skype for linux won't use logitech C905 (V-UBU48) built-in mic
 

I fetched Skype onto my Ubuntu Lucid laptop and connected my Logitech C905 webcam. Video works, but I cannot get the mic operational.
If I connect a Logitech 2-wire headset (one mic + one headset)
all works well.

Skype tells me that it sees PulseAudio (server) for the audio.
My googling reveals loads of material about ALSA and "mixers"
and plenty of sound subsystem things that were well out of my
experience.

I have the same problem with this hardware and Skype on v10.10.

Can anyone shed any light on getting this to work?

Thanks in advance,
~~~ 0;-Dan

Hya,

I also had similar frustration. I tried skype on three Penguins, two of them work, one never. One of them works without pulse. Unless you need pulse, you can try to uninstall pulse.

good luck

You could try to play with alsa+mixer :)

1. Open terminal and write: alsamixer

2. when application is executed(it runs in terminal itself, but is very easy to navigate) press F4 to go into capture section [sorry I cannot post screenshot right now]

3. Then try to change Input source(stereo mix, front mic, rear mic and so on)

and keep in touch tell what are the results ;)

Edit... Try also other settings in playback section I see that it's possible to change mics in playback section too on ubuntu

Thanks for the recommendation and reply.

Since I'm not a sound or audio maven, how do I benefit having pulseaudio installed? What does it bring to my audio listening experience?
I could simply remove it and see what happens, but I prefer to understand
first and act later rather than risk the need to tinker ( and tinker, ...
ad nauseum ... and tinker) to get it back and fix whatever went foul with the removal etc.

Cheers,
~~~ 0;-Dan

What you benefit is:
better sound integration in your system:
* you don't have to think much about configuring all of your applications separately (in theory) they just should run and wouldn't have to block each other, interact better between themselves.
* all sinks between applications and input output sources should be easily configurable through pulseaudio sound mixer, in fact most of the settings should do their job automatically, for example you connect your headphones to computer and pulse detects it and switches output to headphones(you can change it in pulseaudio control)
* this point is questionable, but by default settings you get a bit better latency settings with pulse than with alsa(you can change it by configuring /etc/asound.conf)
* without pulseaudio you won't hear any system sounds

conclusion: for starting linux users pulseaudio should be easier to use, that is why you could consider it better choice, BUT, if you use just ALSA, you basically can achieve all the same things and go beyond, that is the reason why advanced linux musicians mostly doesn't use pulseaudio at all(even thou there are some things where pulse helps a lot so it's not all that bad)
musicians usually have ALSA + JACK setup. (I prefer to use all three of them, just you have to remember that pulseaudio eats quite a lot of system resources, so if you have slower computer alsa + jack is better choice.)

So the bad things are:
* pulseaudio eats additional system resources
* pulseaudio have much worse latency than jack
* disputable, but I find, that, if I don't use pulseaudio "smart" :) jack detection, with just alsa my headphones and computer speakers always work, if I connect or don't do it with my heaphones.(So from this point alsa is easier to use, *you don't have to go to pulseaudio sound mixer and set back settings to analog output)
* pulseaudio is another sound layer on your computer, so you always have to remember your configuration of both alsa and pulse, to get things done(!!! so it's very disputable if really pulse is easier to use)

I might miss something, because am hurrying to go to sleep, but yeah, basically(if you don't mind loosing system sounds+you don't have some advanced needs for pulse, you can surely remove it and learn to use alsamixer[I hope so you followed my advices :) previously])

But you don't have to really remove pulseaudio just take it out of startup apps, for insurance go to /etc/pulse/daemon.conf find a line with autospawn and set it to no! And voila you have pulseaudio installed, but switched off, so if you don't like alsa setting, you can easily return to pulse :)

I have been experiencing the same problem: no mic in Skype under Ubuntu (I am running 10.04 LTS updated). Neither the internal net-book mic, nor the external mic on a PC).
Skype sucks!
And i hope Ubuntu people can work around this!
I won't give up on GNU/Linux, but may be Skype.
Anybody have tried Ekiga or another alternative?
Cheers!

I, too, run Ubunto 10.04 LTS and finally got Skype working with the 905. As I remember
... I've slept since then ... I had to tinker the sound settings in preferences or administration from the System panel. The tinkering told linux about my sound resources
(given several, you must say which you want to use by default). Then when I started Skype, it saw the parts that I enabled. Skype can only pick from what is enabled.

I hope this helps,
~~~ 0;-Dan

I have about 10 clients on different hardware, running Debian Squeeze. Skype sometimes works while Pulse is installed, sometimes not, and sometimes intermittently. Especially the last case is fully unacceptable. One day Skype works over Pulse, a few hours later you get called and either you don't hear a thing and can't talk back. If you have Pulse installed, you miss most of your volume controls, which is of course very logical to Pulse developers, but not to ordinary users.

Summarizing, uninstall Pulse and use Alsa until Pulse has matured.

jlinkels

Solution to audio problem with C905 on Ubuntu
 

This may be OBE, but I stumbled upon this thread. I was able to get skype on Ubuntu 10.04 to recognize my Logitech C905 mic, by doing the following:

1. If you have a speaker icon in the top or bottom panel, left click on it and go to step 2.
_____a. If not, then right click in the panel and select 'add to panel...'
_____b. Scroll down to 'indicator applet' and select it.
_____c. A speaker icon should now appear
2. Select 'Sound Preferences...'
3. Select the 'hardware tab' and select the webcam icon (mine says 080a, 1 input, Analog Mono input).
4. Select the input tab. In the 'choose a device for sound input, select '080a analog mono (or whatever yours was called in the hardware tab).
5. Set the input volume to a mid-way point and make sure the mute button isn't checked.
6. At this point if you talk, you should see the input level changing, indicating that it is recognizing sound coming from the camera mic. (note, it's difficult to see the display changing on my screen, you have to look closely).
7. Adjust the input volume until the input level goes to about 1/3 to 1/2 way when speaking normally.
8. Close the applet
9. Start Skype and make a test call. This worked for me, I'm hoping it works for you as well.

Please post and let me know if this worked for you.

Joe