NMGLugers, I had trouble with my mic in Xubuntu 20.04 during our July 2nd meeting. I have resolved this today, but the route was convoluted so I cannot be sure which step was the most likely single solution. My first choice for the solution is the Pulseaudio mixer where I found the "Input Devices" tab and un-checked the "Set as fallback" choice. As this was the last thing I did before a successful use of the mic to record a short test file I am fairly sure this was it. For the test I used 'arecord -t wav -d 10 testFile' as my command. This created a wave file of 10 seconds duration from the input device, ie, my internal mic. Another item I tried was to install the gui for the Alsamixer and to adjust the "Capture" level. It took a few tries in the Alsamixergui to get the Alsamixer to respond, but this is simpler than manually adjusting the /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d files which was one solution suggested on the Internet. The Alsamixer gui only showed me "Master" and "Capture" levels, so not much to worry about. I have also added sox and lame, just to round out my audio capabilities. Now I get a robust response from the mic and will be able to join our meeting on the 16th in full voice with my Xubutu 20.04 install. By the way this is a 32 GB thumb drive so I can carry it around in my pocket. I will keep us posted on any learning I do, but still, I think it is easier for a general user to stick to the LTS version. Thank you, Ted P
Ted Pomeroy writes:
NMGLugers, I had trouble with my mic in Xubuntu 20.04 during our July 2nd meeting. I have resolved this today, but the route was convoluted so I cannot be sure which step was the most likely single solution. My first
Audio has gotten insanely complicated lately -- I feel your pain and I'm glad you got it working.
choice for the solution is the Pulseaudio mixer where I found the "Input Devices" tab and un-checked the "Set as fallback" choice. As this was the
I found the "Set as fallback" buttons unhelpful in pavucontrol (probably the same app you're using as Pulseaudio mixer) because it doesn't give you any way of finding out what the current fallback is. Did I press the button, or not? Which one did I make the fallback? Did it remember it from last time? (Sometimes it does, other times not.) I got so frustrated that I ended up writing a web page where I collected what I'd learned about pulseaudio, pacmd and pactl: https://shallowsky.com/linux/pulseaudio-command-line.html and I wrote a script called pulsehelper to list audio source/sink status and set fallbacks: https://github.com/akkana/scripts/blob/master/pulsehelper.py Setting the fallbacks right doesn't always help with Zoom or Jitsi, though, because pulse also keeps a memory of which app uses which device, so even if I set the default mic to be the GoPro, pulse may decide that chromium should be using the built-in mic even though it's muted. So I always have to check the audio prefs immediately after starting zoom, jitsi or discord to make sure it's using "System default" instead of some specific device.
install the gui for the Alsamixer and to adjust the "Capture" level. It took a few tries in the Alsamixergui to get the Alsamixer to respond, but this is simpler than manually adjusting the /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d
Adding to the complication, it varies with every release. Under Ubuntu 19.10, I couldn't adjust volume in pavucontrol at all. I used use pavucontrol to set which speakers (sinks) and which microphone (source) was active, but the volume sliders did nothing, and I had to run alsamixer (or amixer from the commandline) to adjust volume. I bound my laptop's Vol+ key to "amixer sset PCM 4%+ unmute" and similarly for Vol- and mute. Now, in 20.04, alsamixer/amixer don't change the volume at all; I still need to find pulse commands that I can bind to my laptop's volume buttons. ...Akkana
NMGLugers & Akkana, Many thanks, Akkana. My first response is "Yeah, things got complicated." I will follow up on your webpage and maybe the multiple Internet references to something like "pulseaudio problems." I am able to use arecord and aplay to check that the mic is now attached at least that far. It does also show in the pavucontrol gui, so maybe I found enough of an answer. I have also removed chromium-browser and two related programs as no longer supported: chromium is now installed via a snap, so I will re-install it later. The command 'ubuntu-security-status' is a good way to check what is in or not in the supported repositories after an update. I was searching for update and upgrade reviews and ran across that command. In sum complexity and conflicts are a part of the ever-growing world of software. I am finding a lot to learn about my choices and the ramifications of each choice. Again, thanks for the information about pulseaudio. I will be reading up. Thank you, Ted P On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 9:42 AM Akkana Peck <akkana@shallowsky.com> wrote:
Ted Pomeroy writes:
NMGLugers, I had trouble with my mic in Xubuntu 20.04 during our July 2nd meeting. I have resolved this today, but the route was convoluted so I cannot be sure which step was the most likely single solution. My first
Audio has gotten insanely complicated lately -- I feel your pain and I'm glad you got it working.
choice for the solution is the Pulseaudio mixer where I found the "Input Devices" tab and un-checked the "Set as fallback" choice. As this was the
I found the "Set as fallback" buttons unhelpful in pavucontrol (probably the same app you're using as Pulseaudio mixer) because it doesn't give you any way of finding out what the current fallback is. Did I press the button, or not? Which one did I make the fallback? Did it remember it from last time? (Sometimes it does, other times not.)
