Arch Linux

Avalith

Member

Registered: 2009-08-05

Posts: 10

[Solved] Slimming down and saving ALSA levels

I'm a recent Arch convert from Debian after getting fed up with Debian's slow release cycle.  While normally I wouldn't mind, I'm running Arch on a newer laptop (a Toshiba L305D-S5934) than what my old one was (a Compaq Presario C500), and Debian Lenny's stock 2.6.26 kernel didn't include native support for ath5k, so due to the various nuances of my networking situation, I had no choice but to find another distro or use the pre-installed crap people call Windows Vista in order to use the Internet as I've got no option other than wireless.  Installation and setup was a breeze.  I had no problems migrating all my settings etc from my home directory on my old computer's system from an external hard drive to my current system (which saved days of configuration and additional setup), but the only thing that's bugging me is my load averages.

This is a copy of ps aux, and with all that running, $ uptime gives me this information:

 01:46:57 up 18 min,  1 user,  load average: 0.67, 0.62, 0.46

Here are the current daemons I have specified in /etc/rc.conf as well:

# DAEMONS
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng netfs crond hal wicd)

I'm currently using SLiM as my display manager and Openbox, but I'm curious as to how I can get my load averages lower on this system.  I'd like my averages to be between 0.10 and 0.20 (0.30 is good for a start even), as I don't like extra processes running and eating up system resources if they aren't needed (despite having plenty of RAM and a good bit of CPU cycles to spare; I'm a greedy one. =P).  I'm willing to try out new applications and DMs, but I like Openbox too much to want to budge.

Another issue I seem to have is that when I reboot or shut down, my ALSA settings aren't saved.  Master and PCM levels always stay at 100 and Front is always at 0 when I run alsamixer regardless of the settings I set on my last session.  The volume wheel on my laptop also seems to have stopped working (it worked initially when ALSA was first installed and configured, but hasn't since my latest boot), though that's another topic and I don't need it often enough to need to place fixing it higher on my priority list.

Last edited by Avalith (2009-08-12 18:19:45)

AdrenalineJunky

Member

Registered: 2009-05-03

Posts: 149

Re: [Solved] Slimming down and saving ALSA levels

this should solve your alsa issue.

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beg … igure_ALSA

as for your other question, there are quite a few program suggestions in the arch wiki openbox page, along with some descriptions

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ope … d_Programs

tpolich

Member

Registered: 2009-08-07

Posts: 44

Re: [Solved] Slimming down and saving ALSA levels

I don't really know whats causeing your high load. You didn't give to much information, maybe a posted copy of your process table would help?

Right now I have

 01:29:55 up  5:42,  3 users,  load average: 0.16, 0.16, 0.10

But my cpu is scaled down to 1ghz right now from 3.

I can however help you with your sound issues. http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beg … _alsamixer.

Basical install alsa-utils

root$ pacman -S alsa-utils

change your sound levels to what you want then as root run

root$ alsactl store

now you just need to add "alsa" to your daemon list in rc.conf and it will load your settings every time on boot

 DAEMONS=(syslog-ng netfs crond hal wicd [bold] @alsa [/bold])

the "@" is there becuase there is no reason slow down boot waiting for sound levels to be raised.

On another note you could add a "@" before "wicd" in your DAEMONS list. Waiting for network slowed my boot a good 30sec (my router seems to have a crappy dhcp server).

AdrenalineJunky

Member

Registered: 2009-05-03

Posts: 149

Re: [Solved] Slimming down and saving ALSA levels

actually i have "@" before hal and crond as well, works fine for me.

Avalith

Member

Registered: 2009-08-05

Posts: 10

Re: [Solved] Slimming down and saving ALSA levels

I've checked the Openbox page and I'm already using Thunar, Tint2, and urxvt.  Rhythmbox, Pidgin, and Firefox are the heaviest applications I run all the time.  Here's my current $ uptime with my most recent $ ps aux:

02:58:29 up 1:30, 1 user, load averages:  0.74, 0.72, 0.68

I've only got Firefox, Pidgin, Rhythmbox, and urxvt running at the moment.

Thanks for the ALSA help though AdrenalineJunky; not sure how I missed that bit in the beginner's guide.

Last edited by Avalith (2009-08-10 07:05:53)

Avalith

Member

Registered: 2009-08-05

Posts: 10

Re: [Solved] Slimming down and saving ALSA levels

I found my problem.  I had a Python script running in OpenBox's autostart.sh file to keep my panel from loading too soon.  Removing that seems to have lowered my load averages considerably.