Gnome Sound Server


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Hi there, sorry for all these topics :p but I am so close to getting everything to work perfectly :)

I get sound via OSS in xmms and other apps but Gnome will not play it's desktop sounds. I have ticked the box labels 'sound server startup' and 'sounds for events' in the control panel thingy, but no sounds are played. I've checked the usual volume etc but I don't think this is the problem as xmms works fine.

Is there a config file I can alter to make sure gnome's sound server is using OSS rather than alsa or anything else?

PS - I've googled and searched other forums with no luck.

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AFAIK, if you've got ALSA installed and running, and you don't have the Sound Server Startup box checked, Gnome will use ALSA regardless. You could try poking around in the gconf-editor to see if there is a key to specify it, but I think the only one there is for sound server startup.

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OK this is strange, I've just run alsamixer, and strangely I am able to control my sound volumes in there. This makes me think I am running alsa. However if I select the alsa output for xmms, I'm given a message about not being able to open the sound card. Anybody care to tell me how I can check what I'm running? Also will I need to uninstall OSS somehow before installing Alsa?

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Yes, you should probably uninstall OSS if you are using ALSA because ALSA includes its own OSS compatibility modules. To check if ALSA is already running, open up a terminal and type lsmod. This will list all the currently loaded kernel modules. Look for modules that begin with "snd-" (i.e. for my Soundblaster Live which has the emu10k1 chipset, one of my modules is called snd-emu10k1). There should be about 4-6 "snd-" modules loaded if you are using ALSA. You need to edit some configuration files to get ALSA to recognize your card though. This is all detailed in the documentation on the project's website here.

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OK this is what lsmod gives me

bash-2.05b# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by    Not tainted
snd-pcm-oss            37252   1
snd-mixer-oss          11992   1  [snd-pcm-oss]
keybdev                 1952   0  (unused)
mousedev                4244   1
hid                    21156   0  (unused)
usbmouse                2008   0  (unused)
input                   3200   0  [keybdev mousedev hid usbmouse]
uhci                   24496   0  (unused)
usbcore                58400   1  [hid usbmouse uhci]
snd-ice1724            17396   2
snd-pcm                55904   0  [snd-pcm-oss snd-ice1724]
snd-timer              13252   0  [snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc          6004   0  [snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec         37240   0  [snd-ice1724]
snd-ice17xx-ak4xxx      1328   0  [snd-ice1724]
snd-mpu401-uart         3136   0  [snd-ice1724]
snd-rawmidi            12512   0  [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device          3920   0  [snd-rawmidi]
snd-ak4xxx-adda         3532   0  [snd-ice1724 snd-ice17xx-ak4xxx]
snd                    27460   0  [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-ice1724 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-ak4xxx-adda]
8139too                15240   1
mii                     2304   0  [8139too]
crc32                   2880   0  [8139too]
tuner                  10272   1  (autoclean)
tda9887                 3100   1  (autoclean)
tvaudio                13628   0  (autoclean) (unused)
bttv                   94432   0  (unused)
i2c-algo-bit            6984   1  [bttv]
i2c-core               12740   0  [tuner tda9887 tvaudio bttv i2c-algo-bit]
soundcore               3332   4  [snd bttv]
videodev                5664   2  [bttv]
pcmcia_core            40032   0
ide-scsi                9424   0
agpgart                39576   0  (unused)
bash-2.05b#

Thing is, the alsa plugin for xmms won't work but the OSS one does!

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looks like you are using 2.6.x-kernel branch, as there is an "snd-timer"-module inserted into the kernel (a newer feature of 2.6). there used to be quite a lot of issues with the alsa-code in 2.6, so you will have to be more specific.

what soundcard?

what dist?

what kernel version (incl. patches)?

does it print the "alsa starting...... [ok]" when booting up the machine?

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Nope, it's 2.4. The distro is slackware 9.1. The kernel is the default acpi one (the non-acpi one works the same with regards to sound but does not shut down my machine properly). The sound card is a gainward hollywood 7.1 which uses the Envy 24 HT chipset. I'm about to reboot to see what messages about alsa are displayed as there are none in the system log.

Thanks for the help :)

Edit Just rebooted, the only things I saw about alsa were 'loading alsa mixer settings from ...' and 'loading oss compatibility modules for alsa'.

Edited by hornett
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I tried that last night, and I had some problems ... please could you link me to the guide you used or give me some directions? When I tried, it seemed to be going fine but when I rebooted I had no modules loading at all. I tried using the slack.old I'd created in lilo but it said 'image not found' so I had to reinstall. It was no biggie tho luckily- I'm just using this to learn with at the moment and I still had XP on my other partition.

