February 2009 - WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] no sound from ubuntu

by Strazdas, Rich

Thank you all for your assistance. Kieran's libao magic got me outputting sound to "ALSA PCM on hw:1 (pcsp)". This was better than nothing, but it sounds like a tin-can-and-string phone. Other suggestions I found on the net were dead ends. Pulseaudio showed rhythmbox sound going to "ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog)" but I couldn't get my mixer (right term?) to connect that to the speakers. ANYWAY, I went another route, installing ubuntu 8.10 on a partition on my laptop. It worked out of the box. I finally heard those bongos! -Rich -----Original Message----- From: wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org [mailto:wlug-bounces@mail.wlug.org] On Behalf Of E Johnson Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 6:22 AM To: Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [Wlug] no sound from ubuntu I'm running ubuntu 8.04 on Dell 1525n (laptop) and had sound problems out of the box when it arrived April 2008 with ubuntu 7.10 installed. I had it fixed within 24 hours. Then various kernel updates have had sound working or not, seemingly randomly. Now I'm running 8.04, with working sound in kernel 2.6.24-22 generic, which as I recall, did not need extra effort to get it working... they have it right in that one. I think we tested the later kernel and sound was broken again. Getting it going: I would first do Kieran's step 4 before starting to remove obsolete config files & that stuff. If you get any indication your sound is trying to work, go see about the switches in Alsamixer then. We have a new Gregbuilt* desktop in here, which runs ubuntu 8.04 very very nicely. But even in this, we had to set some sound switches oddly --labels on some of these speakers (front, back, etc) did not seem to correspond correctly. So it took some tweaking. If you are running on a Dell laptop (I saw something in your lspci output that mentioned Dell), and if all else fails, I would roll back to ubuntu 8.04 --the kernel I have working here --until the forums quit reporting broken sound.in intrepid. I like ubuntu hardy very well. I can share my amixer output (how switches are set in ALSA) if needed, or other config files or whatever. Your mileage may differ, but there may be some use in checking out what works here. Good luck, Liz J * a WLUG member. 2009/2/20 Kieran O'Callaghan <kieran(a)tiac.net>: > I had the same problem after upgrading to 8.10, below are my notes > from fixing it. These steps worked for me. However, I have the nagging > worry that maybe I didn't have to go through all of it (the steps 1 to > 5) and that maybe I just had to futz around with the volume levels and > other settings to get everything to work. So maybe try the stuff after > step 5 first. > > What seems to have fixed sound after it didn't work after upgrade to > 8.10: > > >From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio did: > Go to System -> Administration -> and click on Users and Groups. > > Click on Manage Groups, and scroll all the way to the bottom of the > list where you will find: > > * pulse-access > * pulse-rt > > Make sure to highlight each, one at a time, and click Properties. Just > put a check next to each user that you want to be able to have access > to sound. For example, there's "ted" and "root" and "kamilion" listed, > and you only want "kamilion" to have access to sound, that's the one > to check, leave the other two blank. > > Note: The "pulse" group is for pulseaudio internal use, and normal > users should not be added to this group. > > Then did: > 2. Configure libao applications to use PulseAudio: > Code: > > $ echo "default_driver=pulse" >~/.libao > > 3. Perform the following steps to remove obsolete configuration files, > ensure "libflashsupport" is not installed & you have the all the > necessary packages up-to-date: > Code: > > $ rm -r ~/.pulse ~/.asoundrc* > $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade $ sudo apt-get > remove libflashsupport $ sudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins > padevchooser libao-pulse libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio > > NOTE: Choose Yes to allow unsigned packages to be installed. > > 4. Go to System/Preferences/Sound. Set all "Sound playback" options to > "Autodetect", and set "Sound capture" to "ALSA". > > 5. Reboot for changes to take effect! > > Then had to use: alsamixer -D hw:0 and turn up pcm volume to get sound. > > Recording still didn't work from the built-in mic. Also, the volume > icon vanished somewhere along the line. Brought it back by going to > the panel, right clicking and hitting add and adding it from there. > Once it was there, right clicked on it and went to "open volume > control". Go to preferences for each item in the dropdown and check > everything. What seems to work is, under HDA ATI SB (Alsa Mixer), the > volumes in the recording tab can all be all the way down and the > device not set to be a recording device, under the switches tab > though, it seems to be pretty important that analog loopback is > unchecked. In the options tab, digital input source should be set to digital mic. > Under HDA ATI HDMI (Alsa Mixer), IEC958 should be unchecked Under > Sigmatel STAC9205 (OSS Mixer), it seems that the in-gain level is not > important, as long as it isn't muted. > Capture: Monitor Source of ALSA PCM on front:0 with toggle input > source from master toggled on, unmuted and turned up > Capture: ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog) .. volume turned up, > unmuted and master toggle on. Doesn't seem to matter what the volume > level is, but it does matter if it's muted. > _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug This e-mail message is generated from?Coghlin Companies Inc. or one of its subsidiaries including, but not limited to, Columbia Electrical Contractors, Inc. d/b/a Columbia Tech; DCI Automation, Inc.d/b/a DCI Engineering Services; Cogmedix, Inc.; and Coghlin Precision, Inc. This message may contain information that is?CONFIDENTIAL, and may also possibly contain information that is being held as a Trade Secret.? The information is intended to be disclosed solely to the addressee(s).? If you are the intended recipient, any information herein is to be held as CONFIDENTIAL pursuant to any Non-Disclosure Agreement applicable between the parties, or as a Trade Secret as applicable.? 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Feb. 20, 2009

