Microphone in Ubuntu Hardy Heron

Unfortunately, I found a show stopper from Ubuntu Intrepid. It's the audio input function. I couldn't get my microphone (built-in and external) working. Actually, it does partly work, but not usable. It can record at an extremely low voice level. Some people say it is a PulseAudio's problem. So, I tried to uninstall PulseAudio and use ALSA instead, but I still couldn't make it work. One point, I noticed is that I cannot unmute Capture under Recording tab in Volume Control. Another point is that Volume Control is different between Intrepid and Hardy. In Hardy, there is Digital and Intermal Mic slide to control volume, but there isn't in Intrepid. I searched the solution and tried it for many hours. Finally, I gave up. I don't know what is exactly the course of the problem, it maybe Pulse Audio, ALSA, Kernel, Gnome Volume Control (some say kmix solve their problem), or other reasons. I hope it will be fixed in Jaunty Jackalope (Ubuntu 9.04).

Despite how much I like appearance and speed of Ubuntu Intrepid, I uninstall it. Since I need to use skype, I go back to Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04) which my Asus M9V microphone works perfectly. After install and update Ubuntu, you need a little setup to make it work.

First, you need to make sure that System uses correct device by checking at System -> Preference -> Sound.


Next, you must unmute Capture in Volume Control. If you cannot see it, try to enable it via Menu -> Edit -> Preference.


Lastly, testing! You may use Sound Recorder which come with Ubuntu or add medibuntu then

sudo apt-get install skype