Arch Linux

pogeymanz

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 1,020

Do I have to restart ALSA every time I want to use HDMI?

I wasn't getting any sound from my TV when I plugged in my HDMI cable, so I followed this part of the alsa wiki page:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ad … s_Not_Work

So, I have this .asoundrc file that tells ALSA to output to the HDMI device. Now it will output to the TV just fine. But if I want to have sound on my laptop again, I have to delete this file (or rename it) and restart ALSA.

Do I just have to keep moving this file and restarting ALSA or is there a way to change the output device while ALSA is running?

If there isn't, will PulseAudio accommodate this?

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,804

Re: Do I have to restart ALSA every time I want to use HDMI?

If there isn't, will PulseAudio accommodate this?

I can't speak to Alsa, but Pulseaudio will.  I have not done it for awhile, but I had the best luck with Jack.

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brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Do I have to restart ALSA every time I want to use HDMI?

It's not necessary to restart ALSA.

Apps are supposed to provide the ability to change PCM during runtime themselves, which unfortunately is not as common as we'd like. So restart the app. Depending on the change you've made to ~/.asoundrc, you will probably need to close the other apps that currently have ALSA open - see them with:

fuser -fv /dev/snd/* /dev/dsp* 2>/dev/null

I must be more KISS than Arch - none of pulseaudio, esound, jack or KDE mixer exist on my system - it's just plain ALSA

Oh, and to change between HDMI and your laptop, use a script.

enteon

Member

Registered: 2011-07-06

Posts: 2

Re: Do I have to restart ALSA every time I want to use HDMI?

Or just let both soundcards play the same simultaneously: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=109370

triplesquarednine

Member

Registered: 2011-04-12

Posts: 630

Re: Do I have to restart ALSA every time I want to use HDMI?

I must be more KISS than Arch - none of pulseaudio, esound, jack or KDE mixer exist on my system - it's just plain ALSA

i dont use PA, and use ALSA instead -> but what does being "more KISS than Arch" have to do with Jack?!?! 

not using Jackd just means you are not a pro-audio user or into writing music in Linux.