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Alright get the linux2.6.3 tarball (or if there is a newer or you want an older get it, but for all instances of 2.6.3 change to the version you got) and save it with out untarring it. 2 options: su in the terminal or logout and login as root into the console. It will be quicker in the console. move the source tarball to your /usr/src folder.

type this after you moved the tarball:

tar -xvjpf linux-2.6.3.tar.bz2

it should unpack and create a folder in /usr/src called linux-2.6.3.

type the following:

cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.3

make clean

make mrproper

make menuconfig

go through the menu and check to make sure you have everything set correctly. this is where messing up is not good. alsa should be selected as default. There is not much explaining except type ? for help on each subject that you are unsure of. also you need to know what most every component of your pc is. Also if your motherboard and card are listed in the character devices make sure you click y or m on them. this is the most important step imo. Make sure everything is right. once I forgot to allow for reiserfs support. since my root is in reiser it my kernel wouldn't load. Check and double check to make sure everything is right. this is the longest step. It takes me longer than compiling the image.

after you have got everything right exit. it will ask if you want to save the config. make sure you choose yes. then in console type:

make bzImage

make modules

make modules_install

this will take a while because it is compiling the kernel. after it is through type this (if the System.map or bzImage don't exist in the /boot directory don't worry about saving the old...I forget if they were there):

mv /boot/System.map /boot/System.mapold

cp /usr/src/linux-2.6.3/System.map /boot/System.map

mv /boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage.old

cp /usr/src/linux-2.6.3/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage

then type:

pico /etc/lilo.conf

and add this in it:

image = /boot/bzImage

root = /dev/hdc2

label = Linux2.6.3

read-only

if your root is different change it. it is the hard drive that everything for linux is stored on. your other linux entry should have the right root. use it.

then type:

lilo

you are done. shutdown, restart and choose your new linux entry :)

if the new linux kernel works you can go back into lilo.conf and delete the old linux boot if you so wish. If it doesn't, and your original won't either, boot up the computer with a livecd like knoppix, and delete your new System.map and bzImage in the /boot directory, and rename the old ones back to the original

if you have other modules like for an ethernet card or video the easiest way is to just reinstall them while in the new kernel.

you might have to edit the rc.modules file to get the modules to load.

Edited by kongit
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it should unpack and create a folder in /usr/src called linux-2.6.3.

type the following:

cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.3

make clean

make mrproper

make menuconfig

make sure you go into the new directory before running those ;)

and you don't really need to do a make clean and make mrproper when its a freshly untarred kernel source... but if you come back to redo your kernel again later then you should.

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Thanks! I'm having a go right now... I'll let you know how it goes :) PS I've read that I should creat a softlink to the source folder named 'linux' in /usr/src/- is this correct?

Edit : And I take it is ok to use make gconfig instead of make menuconfig?

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I followed it to the letter but it didn't work! I went through and clicked m for all the modules I thought I'd need and then did the make bzImage make modules make modules_install part. It boots and has reiserfs support but it loads no modules! At least, lsmod displays an empty list. :( I think I must be doing something really wrong.

Edit : USB and networking are working, but alsa isn't. I'm pretty sure I selected the right modules as well. :(

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OK I recompiled with the sound drivers for alsa as part of the kernel, but although alsamixer is used to control the level of the sound, and it lists my device at startup, xmms cannot play as alsa but only as oss and also the gnome sound server will not play any sounds.

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xmms can play with alsa, with oss emulation, it should be compiled in the kernel by default like the rest of alsa, no setup involved. I am listening to chameleon by herbie hancock right now through it. get a newer/different version if yours isn't working.

did you unmute the controls? you can change their volume without unmuting them in alsamixer. press m to mute/unmute in alsamixer.

also do you make any entrances for alsa before making the kernel in places like modules.conf or rc.modules? if you did you need to comment them out or delete them.

when I updated kernels I had to do nothing to get the sound to work.

Edited by kongit
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I know xmms should be able to play alsa but mine won't. I've just noticed though, as root the plugin does not give me an error, but I still hear no sound. If I try this as a normal user I get an error. I've tried using chmod 666 /dev/dsp* to give me permission but there is no change. As root, with xmms playing I cannot get sound even if i adjust alsamixer. Also I store the mixer settings with alsactl store.

Thank you for the help, and no I never adjusted any module files.

:)

Sorry to be annoying!

post-30-1077239747.png

Edited by hornett
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