Re: [Wlug] Fedora freezes

by dulsi＠identicalsoftware.com

I've been experiencing the same thing. I've assumed it was due to vmware and/or the new scheduler. At one point I got frustrated, confirmed that the computer could still be connected to and just left it alone. After 10 mins or so it started responding again. Seems to happen most when doing something intensive in vmware (like compiling a big program) and opening tabs in firefox. Dennis Payne dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com Quoting Walt <waltsaw(a)gmail.com>: > I have been experiencing freezes with Fedora 10. For no apparent > reason, the machine just stops. No mouse, no keyboard (no ctrl alt F1 > or ctrl alt del). I can only reboot with the on-off switch. Any ideas > as to what I can check? > Thanks! > Walt

Feb. 20, 2009

Re: [Wlug] Fedora freezes

by Gregory Avedissian

Walt, Check memory and power supply. If you're using a realtime kernel, that's a possible cause of lockup. And if you want to reboot more gracefully, use magic sysrq keys. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_sysrq Note that the instructions say to hold down alt-sysrq, but on my system, that brings up the window to take a screenshot. I have to hold down ctrl-alt-sysrq. Then press keys, one at a time, with a couple seconds between each: r - e - i - s - u - b (or other keys, if appropriate. See the chart in the wikipedia article.) Greg Walt wrote: > I have been experiencing freezes with Fedora 10. For no apparent > reason, the machine just stops. No mouse, no keyboard (no ctrl alt F1 > or ctrl alt del). I can only reboot with the on-off switch. Any ideas > as to what I can check? > Thanks! > Walt > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 20, 2009

Few things from last night's meeting

by Eric Martin

A couple of things from last night's meeting / dinner that might interest everybody: [IRC] I know people have mentioned it before but WLUG has an irc channel. We're on freenode and it's #wlug-ma. IRC stands for Internet Relay chat and is used for sync communication between people. Check out this wikipedia link [1] for more info. get a copy of Xchat (irc client) and when you open xchat it should prompt you for a server. Click freenode. Next it may ask you for a channel to join, type in #wlug-ma. If it doesn't ask for a channel to join, type "/join #wlug-ma" in the command bar at the bottom. [PGP Keys] Some people mentioned that their pgp keys are expiring in roughly 2 months so we need to have a keysigning again. If your key is expiring soon I would suggest generating a new key now and signing your new key with your old key. This will allow the web of trust to extend to your new key. For generating new keys, there are a few schools of thought. Some people prefer to have their master key be unlimited and generate new subkeys every so often (1/year, etc). This way signatures go to the master key but the subkeys can always be revoked if there's a problem. Others generate a key pair with a 3-5 year expiration and just get signatures again as they need them. The thing to keep in mind is how possible is it that my key will be cracked [expiration] years from now given technology. I think the current plan is to have the key signing in two months (please correct me if I'm wrong) so I'll be sending more stuff out as it gets closer. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC -- Eric Martin Key fingerprint = D1C4 086E DBB5 C18E 6FDA B215 6A25 7174 A941 3B9F

