So I got it working! I installed libasound2 and pulseaudio packages and it worked (almost):
Code:
sudo apt-get install libasound2 pulseaudio
Also, get rid of any old .asoundrc files:
Now I could control the sound (the quality got a lot better too!), but only by dragging the volume adjustment thing.
However, my only problem was that the keyboard shortcuts that control the sound (XF86Audio*) were set to change the volume of the alsamixer. The easiest way I found to set this up so it would change pulseaudio sound was with a solution at
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=46608&p=2
First paste this into the file pulsevolbar.sh and save it in ~/.pulse
Code:
#!/bin/bash
#
# filename: pulsevolbar.sh
# Usage:
# pulsevolbar.sh <increase/decrease/mute>
#
#
#Customize this stuff
SECS="1" # sleep $SECS
BG="#8E35EF" # background colour of window
FG="#FFFF00" # foreground colour of text/icon
BAR_FG="#F52887" # foreground colour of volume bar
BAR_BG="#41A317" # background colour of volume bar
HEIGHT="30" # window height
WIDTH="250" # window width
BAR_WIDTH="150" # width of volume bar
ICON=~/.pulse/dzen_icons/vol-hi.xbm
FONT="-*-terminus-medium-r-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"
ICON_VOL=~/.icons/dzen_icons/vol-hi.xbm
ICON_VOL_MUTE=~/.icons/dzen_icons/vol-mute.xbm
ICON=$ICON_VOL
PULSE_MAX_VOL=65536
# No need to customize this variable
PIPE="/tmp/pulesvolpipe"
# Lets find the appropriate positioning for the volume bar
XRES=`xdpyinfo|grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'|cut -dx -f1`
XPOS=$[$XRES / 2 - $WIDTH / 2] # horizontal positioning
YRES=`xdpyinfo|grep 'dimensions:'|awk '{print $2}'|cut -dx -f2`
YPOS=$[$YRES * 4 / 5] # vertical positioning
# Sets the desired volume
function set_volume()
{
CURVOL=$1
pactl set-sink-volume 0 $CURVOL
}
# Gets the current volume
function get_volume()
{
MIXER=$(pacmd list-sinks 0 | grep -i "volume: 0:")
echo $MIXER | cut -d ' ' -f 3 | cut -d '%' -f 1
}
# Get muted ? returns yes or no
function get_muted()
{
MUTED=$(pacmd list-sinks 0 | grep muted | cut -d ' ' -f 2)
echo $MUTED
}
VOL=$(get_volume)
CURVOL=$[$VOL * $PULSE_MAX_VOL / 100 ]
MUTE=$(get_muted) # Reads mute state
if [[ $MUTE == "yes" ]] # Sets the icon to mute_icon as the increase or decrease will not make speaker speak
then
ICON=$ICON_VOL_MUTE
fi
if [[ $1 == "increase" ]]
then
CURVOL=$(($CURVOL + 3277)) # 3277 is 5% of the total volume, you can change this to suit your needs.
if [[ $CURVOL -ge $PULSE_MAX_VOL ]]
then
CURVOL=$PULSE_MAX_VOL
fi
set_volume $CURVOL
elif [[ $1 == "decrease" ]]
then
CURVOL=$(($CURVOL - 3277))
if [[ $CURVOL -le 0 ]]
then
CURVOL=0
fi
set_volume $CURVOL
elif [[ $1 == "mute" ]]
then
if [[ $MUTE == "no" ]]
then
pactl set-sink-mute 0 1
ICON=$ICON_VOL_MUTE
else
pactl set-sink-mute 0 0
ICON=$ICON_VOL
fi
fi
# showing in dzen2
if [ ! -e "$PIPE" ];
# if pipe file does not exists
then
mkfifo "$PIPE"
(dzen2 -tw "$WIDTH" -h "$HEIGHT" -x "$XPOS" -y "$YPOS" -fn "$FONT" -bg "$BG" -fg "$FG" < "$PIPE"
rm -f "$PIPE") &
fi
# feed the pipe
(echo $[$CURVOL * 100 / $PULSE_MAX_VOL]| dzen2-gdbar -l "^i(${ICON})" -fg "$BAR_FG" -bg "$BAR_BG" -w "$BAR_WIDTH" ; sleep "$SECS" ) > "$PIPE"
Now make it executable:
Code:
chmod +x ~/.pulse/pulsevolbar.sh
then do this to make the other files necessary:
Code:
cd ~/.pulse
echo "false" > mute
echo "36043" > volume
This solution uses dzen2 and I ended up having to install a few things:
Code:
sudo apt-get install dzen2 dbar conky-cli i3 i3status xfonts-terminus-oblique console-terminus
Now restart X11 or your computer.
Run the script once (not sure if you have to do this, actually, but it doesn't hurt!
Code:
sh ~/.pulse/pulsevolbar.sh
Now we have set the volume buttons on the keyboard to work with our new shell script!
Go to System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts . Make new shorcuts (add) with whatever names you want to describe the action. I used Pulse Volume Increase, Pulse Volume Decrease, and Pulse Volume Mute. For each of those, give the respective commands for the script: /home/USER/.pulse/pulsevolbar.sh increase, /home/USER/.pulse/pulsevolbar.sh decrease, or /home/USER/.pulse/pulsevolbar.sh mute (of course, replace USER with your username).
Now test it! The volume should decrease and a box with percentages should show as it would for alsa.
You're done!!
Got it working!