I got so frustrated that I ended up writing a web page where I collected what I'd learned about pulseaudio, pacmd and pactl: https://shallowsky.com/linux/pulseaudio-command-line.html and I wrote a script called pulsehelper to list audio source/sink status and set fallbacks: https://github.com/akkana/scripts/blob/master/pulsehelper.py
Setting the fallbacks right doesn't always help with Zoom or Jitsi, though, because pulse also keeps a memory of which app uses which device, so even if I set the default mic to be the GoPro, pulse may decide that chromium should be using the built-in mic even though it's muted. So I always have to check the audio prefs immediately after starting zoom, jitsi or discord to make sure it's using "System default" instead of some specific device.
install the gui for the Alsamixer and to adjust the "Capture" level. It took a few tries in the Alsamixergui to get the Alsamixer to respond, but this is simpler than manually adjusting the /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d
Adding to the complication, it varies with every release. Under Ubuntu 19.10, I couldn't adjust volume in pavucontrol at all. I used use pavucontrol to set which speakers (sinks) and which microphone (source) was active, but the volume sliders did nothing, and I had to run alsamixer (or amixer from the commandline) to adjust volume. I bound my laptop's Vol+ key to "amixer sset PCM 4%+ unmute" and similarly for Vol- and mute. Now, in 20.04, alsamixer/amixer don't change the volume at all; I still need to find pulse commands that I can bind to my laptop's volume buttons.
...Akkana _______________________________________________ nmglug mailing list nmglug@lists.nmglug.org http://lists.nmglug.org/listinfo.cgi/nmglug-nmglug.org
NMGLUGERS (in particular, Ted and Akkana} OMG, you guys are so thorough. I'm impressed and have always loaded my laptops with dual-booting (LINUX / WIN) which I understand as to be cheating somewhat. But, if I don't do it that way, my wife has, consistently, chortled about how "I'm not having that problem on my laptop". It does start to depress your forward thinking after a while. Best, Satsangat (dual-booter by necessity) On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 9:42 AM Akkana Peck <akkana@shallowsky.com> wrote:
Ted Pomeroy writes:
NMGLugers, I had trouble with my mic in Xubuntu 20.04 during our July 2nd meeting. I have resolved this today, but the route was convoluted so I cannot be sure which step was the most likely single solution. My first
Audio has gotten insanely complicated lately -- I feel your pain and I'm glad you got it working.
choice for the solution is the Pulseaudio mixer where I found the "Input Devices" tab and un-checked the "Set as fallback" choice. As this was the
I found the "Set as fallback" buttons unhelpful in pavucontrol (probably the same app you're using as Pulseaudio mixer) because it doesn't give you any way of finding out what the current fallback is. Did I press the button, or not? Which one did I make the fallback? Did it remember it from last time? (Sometimes it does, other times not.)
I got so frustrated that I ended up writing a web page where I collected what I'd learned about pulseaudio, pacmd and pactl: https://shallowsky.com/linux/pulseaudio-command-line.html and I wrote a script called pulsehelper to list audio source/sink status and set fallbacks: https://github.com/akkana/scripts/blob/master/pulsehelper.py
Setting the fallbacks right doesn't always help with Zoom or Jitsi, though, because pulse also keeps a memory of which app uses which device, so even if I set the default mic to be the GoPro, pulse may decide that chromium should be using the built-in mic even though it's muted. So I always have to check the audio prefs immediately after starting zoom, jitsi or discord to make sure it's using "System default" instead of some specific device.
install the gui for the Alsamixer and to adjust the "Capture" level. It took a few tries in the Alsamixergui to get the Alsamixer to respond, but this is simpler than manually adjusting the /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d
Adding to the complication, it varies with every release. Under Ubuntu 19.10, I couldn't adjust volume in pavucontrol at all. I used use pavucontrol to set which speakers (sinks) and which microphone (source) was active, but the volume sliders did nothing, and I had to run alsamixer (or amixer from the commandline) to adjust volume. I bound my laptop's Vol+ key to "amixer sset PCM 4%+ unmute" and similarly for Vol- and mute. Now, in 20.04, alsamixer/amixer don't change the volume at all; I still need to find pulse commands that I can bind to my laptop's volume buttons.
