HOWTO: PulseAudio Fixes & System-Wide Equalizer Support

[IntuitiveNipple]

OK, this is getting confusing. I need to remember to restart after changing libraries.

Without /usr/lib32/libflashsupport.so Flash player 10 will not use Pulse Audio.

I just reinstalled it:

getlibs -p libflashsupport

and now the Flash 10 streams are reported by Volume Control. As I said before, playing a YouTube video it shows: "Adove Flash: Flash Animation"

I'll let things settle for a little while now

[psyke83]

OK, this is getting confusing. I need to remember to restart after changing libraries.

Without /usr/lib32/libflashsupport.so Flash player 10 will not use Pulse Audio.

I just reinstalled it:

getlibs -p libflashsupport

and now the Flash 10 streams are reported by Volume Control. As I said before, playing a YouTube video it shows: "Adove Flash: Flash Animation"

I'll let things settle for a little while now

That's not optimal, as libflashsupport is buggy.

What happens if you remove libflashsupport and install "libasound2-plugins" through getlibs, and with the proper ~/.asoundrc configuration enabled?

[IntuitiveNipple]

That's not optimal, as libflashsupport is buggy.

What happens if you remove libflashsupport and install "libasound2-plugins" through getlibs, and with the proper ~/.asoundrc configuration enabled?

/usr/lib32/libasound.so.2.0.0 is installed. (and has been since earlier).

The user configuration is:

cat  ~/.asoundrc.asoundconf 

# ALSA library configuration file managed by asoundconf(1).
#
# MANUAL CHANGES TO THIS FILE WILL BE OVERWRITTEN!
#
# Manual changes to the ALSA library configuration should be implemented
# by editing the ~/.asoundrc file, not by editing this file.
pcm.!default { type pulse }
ctl.!default { type pulse }
pcm.pulse { type pulse }
ctl.pulse { type pulse }

and

cat ~/.asoundrc

# ALSA library configuration file

# Include settings that are under the control of asoundconf(1).
# (To disable these settings, comment out this line.)
</home/tj/.asoundrc.asoundconf>

pcm.a2dpd {
      type a2dpd
}

I'll try it again without libflashsupport.so

[phorgan1]

I've done the complete installation on Hardy with latest updates and your repository enabled. Sadly it did not work--I'm giving you all the info I can think of in case it helps. I really would like to have pulseaudio working. I have Intel sound on a Dell motherboard. The pulseaudio daemon doesn't start at reboot. As root, /etc/init.d/pulseaudio causes no messages in any of the logs, but also no pulseaudio daemon. Strange. You'd expect the Starting Pulseaudio Daemon message followed by errors if it didn't start. If as a user, I run pulseaudio -vv it looks like it works fine (inline below), but when I run rhythmbox there's no sound. It shows up in the pulseaudio volume control saying ALSA plug-in [rhythmbox]: ALSA Playback. rythmbox looks as if it's playing, i.e. the UI gives me feedback that it's moving through songs, but there's no sound. The sound doesn't show up as muted either in input or output. If before running pulseaudio I run rhythmbox it plays fine with good sound output. After killing pulseaudio and rhythmbox, restarting rhythmbox results in fine sound again without having to restart the machine. My sound preferences are set to Autodetect. While the Sound Preferences are up and I click play, I get sound and it shows up in the pulseaudio volume control. Right now I have both rhythmbox and the sound preferences playing. They look identical in the volume control, i.e. both say ALSA plug-in [their name]: ALSA Playback, but there's sound from the sound prefs (annoying beep), but none for rhythmbox. I saw other posts where they mentioned that pulseaudio -k && pulseaudio -vv had as part of its output: E: main.c: Failed to kill daemon. That's because, like me they didn't have pulseaudio running. I wonder what causes the daemon to not run out of init.d? If there's any more info I can give you, let me know. Anyway here's the output of pulseaudio -vv (note the mispelling of independent in the output is not my fault:

