[gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[David Relson]

I've been using Linux for 6 or 8 years -- without speakers.  Today I
decided to take a trip on the wild side and install speakers.  It has
been interesting.

I've been using /usr/bin/gnome-sound-properties (started from Gnome
start button via system//preferences/sound (from nu) to test my
configuration.  From the Sounds tab, all the System Sounds work
perfectly.  However the Devices tab works fine when ESD (Enlightenment
Sound Daemon) is selected and doesn't work at all when "ALSA" is
selected.  In this case, "doesn't work" means the following dialog is
displayed:
 
  audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512!
  audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink:
  Could not open resource for writing.

Any tips on what I should check?  

Question 2:  Is either ESD or ALSA to be preferred?  Why?


Regards,

David
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Re: [gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[Mark Knecht]

On 1/7/07, David Relson <relson@osagesoftware.com> wrote:
> I've been using Linux for 6 or 8 years -- without speakers.  Today I
> decided to take a trip on the wild side and install speakers.  It has
> been interesting.
>
> I've been using /usr/bin/gnome-sound-properties (started from Gnome
> start button via system//preferences/sound (from nu) to test my
> configuration.  From the Sounds tab, all the System Sounds work
> perfectly.  However the Devices tab works fine when ESD (Enlightenment
> Sound Daemon) is selected and doesn't work at all when "ALSA" is
> selected.  In this case, "doesn't work" means the following dialog is
> displayed:
>
>   audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512!
>   audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink:
>   Could not open resource for writing.
>
> Any tips on what I should check?

I've not done exactly what you are doing but make sure that Alsa is
selected in the Sound prefernces. Also, if ESD has been running then
it will likely block Alsa from getting to the sound cards. Make sure
that the ESD daemon has been killed.


>
> Question 2:  Is either ESD or ALSA to be preferred?  Why?

I would think Alsa since it's widely supported and they pretty quickly
take care of things when you have problems or new hardware comes out.
Since ESD is Gnome specific (I think) then if you switched
environments - to say fluxbox or something lighter, or KDE on the
heavy end) then you'd have more fooling around to do.

I thought there was a way to tell ESD to use Alsa but I don't really
know. I don't use any system sounds in Gnome myself.

Hope this helps,
Mark

>
>
> Regards,
>
> David
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[Mark Knecht]

Sorry - meant to attach this also. Make sure you're building certain
things with the alsa USE flag and preferably with the esd flag turned
off. At least that's what I do:

[ebuild   R   ] media-sound/esound-0.2.36-r2  USE="alsa ipv6 tcpd -debug" 0 kB
[ebuild   R   ] gnome-base/control-center-2.16.2  USE="alsa -debug -eds" 0 kB


On 1/7/07, Mark Knecht <markknecht@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 1/7/07, David Relson <relson@osagesoftware.com> wrote:
> > I've been using Linux for 6 or 8 years -- without speakers.  Today I
> > decided to take a trip on the wild side and install speakers.  It has
> > been interesting.
> >
> > I've been using /usr/bin/gnome-sound-properties (started from Gnome
> > start button via system//preferences/sound (from nu) to test my
> > configuration.  From the Sounds tab, all the System Sounds work
> > perfectly.  However the Devices tab works fine when ESD (Enlightenment
> > Sound Daemon) is selected and doesn't work at all when "ALSA" is
> > selected.  In this case, "doesn't work" means the following dialog is
> > displayed:
> >
> >   audiotestsrc wave=sine freq=512!
> >   audioconvert ! audioresample ! gconfaudiosink:
> >   Could not open resource for writing.
> >
> > Any tips on what I should check?
>
> I've not done exactly what you are doing but make sure that Alsa is
> selected in the Sound prefernces. Also, if ESD has been running then
> it will likely block Alsa from getting to the sound cards. Make sure
> that the ESD daemon has been killed.
>
>
> >
> > Question 2:  Is either ESD or ALSA to be preferred?  Why?
>
> I would think Alsa since it's widely supported and they pretty quickly
> take care of things when you have problems or new hardware comes out.
> Since ESD is Gnome specific (I think) then if you switched
> environments - to say fluxbox or something lighter, or KDE on the
> heavy end) then you'd have more fooling around to do.
>
> I thought there was a way to tell ESD to use Alsa but I don't really
> know. I don't use any system sounds in Gnome myself.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Mark
>
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > David
> > --
> > gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
> >
> >
>
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[David Relson]

