Hi guys and girls, im new here so be as nasty as you want. I just installed 12.1 and i gotta say its really good. Its fast on my system and not a single crash yet so im loving it. I was using Arch + KDE a year ago but i stopped because i didnt have time to configure and set up things that should be working straight out of the box. In that sense, Yast is very powerful, and cant wait to see if improve more. It looks a bit ugly in KDE though, just doesnt blend in nicely.
Ive got almost everything the way i like, except for the sound output. Im running a Xonar DG and its working fine with the peakers but i also have a pair of headphones connected to my front panel jack thats not working. A long time ago in ALSA i had to split the sound to get it working but i dont know if thats working now. How can i switch the output between my speakers and my headphones? Something on the fly would be convenient too.
Also whats the consensus on PulseAudio vs Alsa? Which should be be using for a general desktop?
My recollection from various threads is the Xonar is a complex audio beast with all sorts of weird and wonderful controls, designed to confuse even the most advanced neophyte.
My 1st guess, in the absence of other information to the contrary, is the capture levels, or mute setting, are inappropriately set, which IMHO in a Xonar is easy to do. You could with PC connected to the Internet post the output URL/web-address provided by running the diagnostic script:
/usr/sbin/alsa-info.sh
and select the SHARE/UPLOAD option and copy the URL/web-address given to you when script ends, as that points to where the Xonar hardware/audio configuration for your Xonar has been uploaded (so that others can check your settings).
For superior audio control, I prefer to install the application pulse audio volume control (pavucontrol) and use that to tune my pulse audio for each multimedia application. I blogged about that here: Pulseaudio Basics for openSUSE with pavucontrol - Blogs - openSUSE Forums … but my hardware is basic, and not a complex beast like Xonar.
Pulse Audio vs Alsa ? They are two different beasts. Alsa is an audio driver that also comes with a basic API. Pulse Audio is NOT a driver and it sits on top of alsa and provides all sorts of GUI tuneable capabilities that one can only approach with the alsa API by messing in the alsa API with /home/user/. configuration file(s) of which most of us (myself included) know next to nothing. Hence I find pulse audio easier. openSUSE is now tested with pulse audio. It is NOT tested with pulse audio removed/disabled. Hence one takes their chances if they remove/disable pulse in openSUSE as one is then in uncharted territory where the both the testing and the support is next to none. At least that is my view.
Ok your setup is complex. Not only is there Xonar like you mention, but also a USB webcam (with an audio driver for the mic) and HDMI audio (probably on the motherboard).
I note:
!!Soundcards recognised by ALSA
!!-----------------------------
1 [NVidia ]: HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
HDA NVidia at 0xfb080000 irq 17
2 [DG ]: CMI8786 - Xonar DG
C-Media Oxygen HD Audio at 0xd000, irq 16
3 [Q9000 ]: USB-Audio - QuickCam Pro 9000
Logitech, Inc. QuickCam Pro 9000 at usb-0000:03:00.0-2, high speed
My view is with so many audio devices, you would benefit by installing the application ‘pulse audio volume control’ (pavucontrol) and use that to help you tune each application for your audio devices. I blogged about that here: Pulseaudio Basics for openSUSE with pavucontrol - Blogs - openSUSE Forums
Now I notice this in your xonar mixer setup:
**!!-------Mixer controls for card 2 [DG]**
Card hw:2 'DG'/'C-Media Oxygen HD Audio at 0xd000, irq 16'
Mixer name : 'CMI8786'
**Simple mixer control 'Headphones Impedance',0**
Capabilities: penum
Items: '< 64 ohms' '64-150 ohms' '150-300 ohms'
Item0: **'< 64 ohms**'
**Simple mixer control 'Analog Output',0**
Capabilities: penum
Items: 'Speakers' 'Headphones' 'FP Headphones'
Item0: **'Speakers'**
That suggests you have not selected headphones, and thus may that is why they do not work. Also there appears to be a headphone impedance control. Does that matter for your headphones ?
I see both the Headphone 1 and 2 options but none of them output to the headphones. Headphone 1 just outputs all sound to 3 speakers , so 2.1 and headphone 2 makes everything louder. I already had pavucontrol installed but cant see anything in there regarding headphones.
If you can include, to install the xfce4-mixer maybe it will help.
When I am listening thru my headphone even in kde it is the one I am using
to control the headphone volume.