If it doesn't work just remove it

[steelaworkn]

My little rant is with Pulse Audio. Why, when the sound appears not to work, do people recommend to remove Pulse Audio. Would they be better off to fix their problem than to remove it?

Many people on this forum simply don't know where the volume controls are, so they are just recommended to remove the daemon all together. Totally wierd to me.

My understanding, how limited it might be, is the ALSA and Pulse Audio were designed to work together. To separate them can quite possibly stir up more trouble in the long run.

Anyway, that is my rant. Ever since F10, the fix for me has been to simply find the volume controls and just raise the volume. I still have ALSA and Pulse Audio running on my system. I have not changed them one bit. I even put TuxGuitar on my box and was able to get the sound running on that without messing with Pulse Audio. Imagine that.

So, feel free to enlighten me, as I still have lots to learn. :confused:

[SwampKracker]

It all depends upon who is doing the talking. If the person is supporting the pulseaudio project and Fedora being the proving ground for RHEL, then the response will be to keep pulseaudio and do whatever it takes to make it work.

If the person just wants their OS to work with minimal hassle, then pulseaudio is removed. Problem solved.

I am stuck in the middle. I don't really care if pulseaudio works or not, because I see it as unnecessary overhead for (pulls number out of that dark place) 90+% of all Fedora users. Do I stream audio from one client to another? No. Does pulseaudio need to be an integral feature or an optional feature of Fedora? My vote is for optional and should not be installed by default.

[CiaW]

I actually had a similar rant about Network Manager. When someone has a problem with it, there's usually an answer to just remove it and some who say they always remove it and have never used it. If the 'solution' is to remove it, then why have it at all? I've sometimes had to enter IP's for dns servers, but generally it works for me.

I've had some sound issues, but for the most part it's worked and I don't even turn on my speakers a lot of the time unless needed for something...

[BugRocks1]

I think people do that because it is easier, some people don't like any thing that is new, people don't like the developer, some people just don't care.

Pulse audio has one thing that keeps me from removing it and that is the ability to set the volume for individual sound streams, that is very nice, I can send audio to the TV and my computer and set the volume for both separately, I don't remember being able to do that with alsa.

My only problem is that I couldn't figure it out how to make any midi synthesizer work I don't care about real time execution if it has a lag or not, it should just work to the best of the capability of pulseaudio but that do not happen.

[Dies]

I actually had a similar rant about Network Manager. When someone has a problem with it, there's usually an answer to just remove it and some who say they always remove it and have never used it. If the 'solution' is to remove it, then why have it at all? I've sometimes had to enter IP's for dns servers, but generally it works for me.

I've had some sound issues, but for the most part it's worked and I don't even turn on my speakers a lot of the time unless needed for something...

Here's one way to think about it, I don't own an HP printer, so why would I need HP libraries on my system? That's like having ATI drivers installed on my Nvidia system...

NetworkManager is designed to make life easier for users by always trying to maintain a connection, this is great for say, a laptop user who might be moving around and connecting/disconnecting from different networks all the time. It's completely useless for a desktop machine that's always connected to the same network and can have a static address, it's just another process.


I don't care what anyone says or what operating system we're talking about, it's always a good idea to get rid of anything you know you don't need, of course it would be better if it was never installed in the first place. ;)

[dwightpaige79]

My little rant is with Pulse Audio. Why, when the sound appears not to work, do people recommend to remove Pulse Audio. Would they be better off to fix their problem than to remove it?

Many people on this forum simply don't know where the volume controls are, so they are just recommended to remove the daemon all together. Totally wierd to me.

My understanding, how limited it might be, is the ALSA and Pulse Audio were designed to work together. To separate them can quite possibly stir up more trouble in the long run.

Anyway, that is my rant. Ever since F10, the fix for me has been to simply find the volume controls and just raise the volume. I still have ALSA and Pulse Audio running on my system. I have not changed them one bit. I even put TuxGuitar on my box and was able to get the sound running on that without messing with Pulse Audio. Imagine that.