pulseaudio -vv
I: main.c: We're in the group 'pulse-rt', allowing real-time and high-priority scheduling.
I: core-util.c: Successfully gained nice level -11.
W: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_NICE, (31, 31)) failed: Operation not permitted
W: main.c: setrlimit(RLIMIT_RTPRIO, (9, 9)) failed: Operation not permitted
I: main.c: This is PulseAudio 0.9.10
I: main.c: Page size is 4096 bytes
I: main.c: Fresh high-resolution timers available! Bon appetit!
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9/modules/module-hal-detect.so': success
I: module-hal-detect.c: Trying capability alsa
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_alsa_timer
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_alsa_sequencer
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playback_1
D: module-hal-detect.c: Loading module-alsa-sink with arguments 'device_id=0 sink_name=alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_a lsa_playback_0'
D: alsa-util.c: Trying front:0...
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Successfully opened device front:0.
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Successfully enabled mmap() mode.
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:0
I: alsa-util.c: Unable to attach to mixer front:0: No such file or directory
I: alsa-util.c: Successfully attached to mixer 'hw:0'
I: alsa-util.c: Using mixer control "Master".
I: sink.c: Created sink 0 "alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playb ack_0" with sample spec "s16le 2ch 44100Hz"
I: source.c: Created source 0 "alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playb ack_0.monitor" with sample spec "s16le 2ch 44100Hz"
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Using 8 fragments of size 896 bytes.
I: alsa-util.c: ALSA device lacks independant volume controls for each channel, falling back to software volume control.
D: module-alsa-sink.c: Thread starting up
D: rtpoll.c: Acquired POSIX realtime signal SIGRTMIN+29
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Starting playback.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-alsa-sink" (index: #0; argument: "device_id=0 sink_name=alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_a lsa_playback_0").
D: module-hal-detect.c: Loading module-alsa-source with arguments 'device_id=0 source_name=alsa_input.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_ alsa_capture_0'
D: alsa-util.c: Trying front:0...
I: module-alsa-source.c: Successfully opened device front:0.
I: module-alsa-source.c: Successfully enabled mmap() mode.
ALSA lib control.c:909snd_ctl_open_noupdate) Invalid CTL front:0
I: alsa-util.c: Unable to attach to mixer front:0: No such file or directory
I: alsa-util.c: Successfully attached to mixer 'hw:0'
I: alsa-util.c: Using mixer control "Capture".
I: source.c: Created source 1 "alsa_input.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_captur e_0" with sample spec "s16le 2ch 44100Hz"
I: module-alsa-source.c: Using 8 fragments of size 896 bytes.
I: alsa-util.c: All 2 channels can be mapped to mixer channels. Using hardware volume control.
D: module-alsa-source.c: Thread starting up
D: rtpoll.c: Acquired POSIX realtime signal SIGRTMIN+28
I: module.c: Loaded "module-alsa-source" (index: #1; argument: "device_id=0 source_name=alsa_input.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_ alsa_capture_0").
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_hw_specific_1
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_hw_specific_0
D: module-hal-detect.c: Not loaded device /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_control__1
I: module-hal-detect.c: Loaded 2 modules.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-hal-detect" (index: #2; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9/modules/module-esound-protocol-unix.so': success
I: module.c: Loaded "module-esound-protocol-unix" (index: #3; argument: "socket=/tmp/.esd-1002/socket").
I: protocol-native.c: loading cookie from disk.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-native-protocol-unix" (index: #4; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9/modules/module-gconf.so': success
D: module-gconf.c: Loading module 'module-null-sink' with args 'sink_name=rtp format=s16be channels=2 rate=44100 description="RTP Multicast Sink"' due to GConf configuration.
I: sink.c: Created sink 1 "rtp" with sample spec "s16be 2ch 44100Hz"
I: source.c: Created source 2 "rtp.monitor" with sample spec "s16be 2ch 44100Hz"
D: module-null-sink.c: Thread starting up
D: rtpoll.c: Acquired POSIX realtime signal SIGRTMIN+27
I: module.c: Loaded "module-null-sink" (index: #5; argument: "sink_name=rtp format=s16be channels=2 rate=44100 description="RTP Multicast Sink"").
D: module-gconf.c: Loading module 'module-rtp-send' with args 'source=rtp.monitor loop=0' due to GConf configuration.
I: source-output.c: Created output 0 "RTP Monitor Stream" on rtp.monitor with sample spec s16be 2ch 44100Hz and channel map front-left,front-right
D: memblockq.c: memblockq requested: maxlength=174080, tlength=174080, base=4, prebuf=1, minreq=0
D: memblockq.c: memblockq sanitized: maxlength=174080, tlength=174080, base=4, prebuf=4, minreq=4
