[gentoo-user] Still can't play audio CD's

[gentoo-user] Still can't play audio CD's

[Colleen Beamer]

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Hi guys,

I know I'm like a bear with a thorn in it's paw, but this is driving me
nuts.  I've tried the suggestions provided in response to my posts on
this list, but I still can't play audio CD's.  I posted to the alsa-user
list and got a response.  I'm posting some of that here because although
the responder has the exact same computer as I do, he uses Suse and I'm
wondering if I've missed something or done something wrong when I
compiled genkernel and thought maybe someone on the list might have an
idea as to why there are discprepancies between what I'm getting and
what the guy who responded to my alsa-user post got.


<snip>

This is my output

> Output from ' aplay -l' is:
> 
> **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
> card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
>   Subdevices: 0/1
>   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
> (don't know if this is relevant)

This is his output:

Interesting. I do get:
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: STAC92xx Digital [STAC92xx Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

<snip>

This is from my laptop:

> On the *laptop* (XPS M1710), Kmix shows only the following items for
> output:

> Master
> PCM
> Capture Mux
> 
> On the laptop, Kmix shows only Mic as Input


This is his output from his Dell XPS M1710 laptop:

I usually use alsamixer from the console, but invoking Kmix it shows:
Output:
  Master, PCM, Capture Mux, Digital
Input:
  Capture, Capture Mux, Digital
Switch
  IEC958 and a dropdrow listbox 'Input Source' with Mic, Front Mic, Line

I've tried editing /etc/modules.d/alsa the way it has been suggested in
response to my posts here, but I still can get audio CD's to play.
Obviously, the drive works or I wouldn't have been able to get Gentoo
installed and an audio track ripped just fine from a CD and plays
normally when I play it from my hard drive.

Someone here also pointed me toward an alsa bug list and said to pay
particular attention to comments by someone who goes by 'pshou', but I
don't really understand what he was saying.

If anyone can provide me with direction, I would sure appreciate it.

Regards,

Colleen

.



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Re: [gentoo-user] Still can't play audio CD's

[Steve Dommett]

Colleen Beamer wrote:
> If anyone can provide me with direction, I would sure appreciate it.
>   
Sorry I can't help you with your ALSA config.  I've been stuck for 
months now trying to enable SPDIF-out on my own laptop. However:
I notice from your first post on this topic that you're trying to play 
audio CDs with kscd.  You've already stated that music already ripped 
from CD plays just fine.
Have you tried enabling Configure kscd -> CD Player -> CD-ROM Device: 
Use direct digital playback ?
This option tells kscd to rip the CD on-the-fly and playback using the 
standard PCM output on the sound card, rather than relying on the CD 
audio lead and mixer settings which seem to be causing you so much trouble.


Cheers,
  Steve.
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Still can't play audio CD's

[Colleen Beamer]

Steve Dommett wrote:
> Colleen Beamer wrote:
>> If anyone can provide me with direction, I would sure appreciate it.
>>   
> Sorry I can't help you with your ALSA config.  I've been stuck for
> months now trying to enable SPDIF-out on my own laptop. However:
> I notice from your first post on this topic that you're trying to play
> audio CDs with kscd.  You've already stated that music already ripped
> from CD plays just fine.
> Have you tried enabling Configure kscd -> CD Player -> CD-ROM Device:
> Use direct digital playback ?
> This option tells kscd to rip the CD on-the-fly and playback using the
> standard PCM output on the sound card, rather than relying on the CD
> audio lead and mixer settings which seem to be causing you so much
> trouble.

Got all excited here, 'cause I hadn't done as you suggested and thought
that it might solve the problem.  However, when I selected direct
digital playback, the CD appears to be playing - i.e. the "Play" button
changes to "Pause", but the timer  that advances as the track plays
remains at 0:00 and I still get no sound.  With 'direct digital
playback' *not* selected, I get no sound, but the timer advances as the
track plays.

Regards,

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

Re: [gentoo-user] Still can't play audio CD's

[Kent Fredric]

On 7/25/07, Colleen Beamer <colleen.beamer@gmail.com> wrote:
> Steve Dommett wrote:
> > Colleen Beamer wrote:
> >> If anyone can provide me with direction, I would sure appreciate it.
> >>
> > Sorry I can't help you with your ALSA config.  I've been stuck for
> > months now trying to enable SPDIF-out on my own laptop. However:
> > I notice from your first post on this topic that you're trying to play
> > audio CDs with kscd.  You've already stated that music already ripped
> > from CD plays just fine.
> > Have you tried enabling Configure kscd -> CD Player -> CD-ROM Device:
> > Use direct digital playback ?
> > This option tells kscd to rip the CD on-the-fly and playback using the
> > standard PCM output on the sound card, rather than relying on the CD
> > audio lead and mixer settings which seem to be causing you so much
> > trouble.
>
> Got all excited here, 'cause I hadn't done as you suggested and thought
> that it might solve the problem.  However, when I selected direct
> digital playback, the CD appears to be playing - i.e. the "Play" button
> changes to "Pause", but the timer  that advances as the track plays
> remains at 0:00 and I still get no sound.  With 'direct digital
> playback' *not* selected, I get no sound, but the timer advances as the
> track plays.
>
> Regards,
>
> Colleen
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>
>