So, feel free to enlighten me, as I still have lots to learn. :confused:

My rant would be just the opposite. I very well know where pavucontrol, kmix, amixer, and alsamixer are. If other volume controls are necessary to my situation please advise. When I login to F12 KDE 4.x.x volume is immediately raised to an ear splitting 100% ON EVERY VOLUME CONTROL. I'm trying to fix it with pulseaudio installed. ie. deafault F12 Kde4 install:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=237705

In that thread my removing packages isn't because I want to. But to find the cause of my problem. So far I'm getting no where. Are you willing to help me correct this issue WITH pulseaudio installed?

As per example:

http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/PulseAudioStoleMyVolumes

As stated in thread noted above:

"If you want to disable the merging of volume controls like this you may pass the 'control=' parameter to module-alsa-sink (and friends) and pass the name of a single mixer control that PulseAudio should control. PulseAudio will then refrain from changing any other controls."

1.How do I do that on my box? And is it a permanent fix?

2.Or is there a problem with driver 'snd_hda_intel'? Isn't that driver provided by alsa? And isn't it the most common sound driver since about 2007?

[BugRocks1]

http://docs.kde.org/development/en/kdemultimedia/kmix/configuration-options.html

Have you tried the obvious?

Configuring Kmix to remember your settings?

Restore volumes on login

Let KDE restore the volumes when you Login: This restores your personal volume levels, stored when you last logged out. If your Operating System saves the volume levels, you might not need this option (but on a computer with multiple users it is still needed).

[dwightpaige79]

http://docs.kde.org/development/en/kdemultimedia/kmix/configuration-options.html

Have you tried the obvious?

Configuring Kmix to remember your settings?

I believe 'Restore volumes on login' is selected by default. At any rate it has been selected in my 'Configure KMix' since long ago. And it obviously isn't working. One of the things I'm trying to figure out is where, or against what to file a bug report. Maybe this is it?

[mickza]

Sigh, pulseaudio is a real love hate relationship.

I went from Fedora 10 i686, ALSA mixer and functioning gnome-radio and tvtime to Fedora 12 x64 AMD/nVidia, pulseaudio and a saa7134 TV/Radio card that can now only produce uncontrolled sound (no volume controls within PA) via its line out jack, oh yeah, no radio either as /dev/radio has taken a hike.

Removing pulseaudio is not an option as it's so deeply embedded in gnome and I must admit that it works great with the nVidia onboard audio BUT I am getting tired of listening to tvtime via a set of headphones with built in volume controls.

Every time I do a yum update I keep hoping this problem will be resolved as it's well documented but nobody seems to be working on it

BTW don't point me at the various "workarounds" that have been posted in various places on the net, I've tried them all to no avail on my setup

End of rant:mad:

[Maryyy]

Yes, removing whole PA is not easily possible, but if all you need is to get your ALSA related issues fixed, just remove alsa-plugins-pulseaudio. This way, PA native apps will still use PA w/o problems and ALSA apps will have direct access to soundcard, not going the PA route.
But no per-application volume in ALSA apps then of course.

I use this way since F10, no PA related issues anymore.

[dwightpaige79]

My rant would be just the opposite. I very well know where pavucontrol, kmix, amixer, and alsamixer are. If other volume controls are necessary to my situation please advise. When I login to F12 KDE 4.x.x volume is immediately raised to an ear splitting 100% ON EVERY VOLUME CONTROL. I'm trying to fix it with pulseaudio installed. ie. deafault F12 Kde4 install:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=237705

In that thread my removing packages isn't because I want to. But to find the cause of my problem. So far I'm getting no where. Are you willing to help me correct this issue WITH pulseaudio installed?

As per example:

http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/PulseAudioStoleMyVolumes

As stated in thread noted above:

"If you want to disable the merging of volume controls like this you may pass the 'control=' parameter to module-alsa-sink (and friends) and pass the name of a single mixer control that PulseAudio should control. PulseAudio will then refrain from changing any other controls."

