hello, i have a macbooc pro core duo and the embedded microphone in not recognised 
When I test my mic, I typically use a simple arecord command. ie something likearecord -d 10 myrecording.wavor
arecord -d 10 -f cd secondrecording.wavwhere “-d 10” sets a 10 second recording. I then play back the recording with xine or mplayer or xmms (or any audio playback program).
The benefit of such a simple test, is there is no other software inbetween, where there could a problem with the software (as opposed to the hardware configuration, or the mixer configuratin).
Embedded mics are always difficult to debug. You did NOT say your openSUSE version . That can make a SIGNIFICANT difference in the advise given.
For openSUSE-11.1, with your laptop connected to the internet, by opening a gnome-terminal or a kde konsole and twice copy and paste the following into that terminal/konsole
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh
Run it the 1st time with root permissions. It will ask if you wish to do an update of the script. Select YES.
Then run it again (as either a regular user or as root). This time it will diagnose your PC’s hardware and software configuration for audio, and it will post its output on the Internet/web. It will give you the URL of the web site. Please post that URL here. JUST the URL.
Also, please copy and paste the following commands one line at a time into a gnome-terminal or a konsole and post here the output: rpm -qa | grep alsa
rpm -qa | grep pulse
rpm -q libasound2
uname -a
cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound… with that information I may be able to make a recommendation.