PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

Digika · 2022-04-30 13:09:57

So I'm trying to understand something. I have a basic core Arch install on Vbox (following the wiki example). On top of that I later installed Xorg server and XFCE4. The latter comes with some default multimedia player, which plays audio out of the box just fine. However, in order to get get the audio applet and mixer working n XFCE4 I now had to install PulseAudio, bunch of its deps and custom audio mixer (which is 200MB+ of bloat on top of one service and few extra processes running now, as well as memory usage). Now of course I could drop the applet or use different desktop env, but that is not really the question.

Do I understand correctly that in the end I still will have to use PulseAudio middleware for proper/full-fledged audio support anyway?

Lone_Wolf · 2022-04-30 13:49:44

Digika wrote:

Do I understand correctly that in the end I still will have to use PulseAudio middleware for proper/full-fledged audio support anyway?

That depends entirely on what you feel "proper/full-fledged audio support" is .

I only have libpulse installed to satisfy programs depending on pulse, but no other pulseaudio (or pipewire) components, just alsa-lib / alsa-utils and such .

Everything I need from my audio system is provided by alsa.
Occasionally I use apulse from aur for a few programs that don't have alsa support anymore .
(I do my best to avoud such programs though.)

To get an idea what really needs a dependency on archlinux you can use pactree from https://archlinux.org/packages/communit … n-contrib/ .

$ pactree --reverse pulseaudio

$ pactree --reverse --sync pulseaudio

The first command will show installed packages that on your system that require pulseaudio , the 2nd does the same but for everything in repos.

If you want get an idea which non-pulseaudio volume applets exist, check the wiki, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/List_o … me_control

Welcome to archlinux forums.

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2022-04-30 13:50:46)

Trilby · 2022-04-30 16:46:08

I only have pulse on one of my systems and it's only to be able to work with zoom (video conferencing) as I've been been able to get that to work with alsa (zoom apparently cannot select a different device for video capture and audio output, so without pulse I'd either get video and no sound due to it being sent to the webcam which has no speakers or sound and no video).

There are plenty of alsa-only applets you could use with xfce without having to change DEs.

Last edited by Trilby (2022-04-30 18:20:47)

Digika · 2022-04-30 17:04:04

Trilby wrote:

There are plenty of alsa-only applets you could use with xfce without having to change DEs.

There are? xfce4-mixer no longer supported, as per wiki page, and also still depends on pulseaudion.
volumeicon does not have quick access to volume level
Could not find anything else

Trilby · 2022-04-30 17:34:58

It's been quite a few years since I used any such tools, but searching the AUR just for "tray audio" gives three promising results. Other searches would likely produce yet other candidates. But it does seem that there are fewer options in the main repos now - pulseuadio has spread like a virus - but the fact that "older" software may not be packaged in the main repos is no reason to think it would just stop working. Alsa is still alsa, and tray-item protocols haven't really changed.

Last edited by Trilby (2022-04-30 17:35:53)

Lone_Wolf · 2022-04-30 17:52:28

The volume control widget used by lxqt-panel works fine with alsa.

if you don't mind having some kde deps, kmix is another alternative .
It worked great with lxqt approx 2 years ago which indicates it's usable on non-kde setups.

Digika · 2022-05-01 07:09:22

I know I can change xfce4 to another DE, it isnt a solution, though, it is a compromise.

archimboldo · 2022-05-01 07:31:23

volumeicon with minimal dependencies?
https://archlinux.org/packages/communit … olumeicon/

Digika wrote:

volumeicon does not have quick access to volume level

Yes, it does. You can configure hotkeys.

Last edited by archimboldo (2022-05-01 22:45:36)

Trilby · 2022-05-01 12:08:45

Digika wrote:

I know I can change xfce4 to another DE

No one suggested that. You were just given a few other tray volume control options.

Arch Linux

#1 2022-04-30 13:09:57

PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#2 2022-04-30 13:49:44

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#3 2022-04-30 16:46:08

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#4 2022-04-30 17:04:04

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#5 2022-04-30 17:34:58

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#6 2022-04-30 17:52:28

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#7 2022-05-01 07:09:22

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#8 2022-05-01 07:31:23

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

#9 2022-05-01 12:08:45

Re: PulseAudio on default Arch ALSA setup

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