[Lubuntu] No pulseaudio explains no local sound on LTSP clients?

John Hupp lubuntu at prpcompany.com
Wed Oct 17 23:36:43 UTC 2012


I seem to have stumbled nearly blindly into a solution for this problem.

With the knowledge that pulseaudio is not installed by default (below), 
and yet I now have it installed, I can perhaps conclude that it was 
installed as a dependency requirement for VLC or some other media app I 
was testing.

But is it running in the LTSP client sessions?  And relatedly, do I have 
to install pulseaudioin the LTSP image, or does a simple installation on 
the server machine suffice?

In lxterm on the server, I ran pulseaudio and it responded with a 
message like "Daeman already running."  Running pulseaudioin lxterm on 
the client, it hung without response. An unexpected response.  Ctrl-C 
got me back to the prompt.

So it was not clear if pulseaudio was running in the client session.  I 
did a chroot procedure into the LTSP image, then sudo apt-get install 
pulseaudio, which responded with a message like "pulseaudioalready has 
the most current version installed."

Nonetheless I ran the command to update the image.  Then rebooted the 
server and booted up the client.

LOCAL SOUND NOW WORKS!!

Interestingly, running pulseaudioin lxterm on the clientstill hangs.  So 
a why-is-that curiosity question still remains.

And if I were doing a fresh install of LTSP on Lubuntu, I would still be 
foggy about exactly what was required to support local sound on the 
clients, though I have perhaps enough experience now to poke around and 
get it working.

