Safely Remove Pulseaudio?

[Alex_W]

Hi all,

Great guide, thank you!

I understand our troubles with PulseAudio are slightly different from case to case... so, here is mine:

HW: Laptop HP Pavillion DV42** series, Intel ICH6-type card onboard.

On Jaunty, sound worked out-of-the-box, no tinkering required.

With Karmic, I had several issues:

crackling/stuttering sound on login (apps worked more-less tolerably);

inability to store volume settings: after PA restart (logout-login, for example), the volume levels would return to some pre-specified (somewhere... I couldn't find where) levels, including 100% on the headphones channel (the most annoying thing).

What I have tried before removing PA (obviously, all this didn't work for me):

updating the system as outlined in the "Comprehensive MultiMedia Guide" on this forum;

installing "the rest of" PA (like pavchooser, etc.)

upgrading ALSA to 1.0.21

numerous edits to config files (changing "merge" to "ignore", etc.)

Instructions in this thread worked perfectly well.
What works:

the sound (system; audio via Rhythmbox, MPlayer, VLC; DVD/video via VLC, GXine, Movie Player, flash/YouTube).

What stopped working:

volume control via mediabuttons (only volume-up, down, and mute were lost)

Workaround (that did the trick for me): in the System/Preferences/Keyboard Shortcuts, I had to create new associations for Vol Up, Down, Mute with amixer command, like this:

amixer -c 0 set Master 3dB+

amixer -c 0 set Master 3dB-

amixer -c 0 set Master 0%

volume applet -- not a huge deal for now

Cheers!

[brocktice]

The instructions here worked great for me on Karmic x86_64, on a Mac Pro. Thanks everyone, particularly for the pointer on the volume buttons.

[voxman69]

Thank you so much for this! I applied this to Mint 8 and the only thing out of the ordinary that happened was that Gnome-Do was removed, but I just re-installed it and now everything is fine.

I followed the guide on making new keyboard shortcuts for volume up/down which was the way I changed volume earlier anyhow.

Spotify is now smoothly playing music and I also have more free memory by some 7-8 percent according to Sysinfo.

[The-NightPhoenix]

I made a script to control alsa for the media keys and to provide notifications.

i could't do the notifications well, it became a bit crappy so i disabled it so if u please check it out and modify it

Also If any one can do something for the mute thing . to unmute and not to increase the volume up again

to use it :
Extract The File.
put it in the "/usr/bin" folder

sudo cp AlsaControler /usr/bin

give it executable permissions

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/AlsaControler

and change the shortcut keys to :
Volum UP :

 AlsaControler up

Volum Down :

 AlsaControler down

Volum Mute :

 AlsaControler mute

[mgol]

I made a script to control alsa for the media keys and to provide notifications.

Sorry to say this but You just wasted Your time. Such scripts have already been done:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...7&postcount=25
They support nice Jaunty notifications and a sound icon in system tray, I'd advise to use these ones - I do and they do their job.

[The-NightPhoenix]

Thnax alot that is really good .

[head2head]

Quick question. I've got problems with pulseaudio in ubuntu (gnome) and would like to give KDE a try.

Would running 'sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop' be all that's needed to get rid of pulseaudio, or would I have to uninstall via terminal?

[jack.herbert]

Hi everybody,
Disclaimer: I know Ubuntu is free and canonical doesn't owe me anything whatsoever but oh boy, I just had one hell of an annoying afternoon.
Never had any problems with pulse audio for general use, but as soon as you want to do some more involved ardour / jack recording, the headache begins.

I ended up opening synaptic, removed pulse-audio (I only saw this thread afterwards) and installed k-mix. Probably not recommended but so far so good. At least the the line-in signal comes through. I've only lost sound playback with gnome-player, but i use vlc anyway.

What really really pissed me off is not being able to use the gnome-panel volume control for anything else BUT pulse. Who came up with THAT idea? Red flag indeed.

Anyway, cheers for this thread, very helpful.

[farna]

Maybe I should start a new thread, but my troubles are related. I'm running Mint 8 (Ubuntu 9.10 based) AMD x64 version on a PC with a quad core AMD processor and 4GB of ram -- plenty power. I bought a Turtle Beach Riviera sound card because I needed one with optical (or coaxial) digital output and reviews indicated it worked fine with Ubuntu. That was before Pulse Audio, apparently. I have every indication that the card will work with ALSA, so I followed the instructions in this thread and removed PA and installed ALSA. Still no sound!

This is an HTPC, so right now it's useless. When I try to set properties for the card (computer sees it just fine!) it tells me the card is in use, but nothing is running that would need it! Here's the output I get:

swygert@Living-Room ~ $ gstreamer-properties
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'artsdsink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'pulsesink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'glimagesink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'sdlvideosink'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'v4lmjpegsrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'qcamsrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'esdmon'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Skipping unavailable plugin 'pulsesrc'
gstreamer-properties-Message: Error running pipeline 'ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture': Could not open audio device for playback. Device is being used by another application. [gstalsasink.c(685): gst_alsasink_open (): /GstPipeline /pipeline0/GstAlsaSink:alsasink3:
Device 'default' is busy]


lspci:
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K10 [Opteron, Athlon64, Sempron] Link Control
01:09.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G96 [GeForce 9400 GT] (rev a1)

So why no sound? Are the "unavailable plugins" the problem?

