Strange Problems in 11.4

English Multimedia
1

I’ve just installed opensuse 11.4 on a G62 laptop, and I’m hoping to use Audacity with it to record some programs now on cassettes with it.

My problem is that it seems to record just fine with input going to the mic input jack, but I can’t hear the audio as it’s recording, nor do most of the inputs show up in the weird mixer (KMixer) installed by default.

As soon as I use Audacity, my sound stops working until I reboot.

I’ve seen a suggestion I should uninstall Pulse Audio to fix the mixer, and I guess i should look for an alternative to Audacity - it’s not exactly user friendly, especially when all I want to do is simple recording and playback.

Any ideas?

2

I’ve just installed opensuse 11.4 on a G62 laptop, and I’m hoping to use Audacity with it to record some programs now on cassettes with it.

My problem is that it seems to record just fine with input going to the mic input jack, but I can’t hear the audio as it’s recording, nor do most of the inputs show up in the weird mixer (KMixer) installed by default.

As soon as I use Audacity, my sound stops working until I reboot.

I’ve seen a suggestion I should uninstall Pulse Audio to fix the mixer, and I guess i should look for an alternative to Audacity - it’s not exactly user friendly, especially when all I want to do is simple recording and playback.

Any ideas?

I would just try disabling pulse at first as it might be a problem to reinstall later and get it to work. You can open up a terminal session and run the terminal commands:

To Disable …

sudo setup-pulseaudio --disable

To Enable …

sudo setup-pulseaudio --enable

While using pulse audio, it is suggested you use the PulseAudio Volume Control that comes with Gnome, but can be installed into KDE. Its called **pavucontrol **and you can search on that name in YaST / Software / Software Management and install it. I use a different control just called Mixer and file name xfce4-mixer, part of xfce which also works just fine in KDE, just to name a couple.

Thank You,

3

Do not uninstall Pulse audio.
You hit upon the problem. When you use/open Audacity that’s when the problem/sound, begins.
Run audacity from the command line. Also check audacities configuration. Paste the output of running audacity from the command line.

We also need more info. Which desktop environment are you using? By the sounds of it, I’d guess KDE. KDE uses phonon for multimedia. You might want to check those settings.
What sound card do you have? lspci will show that. What modules do you have loaded? lsmod will show that.

4

Here is the output from running audacity from the command line
rsmits@linux-exaz:~> audacity
ALSA lib pcm.c:2212:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib pcm.c:2212:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib pcm.c:2212:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:957:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) The dmix plugin supports only playback stream
Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server socket
jack server is not running or cannot be started
Expression ‘stream->capture.pcm’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c’, line: 3857
Expression ‘ret’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c’, line: 1035
Expression ‘AlsaOpen( &alsaApi->baseHostApiRep, params, streamDir, &self->pcm )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c’, line: 1192
Expression ‘PaAlsaStreamComponent_Initialize( &self->capture, alsaApi, inParams, StreamDirection_In, NULL != callback )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c’, line: 1433
Expression ‘PaAlsaStream_Initialize( stream, alsaHostApi, inputParameters, outputParameters, sampleRate, framesPerBuffer, callback, streamFlags, userData )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c’, line: 2105
Expression ‘*idev = open( idevName, flags )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/oss/pa_unix_oss.c’, line: 811
Expression ‘OpenDevices( idevName, odevName, &idev, &odev )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/oss/pa_unix_oss.c’, line: 857
Expression ‘PaOssStream_Initialize( stream, inputParameters, outputParameters, streamCallback, userData, streamFlags, ossHostApi )’ failed in ‘src/hostapi/oss/pa_unix_oss.c’, line: 1234

Yes, I’m using KDE4

Here is the output from lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS880 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (int gfx)
00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 1)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 2)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 41)
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:16.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:16.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M880G [Mobility Radeon HD 4200]
01:05.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RS880 Audio Device [Radeon HD 4200]
02:00.0 Network controller: RaLink RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)

Here is the output from lsmod

d
Module Size Used by
rfcomm 75967 6
af_packet 23463 4
sco 19079 2
bnep 17601 2
l2cap 71721 16 rfcomm,bnep
edd 9664 0
snd_pcm_oss 53391 0
cpufreq_conservative 11828 0
snd_mixer_oss 20225 1 snd_pcm_oss
cpufreq_userspace 3264 0
cpufreq_powersave 1290 0
snd_seq 66675 0
snd_seq_device 7770 1 snd_seq
powernow_k8 20011 0
mperf 1555 1 powernow_k8
fuse 80767 5
dm_mod 86272 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 28023 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 356587 1
snd_hda_intel 28773 2
snd_hda_codec 108050 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 7772 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 104468 4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
uvcvideo 70281 0
videodev 81448 1 uvcvideo
snd_timer 26774 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
hp_wmi 6818 0
rt2860sta 569097 1
v4l1_compat 17505 2 uvcvideo,videodev
crc_ccitt 1739 1 rt2860sta
snd 84374 15 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
sparse_keymap 4466 1 hp_wmi
btusb 17871 2
soundcore 8782 1 snd
v4l2_compat_ioctl32 10573 1 videodev
bluetooth 107214 9 rfcomm,sco,bnep,l2cap,btusb
rfkill 21955 3 hp_wmi,bluetooth
sr_mod 16781 0
snd_page_alloc 9569 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
i2c_piix4 11670 0
cdrom 43280 1 sr_mod
r8169 43831 0
sg 33426 0
edac_core 50847 0
shpchp 31135 0
pcspkr 2190 0
edac_mce_amd 12166 0
k10temp 3543 0
button 6829 0
wmi 11161 1 hp_wmi
video 15929 0
battery 12334 0
joydev 12166 0
pci_hotplug 32310 1 shpchp
ac 4151 0
ext4 398026 2
jbd2 91654 1 ext4
crc16 1747 2 l2cap,ext4
radeon 986425 3
ttm 74373 1 radeon
drm_kms_helper 36694 1 radeon
drm 232428 5 radeon,ttm,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 6342 1 radeon
fan 3215 0
processor 39669 1 powernow_k8
thermal 14914 0
thermal_sys 17462 4 video,fan,processor,thermal

Is this enough information?

