Ubuntu Skype: How can I split ringing and calls to headphone and main speaker on a laptop?

Question

I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 on a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pi 1505 laptop. Normally, when I plug my headphones in, all sound is diverted to them. I haven't found anything in sound preferences that changes this. (Under Sound Preferences, Output tab, there's a dropdown called Connector. It has options: "Analog Heaphones", "Analog Output" and "Analog Speakers" but they don't seem to make a difference.)

I'd like to leave my headphones plugged in all day and setup my machine to play all sounds through my speakers (including Skype ringing), except Skype calls, which should play through my headphones. Skype has a feature to split the ringing and call sounds, i.e. play them on different devices, but the only option in each dropdown is "PulseAudio Server (local)".

Any suggestions on where to go from here? Thanks for any advice!

Answer 1

Install the package pavucontrol, then you get an option in Skype to open volume control. When you start a call in Skype you can select your headset as in/output device for Skype.

sudo apt-get install pavucontrol