From: Josh Saddler <nightmorph@lark.gentoo.org>
To: gentoo-doc-cvs@lists.gentoo.org
Subject: [gentoo-doc-cvs] cvs commit: alsa-guide.xml
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:54:35 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <E1HCHn9-0006pf-JQ@lark.gentoo.org> (raw)
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nightmorph 07/01/31 15:54:35
Modified: alsa-guide.xml
Log:
the big alsa guide update to make the whole damn thing more neutral (among other additions), fixes bugs 164573, 164576, 164577, 164578, 164593, 164597, and 164598
Revision Changes Path
1.71 xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml
file : http://sources.gentoo.org/viewcvs.py/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml?rev=1.71&view=markup
plain: http://sources.gentoo.org/viewcvs.py/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml?rev=1.71&content-type=text/plain
diff : http://sources.gentoo.org/viewcvs.py/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml?r1=1.70&r2=1.71
Index: alsa-guide.xml
===================================================================
RCS file: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml,v
retrieving revision 1.70
retrieving revision 1.71
diff -u -r1.70 -r1.71
--- alsa-guide.xml 2 Nov 2006 18:24:36 -0000 1.70
+++ alsa-guide.xml 31 Jan 2007 15:54:35 -0000 1.71
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml,v 1.70 2006/11/02 18:24:36 nightmorph Exp $ -->
+<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml,v 1.71 2007/01/31 15:54:35 nightmorph Exp $ -->
<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@
<author title="Author">
<mail link="fox2mike@gentoo.org">Shyam Mani</mail>
</author>
+<author title="Author">
+ <mail link="nightmorph@gentoo.org">Joshua Saddler</mail>
+</author>
+<author title="Contributor">
+ <mail link="flameeyes@gentoo.org">Diego Pettenò</mail>
+</author>
<abstract>
This document helps a user setup ALSA on Gentoo Linux.
@@ -18,8 +24,8 @@
<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
<license/>
-<version>2.15</version>
-<date>2006-11-02</date>
+<version>2.16</version>
+<date>2007-01-31</date>
<chapter>
<title>Introduction</title>
@@ -76,17 +82,18 @@
</p>
<ol>
- <li>
- Use ALSA provided by your kernel. This is the preferred/recommended
- method.
- </li>
- <li>
- Use Gentoo's <c>media-sound/alsa-driver</c> package.
- </li>
+ <li>Use ALSA provided by your kernel.</li>
+ <li>Use Gentoo's <c>media-sound/alsa-driver</c> package.</li>
</ol>
<p>
-We shall take a peek into both before finally deciding on one.
+The in-kernel drivers and the <c>alsa-driver</c> package can vary a little; it's
+possible that features and fixes found in one might not yet be incorporated into
+the other. The upstream developers are aware of this, but the two drivers are
+effectively separate branches of the ALSA project; they are not entirely
+identical. You should be aware that they might function slightly differently, so
+if one doesn't work for you, try the other! We shall take a peek into both
+before finally deciding on one.
</p>
<p>
@@ -101,7 +108,9 @@
</tr>
<tr>
<th>+</th>
- <ti>Pretty stable as drivers are integrated into kernel.</ti>
+ <ti>
+ No need to emerge yet another package; drivers are integrated into kernel.
+ </ti>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>+</th>
@@ -109,7 +118,7 @@
</tr>
<tr>
<th>-</th>
- <ti>Might be a slightly older version than <c>alsa-driver</c>.</ti>
+ <ti>Might be a slightly different version than <c>alsa-driver</c>.</ti>
</tr>
</table>
@@ -124,7 +133,11 @@
</tr>
<tr>
<th>+</th>
- <ti>Latest drivers from the ALSA Project.</ti>
+ <ti>Possibly the latest drivers from the ALSA Project.</ti>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <th>+</th>
+ <ti>Useful if you intend to develop audio drivers.</ti>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>-</th>
@@ -143,11 +156,11 @@
<body>
<p>
-The main difference between using <c>alsa-driver</c> and ALSA that comes with
-the kernel is that <c>alsa-driver</c> is generally more up to date than the
-version in the kernel. Since this does not make any huge difference as
-such, you are encouraged to use the ALSA provided by the kernel for ease of use.
-Before reporting any sound related issues to <uri
+The differences between <c>alsa-driver</c> and the in-kernel ALSA drivers are
+quite subtle, as mentioned earlier. Since there are not any huge differences,
+this guide will go through the process of using the ALSA provided by the kernel
+<e>first</e> for ease of use. However, if you run into problems, try switching
+to <c>alsa-driver</c>. Before reporting any sound related issues to <uri
link="https://bugs.gentoo.org">Gentoo Bugzilla</uri>, please try to reproduce
them using <c>alsa-driver</c> and file the bug report no matter what the
result.
@@ -210,6 +223,20 @@
"Details" and that will take you to the <c>emu10k1</c> specific page.
</p>
+<p>
+If you intend to use MIDI, then you should add <c>midi</c> to your USE flags in
+<path>/etc/make.conf</path> before emerging any ALSA packages. Later in the
+guide, we will show you how to set up <uri link="#midi">MIDI support</uri>.
