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View Full Version : [ubuntu] [9.04] Sound Confusion



Olmy
August 25th, 2009, 08:40 AM
I've had a problem with my sound jumping which I solved by using a .asoundrc file by blindly following instructions here....

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/alsa-sound-jumpy-alsa-space-xrun-of-at-least-11.449-msecs.-resetting-stream-310756/

Since then I've been trying audio players and found that Audacious seems to bypass this fix and still jumps while playing sound - no amount of playing with its own buffer size seems to help.

Help on that problem would be great but all this just highlights the fact that I've no idea what's going on with the sound system. Sound preferences gives following list of output devices...

HDA Intel ALC268 Analog (ALSA)
HDA Intel ALC268 Analog (OSS)
HDA Intel ALC268 Analog (OSS) [Yes, in the list twice!]
ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
OSS - Open Sound Server
PulseAudio Sound Server

All but the first work in the sense that I can produce a test tone in the sound preferences screen.

In the volume control I then have the following list...

HDA Intel (Alsa mixer)
Realtek ALC268 (OSS mixer)
Playback: HDA Intel - ALC268 Analog (PulseAudio mixer)

Plus some capture stuff that I'll leave to one side for the time being...

My skype setup audio devices seem to have a somewhat different list again and seems to be set (I don't think I did it explicitly) to something called 'dsp'.

I've been searching around linux sound and found lots of detailed 'how-tos' relating to specific problems but little in the way of overall explanation. I can't help feeling a block diagram would help a lot; showing exactly what components are sitting between the hardware and applications. What does changing the settings on the sound preferences actually do? Is the volume control just three separate controls (feeding different apps?) or does selecting another device here actually change the system?

Anything to help clear up the confusion would be appreciated....

Olmy
August 25th, 2009, 03:57 PM
Somebody...?

Surely there must be something out there that explains how it all fits together?

Book recommendation, perhaps?

Olmy
August 25th, 2009, 10:44 PM
Have I missed something obvious?

Is this the wrong topic to ask the question in?

If so, can somebody please take pity on me and point me in the right direction?

Does nobody know.....?

:confused: