Configuring Phonon for non-root users

Zyx · 2009-07-18 09:55:16

Hi,

for a some time I've been using KDE4 with Phonon. While on desktop it works rather fine, it causes many problems on my notebook, where the sound card does not support hardware sound mixing. There is no documentation for Phonon on the Internet, especially - how to configure it via systemsettings. Maybe someone has already configured Phonon and knows the answers for the following questions?

1. Why does "Systemsettings" show different audio devices for root and non-root users? In the root mode I see:

- Jack Audio Connection Kit
- Alsa Output
- OSS Output
- ESound

Under my normal account, I see:

- Jack Audio Connection Kit
- ESound
- HDA Intel Analog
- PCSpeaker

2. Why is the "Remove" button in systemsettings disabled?
3. JACK and ESound don't work for me under normal accounts (I always see that Phonon switched me to "HDA Intel Analog"). How to force Phonon to use ALSA output, like in "root"?
4. Finally, why some combinations of applications seem to use software mixing while some not? For example, the music from JuK and the sounds from internet messengers are played together, whereas I don't hear any sounds in OpenTTD while JuK works. Sometimes some manipulations "unlock" the sound in the game, but next time I try to apply them they fail.

I would be very grateful for any kind of help, because the available resources on Phonon are very poor. My packages:

- alsa-utils 1.0.20
- phonon 4.3.1
- xine-lib 1.1.16.3
- KDE 4.2.3

Last edited by Zyx (2009-07-18 09:55:46)

djszapi · 2009-07-18 16:37:48

1. Maybe the settings are different in root and non-root mode.
2. If it's in nonroot mode, i think you haven't got the right persmission for it. Or some config is not okay.
3. Is there any store operation like in case of alsa ?
4. It depends on the application.

Btw, Can you compare the working one on desktop with the nonworking one on laptop ? What's the different ?

Zyx · 2009-07-20 05:21:39

I managed to solve the problem with OpenTTD. The game uses SDL to play sound and to select the audio driver for SDL, we must set the proper environment variable, for example:

export SDLAUDIODRIVER="alsa"

So, one of the problems is solved, as since the selection both the game and KDE can play sounds simultaneously.

On desktop, I have one of Realtek sound chipsets. All the applications in the system seem to use Phonon in KDE, as modifying the device priority was hearable everywhere. I also managed to remove the "PC Speaker" device from Phonon.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-18 09:55:16

Configuring Phonon for non-root users

#2 2009-07-18 16:37:48

Re: Configuring Phonon for non-root users

#3 2009-07-20 05:21:39

Re: Configuring Phonon for non-root users

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