From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ingo_M=FCller?= Subject: Re: Call for Explanation of ALSA Config Behavior Date: Sat, 05 May 2007 10:30:34 +0200 Message-ID: <463C40AA.2050402@ingomueller.net> References: <463C3130.1070105@taupro.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from server2.internet4ever.de (unknown [212.112.224.179]) by alsa0.perex.cz (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5BD5224400 for ; Sat, 5 May 2007 10:30:36 +0200 (CEST) Received: from [192.168.0.21] (dslb-088-064-191-252.pools.arcor-ip.net [88.64.191.252]) by server2.internet4ever.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id DEEDFCD11BD for ; Sat, 5 May 2007 10:30:35 +0200 (CEST) In-Reply-To: <463C3130.1070105@taupro.com> List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: alsa-devel-bounces@alsa-project.org Errors-To: alsa-devel-bounces@alsa-project.org To: ALSA development List-Id: alsa-devel@alsa-project.org Hi! I not an expert at all, but maybe I can bring some light into the dark... Jeff Rush schrieb: > I'm trying to get ALSA to support all the little features of my laptop, which > is based on the Intel HDA chipset with the Realtek codec. I'm also playing > with the softvol plug to add a volume controls over certain virtual devices. > > A few questions I can't figure out: > > 1. Isn't it the standard convention that there be a control named "Master" > that adjusts the overall volume of a device? So why does the Intel HDA > ALSA driver define one named "Headphone" that does the same thing instead > of following that convention? Is there some reason, or perhaps a > difference in opinion within the ALSA community on the naming of controls? > Shouldn't every ALSA driver define a "Master" control? I totally agree with you and I'm surprised regularly how unituive volume control is on some drivers. IMO, there should be a Master control, controling all the output, and controls that permit to control all output of one channel (for example 5.1 cards would have front, rear and center/lfe controls). Unfortunately, I don't have enough programming skills to change that :-/ > 2. When I add a control using the softvol plugin, the mixer GUI shows it in > both the playback and the capture set of controls. Why and how can I > tag a control to belong to only one set or the other? Being a volume > control it seems it should only be in the playback collection. I'd be glad to know the solution to that problem, too! Maybe it can be "found" on http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/pcm_plugins.html#pcm_plugins_softvol, but probably only, if you already know it... Maybe the "[iface STR] # interface of the element" part is the key? If someone knows, please tell me, so I can update the softvol article of the wiki. > 3. Once I add such a control, it -never- goes away. What I mean is that if > I rename it, or remove it, and restart ALSA or even restart the entire > computer, the old name for the control always shows up in the mixer GUI. > I've grepped *all* of /etc, looking in the /etc/asound.conf, > /etc/asound.state and ~/.asoundrc files but the old name isn't anywhere > -- where is it coming from? On http://alsa.opensrc.org/Softvol, you can find an explanation of how to finally remove a softvol control. I admit that it's kind of tricky :-) > Thanks very much for any help you can provide, For years I've just tried to > "use" ALSA but now I'm trying to actually understand its subtle nuances. > > -Jeff I hope this helps. Greets, Ingo