[SOLVED] Removing PulseAudio and other questions.

ReaperX7 · 08-22-2012, 11:42 PM

How do I go about removing and eradicating PulseAudio from my PC? I really don't need it or find it useful other than bloatware in my system I want to slim down. DMix handles just enough for me and I don't need Networked Audio.

What all packages are tied to PulseAudio, and as far as other projects that are compiled with and for PulseAudio, does Ubuntu have Source packages that can be downloaded to where the user can strip out or comment out usage of PulseAudio, and then with a script, create .deb installer friendly packages for the Package Manager?

evo2 · 08-23-2012, 12:54 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReaperX7

How do I go about removing and eradicating PulseAudio from my PC?

The same way you remove any other package.

Code:

sudo apt-get remove --purge pulseaudio

Quote:

What all packages are tied to PulseAudio

Look at the "Reverse Depends:" section in the output of the following

Code:

apt-cache showpkg pulseaudio

Quote:

and as far as other projects that are compiled with and for PulseAudio, does Ubuntu have Source packages that can be downloaded to where the user can strip out or comment out usage of PulseAudio, and then with a script, create .deb installer friendly packages for the Package Manager?

This sounds like a major pain. But yes source packages are available. Add deb-src lines to your sources.list (if they are not there already). The "apt-cache showpkg" command will show you what source package corresponds to any given binary package. There is quite a bit of documentation available for building binary packages from source packages. See for example the apt-howto (although it is a little old) http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/ap...ndling.en.html

HTH,

Evo2.

ReaperX7 · 08-23-2012, 01:47 AM

Thanks, I kinda wish they'd just get rid of PulseAudio. It's too much a system resource hog for normal usage and ESounD, if needed, is easier on the resources and does the same job for Networked Audio.

tommcd · 08-25-2012, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReaperX7

I kinda wish they'd just get rid of PulseAudio. It's too much a system resource hog for normal usage ...

Yes it is. The next time you install Ubuntu, you might consider going with Lubuntu with the LXDE desktop. Lubuntu is the lightest and fastest member of the Ubuntu family. Lubuntu also comes without pulse audio and uses alsa by default, just like Ubuntu did before they switched to pulse audio.

firekage · 08-26-2012, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommcd

Yes it is. The next time you install Ubuntu, you might consider going with Lubuntu with the LXDE desktop. Lubuntu is the lightest and fastest member of the Ubuntu family. Lubuntu also comes without pulse audio and uses alsa by default, just like Uubntu did before they switched to pulse audio.

There is something called Ubuntu minimal cd or ubuntu netinstall with very limited number of apps instaled by default. You can add more if you wish after installation.

tommcd · 08-27-2012, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firekage

There is something called Ubuntu minimal cd or ubuntu netinstall with very limited number of apps instaled by default. You can add more if you wish after installation.

Yes, that would be another way to avoid pulse audio. Here is a tutorial on how to install Ubuntu from the Ubuntu Minimal CD: http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimal

If you want to use the minimal CD, be careful when installing media players. Many of the more full featured media players like Rhythmbox or Amarok may possibly add pulse audio as a dependency. Also, Amarok will likely include a boatload of KDE libraries as dependencies.
So stick with the lighter media players like Audacious and MPlayer and you should be fine.