Posts Tagged ‘HDA’

Ubuntu 8.10 upgrade and fresh installation

2 Comments
Posted 03 Nov 2008 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

I upgraded my desktop from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10 last Friday. The upgrade went smoothly though it took 3 hours to complete. Most of the time was used to download the packages. After the installation was done and I rebooted the system, I saw the regular logout button (red square icon) in it’s usual place, but also a new one with my name in the middle of the menu bar. I then saw a informational bulb glowing in the menu bar and it informed me to click ok to replace the old logout button with the new FUSA applet (Fast User Switcher applet). I did that and it told me to logout and login. Once I logged back in, my old logout button was replaced with the new FUSA applet. FUSA applet is the new user switcher that integrates your online status with the usual logout options and user list. I liked the idea of integrating those commenly used options, but it didn’t feel complete to me. I can’t say what’s missing, but i feel it has a potential to get better. For more information on FUSA, check Mark Shuttleworth’s blog.

I was using Kubuntu 8.10 since the alpha stage until the final release, in my laptop. I had few issues with Kubuntu. I had issues with video (flickers), webcam not working and skype audio. It may not be Kubuntu issues, but they were still issues that I had to deal with. I thought I would give Ubuntu 8.10 a try. I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10 in my laptop. I still had the video flickering, but it wasn’t as bad as it was in Kubuntu. Disabling the compiz desktop effects stopped the flickering, but that’s not a complete solution. I want the video to work as it was in Hardy, with compiz effects enabled.

I didn’t see the pulse audio setup in Ubuntu. The default was alsa. Skype voice didn’t work when the sound in and out were set as default. I changed them to HDA Intel xxxx (1st option after default) and it worked. The webcam too worked fine. I have one issue with Linux Skype client. I have this problem in both my desktop and laptop. If I’m doing a webcam chat with another user, as soon as the other user starts the webcam, I don’t see my video in the screen and all the buttons in the window disappear. All I see is the other user’s video. I have to close the window to stop the webcam. Also, there is no option to increase the video size or to make it full screen similar to Windows client.

I can say happily that upgrading the old Ubuntu installation (Ubuntu 8.04) was quite smooth unlike Windows. My dad and my father-in-law did the upgrade and their laptops continue to work fine (as I wrote, they are Ubuntu users). I generally go for fresh installation, but the upgrade was so smooth, I might continue that way and do a fresh install once every 2 years.

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Skype Microphone problem and complete pulse audio setup in Ubuntu

80 Comments
Posted 23 May 2008 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Update for Ubuntu 9.10: With Ubuntu 9.10, based on my experience, sounds work at the same time for multiple devices. If you have Ubuntu 9.10 and Skype 2.1 beta, all you have to do to get the microphone to work is, right click on the volume icon in the top panel next to the date & time, select preferences, click on the input tab, uncheck the mute option next to input volume, if it’s checked. Now talk over the microphone and see if there are any movements in the bars next to input level. If not, click on the connector option and try with other options available there. For me, the default option and Microphone 1 didn’t work. Microphone 2 worked. You’ll see the movement in the vertical bars next to input level. Once you get that working, Skype should work fine.

Sound Preferences

Warning: It didn’t work for some people. I don’t have instructions to undo this. Use it at your own risk.

After I installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on my new Quad core desktop , I installed Skype . The installation was smooth, but the microphone didn’t work. The output sound was fine. The webcam was detected automatically, but the video loses brightness after 2-3 minutes of use. I wasn’t sure if the microphone problem was due to buggy implementation of Pulse Audio in Ubuntu 8.04 or not. I tried changing the sound preferences and mic preferences, but nothing worked. I finally found a solution to install complete Pulse Audio pack after searching the Ubuntu forums and then for Skype microphone problem.

I followed zman0900’s guide in Ubuntu forums for complete pulse audio setup. Once I set that up, I got the microphone working in Skype. These are the steps I followed to get the Pulse audio setup and microphone to work.

Open a terminal (Application -> Accessories -> terminal)

1. Install additional packages for Pulse Audio by entering the following command in the terminal. Enter your password if prompted.

sudo apt-get install libao-pulse libasound2-plugins

2. Then edit or create your asound.conf file

sudo gedit /etc/asound.conf

and add the following lines. Click save once added.

pcm.pulse {
type pulse
}
ctl.pulse {
type pulse
}
pcm.!default {
type pulse
}
ctl.!default {
type pulse
}

3. Edit libao.conf.

sudo gedit /etc/libao.conf

and add the line below

default_driver=pulse

Now go to System -> Preferences -> Sound. Set under Devices tab the following to PulseAudio Sound Server
Sound Events Sound Playback
Music and Movies Sound Playback
Audio conferencing Sound Playback and Sound Capture

Set the Default Mixer Tracks Device to your sound card. In my case it’s HDA Intel (Alsa Mixer). Check the screenshot below.

Pulse Audio Setup

After you are done with that, install some additional packages. Enter the following command in the terminal.

sudo apt-get install libflashsupport padevchooser pulseaudio-module-hal pulseaudio-module-x11

sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian libsdl1.2debian-alsa

Now add the repositories given below to your sources.list file to install additional packages needed for Pulse Audio.
Open your sources.list by

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the following lines

## zman0900’s PPA
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/zman0900/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/zman0900/ubuntu hardy main

Save and close. Now enter the following commands one by one in the terminal.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio

If the installation goes fine, then you can move ahead to Device Chooser. If libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio won’t install, then enter

sudo apt-get install libsdl1.2debian-all

sudo gedit ~/.profile

and add the following two lines. Save and close.

# Make SDL audio work properly with Pulse
# export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pulse

Now go to PulseAudio Device Chooser under Applications -> Sound & Video. It’ll show an icon in the top right menu bar, next to Tracker search tool or Date area. Click that icon and select preferences. Check the box Start applet on session login under Startup. See the screenshot below.

pulse audio preferences

Restart the computer. You should see the PulseAudion Device Chooser icon to appear once you login. I then changed my input sources by selecting Volume Control under System -> Preferences and selecting the Options tab. I selected Front Mic for all 3 input sources as shown below. This will vary from system to system and you may not see this option in some systems. My microphone was connected to the back of my computer, but it worked after I set it to Front Mic.

volumecontrol

I then started Skype , clicked the small Skype icon at the bottom and selected options. I then went to Sound Devices and selected HDA Intel (hw:intel,0) as my sound in, sound out and ringing options as shown below. I then made a test call and everything worked fine.

skype

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