Feb. 20, 2009

Re: [Wlug] Fedora freezes

by Tal Cohen

Hi Walt, Anything in /var/log? TC -----Original Message----- From: wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org [mailto:wlug-bounces@mail.wlug.org] On Behalf Of Walt Sent: Friday, February 20, 2009 7:35 AM To: Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: [Wlug] Fedora freezes I have been experiencing freezes with Fedora 10. For no apparent reason, the machine just stops. No mouse, no keyboard (no ctrl alt F1 or ctrl alt del). I can only reboot with the on-off switch. Any ideas as to what I can check? Thanks! Walt _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

Feb. 20, 2009

Fedora freezes

by Walt

I have been experiencing freezes with Fedora 10. For no apparent reason, the machine just stops. No mouse, no keyboard (no ctrl alt F1 or ctrl alt del). I can only reboot with the on-off switch. Any ideas as to what I can check? Thanks! Walt

Feb. 20, 2009

Re: [Wlug] no sound from ubuntu

by E Johnson

I'm running ubuntu 8.04 on Dell 1525n (laptop) and had sound problems out of the box when it arrived April 2008 with ubuntu 7.10 installed. I had it fixed within 24 hours. Then various kernel updates have had sound working or not, seemingly randomly. Now I'm running 8.04, with working sound in kernel 2.6.24-22 generic, which as I recall, did not need extra effort to get it working... they have it right in that one. I think we tested the later kernel and sound was broken again. Getting it going: I would first do Kieran's step 4 before starting to remove obsolete config files & that stuff. If you get any indication your sound is trying to work, go see about the switches in Alsamixer then. We have a new Gregbuilt* desktop in here, which runs ubuntu 8.04 very very nicely. But even in this, we had to set some sound switches oddly --labels on some of these speakers (front, back, etc) did not seem to correspond correctly. So it took some tweaking. If you are running on a Dell laptop (I saw something in your lspci output that mentioned Dell), and if all else fails, I would roll back to ubuntu 8.04 --the kernel I have working here --until the forums quit reporting broken sound.in intrepid. I like ubuntu hardy very well. I can share my amixer output (how switches are set in ALSA) if needed, or other config files or whatever. Your mileage may differ, but there may be some use in checking out what works here. Good luck, Liz J * a WLUG member. 2009/2/20 Kieran O'Callaghan <kieran(a)tiac.net>: > I had the same problem after upgrading to 8.10, below are my notes from > fixing it. These steps worked for me. However, I have the nagging worry > that maybe I didn't have to go through all of it (the steps 1 to 5) and > that maybe I just had to futz around with the volume levels and other > settings to get everything to work. So maybe try the stuff after step 5 > first. > > What seems to have fixed sound after it didn't work after upgrade to > 8.10: > > >From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio did: > Go to System -> Administration -> and click on Users and Groups. > > Click on Manage Groups, and scroll all the way to the bottom of the list > where you will find: > > * pulse-access > * pulse-rt > > Make sure to highlight each, one at a time, and click Properties. Just > put a check next to each user that you want to be able to have access to > sound. For example, there's "ted" and "root" and "kamilion" listed, and > you only want "kamilion" to have access to sound, that's the one to > check, leave the other two blank. > > Note: The "pulse" group is for pulseaudio internal use, and normal users > should not be added to this group. > > Then did: > 2. Configure libao applications to use PulseAudio: > Code: > > $ echo "default_driver=pulse" >~/.libao > > 3. Perform the following steps to remove obsolete configuration files, > ensure "libflashsupport" is not installed & you have the all the > necessary packages up-to-date: > Code: > > $ rm -r ~/.pulse ~/.asoundrc* > $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade > $ sudo apt-get remove libflashsupport > $ sudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins padevchooser libao-pulse > libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio > > NOTE: Choose Yes to allow unsigned packages to be installed. > > 4. Go to System/Preferences/Sound. Set all "Sound playback" options to > "Autodetect", and set "Sound capture" to "ALSA". > > 5. Reboot for changes to take effect! > > Then had to use: alsamixer -D hw:0 and turn up pcm volume to get sound. > > Recording still didn't work from the built-in mic. Also, the volume icon > vanished somewhere along the line. Brought it back by going to the > panel, right clicking and hitting add and adding it from there. Once it > was there, right clicked on it and went to "open volume control". Go to > preferences for each item in the dropdown and check everything. What > seems to work is, under HDA ATI SB (Alsa Mixer), the volumes in the > recording tab can all be all the way down and the device not set to be a > recording device, under the switches tab though, it seems to be pretty > important that analog loopback is unchecked. In the options tab, digital > input source should be set to digital mic. > Under HDA ATI HDMI (Alsa Mixer), IEC958 should be unchecked > Under Sigmatel STAC9205 (OSS Mixer), it seems that the in-gain level is > not important, as long as it isn't muted. > Capture: Monitor Source of ALSA PCM on front:0 with toggle input source > from master toggled on, unmuted and turned up > Capture: ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog) .. volume turned up, > unmuted and master toggle on. Doesn't seem to matter what the volume > level is, but it does matter if it's muted. > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