I have the computer connected to my 52" flat screen through a Sony AV receiver. Video is fine (HDMI cords), and I made sure I have the optical cable in the correct position. I'm using the computer right now, just no sound!! I need something that will send a surround sound signal to the receiver, it won't work over the HDMI cable (a disappointment, but I understand HDMI doesn't have the bandwidth).

If there is a sound card with optical and/or coaxial digital output known to work with 9.10 I will return the card and try another. Otherwise I may have to install Windows XP and just forget Linux. It's not quite as mature as I thought, and I'm getting tired of fighting with it. A friend called me "Don Quioxte" when I described some of the problems, and it's starting to fit.... (he uses an Apple).

I was looking at teh upgrade ALSA script post, thinking that might be the problem, abd I get this:

swygert@Living-Room ~ $ speaker-test -Dplughw:0,0 -c2

speaker-test 1.0.20

Playback device is plughw:0,0
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Playback open error: -16,Device or resource busy
Playback open error: -16,Device or resource busy
(continuous loop -- have to close terminal to stop)

So something is "using" the card, but I have no idea what it could be. Noting in System Monitor/Processes that could be using sound. The only apps open as I type this are Firefox, Terminal, and System Monitor. I cut the computer completely off after removing PA.

[farna]

I'm working through the forums on this! While the computer recognizes the sound card, maybe I don't have the proper drivers installed. Got that tip from http://ubuntu-ky.ubuntuforums.org/sh...=optical+sound. I went through the instructions and downloaded the latest ALSA files after going to the ALSA site and finding drivers. Everyting compiled fine, then I got this:

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic'
utils/link-modules /home/swygert/alsa-driver-1.0.22.1

ALSA modules were successfully compiled.

if [ -L /usr/include/sound ]; then \
rm -f /usr/include/sound; \
ln -sf /home/swygert/alsa-driver-1.0.22.1/include/sound /usr/include/sound; \
else \
rm -rf /usr/include/sound; \
install -d -m 755 -g root -o root /usr/include/sound; \
for f in include/sound/*.h; do \
install -m 644 -g root -o root $f /usr/include/sound; \
done \
fi
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/emu10k1.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/hdsp.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/hdspm.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/sfnt_info.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/sb16_csp.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/asequencer.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/sscape_ioctl.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/asound.h': Permission denied
rm: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/asound_fm.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ac97_codec.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/aci.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ad1816a.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ad1843.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ak4113.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ak4114.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ak4117.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ak4531_codec.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ak4xxx-adda.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/asequencer.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/asound.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/asound_fm.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/asoundef.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/atmel-abdac.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/atmel-ac97c.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/control.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/core.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/cs4231-regs.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/cs46xx.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/cs46xx_dsp_scb_types.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/cs46xx_dsp_spos.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/cs46xx_dsp_task_types.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/cs8403.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/cs8427.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/emu10k1.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/emu10k1_synth.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/emu8000.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/emu8000_reg.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/emux_legacy.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/emux_synth.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/es1688.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/gus.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/hda_hwdep.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/hdsp.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/hdspm.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/hwdep.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/i2c.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/info.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/initval.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/jack.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/l3.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/memalloc.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/minors.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/mixer_oss.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/mpu401.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/opl3.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/opl4.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/pcm-indirect.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/pcm.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/pcm_oss.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/pcm_params.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/pt2258.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/pxa2xx-lib.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/rawmidi.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/s3c24xx_uda134x.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/sb.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/sb16_csp.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/seq_device.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/seq_kernel.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/seq_midi_emul.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/seq_midi_event.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/seq_oss.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/seq_oss_legacy.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/seq_virmidi.h': Permission denied
install: cannot remove `/usr/include/sound/sfnt_info.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/sh_dac_audio.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/sh_fsi.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/snd_wavefront.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/soc-dai.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/soc-dapm.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/soc-of-simple.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/soc.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/soundfont.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/tea575x-tuner.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/tea6330t.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/timer.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/tlv.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/tlv320dac33-plat.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/tpa6130a2-plat.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/trident.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/uda134x.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/uda1380.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/util_mem.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/version.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/vx_core.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/wavefront.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/wm8904.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/wm8955.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/wm8993.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/wm9081.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/wss.h': Permission denied
install: cannot create regular file `/usr/include/sound/ymfpci.h': Permission denied
make: *** [install-headers] Error 1
swygert@Living-Room ~/alsa-driver-1.0.22.1 $


Does this mean I should use sudo and manually accomplish these tasks, or am i barking up the wrong tree??