On 10/3/2012 11:00 AM, John Hupp wrote:
> I haven't gotten very far into this problem yet, but I have found that 
> alsa and pulseaudio serve different functions.  This link -- 
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/169797/should-both-alsa-and-pulseaudio-be-installed 
> -- indicates that alsa is a layer closer to the sound card drivers 
> (which I read elsewhere are in the Linux kernel), and that pulseaudio 
> is a "sound server," which is a layer closer to the sound apps.  So 
> the sound apps talk to pulseaudio, which talks to alsa, which talks to 
> the sound card driver.
>
> Though apparently that is not the only way to get the job done, since 
> some apps don't require pulseaudio and deal directly with alsa.
>
> It occurs to me that this problem may relate to another open thread I 
> have posted in this list, with topic: "[Lubuntu] Progress on playing a 
> CD?"  I found there that no media player I tested knew how to start 
> playing a CD smoothly the way one does in Edubuntu.  There, when one 
> inserts the CD and chooses from the popup to play the CD with 
> Rhythmbox, the latter opens up and starts playing the CD.  In Lubuntu, 
> neither Audacious, Gnome Mplayer, VLC or Rhythmbox does likewise.  
> Even for the best-performing of them (Audacious and VLC), one has to 
> click at least a couple more items in the program after it has opened. 
> And I couldn't get Gnome Mplayer or Rhythmbox to do the job at all.
>
> On 10/2/2012 10:33 PM, Jean-Pierre Vidal Piesset wrote:
>> There's no pulse-audio on lubuntu by default. I know that because in 
>> my Samsung laptop (in wich Linux works horribly) I had to install 
>> PulseAudio to get to work the sound (can't figure why with Alsa it 
>> does not work and with PulseAudio isntalled it does... ??? )
>>
>>
>> 2012/10/2 John Hupp <lubuntu at prpcompany.com 
>> <mailto:lubuntu at prpcompany.com>>
>>
>>     Thanks, that's a good starting point.
>>
>>     On 10/2/2012 12:05 PM, Aere Greenway wrote:
>>>     John:
>>>
>>>     If I could have remembered anything of how do do it, I would
>>>     have passed it on.
>>>
>>>     It seems I saw something in an Ubuntu forum about configuring
>>>     Pulseaudio on Lubuntu.
>>>
>>>     I did a Google search just now for "pulseaudio lubuntu", which
>>>     came up with interesting stuff, but not what I remembered using.
>>>
>>>     I did see this one piece of information that seemed familiar:
>>>
>>>
>>>     *Re: No audio lubuntu 12.04*
>>>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>     Be sure that pavucontrol, pulseaudio, pulseaudio-utils and
>>>     libgtk-3-0 are all installed. Then play with the different
>>>     settings in pulseaudio volume control and the controls in your
>>>     player until you get sound.
>>>     http://douwil7.100webspace.net/linux/Tuning.html#17
>>>
>>>     That seems to be what I did, that finally got it working.
>>>
>>>     I also had issues with having two soundcards on my machine,
>>>     where sometimes they would initialize in the wrong order, and I
>>>     would get no sound because it was using the soundcard with no
>>>     amplifier/speakers hooked to it.
>>>
>>>     - Aere
>>>
>>>     On Tue, 2012-10-02 at 11:44 -0400, John Hupp wrote:
>>>>     So even though Pulseaudio is installed by default, apparently
>>>>     there are configuration questions viz-a-viz it's relationship
>>>>     with Alsa.
>>>>
>>>>     Since Edubuntu's LTSP clients play local sound just fine, if
>>>>     you tossed me a few critical bones, I might be able to compare
>>>>     the Lubuntu vs. Edubuntu configurations and figure out what to
>>>>     change to get local sound working with Lubuntu LTSP.
>>>>
>>>>     Of course, with LTSP, there might be the added question of
>>>>     whether I would need to change the LTSP chroot image -- but one
>>>>     step at a time!
>>>>
>>>>     On 10/2/2012 11:30 AM, Aere Greenway wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>     All:
>>>>>
>>>>>     I use Pulseaudio in Lubuntu all the time, because I need to
>>>>>     /test/ with Java Sound (specifically, its software
>>>>>     synthesizer), which on Linux (at least in the Ubuntu
>>>>>     variants), assumes Pulseaudio is used.  It may be possible to
>>>>>     make Java Sound use something else, but I don't know how to do it.
>>>>>
>>>>>     So I (with some effort) configured my Lubuntu systems to use
>>>>>     Pulseaudio.  Unfortunately, I don't remember the steps to do
>>>>>     that, but I believe I can figure it out again if it becomes
>>>>>     necessary.
>>>>>
>>>>>     - Aere
>>>>>
>>>>>     On Tue, 2012-10-02 at 11:14 -0400, John Hupp wrote:
>>>>>>     A couple more notes:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     I find that Pulseaudio is indeed installed on Lubuntu
>>>>>>     Precise, so perhaps the previous post's "We don't use
>>>>>>     pulseaudio" remark refers merely to non-usage by Skype,
>>>>>>     rather than to fundamental configuration in Lubuntu?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     In Edubuntu 12.04, local sound works fine on LTSP clients. 
>>>>>>     So Alsa and Pulseaudio are configured differently in
>>>>>>     Edubuntu/Ubuntu than in Lubuntu?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>     On 9/29/2012 6:36 PM, John Hupp wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>     I'm forking a previous post to a related yet distinct topic.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>     I hadn't posted anything on the topic yet since I have not
>>>>>>>     tested my observation more widely, but I seem to find that
>>>>>>>     LTSP clients connected to a Lubuntu LTSP server do not have
>>>>>>>     local sound.  They output to the server's speakers.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>     Vaguely I recall that LTSP relies on pulseaudio, so your
>>>>>>>     statement below could explain the behavior.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>     If this assessment is correct, anyone know of a relatively
>>>>>>>     easy way to get local sound working with LTSP on Lubuntu?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>     On 9/29/2012 6:14 PM, leszek.lesner at web.de
>>>>>>>     <mailto:leszek.lesner at web.de> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     We don't use pulseaudio so pavucontrol makes no sense.
>>>>>>>>     Skype only used with alsa reveals the alsa devices in
>>>>>>>>     skypes configuration for audio devices. This works usually
>>>>>>>>     fine.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     --
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     Von meinem Nokia N9 gesendet
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     ???? (Rafael Laguna) schrieb am 29.09.12 23:54:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     Today I had to use Skype, and I noticed that there's no way
>>>>>>>>     to change the microphone volume. There's no GUI for doing
>>>>>>>>     that. So I googled and, at the Ubuntu forums recommended to
>>>>>>>>     use pavucontrol as a unique pulse audio controller.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     Shouldn't we include this app in the distro? I mean, maybe
>>>>>>>>     more people need to control more device's levels and they
>>>>>>>>     have no choice. Or maybe I'm wrong and I'm not using the
>>>>>>>>     right tool.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     Thanks.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     -- 
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     ???? (Rafael Laguna)
>>>>>>>>     Lubuntu Artwork Team
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     -- 
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     Lubuntu-users mailing list
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     Lubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
>>>>>>>>     <mailto:Lubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>     Modify settings or unsubscribe at:
>>>>>>>>     https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/lubuntu-users
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>     -- 
>>>>>
>>>>>     Sincerely,
>>>>>     Aere
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>     -- 
>>>
>>>     Sincerely,
>>>     Aere
>>>
>>
>>
>>     --
>>     Lubuntu-users mailing list
>>     Lubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
>>     <mailto:Lubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
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>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> jpxsat
>>
>>
>
>
>

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