On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 17:56:15 -0800
Mark Knecht wrote:

> Sorry - meant to attach this also. Make sure you're building certain
> things with the alsa USE flag and preferably with the esd flag turned
> off. At least that's what I do:
> 
> [ebuild   R   ] media-sound/esound-0.2.36-r2  USE="alsa ipv6 tcpd
> -debug" 0 kB 
> [ebuild   R   ] gnome-base/control-center-2.16.2 USE="alsa -debug
> -eds" 0 kB
> 
Hi Mark

My USE flags were a bit different, notably -ipv6 and eds.  As eds is
the evolution-data-server it doesn't see related, but I've rebuild
esound without it in order to match your environment.

Unfortunately the rebuild hasn't changed the behavior I'm seeing. The
gnome sound preferences app is doing the same as before.  This app
seemed like a good way for setting up and testing whether sound is
working.  Is there a better way for doing this?

Regards,

David
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[Mark Knecht]

Sorry,
   You're right about the flags. It's 'esd' vs. 'eds'. My mistake. Sorry.

   As I said I do not use Gnome System Sounds. In the Gnome
Preferences menu if I choose 'Sounds' and then the 'Sounds' tab I do
not have 'Enable sound software mixing (ESD)' enabled.

- Mark

On 1/8/07, David Relson <relson@osagesoftware.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 17:56:15 -0800
> Mark Knecht wrote:
>
> > Sorry - meant to attach this also. Make sure you're building certain
> > things with the alsa USE flag and preferably with the esd flag turned
> > off. At least that's what I do:
> >
> > [ebuild   R   ] media-sound/esound-0.2.36-r2  USE="alsa ipv6 tcpd
> > -debug" 0 kB
> > [ebuild   R   ] gnome-base/control-center-2.16.2 USE="alsa -debug
> > -eds" 0 kB
> >
> Hi Mark
>
> My USE flags were a bit different, notably -ipv6 and eds.  As eds is
> the evolution-data-server it doesn't see related, but I've rebuild
> esound without it in order to match your environment.
>
> Unfortunately the rebuild hasn't changed the behavior I'm seeing. The
> gnome sound preferences app is doing the same as before.  This app
> seemed like a good way for setting up and testing whether sound is
> working.  Is there a better way for doing this?
>
> Regards,
>
> David
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[David Relson]

On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 06:08:32 -0800
Mark Knecht wrote:

> Sorry,
>    You're right about the flags. It's 'esd' vs. 'eds'. My mistake.
> Sorry.
> 
>    As I said I do not use Gnome System Sounds. In the Gnome
> Preferences menu if I choose 'Sounds' and then the 'Sounds' tab I do
> not have 'Enable sound software mixing (ESD)' enabled.
> 
> - Mark

Hi Mark,

Actually "eds" _is_ one of the USE flags used by gnome-control-center's
ebuild, with the other being alsa.

I've disabled "ESD" because sound effects don't generally interest me.
What does interest me is listening to CDs, web radio, etc.

Anyhow, I've got CDPlayer playing Alice's Restaurant and am enjoying
hearing it again (after numerous years).

Regards,

David
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] ESD vs ALSA

[Bruno Espinoza]

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About ESD, well I read somewhere that is deprecated and if it continue here
is only for compatibility isues. ALSA support more sound cards and also is
besta managed by the laste kernel versions. Actually I tried to install alsa
in my machine. I recomend it, because ESD has some problems and now is dead.

In order to kill ESD daemon you can do this (As root):

killall esd


2007/1/8, David Relson <relson@osagesoftware.com>:
>
> On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 06:08:32 -0800
> Mark Knecht wrote:
>
> > Sorry,
> >    You're right about the flags. It's 'esd' vs. 'eds'. My mistake.
> > Sorry.
> >
> >    As I said I do not use Gnome System Sounds. In the Gnome
> > Preferences menu if I choose 'Sounds' and then the 'Sounds' tab I do
> > not have 'Enable sound software mixing (ESD)' enabled.
> >
> > - Mark
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> Actually "eds" _is_ one of the USE flags used by gnome-control-center's
> ebuild, with the other being alsa.
>
> I've disabled "ESD" because sound effects don't generally interest me.
> What does interest me is listening to CDs, web radio, etc.
>
> Anyhow, I've got CDPlayer playing Alice's Restaurant and am enjoying
> hearing it again (after numerous years).
>
> Regards,
>
> David
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>


-- 
BrunoProg64

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