On Mon, Dec 02, 2013 at 11:39:09AM +0100, Clemens Ladisch wrote:
> wempwer@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > 1) my work computer with Ubuntu has HDA Intel PCH soundcard
> > installed. Moving PCM slider in alsamixer or muting it has no
> > effect.
>
> Apparently, on this hardware, whatever output you're using is not
> affected by that mixer control.
>
> > Moreover, manipulating volume slider inside pavucontrol results in
> > higher volume than when Master and Speakers are set to maximum in
> > alsamixer alone.
>
> PulseAudio can increase the volume in software. However, this does not
> increase the possible range of audio samples, so if your original data
> is loud enough, you get clipping.
I see, these and and the rest of your answers explain a lot. However,
I still don't understand two things:
> > I wasn't able to use it with my in-built mic until I set capture
> > device to "OSS: /dev/dsp" in Linphone.
>
> The OSS emulation just redirects /dev/dsp to the default ALSA input
> device.
I wonder how does it do it because on my HP Pavilion DV6 3015ew with
HDA ATI SB the following doesn't record sound:
$ arecord -f dat -d 3 test.wav
However, when I give a device name specifically it does:
$ arecord -f dat -d 3 -D hw:0,0 test.wav
When I use `aplay' I don't need to pass device name explicitly. I
wonder how OSS then is able to find a correct device.
> > 6) A few months ago I got myself Creative bluetooth speakers. I have
> > the following in my ~/.asoundrc.conf:
> > ...
> > pcm.!default { ...
> >
> > Some programs such as xmms2 can pick these settings correctly and play
> > music on speakers, but some others such as mplayer can't do that and I
> > always have to pass "-ao alsa:device=bluetooth"
>
> mplayer uses the "default" device by default, unless you have changed
> this in ~/.mplayer/config.
Damn... Why do they do that? Why does some program make it so hard to
play sound? I can't see any reason for it.
And to all of you, you see, I don't try to say that ALSA sucks. The
problem is that nothing gave so many problems as ALSA did. Either
recording does not work (Acer, linphone, arecord on HP), or cards are
set in a non-logical way (HDMI shouldn't set be as the default card as
on Toshiba), or some programs do not follow config written
specifically for them (mplayer), or some things happen in a way much
different than written in documentation (cannot mute PCM or moving PCM
slider has no effect). I had some problems with dual monitor setup and
nvidia drivers on one machine but apart from that everything worked on
Linux for a few last years (now I remembered that card reader on HP
Pavilion does not work at all, I needet to get an USB adaptor but it
worked out of the box and I don't use it on a daily basis). ALSA is a
different story. For me, as a beginner, it seems overcomplicated. It
uses words such as `PCM' that I have no idea about, config syntax is
bizarre and if a normal user has some problems with ALSA in general
his only way to handle it is to try solutions found on the Internet by
trial and error for the most part. Documentation is ... let's say,
it's incomplete (I don't want to make you angry again). I had some
problems with ALSA on many computers I used Linux on. You can say that
I am inexperienced but please, look at it from a different angle - I
really think situation could get better. Sound is something that
almost all desktop computers use on a daily basis and if it doesn't
work out of the box it won't make users switch to Linux. I realize
that hw manufacturers are reluctant to co-operate with open source
developers. However, this is not an explanation that will appeal to
masses and is not the only blocker here.
--
<wempwer@xxxxxxxxx>
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