alsa-setup howto [wiki]

Mr Green · 2004-03-07 09:51:58

Hi

Use standard Kernel ie dual boot...then get soundcard working.....

If you have custom kernel then I can only say you have done something wrong (no offence )

Getting Alsa working can be a pain but with the Alsa set up guide on the forum ( 8) ) you should have no problems.......

Hang in there

Mr Green

ActionNews · 2004-03-10 18:19:19

Hmm... nothing i try works .
I fear my ArchLinux-project is on ice, till there are Kernel 2.6 drivers for my Fritz!Card DSL (i heard they should be ready at CeBIT 2004 ).
Then i'll try Kernel 2.6 and it's integrated ALSA drivers .

CU ActionNews

mr_ed · 2004-04-14 15:31:28

Well, keeper, it looks like you and I are in the same boat.

I'm running 2.6.3, have a Creative Labs SB Live!, and also can't get alsamixer to work.
I need to run that depmod -a.

Oh! I just noticed that I also need to try modprobe snd_emu10k1 instead of modprobe emu10k1.

I don't have /dev/dsp or /dev/mixer either.

lanrat · 2004-04-28 12:36:11

Try driver & docs link from alsa website http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/in … ative_Labs There should be something about enabling midi for your soundcard.

rc · 2004-06-22 13:15:54

Hi,
a while ago i made a german translation of this (great ) guide.
The translation can be found here http://rc.x-host.uni.cc/ger/alsa.php.
Also there is a "report" on how i got arch up and running.
German users how do you like this translation.(its more or less word by word, cause i didnt want to exclude something)
And maybe you can pm or e-mail me some comments and sugestions.

greetings,
rc

Dusty · 2004-06-22 15:08:22

If you posted this somewhere in the wiki (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Translations), people could edit it if there are any problems. Thank you for going to the trouble of translating it.

Dusty

rc · 2004-06-23 07:06:12

Well added the link to the German Part of the Wiki.
I wonder if it makes sense if i'd translate the alsa-wiki itself too ?
Besides this is the first time i use wiki.

greetings,
rc

Michel · 2004-08-10 23:55:59

Heya,

maybe adding something about software downmixing and letting multiple apps acces a single capture-device?
Don't know if thi is usefull .. it's all available on the alsa-wiki and I haven't tested it all completely (I have tested gstreamer, esd, alsa - combination, but there is also sdl and arts ... ).

I have a via onboard-soundcard.

----------------
I have a simple onboarsoundcard that doesn't support hardware-mixing, but in that case there is dmix. It mixes the sound sent to 1 sounddevice by multiple applications.

I don't understand the also-config-files completely myself, but I'll give you mine and explain the stuff I understand or think I understand(!!) ...

/etc/asound.conf (global file, for per user settings -> ~/.asoundrc):

#the soundcard and device(a card can have multiple devices on it, ) each device can produce sound as far as I know, but can have different characteritics .. like a device with spdiff-output I THINK ) I'm going to use my first card (numbering starts from 0) and the first device on it.

pcm.card0 {
type hw
card 0
device 0
}

#is this for oss-emulation?
ctl.mixer0 {
type hw
card 0
}

#we specify a high-level device here (pcm)? It uses (slave) the high-level/virtual card0-device that specifies a real device (device 0 on card 0 -> see above ).
#The device is of type dmix -> the dmix-alsa-plugin
#ipc_key has to be an unique number
#we convert all sound to 44100 Hertz? I think this is needed for dmix -> it's the same as cd-quality uses I believe ...
#the buffer_size is the size of your audio-cards buffer. It has to be a power of 2 ?Can "aplay -v wavfile" help you for some settings?
#bindings: output to channel 0 goes to channel 0, idem for 1 and we only use channels 0 and 1, no others I think
pcm.dmix0 {
type dmix
ipc_key 1024

slave {
pcm "card0"

rate 44100

# periods 128
period_time 0
period_size 1024
# How much buffering is supported depends on the card.
buffer_size 8192
}

bindings {
0 0
1 1
}
}

#sharing a capturestream from card0 across multiple applications
pcm.dsnoop0 {
ipc_key 1025
type dsnoop
slave {
pcm "card0"
}
}

#this device uses the dmix and dsnoop-devices and combines them
pcm.asymed {
type asym
playback.pcm "dmix0"
capture.pcm "dsnoop0"
}

# needed for oss-emulation: /dev/dsp-redirection with aooss I think
pcm.dsp0 {
type plug
slave.pcm "asymed"
}

#a device that uses asymed-device .. don't know what it's use is
pcm.pasymed {
type plug
slave.pcm "asymed"
}

#seems xmms uses this?
ctl.pasymed {
type hw
card 0
}

#when an applications requests an alsa-soundchannel, this is the one that alsa gives it by default .... it's the asymed-device that combines the dmix and dsnoop-device. Now you can mix sound and share a capture stream at the same time!

pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "asymed"
}

Hopes this helps a bit.

