If I start Skype, there is no sound with this webcam.

However, if I start the program "Cheese Webcam Booth" then suddenly the USB sound is recognized in the system settings "sound" and then I can start Skype and have sound.

Any idea how to get this webcam to recognize the sound (microphone) without having to start the program "Cheese Webcam Booth" first ?

Michael

until you get a better reply....

skype attempts to use the default sound which is unlikely to be USB but some internal card.

quite a few settings for most distros stop USB from grabbing index=0 which is actually what skype wants.

have a look at /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
As a suggestion plug in and leave in your webcam, use root powers to edit that quote to change index=-2 to 0
full reboot
----there are other ways of restarting alsa but lets keep it simple first

open a terminal and type alsamixer and press enter and you should see your usb device.

now skype should find it too

good luck