[Ubuntu Sound?] was Re: Please, Ubuntu, do not embarrass me again!

[NoOp]

On 06/05/2010 09:10 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
> I am using Lucid with everything which I normally use working perfectly. 
> The main things are multi-media (TV, DVDs, CDs). So, I create the USB 
> Starup Disc thinking that it will contain my system settings which will 
> allow me to reboot into my system as painlessly as possible in case of 
> emergency.
> 
> I have a friend whose system (and his wife's) has been hit by 
> trojans/virii and I have had to go out to get him out of trouble. I have 
> been trying to get him to move to Linux for some time. And he is also 
> "into" a bit of multi-media.
> 
> So, armed with the USB Startup Disc I go to his place to show him Ubuntu 
> and what it can do. Before going I made sure that the USB disc booted 
> correctly into Ubuntu. But stupid me.....
> 
> The USB booted up on his latest, you beaut computer with everything 
> multimedia support for Windows, and he asked me, "What is this 'Samples 
> folder"; I opened it up and he then asked me for a  demo of the sound 
> file to do with the Aesop's Fable. And this is where the wheels fell off 
> :-( . Not a damn of tiniest squeaks came out from the speakers; total 
> and utter silence.
> 
> OK, I had/have this problem when I installed Ubuntu on my own system but 
> I know that there is a fix which I did and which should have been 
> included on the USB Startup disc surely....surely? yes? In fact 
> absolutely NO.
> 
> When it comes to sound, Ubuntu is totally braindead.
> 
> Why?
> 
> Because of 2 things:
> 
> (1) it uses pulseaudio; and

A bit late in the game, but your labeling of pulseaudio is probably not
the issue at all. In both 9.10 and 10.04 IME the primary cause of sound
issues has been alsa. Examples:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver

<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bugs?field.searchtext=&orderby=-importance&search=Search&field.status%3Alist=NEW&field.status%3Alist=INCOMPLETE_WITH_RESPONSE&field.status%3Alist=INCOMPLETE_WITHOUT_RESPONSE&field.status%3Alist=INVALID&field.status%3Alist=WONTFIX&field.status%3Alist=EXPIRED&field.status%3Alist=CONFIRMED&field.status%3Alist=TRIAGED&field.status%3Alist=INPROGRESS&field.status%3Alist=FIXCOMMITTED&field.status%3Alist=FIXRELEASED&assignee_option=any&field.assignee=&field.bug_reporter=&field.bug_supervisor=&field.bug_commenter=&field.subscriber=&field.tag=&field.tags_combinator=ANY&field.status_upstream-empty-marker=1&field.has_cve.used=&field.omit_dupes.used=&field.omit_dupes=on&field.affects_me.used=&field.has_patch.used=&field.has_branches.used=&field.has_branches=on&field.has_no_branches.used=&field.has_no_branches=on>


https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/587388
[0x103c360b Conexant CX20583 (Pebble HSF) Internal mic not functional -
my bug report] Note that purging pulseaudio makes no difference.
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/477154?comments=all>
[When headphones are plugged in, the speaker does not get muted
automatically. - 103 comments]

In all fairness:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio
<https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bugs?field.searchtext=&orderby=-importance&search=Search&field.status%3Alist=NEW&field.status%3Alist=INCOMPLETE_WITH_RESPONSE&field.status%3Alist=INCOMPLETE_WITHOUT_RESPONSE&field.status%3Alist=INVALID&field.status%3Alist=WONTFIX&field.status%3Alist=EXPIRED&field.status%3Alist=CONFIRMED&field.status%3Alist=TRIAGED&field.status%3Alist=INPROGRESS&field.status%3Alist=FIXCOMMITTED&field.status%3Alist=FIXRELEASED&assignee_option=any&field.assignee=&field.bug_reporter=&field.bug_supervisor=&field.bug_commenter=&field.subscriber=&field.tag=&field.tags_combinator=ANY&field.status_upstream-empty-marker=1&field.has_cve.used=&field.omit_dupes.used=&field.omit_dupes=on&field.affects_me.used=&field.has_patch.used=&field.has_branches.used=&field.has_branches=on&field.has_no_branches.used=&field.has_no_branches=on>

Sound issues on any system/OS are problematic as there are hundreds of
chipsets/sound cards/speaker jacks, etc., etc. I get as frustrated as
the next person (particularly with my sound bugs/issues), but keep in
mind that when someone fires up a new laptop et al that has preinstalled
Winxyz, the software has alread been preconfigured, certified, and
tested for that particular OS.

Item #2 isn't much worth commenting on as it appears that even using
alsamixer (which is intalled by default in cli form) didn't solve your
supposed problem.

So how about you try this... reinstall your friend's system, from
scratch, using a off the shelf retail Win OS, and let us know how well
the initial results are. Not a restore system CD that has his/her latest
settings and drivers on it, but an "off the shelf retail Win OS (of your
choice) CD.

Even easier; save a Win OS from your Win system to a USB (same as you
did with linux) and take it to the friends house. Plug it in & let us
know how that turns out for you.

Rather than blasting Ubuntu because you couldn't figure out how to
modify the system to play Uncle Asop, you might want to consider the
accomplishment had you tried the same with a USB with a Win OS on it.