On 12/20/2013 11:58 AM, Dan McGhee wrote: > On 12/20/2013 11:34 AM, Bruce Dubbs wrote: >> Dan McGhee wrote: >>> On 12/19/2013 08:27 AM, Dan McGhee wrote: >>>> On 12/18/2013 04:14 PM, Dan McGhee wrote: >>>>> The only addition and possibly relevant info is that my HP laptop, HP >>>>> ENVY m6 Sleekbook, has "Beats Audio." I don't know if I need to install >>>>> or do anything other than alsa. I want to use the minimal number of >>>>> packages to get the functionality that I'd like. I do know that Ubuntu >>>>> uses pulse-audio. Additionally, I found this "HowTo" >>>>> >>>>> http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/17sov5/ >>>>> >>>>> It uses "jack" to "re-pin" the speakers. "JACK" and pulseaudio are >>>>> listed as "optional" dependencies for alsa-plugins. If I need one or >>>>> both of these, I want to install them. If they're not absolutely >>>>> necessary, I'd like to get this configured "as is." >>>> Yup, this is it. I misread the "HowTo." It doesn't use "Jack" it uses an >>>> application called "hda-jack-retask." Apparently, Beats Audio is a >>>> super-duper, laptop, surround sound setup. The way I understand what I >>>> have read is that ALSA, and the current hda-intel drivers, are set up to >>>> use the two "front" speakers of a laptop. In Beats Audio these speakers >>>> are used for something else than standard "right-left" channels--maybe >>>> LFE and woofer, I can't remember right now. >>>> >>>> The trick is in knowing which motherboard pin goes to what speaker. I >>>> did something like this in a previous life when I had an Audigy sound >>>> card on my PC. It had 7.1 capability and all the sound stuff at the time >>>> had either 3.1 or 4.1 abilities. I ended up inserting a signal to the >>>> card and listening for the speaker that contained the sound. There's >>>> nothing new under the sun. >>>> >>>> This application exists as an Ubuntu or Debian package right now. I did >>>> finally find the "source" tarball, but it installs a binary. The info >>>> about this application says that in Ubuntu 13.10, to which I just >>>> updated, hda-jack-retask is now part of the alsa-tools package. This >>>> must be an Ubuntu thing because I couldn't find any patches or upstream >>>> releases at ALSA that had this. >>>> >>>> The actual, "re-pinning" is a platform specific thing and is >>>> trial-and-error. I'm hoping that someone else who monitors this list >>>> might have some experience with this application either installing it or >>>> using it. If so, I sure would like some pointers or at least someone >>>> with whom to compare notes. In any case, I will share my >>>> experience--good, bad or ugly--with the list. >>> I am still trying to get sound. I'm hoping, even if someone doesn't have >>> any experience at this, to get some comments on my logic and approach. I >>> like to have a plan, with a reasonable chance for success, based on >>> knowledge and understanding before I go charging off and install >>> packages and do things in an "easter egging" sort of way. I don't like, >>> "Try this," "No, try that." The key is, "based on knowledge and >>> understanding." I need to "know what I don't know" so I can ask >>> questions. In this case I have very little knowledge and understanding. >>> For example, I don't know how "hda-jack-retask" works. I'm just working >>> from a couple of wiki posts that say, in essence, "If you have a Beats >>> Audio System on your HP laptop, you need to do this." >>> >>> At any rate, thanks for listening. :) I studied the particular "HowTo" >>> I'm using and realized I had glossed over this statement: >>> >>>> Apply now, [Dan NOTE: The pin remapping that was outlined in previous >>>> steps.] then test with your favorite audio program (some may not work >>>> due to Pulse reset, so find one that does, verify sound is coming from >>>> all speakers). Note - on Debian I couldn't get any test sound to play, >>>> so I had to skip this step, apply boot override, and reboot before the >>>> speakers would make sound again, but they definitely all work after >>>> rebooting! >>> Here is the link for the "HowTo:" >>> >>> http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=105284 >>> >>> What's happening for me is that I do the steps for hda-jack-retask and >>> then run <speaker-test> with no success. The quoted remark seems to be >>> saying to use some audio program, other than alsa, and that PulseAudio >>> is installed. This "HowTo" appears both on Ubuntu and Debian sites, and >>> both of those distros employ PulseAudio. The author of hda-jack-retask >>> is an Ubuntu--maybe Debian--developer. No where in anything I've seen so >>> far have I read that PulseAudio is needed for this. >>> >>> I also don't know when the author of the "HowTo" says, "...on Debian I >>> couldn't get any test sound to play...," if he was referring to >>> <speaker-test> or not. >>> >>> This whole process is aimed at changing the way the "snd_hda_intel" >>> module works. I can't see that any app could reach down to the bowels of >>> that module and change it. This "retask" package may operate at a higher >>> level and need something like PulseAudio to "interpret" the changes as >>> the info comes off the sound harware. My picture is that this works >>> similarly to the way NdisWrapper works for some wireless drivers. >>> >>> So the question becomes, "Do I need higher level operations to get >>> sound?" I'm about to install PulseAudio, beef up Gstreamer and install a >>> music player to test all of this. >>> >>> Comments? Thoughts? Encouragement? Analysis? >> I've used pulseaudio and plain alsa. Pulseaudio is useful if you want >> to control the audio via a command line interface includign things like >> volume, playing multiple streams (e.g. music and beeps), etc. For >> speaker test, it sounds like the system may not be playing on the device >> you expect. Have you looked at the man page for speaker-test? >> >> -- Bruce >> > Yes, I have, Bruce. I physically have two sound devices. One is HDMI and > the other, whose chip I can't identify, runs with the Azalia Controller > so employs snd_hda_intel. `aplay -L` gives me nine devices. In addition > to "null" and the HDMI, it tells me > >> sysdefault:CARD=Generic >> HD-Audio Generic, 92HD91BXX Analog >> Default Audio Device > Then it proceeds to give me six more devices all associated with > CARD=Generic from "front" through all the combinations from surround 4.0 > to 7.1. I have used > > speaker-test -D<name of option>:Generic -c [1-6] with the same results: > >> speaker-test 1.0.27.2 >> >> Playback device is surround41:Generic >> Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels >> Using 16 octaves of pink noise >> Broken configuration for playback: no configurations available: >> Invalid argument >> Setting of hwparams failed: Invalid argument > Of course, the report isn't just limited to 1 channel all the time. It > depends on what I pass with the -c option. > > I thought I'd wait to run "alsaconf" until after my testing was > satisfactory. But maybe I should run it sooner. BTW, Bruce. I'm thinking that pulseaudio may pass the new pin mapping to the player. When I get pulse audio installed, I'm going to try this using aplayer rather then `speaker-test.`
What I discovered when I ran hda-jack-retask is that I have a number of "not connected" pins. I found a script called "alsa-info.sh" which gives more info than you ever wanted to know about your sound system and found that the pins that I need are all mapped to the same memory location. What that translates to human understanding I don't know. It just seems that 6 different pins should be mapped to different locations. These pins for example 0xfd are also those indicated "not connected." Dan Dan -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/blfs-support FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
