headphones work, speakers broken

[Ric Moore]

On 01/28/2012 02:44 AM, Thufir Hawat wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:45:22 -0500, Sam Sebastian wrote:
>
>> try alsamixer (from the command line) try turing all of the settings up
>
>
> ok, that worked.  Total madness.  Generally, Linux is fairly
> straightforward, but that's absurd.  Too many ways to configure sound.


It's more straightforward once you consider that pulse sits on top of 
alsa. So, if alsa is not configured, pulse has no chance. Pulse merely 
handles alsa's out/in-put regarding which source is used at any given 
time, per application. It remembers. I love it. So, pulse takes what 
alsa hands it and then routes sound to the proper sound device or input 
from whichever microphone or input source for your recording session. 
Once you wrap your head around it, it makes more sense.

Plus, you can change your sources on the fly, or speaker set up, like 
from 5.1 to headphones with pavucontrol. No more dinking with 
.asound.conf stuff. Also, make SURE you have pavucontrol installed. Why 
it's not a standard bit of kit is beyond me, as you have to have it in 
order to set things once alsa is set. I mean, without it you're stuck 
like Chuck. Install that, fire it up, select your speakers and inputs 
and you're riding man!  Enjoy, Ric