OK, but it's "sudo udevtrigger --subsystem-match=sound" that will cause the modules to be loaded, you didn't mention this?
None of that worked, because there were no modules. I was able to get the maestro3, intel8x0,oss_mixer, and ac97 modules compiled after building the kernel (thanks to Jason for the detailed how-to). Then I could run the udevtrigger and alsaconfig scripts. Maestro3 loaded right up (sudo modprobe maestro3).
The thing is, though, I didn't need it. I just needed oss_mixer, which turns on the microphone. This works after turning the OSS sound on. I don't know if this was available before (I'll have to run norestore and check). Anyway, ossmix mic.rec ON, ossmix mic 75 does it, and Skype now is fully functional. (I'd post it, but was told I need to get permission from Skype first, and they haven't responded to my email.)
Edit: yep....it was there all the time (ossmixer). Well, perhaps it wasn't a total waste of time if I learned
something in the process.
I just observed that setting the ossmix mic volume automatically
turns the mic.rec on and off.