...Akkana _______________________________________________ nmglug mailing list nmglug@lists.nmglug.org http://lists.nmglug.org/listinfo.cgi/nmglug-nmglug.org
NMGLuggers and Satsangat, thanks for following this thread. I'm afraid thoroughness is required if one is using the six month release cycle. The Release Notes and news on releases will help one listen to the ideas being considered by the developers, but sometimes they miss an item of importance for some users. In my rather simple case it is the Pulseaudio, Alsamixer, hardware connection for the built-in mic. One small detail. I decided not to resort to a rewrite of files or a script, but exploration of the supplied settings and a little more knowledge of how pulse and alsa work together. It also reminded me to add sox and lame, just because I like them and occasionally use them. On top of this there is systemd which I am still at the beginner's stage of absorbing and understanding. You may have seen the notice about "start and stop" commands not being used now, etc. I got a hint by running 'mount' and seeing all the changes: cgroups and snap are both revealed as mounted items, but really are control mechanisms. This takes advantage of the Linux ability to mount a directory or system almost anywhere. Very interesting. Thank you, Ted P On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 3:17 PM Satsangat Khalsa <satsangat@khalsa.com> wrote:
NMGLUGERS (in particular, Ted and Akkana} OMG, you guys are so thorough. I'm impressed and have always loaded my laptops with dual-booting (LINUX / WIN) which I understand as to be cheating somewhat.
But, if I don't do it that way, my wife has, consistently, chortled about how "I'm not having that problem on my laptop". It does start to depress your forward thinking after a while.
Best, Satsangat (dual-booter by necessity)
On Sat, Jul 4, 2020 at 9:42 AM Akkana Peck <akkana@shallowsky.com> wrote:
Ted Pomeroy writes:
NMGLugers, I had trouble with my mic in Xubuntu 20.04 during our July 2nd meeting. I have resolved this today, but the route was convoluted so I cannot be sure which step was the most likely single solution. My first
Audio has gotten insanely complicated lately -- I feel your pain and I'm glad you got it working.
choice for the solution is the Pulseaudio mixer where I found the "Input Devices" tab and un-checked the "Set as fallback" choice. As this was the
I found the "Set as fallback" buttons unhelpful in pavucontrol (probably the same app you're using as Pulseaudio mixer) because it doesn't give you any way of finding out what the current fallback is. Did I press the button, or not? Which one did I make the fallback? Did it remember it from last time? (Sometimes it does, other times not.)
I got so frustrated that I ended up writing a web page where I collected what I'd learned about pulseaudio, pacmd and pactl: https://shallowsky.com/linux/pulseaudio-command-line.html and I wrote a script called pulsehelper to list audio source/sink status and set fallbacks: https://github.com/akkana/scripts/blob/master/pulsehelper.py
Setting the fallbacks right doesn't always help with Zoom or Jitsi, though, because pulse also keeps a memory of which app uses which device, so even if I set the default mic to be the GoPro, pulse may decide that chromium should be using the built-in mic even though it's muted. So I always have to check the audio prefs immediately after starting zoom, jitsi or discord to make sure it's using "System default" instead of some specific device.
install the gui for the Alsamixer and to adjust the "Capture" level. It took a few tries in the Alsamixergui to get the Alsamixer to respond, but this is simpler than manually adjusting the /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf.d
Adding to the complication, it varies with every release. Under Ubuntu 19.10, I couldn't adjust volume in pavucontrol at all. I used use pavucontrol to set which speakers (sinks) and which microphone (source) was active, but the volume sliders did nothing, and I had to run alsamixer (or amixer from the commandline) to adjust volume. I bound my laptop's Vol+ key to "amixer sset PCM 4%+ unmute" and similarly for Vol- and mute. Now, in 20.04, alsamixer/amixer don't change the volume at all; I still need to find pulse commands that I can bind to my laptop's volume buttons.
...Akkana _______________________________________________ nmglug mailing list nmglug@lists.nmglug.org http://lists.nmglug.org/listinfo.cgi/nmglug-nmglug.org
_______________________________________________ nmglug mailing list nmglug@lists.nmglug.org http://lists.nmglug.org/listinfo.cgi/nmglug-nmglug.org
participants (3)
-
Akkana Peck -
Satsangat Khalsa -
Ted Pomeroy