Re: ALSA setup fails for user
On 9/6/05, Haines Brown <brownh@hartford-hwp.com> wrote:
>
> > On 9/5/05, Haines Brown <brownh@hartford-hwp.com> wrote:
>
> > AFAIK, the interface being used is ALSA. :) I don't think ALSA
> > cares about anything in /dev.
>
> Interesting. Where would that interface be located?
Um...in the kernel, I think. :) I don't know if there's a way to
interact with it via the command line.
> > So if you reboot, sound doesn't work, but if you then reconfigure
> > ALSA, it does work?
>
> Yes, I just re-verified that. I compared lsmod before and after
> reconfiguration, and I believe all modules get with boot.
>
> I had some others loaded before rebooting - snd_seq_oss, snd_seq_midi,
> snd_seq_midievent, snd_seq), but that may have been effect of my
> fiddling. Right now (after doing alsaconf), aplay works without
> them.
What do you mean, "get with boot"?
If aplay works, that's...well, good I guess. :) I assume you're
running it as a non-root user, right?
> I created the ~/.asoundrc file and put into it a simple configuration,
> which seems to be just to redefine defaults. However, not knowing
> where my problem lies, I don't know what I'd need to define here.
AFAIK, sound should work without a .asoundrc file, unless you have a
(at least slightly) weird setup.
> Re. XMMS
>
> > > And no sound. In ~/.xmms/config I have:
> > >
> > > pcm_device=default
> > > mixer_card=0
> > > mixer_device=PCM
> > >
> > If you haven't already, you should install XMMS's ALSA output
> > module. I think it's in apt, unless it's included with XMMS's base
> > package, in which case you just need to choose it in XMMS's
> > preferences.
>
> You've lost me. In base package, dpkg -L lists a lot of libraries,
> such as /usr/lib/xmms/Output/libALSA.so. In xmms, options,
> preferences, under audio O/0 plugins, I have a list of input plugins
> that includes Wave Player (livwav.so). If I select it, the Enable
> plugin get checked, but when I restart xmms, it is no longer
> enabled. As for output plugin, I have selected ALSA output plugin
> (libALSA.so).
>
> When I start xmms I get:
>
> Message: device: default
>
> and when I try to play a .wav file, appended is:
>
> Message: alsa mixer timed out
>
> But lsmod does not list libALSA. And #insmod libALSA.so reports it
> can't be found. And # insmod /usr/lib/xmms/Output/libALSA reports that
> "no such file", even though it's there.
Ok, whoa, whoa. First thing, those libALSA.so files are for XMMS, not
for the kernel. They don't need to be inserted into the kernel. :)
Second, when you do need to load a kernel module, you should use
modprobe, not insmod.
Have you looked at the settings for the XMMS ALSA output module? See
what's listed in the "Audio device" box. Try choosing different
devices; could be that you just have the wrong one chosen.
Have you tried other audio players? Rhythmbox, amarok, or just a
simple MP3 player besides XMMS? How about video players? What about
other apps that play sound, but are not sound-playing apps per se?
Right now I'm guessing it's one of two things:
1. You have the wrong device chosen in XMMS, or
2. There is a problem with how ALSA is working with your sound card.
You may need to configure it more specifically (.asoundrc, or maybe
amixer?), or you may need to update ALSA itself. I did notice last
night in the ALSA changelog on the ALSA site that the very latest
version changed something in the detection of one of the Audigy cards;
perhaps you could compile and install ALSA yourself (not something I'd
want to do myself, but if you have no other choice...perhaps you could
use deb-src and have it build it the Debian package maintainer's way
but with the latest sources...but that's getting over my head).
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