I am trying to get working VOIP on several machines, all running Kubuntu 10.04. This arises from a failed attempt some months ago to get the Linux Skype package running on an ASUS eeePC 1000HA, so that the user could call relatives in Australia from the UK, but I hit the problem found in many forum threads on Ubuntu & Kubuntu concerning microphones not working, without finding a solution. Recently we started trials with Ekiga, and this time I have several machines to get organised and use for comparison. All units seemed to have the microphone problem until I encountered an ASUS eeePC 1000H dating from 2008. This has a Realtek ALC269 sound chip.
First test on this unit with Audacity actually showed the internal microphones as working, after I used alsamixer to set levels. So I installed Ekiga 3.2.6 from the repository and configured Kmix to show all the available sound channels. At this point Audacity lost the microphone access … not good. Ekiga also seemed to show no microphone input, but also no access to the built-in camera, reporting that the video driver did not accept the video format requested.
On a wildcard thought, I ran the unit from a USB of gNewSense 2.3 which has Ekiga (2.0.12) preloaded. For this, the camera worked immediately, using driver PTLIB/V4L2 (only one available), but no sound because gNewSense did not have a suitable driver. There is no choice of Video display options on Ekiga 2.0.12, WYSIWYG and the control screen does not show you what display format is in use.
So the camera works, but not with an Ekiga 3.2.6 dry install on Kubuntu 10.04 netbook. The default video driver is PTLIB/V4L, but this returns the error message that the “Video driver did not accept the video format requested” for every video option. The alternative driver is PTLIB/V4L2, as with gNewSense, but this reports an error that the “Video driver can not open the channel requested” for every video option and all video channels from 0 to 8 (I did not try any higher numbers). I went back to PTLIB/V4L and tried the same video channels on all formats, but still only received the “Video driver did not accept the video format requested” error.
Just for the hell of it, I tried the sound adjustment button on the Ekiga display screen … and lo! … all the levels were right down. Raising both speaker and microphone levels I found that the internal microphone was working. Rechecking with Audacity … no microphone input.
I removed Ekiga to check if that was interfering with the microphone access for Audacity … no … Audacity has permanently lost microphone input. Reinstalling Ekiga showed that it still had microphone access and control. Microphone level is also altered by changes effected in either Kmix or alsamixer, but still nothing in Ekiga from the camera.
I will take the sound situation to a separate thread, because it has common characteristics to several other machines with varying hardware consists … but here I would ask, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I get Ekiga 3.2.6 to access the camera on the 1000H, because that would get the unit operational for VOIP, which is the prime consideration, right now.
First test on this unit with Audacity actually showed the internal microphones as working, after I used alsamixer to set levels. So I installed Ekiga 3.2.6 from the repository and configured Kmix to show all the available sound channels. At this point Audacity lost the microphone access … not good. Ekiga also seemed to show no microphone input, but also no access to the built-in camera, reporting that the video driver did not accept the video format requested.
On a wildcard thought, I ran the unit from a USB of gNewSense 2.3 which has Ekiga (2.0.12) preloaded. For this, the camera worked immediately, using driver PTLIB/V4L2 (only one available), but no sound because gNewSense did not have a suitable driver. There is no choice of Video display options on Ekiga 2.0.12, WYSIWYG and the control screen does not show you what display format is in use.
So the camera works, but not with an Ekiga 3.2.6 dry install on Kubuntu 10.04 netbook. The default video driver is PTLIB/V4L, but this returns the error message that the “Video driver did not accept the video format requested” for every video option. The alternative driver is PTLIB/V4L2, as with gNewSense, but this reports an error that the “Video driver can not open the channel requested” for every video option and all video channels from 0 to 8 (I did not try any higher numbers). I went back to PTLIB/V4L and tried the same video channels on all formats, but still only received the “Video driver did not accept the video format requested” error.
Just for the hell of it, I tried the sound adjustment button on the Ekiga display screen … and lo! … all the levels were right down. Raising both speaker and microphone levels I found that the internal microphone was working. Rechecking with Audacity … no microphone input.
I removed Ekiga to check if that was interfering with the microphone access for Audacity … no … Audacity has permanently lost microphone input. Reinstalling Ekiga showed that it still had microphone access and control. Microphone level is also altered by changes effected in either Kmix or alsamixer, but still nothing in Ekiga from the camera.
I will take the sound situation to a separate thread, because it has common characteristics to several other machines with varying hardware consists … but here I would ask, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I get Ekiga 3.2.6 to access the camera on the 1000H, because that would get the unit operational for VOIP, which is the prime consideration, right now.