A tip here for those, like me , frustrated users of skype....
If your camera does not produce an image check 'xvattr -a XV_AUTOPAINT_COLORKEY' in a xterm. Options are 0 or 1. If the result is "0" rerun the cmd with "-v 1" on the end to reset it. Some dirty apps, mplayer is 1 of them reset the attribute to '0'.
It is an instant fix if you are looking at a black rectangle in the options->video menu!
of course this could be easily fixed in skype - if it was open source Barry
