Hi!

As a new user of Linux I have many questions. One at a time, however. Installing Audacity music record and play programme. Having installed it and got it to work, the next time I boot up linux mepis, Audacity gives me an error message "There is an error initializing the audio i/o layer. Host error".

I may boot up linux another time and Audacity will work, but mostly the error message returns.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled, and sometimes got Audacity to work, and then using Linux again, the error message returns.

I have had the same problem with krec and tvtime.

Can anyone explain this and help.

Thank you.

Georgina Everingham

Well, i/o is input/output. If you have another audio program running you will encounter this. That means if anything you are running is using your sound card it will show this error.

Wayne

Hi!

Thanks Wayne. However the problem is not running another programme, but the fact that the Linux Mepis I use installs two Sound Cards SAA7134 and VIA8237. SAA7134 is Card0 so this is always accessed first, and Audacity always seeks this card. Even If I select VIA8237 after boot up, Audacity is stuck on Card0 and not Card1(VIA8237). I have tried in Root to delete SAA7134, but even when I give myself the authority to remove this card in /proc/asound/cards I am not allowed to do this.
I have found that uninstalling Kmix and using Alsamixergui I can lock Card0, but this is unlocked the moment I do any changes using Root. The locking process can only be done out of root.

However I am a step forward, and thanks for your response to my cry for help.

Georgina Everingham

Hi Georgina:

I am using Mepis 6.0 . That sure is a strange thing. I have a mother board with onboard sound but l installed a Sound Blaster card but l disabled the onboard card in the BIOS. Perhaps this isn't your case but just a thought.

Wayne

Hi Wayne

Many thanks for your further contribution. I certainly can try your suggestion. I have two sound blaster cards from previous computers I put together which did not have an in built sound card.

By the way do you dabble in home videos and use Kino. I am having trouble with that programme too. Even when I give Kino unlimited number of frames in capture it freezes after a little while. I have increased the buffer. I must try to increase it further.

Georgina

No, l haven't got into the video yet but l would sure like to capture the video off of my analogue video camera ... just haven't figured out how to yet.

Wayne

Georgina: suggest u also post your question[s] on
www.mepis.org forums. The Mepis Lovers site is also v. good for help. They have a terrific forum. Good luck!

Hi! Wayne,

Thank you for your reply again.

Reference your query about Photos with Linux. I am not sure what you are refering to by analogue camera. If this is a camera which stores its pictures on a card, though this would be a digital camera, then if you have a USB card reader which supports your card, Linux Mepis 6 recognises this in Media, and it can be opened, and processed like a Hard drive, and photos can be dealt with in ShowFoto. The designation on my Computer for this cards is sdd1.

If by an analogue camera you mean one which requires printing of the photos, then the only way of getting them on a computer that I know of is to scan the print. However when I used an ordinary camera like this Kodak gave the option when printing of copying the photos to a floppy disk as well.

I have found that Linux does not support photos which have the .fpx format. They have to changed to .jpg.

I hope this helps.

Georgina Everingham

No, l mean my older Sony Camcorder. It is not one of the newer ones with USB hookup.

Wayne

Hi! Wayne,

Camcorders usually connect to ones computer via a firewire card and connection. I guess your Sony Camcorder has such a connection. If you have not got firewire inbuilt on your motherboard, firewire cards to place in PCI slot are cheap enough. Around £20.

When I connected my digital Camcorder via firewire, Kino in Linux recognised it, and I retrieved scences from it until the programme seized up. Kino seems to export each scene in different files under capture001 etc. I don't see why your analogue Sony Camcorder will not be accepted, as, no doubt, the video is recorded on tape. I hope you have success.

Georgina Everingham.

My Camcorder is 12 years old so it doesn't have USB or Firewire but my PC has both. When l say analogue, it was before digital came along.

Wayne

Regarding the problem with soundcards.

Have you tried running alsaconf as root?

It has a video out connecto -yellow? which plugs into the computer's video card then the card captures it as you play it on the camera

Could you explain a little more please
What do you do in alsaconf that fixes this problem ,I often have it too .

I ran it as su -
root@1[~]# alsaconf
-su: alsaconf: command not found
root@1[~]# man alsaconf
No manual entry for alsaconf
root@1[~]#

Hi!

As the originator of the correspondence concerning Audacity I have the following to offer.

As a new user of Linux entries in Konsole are a total mystery to me, so any solution involving entries here are of little help.

I have tried several things to get over the problem of Linux Mepis 6 selecting the wrong audio card at bootup, and the one which seems to work most times is to have kmix still opened on my desktop when I shut down, and with kmix open with the mixer which relates to the correct audio card.

The problem here is remembering always to shut down with kmix open on my desktop.

I hope this may help someone.

Georgina Everingham