I: module-rtp-send.c: RTP stream initialized with mtu 1280 on 224.0.0.56:46896, SSRC=0x50a6d9b1, payload=10, initial sequence #10016
I: module-rtp-send.c: SDP-Data:
I: module-rtp-send.c: v=0
I: module-rtp-send.c: o=patrick 3428000826 0 IN IP4 172.16.1.16
I: module-rtp-send.c: s=PulseAudio RTP Stream on dell.linuxdev.us.dell.com
I: module-rtp-send.c: c=IN IP4 224.0.0.56
I: module-rtp-send.c: t=3428000826 0
I: module-rtp-send.c: a=recvonly
I: module-rtp-send.c: m=audio 46896 RTP/AVP 10
I: module-rtp-send.c: a=rtpmap:10 L16/44100/2
I: module-rtp-send.c: a=type:broadcast
I: module-rtp-send.c: EOF
I: module.c: Loaded "module-rtp-send" (index: #6; argument: "source=rtp.monitor loop=0").
D: module-gconf.c: Loading module 'module-rtp-recv' with args '' due to GConf configuration.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-rtp-recv" (index: #7; argument: "").
D: module-gconf.c: Loading module 'module-native-protocol-tcp' with args 'auth-anonymous=1' due to GConf configuration.
I: protocol-native.c: using already loaded auth cookie.
I: protocol-native.c: using already loaded auth cookie.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-native-protocol-tcp" (index: #8; argument: "auth-anonymous=1").
D: module-gconf.c: Loading module 'module-esound-protocol-tcp' with args 'auth-anonymous=1' due to GConf configuration.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-esound-protocol-tcp" (index: #9; argument: "auth-anonymous=1").
D: module-gconf.c: Loading module 'module-zeroconf-publish' with args '' due to GConf configuration.
D: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Publishing services in Zeroconf
D: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully created entry group for patrick@dell: ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog) via DMA.
D: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully created entry group for patrick@dell: RTP Multicast Sink.
D: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully created entry group for patrick@dell: ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog) via DMA.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-zeroconf-publish" (index: #10; argument: "").
D: module-gconf.c: Loading module 'module-zeroconf-discover' with args '' due to GConf configuration.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-zeroconf-discover" (index: #11; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-gconf" (index: #12; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-volume-restore" (index: #13; argument: "").
D: module-default-device-restore.c: Restored default sink 'rtp'.
D: core-subscribe.c: dropped redundant event.
D: module-default-device-restore.c: Restored default source 'rtp.monitor'.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-default-device-restore" (index: #14; argument: "").
I: module.c: Loaded "module-rescue-streams" (index: #15; argument: "").
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playba ck_0 becomes idle.
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink rtp becomes idle.
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Source alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playba ck_0.monitor becomes idle.
D: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Source alsa_input.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_capture _0 becomes idle.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-suspend-on-idle" (index: #16; argument: "").
D: cli-command.c: Checking for existance of '/usr/lib/pulse-0.9/modules/module-x11-publish.so': success
D: module-x11-publish.c: using already loaded auth cookie.
I: module.c: Loaded "module-x11-publish" (index: #17; argument: "").
I: main.c: Daemon startup complete.
D: module-hal-detect.c: dbus: interface=org.freedesktop.DBus, path=/org/freedesktop/DBus, member=NameAcquired
I: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully established service patrick@dell: ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog) via DMA.
I: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully established service patrick@dell: RTP Multicast Sink.
I: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully established service patrick@dell: ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog) via DMA.
I: module-zeroconf-publish.c: Successfully established main service.
I: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Source alsa_input.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_capture _0 idle for too long, suspending ...
I: module-alsa-source.c: Device suspended...
I: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Source alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playba ck_0.monitor idle for too long, suspending ...
I: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink rtp idle for too long, suspending ...
I: module-suspend-on-idle.c: Sink alsa_output.pci_8086_284b_sound_card_0_alsa_playba ck_0 idle for too long, suspending ...
I: module-alsa-sink.c: Device suspended...
D: module-hal-detect.c: dbus: interface=org.freedesktop.Hal.Device, path=/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer_power_supply_battery_BAT0, member=PropertyModified

