Select “Sound Devices”. That will display the following:
Select the settings you prefer.
Use the “Make a test sound” button to make sure the device you prefer to be your “ringer” device is
operational. That is the device that will, among other things, notify you about an incoming call. For that
reason, it is advisable to assign that role to a device other than your headset as you will likely not be
able to hear the headphones in your headset if you are not wearing it. As can be seen in the example
above, the “Ringing” device is set to “default” which in this case happens to be desktop speakers
attached to the computer's sound card.
Use the “Make a test call” button to place a test call to Skype's automatic testing facility. You will be
asked to record several seconds worth of audio, which will then be played back to you. This utility is a
useful tool for testing Skype's audio performance.
Check the “Allow Skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels” button or use a mixer of your choice
to control the record and playback level in your Skype application.
Video Setup
Note: It is not required to have a video camera set up on your machine to participate in a video-
conference – unless, of course, you are the presenter.
Skype supports all video devices supported by Linux. However, here we will limit our discussion to
USB-based cameras, as they are most commonly available.
In order to properly support a USB camera, your system ought to have the UVC (USB Video Class)
driver installed. It is recommended that you run kernel version 2.6.22 or above. For the information on