Re: ALSA setup fails for user

[brownh@hartford-hwp.com (Haines Brown)]

> 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?

> 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. 

> You need to create an ~/.asoundrc file.  The ALSA site has tons of
> (almost too) detailed information on that.  :) You can also find
> sample config files with Google.

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.

> That may be all it is, although the stock ALSA setup should at least
> work.  Does it work properly after you run alsaconf?

Yes, but only after running alsaconf. If you refer to xmms, no.

-----

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.

Haines Brown