output sound in alsa, like the xmms with alsa output plugin enabled. Maybe alsaconf can fix... But I don't see the point.

I don’t know if this helps... but I hope.
This is my first post, and I love Slackware!!

OSS, aRts microphone problem
 

Hi,
I'm having the same problem with my microphone in skype.
Switching on the "Full duplex" an error message appears:

Sound server fatal error:
cpu overload, aborting

What this means ? How to fix it?

thanks, asen.

PS: I don't have root passwd for this machine

Krec
 

enable input "capture" and "mic" channels in KMix(red LED meens selection for recording). If you mark mic only it still will be deaf.
choose fullduplex in soundsystem configuration. Green bars in Krec should jump when microphone is detected