Howto: Install and use projectM music visualizer with pulseaudio support on Hardy

[struktured]

That's a cool little tool you got there...I wonder if it should be in our repository or not, and how I could properly add it. Perhaps "make deb" or something along those lines?

[Jojo12a]

I think it should be most wise to add a debian/ subdirectory under each projectM part (engine, qt, pulseaudio, libvisual, xmms and so on) with a rules file and things like that... then you can build each package by typing "debuild binary" or "dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot" in the directories... I just created customized debian/ directories based on the 1.01 package in the ubuntu repos and created a script to do that on new SVN versions... You would have to dynamically create the version number in debian/rules if you take the dirs upstream, however... My files are all in the +files subdir of the tarball...

Another question: Is it known at upstream that projectm-qt is up to now incompatible to Qt 4.4? At least it's like that with the version from backports. It would be nice if people using the backports repos would be able to stop holding back Qt 4.4 in order to get projectM 1.1+ to run

[El Lance-O]

ProjectM has been working pretty good for me recently after my problems and the help from you folks.

But now I have two problems:

I REALLY hate PulseAudio. It doesn't work like ALSA where you can play multiple sources of sound. So if I want to hear my music play in Totem while on the web, I have to close Firefox. ProjectM doesn't even work with Firefox anymore as it did before.

Is there anyway to get it to work with ALSA?

And also, the disappearing mouse trick is no longer entertaining. It disappears completely now and won't come back. I have to reload metacity or compiz to get it back. This is QUITE the hassle.

I've had so many problems lately, it's horrible.

[Jojo12a]

For the pulseaudio things, refer to http://www.pulseaudio.org/wiki/PerfectSetup and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578, especially the alsa applications section... PulseAudio's job is exactly playback from multiple sources, it just has to be setup correctly

projectM will (even though I'm not the project's programmer ) not support input from alsa because AFAIK alsa doesn't provide something to get the mixed data that goes to the sound card ;(

I can't say much to the rest, though

[sammydee]

I can confirm the mouse disappearing trick problem... It disappears and won't come back even if the application is unfullscreened...

As for pulseaudio - if you are using binary flash, you are likely to have problems with it, but only because adobe refuses to use standards compliant audio outputs - everything else should work perfectly in pulseaudio - if it doesn't, file a bug!

Sam

[Jojo12a]

I have just added libvisual support to my script... only xmms, jack and test are pending... usage is like the the last version, use it at your own risk

[El Lance-O]

For the pulseaudio things, refer to http://www.pulseaudio.org/wiki/PerfectSetup and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578, especially the alsa applications section... PulseAudio's job is exactly playback from multiple sources, it just has to be setup correctly

projectM will (even though I'm not the project's programmer ) not support input from alsa because AFAIK alsa doesn't provide something to get the mixed data that goes to the sound card ;(

I can't say much to the rest, though

That seems like an immense amount of work for something that ALSA already does. Not to mention I have to configure each aspect of my system individually to make it work? Sheesh...

I've been such a huge fan on Ubuntu for years, but ever since Gutsy...the most simple of tasks take a RIDICULOUS amount of time to achieve.

I'll go cry about it some more somewhere else.

[sammydee]

Wow what problems are you having with pulseaudio?

Pulseaudio SOLVED a multitude of irritating problems for me. It's far more capable than alsa, plus its about a million times easier to configure than .asoundrc, which, let's be honest, is pretty much voodoo magic for 99.999% of ubuntu users.

Pulseaudio is exactly what linux sound has been needing for years.

Sam

[Jojo12a]

Of course mixing is not the ONLY job PA has, but one of multiple .

You can configure it much better at runtime because it isn't at kernel level like alsa, but in userspace. You can change volumes for all input streams seperately, and PA makes standalone projectM possible ^^.

I think that, at least if all apps would right now implement the PA API or at least the ALSA API correctly, PA wouldn't have many problems anymore . So IMHO the problem is not PA, but the developers of apps using sound.

And now back to topic! AFAIK, ALSA output devices can't be used as input, so a soundserver is necessary, anyway. Thus, PA or another more sophisticated soundserver is needed for a standalone visualization app. IMHO, that means PA problems don't belong here anyway . If you don't think like that, continue complaining (I obviously can't command you, I am no mod...), but I think if you have problems with PA, discuss them in a more fitting thread ...

Let's discuss about ProjectM here instead .

[struktured]

Sorry guys,

Since I moved and I can't get my stupid verizon wireless broadband device working in linux, I've only had internet access in windows lately.

As for the mouse bug, I'll look into- although I'm confused because I haven't touched since I added the feature. Did Qt change?

For the record, PLEASE post bug reports in our tracker at:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=104201

I don't check the ubuntu forums all the time, so it could be much longer until I find out about a bug posted here.

Cheers and 1.2 is coming soon (fixing a couple outstanding bugs first),

struk