+</p>
+
+<pre caption="MIDI support in /etc/make.conf">
+<comment>(If you want MIDI support)</comment>
+USE="midi"
+
+<comment>(If you don't need MIDI)</comment>
+USE="-midi"
+</pre>
+
</body>
</section>
<section id="kernel">
@@ -254,8 +281,8 @@
</p>
<p>
-Please note that for the sake of ease, all examples show ALSA built as modules.
-It is advisable to follow the same as it then allows the use of <c>alsaconf</c>
+Please note that for ease of use, all examples show ALSA built as modules. It
+is advisable to follow the same as it then allows the use of <c>alsaconf</c>
which is a boon when you want to configure your card. Please do <e>not</e> skip
the <uri link="#alsa-config">Configuration</uri> section of this document. If
you still like to have options built-in, ensure that you make changes to your
@@ -393,8 +420,13 @@
</pre>
<impo>
-Please note that you will have to run <c>emerge alsa-driver</c> after every
-kernel (re)compile, as the earlier drivers are deleted.
+Please note that you will have to run <c>emerge alsa-driver</c> after every
+kernel (re)compile, as the earlier drivers are deleted. To make this task
+easier, you may want to emerge the <c>module-rebuild</c> package, which will
+keep track of module packages and rebuild them for you. First run <c>module
+rebuild populate</c> to create the list, and then after every kernel
+(re)compile, you just run <c>module-rebuild rebuild</c>, and your external
+modules will be rebuilt.
</impo>
</body>
@@ -431,14 +463,21 @@
<title>Configuration</title>
<body>
+<p>
+Recent versions of <c>udev</c> (<c>>=udev-103</c>) provide some degree of
+kernel-level autoconfiguration of your sound card. If possible, try to rely on
+just letting your kernel automatically setup your sound card for you. Otherwise,
+use <c>alsaconf</c> to configure your card, as shown below.
+</p>
+
<note>
Please shut down any programs that <e>might</e> access the sound card while
running <c>alsaconf</c>.
</note>
<p>
-The easiest way to configure your sound card is to run <c>alsaconf</c>. Just
-type <c>alsaconf</c> in a shell as root.
+Another way to configure your sound card is to run <c>alsaconf</c>. Just type
+<c>alsaconf</c> in a shell as root.
</p>
<pre caption="Invoking alsaconf">
@@ -511,25 +550,13 @@
<body>
<p>
-We've completed all the setups and pre-requisites, so let's fire up ALSA. If
+We've completed all the setups and prerequisites, so let's fire up ALSA. If
you ran <c>alsaconf</c>, you can skip this step, since <c>alsaconf</c> already
does this for you.
</p>
<pre caption="Start the service">
-<comment>(ALSA as modules)</comment>
-# <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i>
- * Loading ALSA modules ...
- * Loading: snd-card-0 ... [ ok ]
- * Loading: snd-pcm-oss ... [ ok ]
- * Loading: snd-seq ... [ ok ]
- * Loading: snd-emu10k1-synth ... [ ok ]
- * Loading: snd-seq-midi ... [ ok ]
- * Restoring Mixer Levels ... [ ok ]
-<comment>(ALSA compiled in)</comment>
-# <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i>
- * Loading ALSA modules ...
- * Restoring Mixer Levels ... [ ok ]
+# <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i>
</pre>
<p>
@@ -815,11 +842,27 @@
<chapter>
<title>Other things ALSA</title>
-<section>
+<section id="midi">
<title>Setting up MIDI support</title>
<body>
<p>
+First, check to make sure that you enabled the <c>midi</c> USE flag in
+<path>/etc/make.conf</path>.
+</p>
+
+<pre caption="MIDI support in /etc/make.conf">
+USE="midi"
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+If you didn't previously enable <c>midi</c>, go ahead and add it to
+<path>/etc/make.conf</path> now. You will also need to re-emerge any ALSA
+packages that use the <c>midi</c> flag, such as <c>alsa-lib</c>,
+<c>alsa-utils</c>, and <c>alsa-driver</c>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
If your sound card is one of those that come with on-board MIDI synthesizers
and you would like to listen to some .mid files, you have to install
<c>awesfx</c> which is basically a set of utilities for controlling the AWE32
@@ -895,22 +938,23 @@
</pre>
<p>
-For timidity to play sounds, it needs a sound font. If you do not have any,
-install <c>timidity-eawpatches</c> or <c>timidity-shompatches</c> which will
-give you some sound fonts. You can have multiple sound font configurations
-installed, and you can place your own in <path>/usr/share/timidity/</path>.
-To switch between different timidity configurations, you should use the
-<c>timidity-update</c> tool provided in the timidity++ package.