Now, there are quite some soundsystems(alsa, arts, esd, gstreamer, sql, oss, jack(, ... ?)) that all lock the sound-device, but they are getting all pretty "compatible" with eachother.

+In kdecontrolcenter you can select alsa (advanced linux sound system) as the underlying soundsystem for arts (in the sound-options).

+for letting esd use alsa: add "-d default" to /etc/esd.conf in the following line:

spawn_options=-terminate -nobeeps -as 2

so that you have

spawn_options=-terminate -nobeeps -as 2 -d default

(you can specify in the gnome-sound-options to start esd at gnome-startup).

+for gstreamer:
in "advanced desktoppreferences" (in the gnome-menu) select "Select multimediasystems" (rough translation) and choose in the window that appears for audio input and ouput alsa.

OR

You can also do this with the gconf-editor-app:
open gconf-editor
go in the tree to:
system->gstreamer-><versionnumber>(with me 0.8).
Isome values appear:
change audiosink to "alsasink" and audiosrc to "alsasrc".

+sdl: (havent tested this) add this to a file in /etc/profile.d (you can make a new file ofcourse if there isn't an appropriate already for this .. mine is called dmix_sdl.sh .. it has to end in .sh and has to be executable! Don't forget to make it executable! ).

#!/bin/sh
export SDL_AUDIODRIVER="alsa"

+jack; Ihaven't used jack yet, but I believe it always uses alsa ???

Hopes this helps some people ...

tbuitenh · 2005-06-30 16:30:56

Here's another possibility for why sound might not work: hotplug thinks a modem is a soundcard.
Symptoms: aplay hangs without any error message
Solution: put the module for the modem in /etc/hotplug/blacklist
In my case it was snd-intel8x0m (m for modem, the soundcard has module snd-intel8x0)

phrakture · 2005-06-30 17:52:52

tbuitenh wrote:

Here's another possibility for why sound might not work: hotplug thinks a modem is a soundcard.

That's not entirely true - that module is for modem audio, to actually play the "weeeee-urggggghhh-cachunk" noises... still, if loaded in tandem with intel-8x0 it causes issues

Pakman117 · 2005-07-02 07:16:47

If you run alsaconf keeper, does your sound card show up as one of the options? I couldn't get my alsa working for the longest time until I followed the directions on ALSA's site. When you do:

pacman -Q | grep alsa

Make sure that outputs something like this:

alsa-driver 1.0.9b-1
alsa-lib 1.0.9-1
alsa-oss 1.0.9-1
alsa-utils 1.0.9-2

If that's all kosher, run these 2 commands:

modprobe snd-intel8x0 (your correct module here);modprobe snd-pcm-oss;modprobe snd-mixer-oss

And this part was crucial:

chmod a+rw /dev/dsp /dev/mixer /dev/midi

lazychris2000 · 2006-01-25 01:42:42

Set the permissions:
Edit /etc/devfsd.conf and add these lines:
# Alsa Permisions
REGISTER sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.sound 660
REGISTER snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.sound 660
Reload the devfsd.conf config file:
- killall -HUP devfsd

AFAIK, they switched to udev and no longer use devfs as of a few kernel releases ago. I'm using 2.6.15 and when I edit and restart devfs, i get

$ sudo killall -HUP devfsd
Password:
devfsd: no process killed

Is there a way to set the permissions with udev?

Snowman · 2006-01-25 02:27:33

Adding your user to the audio group should give you the right permission. If it doesn't work, tell us what problem are you having.

Dusty · 2006-01-25 03:05:31

Check the post dates snowman. ;-)

Dusty

Snowman · 2006-01-25 05:32:47

Dusty wrote:

Check the post dates snowman. ;-)
Dusty

I did knew it was an old thread before posting. I'm not too sure what lazychris2000 wants to do. :?

lazychris2000 · 2006-01-25 14:03:27

sorry guys....im an idiot....gimme a minute to stand in the corner and be ashamed of myself :oops:
when i added myself to the audio group, i logged out and back in, but i didnt realize i was logged in on another console....now it works
thanks for your help

Arch Linux

#26 2004-03-07 09:51:58

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#27 2004-03-10 18:19:19

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#28 2004-04-14 15:31:28

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#29 2004-04-28 12:36:11

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#30 2004-06-22 13:15:54

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#31 2004-06-22 15:08:22

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#32 2004-06-23 07:06:12

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#33 2004-08-10 23:55:59

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#34 2005-06-30 16:30:56

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#35 2005-06-30 17:52:52

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#36 2005-07-02 07:16:47

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#37 2006-01-25 01:42:42

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#38 2006-01-25 02:27:33

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#39 2006-01-25 03:05:31

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#40 2006-01-25 05:32:47

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

#41 2006-01-25 14:03:27

Re: alsa-setup howto [wiki]

Board footer