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After installing the latest version of Skype (2.1.0.47) on Karmic I tried to configure it to work with my USB handset but the options didn’t give me a device selection any more. The only option available was PulseAudio with the sound going through my speakers, and my handset mic was not recognised at all.

To rectify this so you can use Skype without the other sounds on your system getting mixed in we need to do the following:

Install PulseAudio Device Chooser – this will install a number of extra packages, including PulseAudio Volume Control

sudo apt-get install padevchooser

Restart your system.

Launch Applications > Sound & Video > PulseAudio Device Chooser – you’ll see its new icon in the notification area. Click it, open Preferences… and select Start applet on session login.

Close the window.

Plug in your handset and start Skype if you haven’t done so already.

Right-click the volume control in the notification area and open Sound Preferences (or open it through System > Preferences).

Click on Input and your handset will be listed there – select it. You probably will have to crank up the Input volume, mine was very low to start with. Close the window.

Click on the PulseAudio Device Chooser icon (the jack) in the notification area and select Volume Control.

You can see that I only have Amarok showing up in the control at the moment as Skype is not in a call.

Start a test call and set your USB handset as the output device.

One problem I have with this is that whenever I unplug my handset the settings are lost and I need to reconfigure each time I reconnect it.