Skype no microphone input in Kubuntu 32 bit Meerkat

[Rod Lovett]

  Hi,
     using a gigabyte board with intel chipset, and intel sound, 3.0 
core duo processor
Microphone works in alsa, giving speaker output but not in skype. Skype 
works perfectly well in ubuntu which uses pulseaudio.
Tried with pulseaudio, and without pulseaudio, ticked capture channels
in alsa, racked up both mikes, but not a recorded peep in skype, only 
sound from speakers.
Skype works in aptosid KDE 32 after installing pulseaudio too.
Kubuntu is based on a snapshot of Debian Sid I think, so what is wrong I
wonder.
Something a bit too clever by half or difficult for me.
Regards
   Rod