Alsa needs manual setup after every boot

Forum: Multimedia
Topic: Alsa needs manual setup after every boot
started by: davea0511

Posted by davea0511 on Jan. 18 2006,16:55

I'm using Alsa.dsl - works great, but I have to run the setup after every boot to make it work. Isn't there some files I can add to .filetool.lst, or copy using bootlocal.sh to make it automatic?

Posted by clacker on Jan. 18 2006,17:44

davea0511, I am going to assume that you have a hard drive install, and that when you say you need to run the setup each time, you mean that you need to choose myDSL -> Alsa Setup from the menu. I don't think there is an easy answer if you have a frugal install or a liveCD besides rematering.

If you want alsa to start each time, you should place these two commands in you bootlocal.sh file:

sudo /etc/init.d/alsasound start
/usr/bin/amixer set Master 20 unmute

You should change the 20 number. I would recomend using alsamixer from an xterminal and playing around with the level until you get what you want. Then run amixer | more to read the number you see for front left and front right playback for the master channel. The maximimum values are also shown. Remember, it's not 20%, it's 20/some maximum = % volume. You may need to umute other channels as well depending on your particular card, and I've read that some cards use different capitalization for the word "Master", but again, check it out in alsamixer right after you set alsa using the menu option.

Posted by davea0511 on Jan. 18 2006,18:12

Thanks for the prompt response. Bummer though... I'm running frugal off a Flash card. I tried it anyway (in bootlocal.sh and in .xinitrc) to no avail.

Okay, so what changes do I need to make to the master to do this on frugal? You wouldn't perchance have already done so have you? It sure would be nice to make something like that available since frugal is become the preferred way over HD install in so many instances.

Posted by clacker on Jan. 18 2006,19:00

It would involve remastering dsl. You can look at other posts for the nuts and bolts of it, but it does require some work and can get involved.

Basically, you would need to chroot into your remaster and install both gnu-utils and alsa. Then you would run the alsa-setup script in the /opt/alsa directory, and finally set up those two lines in bootlocal.sh (all from the chroot environment).

If you were running the liveCD, I'd say put gnu-utils.dsl and alsa.dsl in the root directory so they get loaded on startup, and then put /opt/alsa/alsasetup in the bootlocal.sh. At least that way the packages get loaded and it runs the script automatically on startup (although you still need to hit OK and choose your card).

Posted by davea0511 on Jan. 18 2006,21:31

Unfortunately this is going on a touchscreen system that doesn't have a keyboard, and since the alsasetup won't accept mouse clicks I'm dead in the water until I remaster DSL to include alsa. Ughh.

There used to be a program for DOS called BufferStuffer, and it was a commandline that stuffed whatever you wanted in the keyboard buffer prior to running a program that required keyboard input.

Boy I sure wish I had that right now.

Posted by clacker on Jan. 18 2006,22:06

Try looking in the < apps section of the repository > for package called xvkbd.tar.gz, which claims to be a virtual keyboard for X. Perhaps that would help.

Normally you can redirect and pipe output in linux. So if you had a file with all of the responses you could redirect that into the program, but I couldn't make it work for alsaconf. As in sudo alsaconf < myResponses

Posted by davea0511 on Jan. 19 2006,04:01

He he he...

What a workaround! A great idea, actually.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot!

Posted by davea0511 on Jan. 25 2006,00:55

Funny thing... if I have .xinitrc boot up alsaconf then it crashes my system. After I tried that I had to boot in from liveCD, then extract the .tar.gz so I could fix the .xinitrc just to get my frugal install to work again.

I did however get the virtual keyboard installed. It's cool. It also does keyboard macros to simulate producing keyboard input from a commandline (just like a keyboard-buffer-stuffer), but I haven't been successful at making the keyboard macros to work correctly yet. Besides, the command line use requires you to enter the name of the window in hexidecimal to which you're sending the keyboard input. As if I know what that is...Whatever?!

Anyway, a fun exercise andI needed a virtual keyboard for my touchscreen anyway. Thanks!

Now I'll have to remaster the CD so ALSA is native. If anyone wants a copy of the result, let me know. As I said before, this seems like it should be standard since frugal is so popular and the only way to get ALSA working on frugal is if it is part of the iso.

Posted by roberts on Jan. 25 2006,02:52

Moved to extension area.