[SOLVED] Gentoo ALSA configuration on Acer Aspire One

crosstalk · 12-02-2011, 01:51 PM

I have a new Acer Aspire One 722 laptop (technically it's a netbook) that I have setup Gentoo on.

However, I'm having trouble getting ALSA to work. I've tried to follow the Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide, but am not having success.

Here's some system info:

Code:

# lspci -nn 
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1510]
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Device [1002:9807]
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc Device [1002:1314]
00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1002:4391]
00:12.0 USB Controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller [1002:4397]
00:12.2 USB Controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller [1002:4396]
00:13.0 USB Controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller [1002:4397]
00:13.2 USB Controller [0c03]: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller [1002:4396]
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller [1002:4385] (rev 42)
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) [1002:4383] (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller [1002:439d] (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge [1002:4384] (rev 40)
00:15.0 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc Device [1002:43a0]
00:15.2 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc Device [1002:43a2]
00:15.3 PCI bridge [0604]: ATI Technologies Inc Device [1002:43a3]
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1700] (rev 43)
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1701]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1702]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1703]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1704]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1718]
00:18.6 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1716]
00:18.7 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:1719]
06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Attansic Technology Corp. Device [1969:2062] (rev c1)
07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation Device [14e4:4727] (rev 01)

Code:

# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
snd_seq_oss            23883  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      4676  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                41864  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          4529  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            30218  0 
snd_mixer_oss          12305  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_hda_codec_conexant    40502  1 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     19625  1 
snd_hda_intel          18586  2 
snd_hda_codec          48428  3 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               5242  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                56403  4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              15645  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
wl                   2530639  0 
snd                    47279  16 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               4560  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          6051  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
atl1c                  27035  0

And some of my kernel config:

Code:

Device Drivers --->
    <M> Sound Card Support --->[*] Preclaim OSS device numbers
        <M> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture --->
            < > Sequencer dummy client
            <M> OSS Mixer API
            <M> OSS PCM (digital audio) API[*] OSS PCM (digital audio) API - include plugin system[*] OSS Sequencer API
            <M> HR-timer backend support[*] Use HR-timer as default sequencer timer
            -*- Dynamic device file minor numbers[*] Support old ALSA API[*] Generic sound devices --->
                <M> Generic loopback driver (PCM)[*] PCI sound devices --->
                (pretty much everything is a module)
                <M> Intel HD Audio --->[*]   Build hwdep interface for HD-audio driver[*]   Support digital beep via input layer
                    (0)     Digital beep registration mode (0=off, 1=on, 2=mute sw on/off)[*]   Support jack plugging notification via input layer[*]   Build HDMI/DisplayPort HD-audio codec support[*]   Build Conexant HD-audio codec support
                    (I used to have the rest of the codecs here selected, but I read that this driver is bad at selecting which to use, so I deselected all the ones not relevant to my hardware)[*] USB sound devices --->
                (all modules)[*] PCMCIA sound devices --->
                (all modules)
            <M> ALSA for SoC audio support --->[*] Support LZO compression for register caches

Code:

$ emerge -pv alsa-utils
These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild   R    ] media-sound/alsa-utils-1.0.24.2-r1  USE="nls -doc -minimal" 0 kB

Total: 1 package (1 reinstall), Size of downloads: 0 kB

When I run alsamixer, I get a screen with only a setting for S/PDIF volume, which cannot be adjusted. Hitting "F6" and switching to HDA ATI SB gets me 3 controls -- Master, PCM, and Beep. Turning Beep up and down (and muting it) seems to control the volume of the beep heard when connecting and disconnecting the power (although the beep is never entirely muted). Master and PCM here don't do anything.

I know the hardware works -- I get sound fine in Windows.

Does anyone know what's going on? I think I might've missed something, but it could also be a peculiarity of this hardware/driver.

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: Mplayer is able to play sound (I just finished installing it; I previously tested with Flash). However, it does it through pulseaudio, not ALSA. Here is the output from playing an mp3 file:

Code:

MPlayer SVN-r33094-4.5.3 (C) 2000-2011 MPlayer Team

Playing <song>.mp3.
Audio only file format detected.
Load subtitles in ./
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 128.0 kbit/9.07% (ratio: 16000->176400)
Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm: mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
==========================================================================
[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm_dmix.c:1018:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
[AO_ALSA] Playback open error: No such file or directory
AO: [pulse] 44100Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...
A: 317.2 (05:17.1) of 355.0 (05:55.0)  1.1% 


MPlayer interrupted by signal 2 in module: play_audio
A: 317.4 (05:17.3) of 355.0 (05:55.0)  1.1% 

Exiting... (Quit)

aus9 · 12-03-2011, 08:44 PM

pulseaudio grabs and sits on top of alsa.

if you don't want it....stop it from loading

pls read this section on Should users be in the "audio" group? to work out if you=local user needs groups permisson.

Personally I would stop pulse and configure alsa first then consider the merits of pulse

IMHO pulse offers on-the-fly changes.

2) you have selected PCMCIA in your kernel config.
are you using such device or do you need it for networking?

crosstalk · 12-03-2011, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aus9

pulseaudio grabs and sits on top of alsa.

if you don't want it....stop it from loading

Oops, forgot to mark this as solved. First thing I did once I realized what was happening was to uninstall pulseaudio. Unfortunately, GNOME's sound control stopped working, so I reinstalled it. I've run through Gentoo's Pulseaudio documentation, and now it works.

Quote:

2) you have selected PCMCIA in your kernel config.
are you using such device or do you need it for networking?

Nope... but when it didn't work, I installed all ALSA-related modules. This will be removed.

Thanks for the help.