pulseaudio with alsa configuration?

rabbit2345 · 08-24-2012, 06:00 PM

Hi,

I have a sound card that uses hda_intel that apparently only works with pulseaudio installed. I tried to remove pulseaudio and just use alsa directly, but I could not get any sound out.

After reinstalling pulseaudio, none of the programs using the alsa backend work anymore even though they worked before I removed pulseaudio.

I'm not sure how pulseaudio and alsa are connected, so could someone shed some light on this area?

here are some command outputs:

Code:

brian-linux:~ # lsmod | grep snd
snd_seq_dummy           2102  0
snd_pcm_oss            53391  0
snd_mixer_oss          20225  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq                66675  1 snd_seq_dummy
snd_seq_device          7770  2 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq
snd_hda_codec_realtek   356587  1
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     28023  1
snd_hda_intel          28773  4
snd_hda_codec         108050  3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               7772  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               104468  4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              26774  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    84374  20 snd_seq_dummy,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               8782  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          9569  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

Code:

lspci | grep Audio
00:01.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Device 1714
00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson Azalia Controller (rev 01) <-- it's this one

if you need anything else, just ask.

thanks,
rabbit2345

Ygrex · 08-24-2012, 06:30 PM

you do not need pulseaudio to get your card working, configure alsa properly and that is it

abrinister · 08-24-2012, 07:07 PM

Quote:

00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson Azalia Controller (rev 01)

This is a controller, not a sound card. Are you using HDMI?

Alex Brinister

rabbit2345 · 08-25-2012, 09:40 AM

Hi,

I do have 2 audio devices installed, one real one, and one HDMI. The second one is the real audio device.

And how would I configure ALSA if I removed pulseaudio? When I removed pulseaudio, I manually loaded snd_hda_intel like it is now, but still I could not get any sound to play.

here is my audio codec:

Code:

brian-linux:~ # cat /proc/asound/Generic_1/codec#0 | head -1
Codec: Realtek ALC269VB

I see that it is a realtek based card, so why is hda_intel being used?

thanks,
rabbit2345

abrinister · 08-25-2012, 10:26 AM

snd_hda_intel is the generic sound driver. Have you tried any ALSA utilities, like alsamixer? That is a very useful one. You should not need PulseAudio when using ALSA. If you have PulseAudio, then ALSA just defers everything to the Pulse daemon. I have Pulse and ALSA running on my system. I can manipulate volume using both. They are pretty much two different things which have been made to be compatible. Try using alsamixer to unmute everything. That could be the issue.

Alex Brinister

rabbit2345 · 08-25-2012, 02:14 PM

Hi,

I tried maxing out every channel I could find, but there is still no sound for some applications.

How exactly do pulseaudio and alsa interact? Is it like program -> alsa -> pulseaudio? And if pulseaudio has an alsa api wrapper, then how can I direct the sound to pulseaudio's alsa wrapper, rather than alsa itself?

thanks,
rabbit2345

rabbit2345 · 08-28-2012, 05:01 PM

Hi,

I managed to get my sound back by reinstalling everything again. I still have no idea what is going in as far as sound goes in linux. The old config files are identical to the stock ones, so how can one work perfectly and the other not at all? Either way, if someone managed to screw up their sound system like I did, just reinstall everything to fix it.

good luck,
rabbit2345