Arch Linux

chu887

Member

Registered: 2012-08-25

Posts: 23

my awesome WM(desktop environment) with sound problem!

I'm a newer to awesome .there's only one window manager awesome in my linux without any desktop environment(KDE GNOME...) or  display manager(gdm kdm...etc) ,but I encountered a problem :  there's no sound when playing music  in the awesome environment ,but it sounds  when switch to  anoter tty  on which the user of awesome DE has logined.
It's really strange.... beg for help .
Here's my rc.lua  about  volume:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
vicious = require("vicious")
volumewidget = widget({ type = "textbox"})
volumewidget:buttons(awful.util.table.join(
--    awful.button({ }, 1, function () awful.util.spawn("amixer -q set Master toggle", false) end),
    awful.button({ }, 2, function () awful.util.spawn("xterm -e alsamixer", true)      end)
--    awful.button({ }, 4, function () awful.util.spawn("amixer -q set Master 2dB+", false) end),
--    awful.button({ }, 5, function () awful.util.spawn("amixer -q set Master 2dB-", false) end)
))
vicious.register(volumewidget, vicious.widgets.volume," $1% ", 2, "Capture")
------------------------------------------------------------------------

supplement :   I entered awesoem DE by   typing in : /bin/su will -l -c "/bin/bash --login -c xinit" (issue "startx" makes no difference) in tty1,  then  awesome startup  on another tty (tty2 ,tty7 e.g.).   
Here's the  processes after login in awesome:
[will@will-laptop ~]$ pstree
systemd─┬─NetworkManager─┬─dhclient
        │                └─3*[{NetworkManager}]
        ├─4*[agetty]
        ├─atd
        ├─auditd─┬─audispd─┬─sedispatch
        │        │         └─{audispd}
        │        └─{auditd}
        ├─chrome─┬─chrome
        │        ├─chrome-sandbox───chrome─┬─chrome─┬─10*[chrome───3*[{chrome}]]
        │        │                         │        └─chrome───12*[{chrome}]
        │        │                         └─nacl_helper_boo
        │        └─25*[{chrome}]
        ├─chronyd
        ├─crond
        ├─2*[dbus-daemon]
        ├─dbus-launch
        ├─login───bash───su───xinit─┬─X
        │                           └─awesome
        ├─login───bash
        ├─mcelog
        ├─modem-manager
        ├─polkitd───{polkitd}
        ├─pulseaudio───2*[{pulseaudio}]
        ├─roxterm─┬─bash───sudo───vi
        │         ├─bash───pstree
        │         ├─gnome-pty-helpe
        │         └─{roxterm}
        ├─rsyslogd───3*[{rsyslogd}]
        ├─rtkit-daemon───2*[{rtkit-daemon}]
        ├─system-setup-ke
        ├─systemd-journal
        ├─systemd-logind
        ├─udevd───2*[udevd]
        └─wpa_supplicant

projectdelphai

Member

Registered: 2012-05-17

Posts: 32

Re: my awesome WM(desktop environment) with sound problem!

Well, if you don't necessarily need pulseaudio, I'd just uninstall it. I've never had any problems with alsa and awesome wm. However, if you need pulseaudio, like I did, then some applications are going to throw errors. Is the sound muted for any sound or just when you use a specific application? If its all applications, try just using alsa and see if the problem persists. If its a specific application, you might not be able to do anything about it depending on the application. Either way, install pavucontrol, which is a great gui for pulseaudio. You might notice that the channel is muted or something else through pavucontrol. Check that dbus is started in the daemons in /etc/rc.conf. Check the troubleshooting section here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pu … figuration.

---

Github

chu887

Member

Registered: 2012-08-25

Posts: 23

Re: my awesome WM(desktop environment) with sound problem!

Thanks for ur reply.  I just  solved the problem, it is caused by permission since the current user is neither  in the group audio nor in the group pulse ( I do not know why there is no such problem  while using display manager such as GDM and a desktop environment) . I put the current user in these two groups, and relogin after logouted... the sound came out!
(In fact,I'm using fedora17 ...)    I installed the pavucontrol , but  nearly every  sound icon( on which there's a little speaker) with a red X, does it mean disabled?   but  the  volume bar underneath  is pulsing with sound varies when playing music ...

projectdelphai

Member

Registered: 2012-05-17

Posts: 32

Re: my awesome WM(desktop environment) with sound problem!

That little speaker with an X is just the mute button. As long as its not pressed in and you see the volume bar pulsing it means that your application is working. I didn't need to join a pulse group, the audio group is important . Seeing as the wiki says that you need to joing the audio group, I'm guessing that its only applicable to pulse. Maybe GDM and the desktop environment uses Alsa by default. Don't forget to mark as [solved]

---

Github