BTW, the suggestion to uninstall pulse was supposed to fix a different problem - uncovering the other mixer channels in kmixer. I haven’t tried it yet.

Thanks, Bob.

5

i know what the problems is… ( i think) there is another app hogging the sound system… I have a similar problem when using kdenlive and audacity together. The audacity has limited audio channels to work with when kdenlive is running. once i exit kdenlive then audacity gets the other available channels to switch to, i am usually limited on my particular hardware, HDA intel, iec958, and spdif, in audacity when kdenlive is running. if you have any other type of audio or video application running , exit the app and restart audacity and see if that clears up the problem.
:slight_smile:

6

When I’m running audacity, there is no other sound program running that I know about.

7

Have you tried disabling Pulseaudio?

8

It seems to me, that your audacity is accessing the snd_pcm mod but not finmding any PCM cards so it goes on to JACK and ALSA and so on. Basically, it looks like a configuration error, either in audacity, phonon, or both.

9

Thanks for the reply, Jonathan. That gives me a place to start. Thanks, Bob.

10

When I want to do a simple record and playback … and I mean REALLY simple, I use the basic ‘arecord’ command.

For example, I can tell what record devices I have by typing “arecord -l” :


oldcpu@corei7:~> arecord -l
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card **0**: Intel [HDA Intel], device **0**: AD198x Analog [AD198x Analog]
  Subdevices: 2/3
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #**0**
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #**2**
card 1: U0x46d0x821 [USB Device 0x46d:0x821], device **0**: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

From that you can see my motherboard record input is hw:0,0 (although there are some sub-devices that confuse the issue a bit). And my webcam mic is hw:1,0. So to record from my webcam mic, here are a couple examples:


**arecord -f wav -D hw:1,0 -vv cd new.wav**

where " -D " specifies my webcam mic, and “-w and -f” specify a format.

You can also try a more basic:


arecord -D hw:1,0 new.wav

but my experience is that does not work. Typing it on my PC tells me:


oldcpu@corei7:~> arecord -D hw:1,0 new.wav
Recording WAVE 'new.wav' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
arecord: set_params:1059: Sample format non available
Available formats:
- S16_LE

That suggests to try this:


arecord -f S16_LE -D hw:1,0 new.wav

But that is also incomplete and it then gives this error:


oldcpu@corei7:~> arecord -f S16_LE -D hw:1,0 new.wav
Recording WAVE 'new.wav' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
arecord: set_params:1065: Channels count non available

Ok, so it wants me to specify the Channels. So I then also specify the channels which leads to this obvious example (after the above error):


**arecord -f S16_LE -c 2 -D hw:1,0 -vv new.wav**

Then simply play back the file new.wav !

So while that may ‘look’ complex at first look, you can see its a simply logical follow on from some basic error messages.

I don’t use audacity so I can’t help there.

I’m away on business (out of country) for the rest of the week and hence likely won’t check the forum until the weekend.

Good luck.

11

BTW, the suggestion to uninstall pulse was supposed to fix a different problem - uncovering the other mixer channels in kmixer. I haven’t tried it yet.

You don’t need to “uninstall pulse”, and you shouldn’t do that, in order to “uncover the other mixer channels in KMix”. As others have suggested, you can disable PulseAudio.

12

Audacity tries to hook on to Jack and does so if it is running and audacity is configured to do so, this is how it is suppose to behave. Audacity uses portaudio which again hooks up with either jack, alsa or oss, set your preferences here: Edit > Preferences > Devices

Don’t know about the error messages related to PCM but I get them as well, they might be related to surround? And, Audacity is working fine here.
Would suggest testing it with pulseaudio disabled, it is very easy to enable PA again if you wish to do so.

13

Audacity tries to hook on to Jack and does so if it is running and audacity is configured to do so

Badly formulated - Audacity/portaudio looks for jack to see if it is available.

As pulseaudio also is a soundserver, as jack is, it might be that Audcaity/portaudio should have an option to use pulseaudio (alsa, oss, jack, pulseaudio) if it is available. Otherwise, it might be that portaudio doesn’t have support for pulseaudio.
But all this is guessing for my part.

14

Linux Issues - Audacity Wiki

Near the top, under ‘OSS, ALSA and other sound systems’:

Audacity stable releases (1.2.6) support OSS only. Audacity beta releases (1.3.x) support ALSA, OSS and JACK to varying degrees. PulseAudio users have to rely on PulseAudio’s emulation of ALSA to work, which can be problematic.

15

Yes, Audacity 1.3.12-beta (aka 1.3.12-12.1 on my openSUSE) uses PortAudio’s API, but AFAIK PortAudio does NOT support PulseAudio. To use Audacity with PulseAudio enabled, requires Audacity to use the PulseAudio plugin for alsalibs but it is not without its problems.

I suspect running JACK with PulseAudio still presents a problem, particularly for openSUSE 11.4 (standard installation). JACK sound server running on the same machine as PulseAudio cannot access the same sound card used by PulseAudio! It’s a problem unless you have two different soundcards. To use JACK you must either disable PulseAudio or temporarily suspend it while JACK is running (if qjackctl is used) using “pasuspender – audacity <argument>” in qjackctl’s setup dialog. Last time I tried the latter on standard 11.4, it failed to work (known problem for P/A or JACK), so disabling P/A is the better/easier method.