+For timidity to play sounds, it needs a sound font. Fortunately, the ebuild will
+install some sound font packages for you. There are a few other font packages
+available in Portage, such as <c>timidity-freepats</c> and
+<c>timidity-eawpatches</c>. You can have multiple sound font configurations
+installed, and you can place your own in <path>/usr/share/timidity/</path>. To
+switch between different timidity configurations, you should use the
+<c>timidity-update</c> tool provided in the timidity++ package. In later
+versions of timidity, <c>eselect</c> is used to switch configurations.
</p>
-<pre caption="Installing sound fonts">
-# <i>emerge timidity-eawpatches</i>
+<pre caption="Changing configurations">
+<comment>(replace eawpatches with the name of your sound font package)</comment>
# <i>timidity-update -g -s eawpatches</i>
-<comment>(or)</comment>
-
-# <i>emerge timidity-shompatches</i>
-# <i>timidity-update -g -s shompatches</i>
+<comment>(Use eselect if you have installed >=timidity-2.13.2-r3)</comment>
+# <i>eselect timidity list</i>
+# <i>eselect timidity set eawpatches</i>
</pre>
<p>
@@ -934,28 +978,68 @@
<p>
Some specific sound cards can benefit from certain tools provided by the
-<c>alsa-tools</c> and <c>alsa-firmware</c> packages. If you need
-<c>alsa-tools</c>, be sure to define the ALSA_TOOLS variable in
-<path>/etc/make.conf</path> with the tools you require. For instance:
+<c>alsa-tools</c> and <c>alsa-firmware</c> packages. You may install either with
+a simple <c>emerge</c>.
</p>
-<pre caption="Selecting ALSA Tools in /etc/make.conf">
-ALSA_TOOLS="as10k1 ac3dec"
+<pre caption="Installing ALSA Tools">
+# <i>emerge alsa-tools</i>
</pre>
+</body>
+</section>
+<section>
+<title>Multiple sound cards</title>
+<body>
+
<p>
-If the ALSA_TOOLS variable is not set, all available tools will be built.
-Now, install the <c>alsa-tools</c> (and/or <c>alsa-firmware</c>) package(s):
+You can more than one sound card in your system simultaneously, provided that
+you have built ALSA as modules in your kernel (or have installed
+<c>alsa-driver</c> instead). You just need to specify which should be started
+first in <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>. Your cards are identified by their
+driver names inside this file. 0 is the first card, 1 is the second, and so on.
+Here's an example for a system with two sound cards.
</p>
-<pre caption="Installing ALSA Tools">
-# <i>emerge alsa-tools</i>
+<pre caption="Two sound cards in /etc/modules.d/alsa">
+options snd-emu10k1 index=0
+options snd-via82xx index=1
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+Or, if you have two cards that use the same driver, you specify them on the same
+line, using comma-separated numbers. Here's an example for a system with three
+sound cards, two of which are the same Intel High Definition Audio card.
+</p>
+
+<pre caption="Multiple sound cards in /etc/modules.d/alsa">
+options snd-ymfpci index=0
+options snd-hda-intel index=1,2
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</section>
+<section>
+<title>Plugins</title>
+<body>
+
+<p>
+You may want to install some plugins for extra functionality.
+<c>alsa-plugins</c> is a collection of useful plugins, which include: PulseAudio
+output, a sample rate converter, jack (a low-latency audio server), and an
+encoder that lets you output 6-channel audio through digital S/PDIF connections
+(both optical and coaxial). You can choose which of its plugins you want
+installed by adding their USE flags to <path>/etc/portage/package.use</path>.
+</p>
+
+<pre caption="Installing alsa-plugins">
+# <i>emerge -avt alsa-plugins</i>
</pre>
</body>
</section>
<section>
-<title>A Big thank you to...</title>
+<title>A big thank you to...</title>
<body>
<p>
--
gentoo-doc-cvs@gentoo.org mailing list
next reply other threads:[~2007-01-31 15:55 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 26+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2007-01-31 15:54 Josh Saddler [this message]
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2008-03-05 9:16 [gentoo-doc-cvs] cvs commit: alsa-guide.xml Joshua Saddler
2007-05-19 3:00 Josh Saddler
2007-05-07 7:08 Josh Saddler
2007-05-06 23:27 Josh Saddler
2007-05-03 6:21 Josh Saddler
2007-03-10 13:02 Jan Kundrat
2007-02-17 19:03 Josh Saddler
2007-01-31 16:39 Josh Saddler
2006-11-02 18:24 Josh Saddler
2006-07-07 14:40 Lukasz Damentko
2006-07-06 19:51 Lukasz Damentko
2006-05-27 13:59 Xavier Neys
2006-05-01 5:52 Shyam Mani
2006-03-25 6:59 Shyam Mani
2006-01-01 11:51 Xavier Neys
2005-10-30 16:02 Shyam Mani
2005-09-10 18:02 swift
2005-09-09 6:49 Shyam Mani
2005-08-30 11:38 Shyam Mani
2005-07-26 17:28 Marcelo Goes
2005-07-16 11:45 Alin Dobre
2005-07-14 19:22 Shyam Mani
2005-07-14 9:11 Xavier Neys
2005-07-14 9:05 Sven Vermeulen
2005-07-12 19:17 Shyam Mani
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