Microphones not working

[Bill Davidsen]

David Hough wrote:
> I'm trying to set up a laptop with a VoIP softphone (I've tried both
> Zoiper and Skype) and it's proving impossible to get it to work with
> microphones. As I can't get my desktop to work properly with microphones
> either, I'm assuming it's software-related.
> 
> So, a brief summary: Fedora 8 with KDE, default sound setup (i.e.
> pulseaudio/alsa) various different soundcards including a USB one that I
> know works just fine on a Windows machine. The system recognises the USB
> input port (based on syslog entries) and is happy to assign it as input
> to the application but no sound gets in. Playback is fine.
> 
> I suspect it could be related to permissions in /dev but I tried chmod
> 666 on /dev/dsp* and it still didn't want to play. Any clues as to what
> to look for next?
> 
> As an aside, I remember trying to get Audacity to take sound input on my
> desktop and that didn't work either.
> 
If you were running just alsa I would say unmute the mike input in 
alsamixer and use the record program (rec) from the sox package. My 
solution to pulse is to remove it, I have never found any benefit from 
it, and a ton of things don't work (see the many "no sound" posts here 
and elsewhere). In any case I've recorded dozens of records and tapes 
using rec, so that's a known working part of the process. I usually use 
audacity later for tuneup.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot