Suddenly ... no audio at all

[Ric Moore]

On 10/21/2012 10:08 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
> On 21/10/12 19:39, Ric Moore wrote:
>> On 10/21/2012 04:14 AM, Basil Chupin wrote:
>>> On 21/10/12 18:25, Hans Muecke wrote:
>>>> Am 21.10.2012 00:50, schrieb Ric Moore:
>>>>
>>>>> On 10/20/2012 12:04 PM, Hans Muecke wrote:
>>>>>> Hi ...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sometimes within the last 2 days (I suspect after the latest software
>>>>>> update) I completely lost audio. No system notifications, no audio on
>>>>>> youtube or on locally stored files.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Checked if hardware is recognized (it is), played a file with asound
>>>>>> from terminal (which I can't hear), I can rule out faulty hardware
>>>>>> since
>>>>>> it works under win ...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I noticed, that when I have the volume window open with volume at
>>>>>> 100%
>>>>>> volume drops to 0 as soon as I execute the asound command. I am
>>>>>> out of
>>>>>> ideas here ...
>>>>>
>>>>> Have you installed pavucontrol and run it to set up your hardware? For
>>>>> whatever ungodly reason, it doesn't get installed at install time. Ric
>>>> Hi Ric ... no I haven't. Never had and everything worked, Will try
>>>> that.
>>>
>>> I don't have (and never have) pavucontrol installed and I have perfect
>>> sound.
>> If you use different audio inputs/outputs, I don't see how you would
>> live without it!
>
> Oh, I can live without it - and have lived without it for many, many
> moons :-) .
>
> And as the man said, he didn't have pavucontrol installed and had no
> problems with sound in the past.
>
>> I tend to extreme, with 5.1 sound, headsets, etc. So, I can switch to
>> any of them live and on the bounce.
>>
>> Trust me, it's come a LONG WAYS BABY since back when, when I loathed
>> it too!  :) Ric
>
> Here is a little titbit re pulseaudio and, therefore, pavucontrol:
>
> "In a typical installation scenario under Linux, the user configures
> ALSA to use a virtual device provided by PulseAudio. Thus, applications
> using ALSA will output sound to PulseAudio, which then uses ALSA itself
> to access the real sound card."
>
> In other words, ALSA comes first and if that ain't done right then
> pulseaudio/pavucontrol is <enter-own-choice-of-naughty-type-word> :-) .

Just as video card drivers over-rule anything some desktop monitor 
config might do. The device driver comes first. Pulse merely makes it 
EASY for the human to utilize the driver in a fashion that is useful to 
the user. That's all Pulse does. It's the poor man's version of jack for 
audio. Today it's RARE for a user to just plug in some bookend speakers 
and that's it. USB headphones, USB mikes, jacked in mikes, multiple 
speaker setups, network audio servers and clients, all just a mouse 
click to deploy.

Beats the living hell out of editing .asoundrc and the like. As far as I 
can tell, they have had the kinks worked out of it within the last 
couple of years. It's ~very~ useful. You might consider giving it a shot 
again. Ric



-- 
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
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