Does your CDROM drive have a dedicated headphone socket?, if so, plug
it in and see if you get any sound.
My personal suggestion : ditch kscd. My cd player/sound system works
fine, and kscd just thrashes doing the exact same thing you did ( I
removed my audio cable to ensure proper digital extraction... it just
didn't play ball ).

if you have mplayer, try this:

mplayer cdda:// -cdrom-device /dev/hdWHATEVER
or
mplayer cddb:// -cdrom-device /dev/hdWHATEVER

if you dont have that, and have/want to use xine instead,
make sure setup/media->audio_cd.device is set and you should be away
laughing as soon as you hit that big 'cd button' on the UI or playlist
( i had a bit of delay... not sure why, but it worked )

Amarok should also  be able to play CD's digitally via Xine ( tested
here to work )






-- 
Kent
ruby -e '[1, 2, 4, 7, 0, 9, 5, 8, 3, 10, 11, 6, 12, 13].each{|x|
print "enNOSPicAMreil kdrtf@gma.com"[(2*x)..(2*x+1)]}'
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Still can't play audio CD's

[Colleen Beamer]

Kent Fredric wrote:
>
> Does your CDROM drive have a dedicated headphone socket?, if so, plug
> it in and see if you get any sound.
> My personal suggestion : ditch kscd. My cd player/sound system works
> fine, and kscd just thrashes doing the exact same thing you did ( I
> removed my audio cable to ensure proper digital extraction... it just
> didn't play ball )
<snip>
>
> Amarok should also  be able to play CD's digitally via Xine ( tested
> here to work )
Any of you guys fans of animated flicks?  Remember in the first Aladdin
movie when Aladdin dupes the genie into an extra wish and the genie
says, "Boy do I feel stupid"?  Well that's me.

What can I say, I'm a creature of habit.  I have always used kscd to
play audio CD's, but I'm a big fan of amaroK for playing my music
collection.  However, amaroK worked fine to play an audio CD.  I really
don't understand what the  me, but it doesn't really matter.  In the
end, I can do what I wanted to do!

Thanks everyone for their patience.  Gentoo is not only the *best*
distribution IMHO, but the participants on the gentoo-user mailing list
are the *absolute best* - much better than some of the distro-specific
mailing lists that I participated in before I "saw the light" and
switched to Gentoo!

Thanks again!

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

Re: [gentoo-user] Still can't play audio CD's

[Kent Fredric]

On 7/26/07, Colleen Beamer <colleen.beamer@gmail.com> wrote:
> Kent Fredric wrote:
> >
> > Does your CDROM drive have a dedicated headphone socket?, if so, plug
> > it in and see if you get any sound.
> > My personal suggestion : ditch kscd. My cd player/sound system works
> > fine, and kscd just thrashes doing the exact same thing you did ( I
> > removed my audio cable to ensure proper digital extraction... it just
> > didn't play ball )
> <snip>
> >
> > Amarok should also  be able to play CD's digitally via Xine ( tested
> > here to work )
> Any of you guys fans of animated flicks?  Remember in the first Aladdin
> movie when Aladdin dupes the genie into an extra wish and the genie
> says, "Boy do I feel stupid"?  Well that's me.
>
> What can I say, I'm a creature of habit.  I have always used kscd to
> play audio CD's, but I'm a big fan of amaroK for playing my music
> collection.  However, amaroK worked fine to play an audio CD.  I really
> don't understand what the  me, but it doesn't really matter.  In the
> end, I can do what I wanted to do!
>
> Thanks everyone for their patience.  Gentoo is not only the *best*
> distribution IMHO, but the participants on the gentoo-user mailing list
> are the *absolute best* - much better than some of the distro-specific
> mailing lists that I participated in before I "saw the light" and
> switched to Gentoo!
>
> Thanks again!
>
> Colleen
> --
> gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
>


In essence, KSCD by default uses analog mode, which transfers the
audio via an   extra  4/3 wire cable directly to your sound card,
which uses 0 CPU to do so( it merely sends an 'ok, play this'
instruction like you would a stereo and the drive handles the rest).
For some unknown reason, KSCD's digital mode, which works by reading
the bitstream off the  CD via good-ol 40/80 wire and processing it,
and then transporting it to the sound card via the CPU, is broken, its
not a hardware problem, just KSCD.

Normally KSCD would work fine, as most desktops come with the
appropriate sockets, and most cdrom drives provide the appropriate
cable, for it to just work.

But it would seem your laptop lacks the 4-wire connection bridging the
cdrom to the sound card, for whatever reason, and as KSCD is broken in
the digital department.

So the only solution lies in using some other form of digital
extractor, and in the case of amaroK .. this is most likely the XINE
library ( which is a bit more tested than KSCD most likely )

Hope you enjoy musicy goodness.

Amarok is incomparable to anything on earth :D

-- 
Kent
ruby -e '[1, 2, 4, 7, 0, 9, 5, 8, 3, 10, 11, 6, 12, 13].each{|x|
print "enNOSPicAMreil kdrtf@gma.com"[(2*x)..(2*x+1)]}'
-- 
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list