1.How do I do that on my box? And is it a permanent fix?

2.Or is there a problem with driver 'snd_hda_intel'? Isn't that driver provided by alsa? And isn't it the most common sound driver since about 2007?

I have found a work around posted here:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1340290&posted=1#post1340290

[mbratch]

My little rant is with Pulse Audio. Why, when the sound appears not to work, do people recommend to remove Pulse Audio. Would they be better off to fix their problem than to remove it?
I tried everything to get PulseAudio working. Tried all the posted procedures, etc. In the end, removing PulseAudio finally got my sound working. And, yes, I did try raising volume controls as well.

Sound is basic. It should just work out of the box. There's enough other stuff to work on besides spend hours getting one's computer to play a CD or a wave file.

Lately, even with just ALSA, my system (Fedora 12) just stopped doing sound altogether. I suspect it has to do with one of the many Fedora updates that come through that I installed, but I have no idea which one. Again, I've spent hours trying to get it to work. I've posted the problem, tried the very few suggestions made to get it to work. Nada. So now it looks like my only choice may be just to remove Linux and go to Windows. I've reinstalled Fedora too many times having gotten into a bind trying to get something to work. I have used Linux for years and don't really want to use Windows. But at least in Windows the basic stuff like sound just work and I don't have to spend time on it.

[steelaworkn]

Sorry you guys are having that much trouble with sound. I was convince a few years ago not to remove anything related to the ALSA or Pulse. Just leave them be. You can add plug-ins to meet your needs, but removing the base programs kinda screws stuff up. ALSA and Pulse were and are still design to function together.

What you do is figure out what sound card or hardware you are running. Go to the ALSA Project site and fish around there. Also, ask on here what other people with your set up are doing.

For me, I am running the Intel HDA set-up on my board. I've done nothing to the base programs, but have just added plug-ins or reinstalled plug-ins when I have added a program or hardware.

It works and my system puts out better sound than any Windows machine in the house.

[mickza]

@steelaworkn

I agree that you should not mess with the base install but, throw one of these cards:

saa7134[0]: subsystem: 1131:0000, board: Kworld Xpert TV PVR7134 [card=63,insmod option]

that's been working for years at your system and try to get tvtime & gnome-radio working.

My system was fine until the introduction of pulseaudio.

[steelaworkn]

@steelaworkn

I agree that you should not mess with the base install but, throw one of these cards:



that's been working for years at your system and try to get tvtime & gnome-radio working.

My system was fine until the introduction of pulseaudio.

Actually try this site. Hope this works: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/xpert-tv-pvr-7134-a-319028/

I don't think it is a software problem as much as a hardware communication problem...hope this works, because otherwise I know nothing and it's Saturday here and tomorrow is Resurrection Day, and....:D Blessings

[mickza]

Thx steelaworkn but that's not the problem, note the [card=63,insmod option] setting - this card has been working fine with ALSA for years all the way up to Fedora 10.

The problem is that pulseaudio configuration identifies the card correctly as:

SAA7134/SAA7135HL Video Broadcast Decoder

but does not offer any hardware output settings for it - only 1 input (analogue mono or stereo):mad:

[this213]

I'd like to know where all this "designed to work together" crap comes from. I had issue after issue after issue with pulseaudio on multiple distros, removed it, installed "esound" (which is what it replaces, not alsa) and everything is golden.

So as I see it, it's either 2 yum commands to replace it and get on with the rest of my day, or 4 days of debugging work to try to get it working right with *every* application on my system - after which some app in the future is only bound to prove it's still not fixed right. Some "drop in replacement for esound". If Pulseaudio works for you for all that you do, that's great. It doesn't for me. If it was a true drop in replacement for esound, you wouldn't have to touch anything.

[smurffit]

I'd like to know where all this "designed to work together" crap comes from. I had issue after issue after issue with pulseaudio on multiple distros, removed it, installed "esound" (which is what it replaces, not alsa) and everything is golden.

Thanks!
Now i can play Counter-Strike without restarting X. :)