Re: USB soundbar as default audio device
On Mon, Dec 06, 2010 at 12:15:33PM EST, deloptes wrote:
> Chris Jones wrote:
>
> > I am trying to set up a USB sound bar on someone else's laptop running
> > ubuntu 10.10 with a gnome desktop.
>
> what is this sound bar? something to eat :-)?
No, a place where they charge the patrons for listening :-)
[..]
> > Is there any way I can make the sound bar the system's default and be
> > done with it?
>
> you can read ALSA docs - they are weired but very good. I usually do few
> steps to setup a card. You have two options - to setup system wide or user
> specific
That's what I was looking for.
> > While testing, I tried redirection when launching programs from the bash
> > prompt -- i.e. adding ‘/dev/dsp > /dev/dsp1’ -- with unsatisfactory
> > results: below par sound quality, loud cracks, the speakers go silent
> > for brief periods of time, etc.
>
> dsp is OSS (not ALSA) and it works only with additional modules (loaded and
> configured)
OK.
> > I do not have access to the other laptop right now, but I would assume
> > gnome has some sort of GUI that lets you specify your default device
> > ‘system-wide’?
>
> check if there is pulse audio installed and running - this might be what you
> are looking for (there is something pactrl or alike or gui for this - I'm
> not using it but it's the future, so possibly you can use it)
Will do.
> > Another thing I noticed is that the volume button on the sound bar does
> > not work: I have to start alsamixer to control the volume, which is not
> > optimal.
> >
> > Does this mean that I am using a default generic audio USB driver for
> > this device and that I should look for something a bit more specific
> > that might support additional hardware features?
>
> I would say this was the configuration for the default card (built in)
.. and volume and other controls on a builtin sound card would be rather
inconvenient? :-)
> > While I am at it I thought I might as well learn how these things work
> > and stop guessing :-)
>
> then start reading at
> http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Documentation
Looks more than promising, thanks!
[..]
> > P.S. I refrained from posting the 3 pages output by ‘lsusb -vs’. Not
> > sure if that would help at this point.
> >
>
> thanks, but it would help though to mention what kind of chip your usb card
> has (or vendor + model)
Not sure about the model - the vendor is actually Logitech.
$ tail /var/log/messages
usb 1-1.4: USB disconnect, address 13
usb 1-1.4.4: USB disconnect, address 14
usb 1-1.4: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 15
usb 1-1.4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-1.4:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-1.4:1.0: 4 ports detected
usb 1-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=05e3, idProduct=0607
usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
usb 1-1.4: Product: USB2.0 Hub
usb 1-1.4.4: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 16
usb 1-1.4.4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: HOLTEK AudioHub Speaker as /class/input/input11
input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Device [HOLTEK AudioHub Speaker] on usb-0000:00:07.2-1.4.4
usb 1-1.4.4: New USB device found, idVendor=046d, idProduct=0a0e
usb 1-1.4.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 1-1.4.4: Product: AudioHub Speaker
usb 1-1.4.4: Manufacturer: HOLTEK
Not much that looks like a reference to a chip, at least to my
uneducated eyes. As you notice the device doubles as a USB hub.
What would a chip identifier look like?
> I usually setup my notebook following way
>
> *) Add the user to the audio(+video) group
Did that.
> *) create a file /etc/modprobe.d/sound with following
>
> ## ALSA portion
> alias char-major-116 snd
> alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
> alias snd-card-1 snd-usb-audio
>
> ## module options should go here
> #options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=dell-m6,ref,auto
> #options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=ref enable_msi=1
> options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=ref
> #options snd-hda-intel index=0 model=hp-dv5 enable_msi=1 position_fix=1
> options snd-usb-audio index=1
I currently have this:
$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
alias snd-card-0 snd-es1968
options snd-es1968 index=0
Let me check what this does before I make any changes.
> This way I have always the built in card configured as "0" which means first
> and the usb as second
Ah.. nice.
> The options you'll find in the kernel version /Documentation
>
> *) For user specific configuration and experimenting with alsa you can use
>
> $HOME/.asoundrc
excellent!
[..]
On Mon, Dec 06, 2010 at 12:17:02PM EST, Hugo Vanwoerkom wrote:
[..]
> the default sound is index=0
Thanks to both!
cj
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