[gentoo-user] Phonon concurrent access on device

[gentoo-user] Phonon concurrent access on device

[Florian Philipp]

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Hi list!

I recently updated one of my systems to KDE4. Now I have the problem
that only one application can access the audio output at a time. If I
start a second app (for example playing a video with Kaffeine while
Amarok runs but is idle) the second application reports that the device
"does not work".

Is this normal behavior? How can I fix it?

Maybe it's an issue with ALSA but before I investigate this option, I'd
like to hear a "works for me" from other users.


Thanks in advance
Florian Philipp


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Re: [gentoo-user] Phonon concurrent access on device

[Alan McKinnon]

On Saturday 28 November 2009 13:58:42 Florian Philipp wrote:
> Hi list!
> 
> I recently updated one of my systems to KDE4. Now I have the problem
> that only one application can access the audio output at a time. If I
> start a second app (for example playing a video with Kaffeine while
> Amarok runs but is idle) the second application reports that the device
> "does not work".
> 
> Is this normal behavior? How can I fix it?
> 
> Maybe it's an issue with ALSA but before I investigate this option, I'd
> like to hear a "works for me" from other users.

Works for me. Also works for most other folks, as no-one else is complaining.

What are your relevant configs?

Are you in any way using (god forbid...) arts? esd? pulseaudio? Any sound 
daemon other than ALSA?


-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] Phonon concurrent access on device

[Florian Philipp]

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Alan McKinnon schrieb:
> On Saturday 28 November 2009 13:58:42 Florian Philipp wrote:
>> Hi list!
>>
>> I recently updated one of my systems to KDE4. Now I have the problem
>> that only one application can access the audio output at a time. If I
>> start a second app (for example playing a video with Kaffeine while
>> Amarok runs but is idle) the second application reports that the device
>> "does not work".
>>
>> Is this normal behavior? How can I fix it?
>>
>> Maybe it's an issue with ALSA but before I investigate this option, I'd
>> like to hear a "works for me" from other users.
> 
> Works for me. Also works for most other folks, as no-one else is complaining.
> 
> What are your relevant configs?
> 
> Are you in any way using (god forbid...) arts? esd? pulseaudio? Any sound 
> daemon other than ALSA?
> 
> 

Nah, I think ALSA is just misconfigured and doesn't enable HW/SW mixing.
I'll look into it and come back if I don't find it on my own.

Thanks so far!


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Re: [gentoo-user] Phonon concurrent access on device

[Dan Cowsill]

On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 2:07 PM, Florian Philipp
<lists@f_philipp.fastmail.net> wrote:
> Alan McKinnon schrieb:
>> On Saturday 28 November 2009 13:58:42 Florian Philipp wrote:
>>> Hi list!
>>>
>>> I recently updated one of my systems to KDE4. Now I have the problem
>>> that only one application can access the audio output at a time. If I
>>> start a second app (for example playing a video with Kaffeine while
>>> Amarok runs but is idle) the second application reports that the device
>>> "does not work".
>>>
>>> Is this normal behavior? How can I fix it?
>>>
>>> Maybe it's an issue with ALSA but before I investigate this option, I'd
>>> like to hear a "works for me" from other users.
>>
>> Works for me. Also works for most other folks, as no-one else is complaining.
>>
>> What are your relevant configs?
>>
>> Are you in any way using (god forbid...) arts? esd? pulseaudio? Any sound
>> daemon other than ALSA?
>>
>>
>
> Nah, I think ALSA is just misconfigured and doesn't enable HW/SW mixing.
> I'll look into it and come back if I don't find it on my own.
>
> Thanks so far!
>
>

When I was first messing around with Linux, I think I was using
Mandrake (back when it was called Mandrake) and this issue crept up on
me.  Back then, if I understand correctly, it was accepted behaviour
for hardware to be accessible by one program at a time.  There was a
fix back then that involved running some sort of daemon, but its been
a while since I messed with KDE or Mandrake.

Re: [gentoo-user] Phonon concurrent access on device

[Alan McKinnon]

On Sunday 29 November 2009 16:32:47 Dan Cowsill wrote:
> When I was first messing around with Linux, I think I was using
> Mandrake (back when it was called Mandrake) and this issue crept up on
> me.  Back then, if I understand correctly, it was accepted behaviour
> for hardware to be accessible by one program at a time.  There was a
> fix back then that involved running some sort of daemon, but its been
> a while since I messed with KDE or Mandrake.
> 

That was a long time ago :-) 

alsa was very limited at the time and mixing had to be done in software. Which 
spawned a rash of sound daemons that arts.

Thankfully, those days are long gone.


-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] Phonon concurrent access on device

[Miroslav Flídr]

Florian Philipp napsal(a):
> I recently updated one of my systems to KDE4. Now I have the problem
> that only one application can access the audio output at a time. If I
> start a second app (for example playing a video with Kaffeine while
> Amarok runs but is idle) the second application reports that the device
> "does not work".
> 
> Is this normal behavior? How can I fix it?
> 
> Maybe it's an issue with ALSA but before I investigate this option, I'd
> like to hear a "works for me" from other users.


I had the same problem. I found the right solution here

http://noneus.de/?p=50


Miroslav

Re: [gentoo-user] SPDIF with dmix [Was: Phonon concurrent access on device]

[Florian Philipp]

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Miroslav Flídr schrieb:
> Florian Philipp napsal(a):
>> I recently updated one of my systems to KDE4. Now I have the problem
>> that only one application can access the audio output at a time. If I
>> start a second app (for example playing a video with Kaffeine while
>> Amarok runs but is idle) the second application reports that the device
>> "does not work".
>>
>> Is this normal behavior? How can I fix it?
>>
>> Maybe it's an issue with ALSA but before I investigate this option, I'd
>> like to hear a "works for me" from other users.
> 
> 
> I had the same problem. I found the right solution here
> 
> http://noneus.de/?p=50
> 
> 
> Miroslav
> 
> 

Good to know!

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be my problem. Apparently I cannot
create a dmix setup for the "spdif" device (digital output). The error
message when trying to access it is "dmix plugin can be only connected
to hw plugin".

Here is my /etc/asound.conf:
pcm.!default {
    type dmix
    ipc_key 1025
    slave {
       pcm spdif
       period_time 0
       period_size 1024
       buffer_size 4096
       rate 44100
   }

   bindings {
       0 0 1 1
   }
}

The device is a VIA VT8237 AC97 Audio Controller.

I have no clue what spdif (or iec958 for that matter) should be if not
"hw". Of course, they are some kind of alias but my dmix setup works
fine with other aliases like "front" or "surround51".

Could using another level of abstraction (jack, pulse audio) be a
solution? Do they support stuff like software mixing without relying on
ALSA?

Apparently the whole problem is unrelated to phonon. Therefore I'm
changing the thread topic.


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