ALSA Volume control

Mutant_Fruit

Ok, so i finally got alsa installed (i'll post up a solution later), but i can't control the volume from the built in gnome volume control on the taskbar thingy. It "can't find mixer devices" or something similar, so i'm reduced to using gnome-alsamixer which means i can't use my keyboard shortcuts to mute/increase/decrease volume.

Anyone know of a way i can use my keyboard shortcuts with gnome-alsamixer, or get the built in volume control working with alsa, or just know how to adjust volume with the keyboard using any app.

declan_lgs

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

It "can't find mixer devices" or something similar

maybe ya need to setup a symlink?

edit: try right clicking the applet and messing about in preferences

Mutant_Fruit

the applet tells me that when i try to open it up, and if i go into it's preferences, it can't find anything to control (i.e. no master volume, no PCM volume etc etc). Theres nothing there.

maxheadroom

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

the applet tells me that when i try to open it up, and if i go into it's preferences, it can't find anything to control (i.e. no master volume, no PCM volume etc etc). Theres nothing there.

What version of gnome?

Also, you could try compiling/installing your ALSA setup with OSS emulation?

Mutant_Fruit

afaik i do have oss emulation enabled, how do i check?

I compiled my kernel with sound support as a module, and then disabled alsa and OSS completely in the kernel.

I then downloaded and installed alsa-drivers, alsa-utils and alsa-lib as per instructions for the intel8x0 driver. I then went and got the oss part of alsa, and installed that. Is there anything else i have to do?

As for what version, i think its 2.8. Its whatever version comes as standard with Debian Sarge.

Fenster

Tag, I've this problem on my laptop

maxheadroom

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

afaik i do have oss emulation enabled, how do i check?

IIRC, OSS emulation should give you a device '/dev/mixer' which can be used by non alsa-aware programs to control the volume. Try an lsmod and see what modules are loaded.

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

I compiled my kernel with sound support as a module, and then disabled alsa and OSS completely in the kernel.

I then downloaded and installed alsa-drivers, alsa-utils and alsa-lib as per instructions for the intel8x0 driver. I then went and got the oss part of alsa, and installed that. Is there anything else i have to do?

Can't help you with any of that, never used Debian. It sounds a little off to have disabled ALSA in the kernel though... What happens if you enable the alsa support as modules, as well as the oss emulation (but leave the actual OSS section disabled)?

Can you check your alsa modules configuration (in Gentoo its /etc/modules.d/alsa) for this following line: 'alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0' - that should tell ALSA to turn on OSS emulation for your 1st sound card.

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

As for what version, i think its 2.8. Its whatever version comes as standard with Debian Sarge.

Hmmm... I remember reading something about Gnome 2.6's volume applet having trouble with ALSA but it was meant to be fixed by 2.8.

declan_lgs

Mutant_Fruit wrote:

As for what version, i think its 2.8. Its whatever version comes as standard with Debian Sarge.

run 'gnome-about' ... its in the bottom left

Mutant_Fruit

Well, i re-compiled the kernel with alsa support built as modules, and loaded that up, then i just installed the newer packages from their website to upgrade to the latest drivers and everythings hunky dorey, except for a few bugs i reported. Thanks for the help.