Feb. 20, 2009

Re: [Wlug] no sound from ubuntu

by Kieran O'Callaghan

I had the same problem after upgrading to 8.10, below are my notes from fixing it. These steps worked for me. However, I have the nagging worry that maybe I didn't have to go through all of it (the steps 1 to 5) and that maybe I just had to futz around with the volume levels and other settings to get everything to work. So maybe try the stuff after step 5 first. What seems to have fixed sound after it didn't work after upgrade to 8.10: >From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PulseAudio did: Go to System -> Administration -> and click on Users and Groups. Click on Manage Groups, and scroll all the way to the bottom of the list where you will find: * pulse-access * pulse-rt Make sure to highlight each, one at a time, and click Properties. Just put a check next to each user that you want to be able to have access to sound. For example, there's "ted" and "root" and "kamilion" listed, and you only want "kamilion" to have access to sound, that's the one to check, leave the other two blank. Note: The "pulse" group is for pulseaudio internal use, and normal users should not be added to this group. Then did: 2. Configure libao applications to use PulseAudio: Code: $ echo "default_driver=pulse" >~/.libao 3. Perform the following steps to remove obsolete configuration files, ensure "libflashsupport" is not installed & you have the all the necessary packages up-to-date: Code: $ rm -r ~/.pulse ~/.asoundrc* $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade $ sudo apt-get remove libflashsupport $ sudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins padevchooser libao-pulse libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio NOTE: Choose Yes to allow unsigned packages to be installed. 4. Go to System/Preferences/Sound. Set all "Sound playback" options to "Autodetect", and set "Sound capture" to "ALSA". 5. Reboot for changes to take effect! Then had to use: alsamixer -D hw:0 and turn up pcm volume to get sound. Recording still didn't work from the built-in mic. Also, the volume icon vanished somewhere along the line. Brought it back by going to the panel, right clicking and hitting add and adding it from there. Once it was there, right clicked on it and went to "open volume control". Go to preferences for each item in the dropdown and check everything. What seems to work is, under HDA ATI SB (Alsa Mixer), the volumes in the recording tab can all be all the way down and the device not set to be a recording device, under the switches tab though, it seems to be pretty important that analog loopback is unchecked. In the options tab, digital input source should be set to digital mic. Under HDA ATI HDMI (Alsa Mixer), IEC958 should be unchecked Under Sigmatel STAC9205 (OSS Mixer), it seems that the in-gain level is not important, as long as it isn't muted. Capture: Monitor Source of ALSA PCM on front:0 with toggle input source from master toggled on, unmuted and turned up Capture: ALSA PCM on front:0 (STAC92xx Analog) .. volume turned up, unmuted and master toggle on. Doesn't seem to matter what the volume level is, but it does matter if it's muted.

Feb. 20, 2009

Re: [Wlug] cheap, small computer

by David P. Connell

I am running mythbuntu on a P4 Compaq returned business lease computer that I originally just picked up to get the Windows XP COA (ironic that I am not even running Windows on it at all). I added a couple of Hauppauge tuners (PVR350 and PVR150, now swapped to a single PVR500), an Nvidia 5200 AGP card with TV-out, a 120GB HDD, 1GB RAM and a DVD-RW optical drive. The PVR-350 came with a remote control and sensor. When I found that I only had to replace a couple of capacitors on the motherboard, I couldn't resist running it for a while. It fits on the AV rack since its a desktop form factor. There are tons of these things out there for under $100 plus shipping. You will likely need to make a couple of upgrades, but there are quite inexpensive, the correct form factor and not very loud at all. There is a small processor fan and the power-supply takes care of exhausting the heat. Just an option, and the COA, although not intended to be transferred, has at least some value, somewhere. check out GearXS.com and maybe ecost.com for a general list of available units. They had some Dells too. DaveC

Feb. 19, 2009

cheap, small computer

by Nick Nassar

Does anyone know of a cheap, small computer with a TV out powerful enough to run Ubuntu? Preferably something without a fan? Nick

Feb. 19, 2009