Skype on a Ubuntu HP Mini 1000

I have been playing with Ubuntu 9.10 on a HP Mini for a while - on and off.

I have a request to get Skype working. I struggled with this for a bit, but I couldn't get it to work with the duplex sound card: when I pluged a microphone in, the speakers stopped working for example.

Something changed - it could have been an kernel update - anyway, I can now use Skype with minimal effort - including the web-cam.

The vital thing I had to do was disable the checkbox (options->audio settings or something):

'Allow Skype to automatically adjust my mixer levels'

Then, I could twiddle the 'pulse audio' options (right click on the volume icon) to increase the microphone input level. It seemed that one problem was Skype wouldn't let me increase the microphone input level while I was letting it 'automatically adjust my mixer levels'.