Ubuntu
pulseaudio package

  1. Bug #198453
  2. Comment #142

Comment 142 for bug 198453

Revision history for this message
Toby Smithe (tsmithe) wrote : Re: [Bug 198453] Re: Default ALSA device must use PulseAudio, otherwise ALSA applications may fail

On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 1:42 AM, Daniel T Chen <email address hidden> wrote:
> All the necessary components are in place currently in 8.10, so closing
> pulseaudio task.

Dan, though I realise it is somewhat late, I have a slight concern
about the implementation of this change. Previously, PulseAudio was
only used as default when it was so set in ~/.asoundrc.asoundconf.
Currently, if I have a real hardware device set as default, say via
asoundconf set-default-card, that choice is ignored (at least by
GStreamer apps: I'm not sure of others) if pulseaudio is running.

This is frustrating, since PulseAudio doesn't use the plain "hw"
device of my Audigy card by default, but rather "front". This means I
don't get any hardware up-mixing, which is quite enjoyable.
Previously, I could just set my default ALSA card to anything not
PulseAudio, and bypass this issue, but that has become more difficult:
now I also have to kill the daemon.

I'm not sure whether PA's HAL autodetection module uses "front" for a
reason, so I have not filed a separate bug for that.