Arch Linux

DasFox

Member

Registered: 2010-11-24

Posts: 107

Slight Sound Stutter When Using Rhythmbox and Firefox

I have a base install of Gnome using Alsa, no pulseaudio and I noticed that if I have Firefox open and surf with it while listening to Rhythmbox I'll get slight stutter in the sound.

Also when I scroll back and forth really fast on the virtual desktops on occassion I'll pick up a slight stutter too.

This is really frustrating because I've typically only used OpenBox but I decided when I installed Arch to give Gnome a go, since it has been along time, now only to get something like this...

Any help would be appreciated...

THANKS

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12 Year Linux Vet, Don't Let The Post Count Fool Ya! But Sure I Don't Know Everything, Who Does? That's Why I Ask.

DasFox

Member

Registered: 2010-11-24

Posts: 107

Re: Slight Sound Stutter When Using Rhythmbox and Firefox

No one knows anything about this?

In fact over the years when I used Gnome or KDE in the past I noticed slight sound stutters too...

Using a small window manager for a desktop, like Blackbox, Fluxbox, Openbox, etc., I've never seen this happen...

Seems like a big desktop with a lot of resources and memory consumption going on has an effect on the playing performance and since I only have 1GB of ram even though I did a small base install of gnome, 'pacman -S gnome' and I've kept it pretty lightweight it still takes a hit on the player.

Because I use OpenBox with other mediaplayers on another box and when I run firefox and run many other applications on top of it too, I never see sound problems...

But I'd still love to know if there is a way to fix this?

Someone PLEASE reply?

THANKS

Last edited by DasFox (2010-11-27 23:53:08)

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12 Year Linux Vet, Don't Let The Post Count Fool Ya! But Sure I Don't Know Everything, Who Does? That's Why I Ask.

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: Slight Sound Stutter When Using Rhythmbox and Firefox

Here are some pointers:

• A base installation of Gnome is not really lighter than a full install, the difference is primarily the amount of extra programs/utilities provided, the running base processes are the same.

• Pulseaudio actually might improve the situation if it is able to buffer audio better than plain Alsa.

• Many modern day websites are quite heavy to load, using an adblocker like adblock+ or flashblock will help here.

• Check if you can increase the audio buffer in the Rhythmbox preferences, if there is no such option, you may decide to try a different mediaplayer.

• Firefox is relatively heavy on resources, you may try out other browsers (chromium, opera etc) to see if the situation improves.

• Don't run too many programs at the same time when resources are limited, to avoid swapping to disk (which is the most likely cause of the stuttering).

• There should be a list of autostarted processes in Gnome somewhere, you may have a look if certain ones aren't really necessary for your usage scenario (like a desktop-search daemon).

• If all else fails, consider using Openbox instead, large desktop environments like Gnome in the end are less tweakable than lightweight alternatives.

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DasFox

Member

Registered: 2010-11-24

Posts: 107

Re: Slight Sound Stutter When Using Rhythmbox and Firefox

Here are some pointers:

• A base installation of Gnome is not really lighter than a full install, the difference is primarily the amount of extra programs/utilities provided, the running base processes are the same.

• Pulseaudio actually might improve the situation if it is able to buffer audio better than plain Alsa.

• Many modern day websites are quite heavy to load, using an adblocker like adblock+ or flashblock will help here.

• Check if you can increase the audio buffer in the Rhythmbox preferences, if there is no such option, you may decide to try a different mediaplayer.

• Firefox is relatively heavy on resources, you may try out other browsers (chromium, opera etc) to see if the situation improves.

• Don't run too many programs at the same time when resources are limited, to avoid swapping to disk (which is the most likely cause of the stuttering).

• There should be a list of autostarted processes in Gnome somewhere, you may have a look if certain ones aren't really necessary for your usage scenario (like a desktop-search daemon).

• If all else fails, consider using Openbox instead, large desktop environments like Gnome in the end are less tweakable than lightweight alternatives.

Thanks, I know all these things already and it looks like it's just Rhythmbox being a problem.

Anyhow I don't really care for it, but wanted to see if I could get it to play smoothly but it won't...

THANKS

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12 Year Linux Vet, Don't Let The Post Count Fool Ya! But Sure I Don't Know Everything, Who Does? That's Why I Ask.

litemotiv

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2008-08-01

Posts: 5,026

Re: Slight Sound Stutter When Using Rhythmbox and Firefox

Thanks, I know all these things already

Then you should have mentioned that, it would have saved me time and effort. Our Forum Etiquette states:

When asking questions, provide as much information as possible, including error messages, terminal output, logs, what you have previously tried, what documentation and searches you have attempted, and related configuration files. Read How To Ask Questions The Smart Way for more helpful advice.

Anyhow I don't really care for it

That doesn't really suit the "Someone PLEASE reply?" phrase you gave earlier. Next time if you don't really care for something, mention that and leave the capitals behind.

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violetfall

Member

Registered: 2010-12-01

Posts: 1

Re: Slight Sound Stutter When Using Rhythmbox and Firefox

hi. i had the same problem with yours.
and it seems working well this night. i just enabled IEC958 & IEC958 Default PCM in the volume-manager (i use Gnome). maybe you can try it.