Solving a microphone problem - how could I have known?

[kpete]

I have tried for long time to get the microphone in my new, Acer Aspire One to work with Skype. I have discovered that other users with the same problem have posted it as bug, but no solutions until the other day when a user, Cresho, provided this tip in response to another user's question:
create this file:
~/.pulse/client.conf, with a single line: autospawn=no

lo and behold, gone was PulsedAudio, and now I could select the microphone in Skype's drop down menu. I wondered if say Amarok would still play the podcasts that I listen to, and yes it does.
I have one technical question: Every time I boot, a dialog box pops up asking if KDE should forget permanantly about ... and then a list of devices. So far I have answered 'No', so the dialog reappears at boot time.

More fundamentaqlly, however, is why? How could I have figured this out if Chresho had not posted his tip? Why isn't KUbuntu born by default with PulsedAudio turned off? And why isn't there a microphone entry in System preferences where the user can turn PulsedAudio on and off or gain access to the microphone by some other mechanism?
Thanks and best regards,

kpete

[oshunluvr]

Re: Solving a microphone problem - how could I have known?

First off, let me thank you for posting such a useful tip.

I believe when you see that "Forget it..." dialog, you should also have a tik box in the lower left corner that says "Never Ask About These Devices Again..."

Have you tried that? This dialog comes up when you use plug-gable sound devices like mics or webcams.

[kpete]

Re: Solving a microphone problem - how could I have known?

No, it does not say "Never ask me ..." I can only choose "Yes forget completely about these devices ,,," Sounds dangerous, but now I clicked 'yes' and no detrimental side effects .... yet.

But what about the more fundamental question why and how could I have known?
Tips and explanations provided at this forum are often intelligble and one learns both what the problem was, why it is a problem, why kubuntu did not make the problem go away in the first place. But in this case I do not understand what goes on, why the solution is a solution, and how Cresho arrived at it.

kpete