How To: The (almost) Perfect Pulse Audio Setup

[zman0900]

After much tinkering, I have finally found a setup with Pulse Audio on Hardy that I am happy with. Since a lot of people are having trouble with it, here's what I did:

Updates:

1. Added link to method for 5.1 sound
2. Patched SDL pulse driver. See changes in Step 3: libsdl1.2debian-all is no longer needed.
   I've submitted a bug to try to get this patch incorporated in the Ubuntu version: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s....2/+bug/225467
3. Created repository for new pulse drive (supports i386, amd64, and lpia)
   More changes to Step 3 now.

1) Install additional packages

sudo apt-get install libao-pulse libasound2-plugins

2) Configure settings
--edit your /etc/asound.conf file like so:

pcm.pulse {
    type pulse
}
ctl.pulse {
    type pulse
}
pcm.!default {
    type pulse
}
ctl.!default {
    type pulse
}

--edit your /etc/libao.conf like so:

default_driver=pulse

Create any files that don't exist.

--Go to System>Preferences>Sound
--Set the top four boxed to PulseAudio Sound Server
--Set the Default mixer to the name of your sound card

3) Install additional Pulse packages

sudo apt-get install libflashsupport padevchooser pulseaudio-module-hal pulseaudio-module-x11

Allow it to install the additional dependencies.

--Updated here:--
To ensure you have the default libSDL install, first run this:

sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian libsdl1.2debian-alsa

Now add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list (this will add my repository, it only the packages you need):

## zman0900's PPA
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/zman0900/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/zman0900/ubuntu hardy main

Now run the following:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio

Note: If libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio will not install for you, do the following two things instead:

sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian-all

and add this to ~/.profile :

# Make SDL audio work properly with Pulse
#export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulse

Both libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio and libsdl1.2debian-all contain that patched Pulse driver, all just requires you to explicitly use Pulse with the SDL_AUDIODRIVER environment variable.
--End Update--

5) Set up device chooser
Go to Applications>Sound & Video>PulseAudio Device Chooser
It will show up as a plug in notification area.
Left click, click Preferences, check Start applet on session login.

6) RESTART THE COMPUTER!
Everything should be set up now. You should now be able to play audio through both ALSA, esd, and Pulse applications at the same time, and everything will show up in the Device Chooser as a separate, configurable stream.

Additional Info:
See the PulseAudio website for info about many other applications:
http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/PerfectSe...tyApplications

About OSS applications:
If you want to use an OSS application at the same time as any other sounds playing through Pulse, us the command:

padsp <some-oss-program>

This should work for any OSS application. That will redirect the sound through Pulse. Without padsp, the OSS application is the only thing that can play sound while its running.

Possible Method for 5.1 Sound:
See here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...38&postcount=4

Current Issues:

1. Wine does not work properly through alsa, esd, or oss.
2. The pulse driver for SDL has a very slight audio lag, but it is much less than with the esd driver.
3. Some other programs may not work that well with alsa through Pulse.
   See bug: http://www.pulseaudio.org/ticket/285

Post something if you know of more.

[rabid9797]

worked perfectly i initially came looking to see if i could fix flash playback, but i ended just following the entire guide and it worked without any flaws/bugs! thanks

[irshadcharm]

will 5.1 surround sound work if i follow the exact steps? This is my sound card....Please help...

cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec

Output:

Codec: SigmaTel STAC9221 A1

[zman0900]

I believe some additional steps will be required, these steps give you the default 2 channel setup. If you search the forums some more, I think I may have seen something about getting 5.1 sound to work with Pulse, so you might try that after this. I myself don't have the hardware to test it.

[impert]

Thanks, but it didn't work for me.

[Zorael]

Do note that Skype won't work until they change how it interacts with ALSA. There is a workaround which dumbs down pulse, disabling stuff like automatic device detection and volume settings individual to apps. If, like me, you only use Skype for the chat anyway, you can grab the OSS version for the time being, and alter your shortcuts to launch it with padsp. The sound stutters, so your voice chat experience may be mediocre, but stuttering "new message" notifications don't bother me much.

I downloaded it (Skype OSS), extracted it into /opt/skype.oss, then made a wrapper script and saved it as /usr/local/bin/skype.oss. Off the top of my head:

#!/bin/bash

padsp /opt/skype.oss/skype &

$ sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/skype.oss

http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-oss

[Jerdsy]

Has anyone tried this with Xubuntu?

[durand]

Cool, seems to work with sdl games (no sound but I can see the stream in pavucontrol). I guess it will work when I restart. Thanks

[jorge.py]

I get 5.1 working with this:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...38&postcount=4

[durand]

Thanks for the 5.1 trick!