[psyke83]

Thanks for the output. The libraries that are really crucial are:

conn@conn-desktop:~$ dpkg -L libasound2-plugins | grep pulse.so
/usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
/usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_ctl_pulse.so

If you launch Firefox from a terminal and watch the output (or perhaps in ~/.xsession-errors), you will see if there are any problems with the ALSA plugins.

Again, the 32bit libflashsupport libraries must be removed and 32bit libasound2-plugins must be installed (via getlibs). Additionally, the 64bit libasound2-plugins must be installed via the regular package (for native 64bit applications, though).

Thanks for helping to sort this mess out, I really appreciate it!

[IntuitiveNipple]

Wow, I did say this can get confusing didn't I?

I've removed /usr/lib32/libflashsupport.so again, ensured /usr/lib32/libasound.so.2.0.0 is in place, and that the user ~/.asoundrc and ~/.asoundrc.asoundconf are as described above.

I restarted Firefox 3.0.1 (x86_64) and visited YouTube. A video starts playing and now Pulse Audio Volume Control Playback streams list "ALSA plug-in [npviewer.bin]: ALSA Playback" (Stereo)

Then I start up the UserPlane webchat application and for the first time, I hear sound and Volume Control reports "ALSA plug-in [npviewer.bin]: ALSA Playback" (Mono).

So, am I correct in thinking that is what is expected when this configuration is working correctly?

[psyke83]

I've done the complete installation on Hardy with latest updates and your repository enabled. Sadly it did not work--I'm giving you all the info I can think of in case it helps. I really would like to have pulseaudio working. I have Intel sound on a Dell motherboard. The pulseaudio daemon doesn't start at reboot. As root, /etc/init.d/pulseaudio causes no messages in any of the logs, but also no pulseaudio daemon. Strange. You'd expect the Starting Pulseaudio Daemon message followed by errors if it didn't start. If as a user, I run pulseaudio -vv it looks like it works fine (inline below), but when I run rhythmbox there's no sound. It shows up in the pulseaudio volume control saying ALSA plug-in [rhythmbox]: ALSA Playback. rythmbox looks as if it's playing, i.e. the UI gives me feedback that it's moving through songs, but there's no sound. The sound doesn't show up as muted either in input or output. If before running pulseaudio I run rhythmbox it plays fine with good sound output. After killing pulseaudio and rhythmbox, restarting rhythmbox results in fine sound again without having to restart the machine. My sound preferences are set to Autodetect. While the Sound Preferences are up and I click play, I get sound and it shows up in the pulseaudio volume control. Right now I have both rhythmbox and the sound preferences playing. They look identical in the volume control, i.e. both say ALSA plug-in [their name]: ALSA Playback, but there's sound from the sound prefs (annoying beep), but none for rhythmbox. I saw other posts where they mentioned that pulseaudio -k && pulseaudio -vv had as part of its output: E: main.c: Failed to kill daemon. That's because, like me they didn't have pulseaudio running. I wonder what causes the daemon to not run out of init.d? If there's any more info I can give you, let me know. Anyway here's the output of pulseaudio -vv (note the mispelling of independent in the output is not my fault:

Thanks for the output (by the way, it's better to place such text in CODE brackets to make things a little neater).

As you suspect, the verbose output doesn't show any problems - it should be working. Also, the fact that Rhythmbox is trying to use ALSA output even though the output in System/Preferences/Sound is *very* suspicious. This shouldn't be happening.

Do other applications that use PulseAudio play sound correctly, e.g. Totem or VLC?

[psyke83]

Wow, I did say this can get confusing didn't I?

I've removed /usr/lib32/libflashsupport.so again, ensured /usr/lib32/libasound.so.2.0.0 is in place, and that the user ~/.asoundrc and ~/.asoundrc.asoundconf are as described above.

I restarted Firefox 3.0.1 (x86_64) and visited YouTube. A video starts playing and now Pulse Audio Volume Control Playback streams list "ALSA plug-in [npviewer.bin]: ALSA Playback" (Stereo)

Then I start up the UserPlane webchat application and for the first time, I hear sound and Volume Control reports "ALSA plug-in [npviewer.bin]: ALSA Playback" (Mono).

So, am I correct in thinking that is what is expected when this configuration is working correctly?

Yes! Finally, that configuration is optimal. The libasound.so.2.0.0 library is important, but it's part of the "libasound" package which should already be installed in 32bit and 64bit form. It's the pulse_pcm plugins from "libasound2-plugins" that were causing you the issue.

So, it seems you have found the proper (PulseAudio) configuration for 64bit users (in addition to the instructions on my post): remove /usr/lib32/libflashsupport.so and install libasound2-plugins via getlibs (ugly, but it can get fixed officially in the ia32-lib package). Am I missing something else?

Edit: hmm, perhaps the 32bit component of the "libasound2" package needed to be updated too? The older version, 1.0.15 of "libasound2" may be present in ia32-libs, which can cause problems... though I can't be certain.

Edit2: considering the way "getlibs" functions, it is important that the "libasound2-plugins" (and perhaps also "libasound2") package is fetched from my PPA, not from Hardy's repositories - otherwise you'll be using the buggy 1.0.15 version. That could make a difference.

[phorgan1]

Thanks for the output (by the way, it's better to place such text in CODE brackets to make things a little neater).

As you suspect, the verbose output doesn't show any problems - it should be working. Also, the fact that Rhythmbox is trying to use ALSA output even though the output in System/Preferences/Sound is *very* suspicious. This shouldn't be happening.

Do other applications that use PulseAudio play sound correctly, e.g. Totem or VLC?

I'm getting no sound when pulseaudio is running from vlc. It lists in the volume control as VLC Media Player: audio stream. Again, while it's listed but not playing, I can play the sound from the sound preferences and it shows up in the volume control as ALSA Playback and plays correctly.

Any thoughts on pulseaudio not starting during boot, or ideas on debugging it?

Patrick

[psyke83]

I'm getting no sound when pulseaudio is running from vlc. It lists in the volume control as VLC Media Player: audio stream. Again, while it's listed but not playing, I can play the sound from the sound preferences and it shows up in the volume control as ALSA Playback and plays correctly.

Any thoughts on pulseaudio not starting during boot, or ideas on debugging it?

Patrick

Are you using Ubuntu (the GNOME release)? If you are, PulseAudio is configured to run per-user via the GNOME Session Properties, not as a system daemon (via /etc/init.d or similar). Essentially you shouldn't need to do anything to make PulseAudio start upon login.

Were you having these problems before you tried the packages in my PPA? You can either:

a) Downgrade to the default Hardy packages and undo the changes from this guide: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...06#post5595106

or

b) Disable PulseAudio (unfortunately). Delete ~/.asoundrc* and set the "Sound playback" entries to ALSA in System/Preferences/Sound.

It would be nice to sort out your issue, though, so I recommend you try the first option.