Ubuntu/Linux and Pulseaudio Issues
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:09 pm
I have a solution for the sound problem... After upgrading to Ubuntu 9.10, sound would be either choppy, or would work fine in UO for a few minutes until sound stopped working all together. Sometimes I could re-start the client to get sound back, other times not.
I tracked the problem down to the Pulseaudio sound server that the jerks at Ubuntu are forcing down our throats... In Ubuntu 9.04, you had the option to choose your sound server - Pulse, Alsa, OSS, etc.. They removed the option to choose.
PulseAudio has known issues with Wine, as wine wants to talk to the hardware. Alsa lets it, but when PulseAudio is in use, Alsa passes the audio over to Pulse before it makes it to the sound card.
So, there are two options: Try to use pasuspender, or remove PulseAudio all together.
pasuspender is a program that 'disables' pulseaudio for whatever application you specify on the command line... So you would want to go to properties on your icon for UO/Razor and add 'pulseaudio -- ' before the 'wine "C:\\Program Files...etc"' -- You may find that you have no sound, at which point you will need to install the aumix-gtk package and turn up the volume on "VOL" "PCM" and "PCM2"
I must note, that I didn't think to adjust volume levels using aumix before I did the next thing, which is to remove pulse all together... So the above may or may not work.
So, to remove PulseAudio from Ubuntu 9.10, do the following:
# Remove PulseAudio and reboot!
sudo killall pulseaudio
sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio
sudo reboot # or reboot through the Gnome dialogs
# Install asoundconf-gtk and aumix-gtk
sudo apt-get install aumix-gtk
sudo apt-get install asoundconf-gtk
# Download the missing 'asoundconf' binary, as it is no longer in the alsa-utils package!!!
Get alsa-utils_1.0.18-1ubuntu11_i386.deb from here (64-bit version also on the page):
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/alsa-utils
Extract asoundconf from alsa-utils*.deb with Archive Manager
Then put it in the proper place:
sudo cp asoundconf /usr/bin/
# Type on Terminal, or from your run dialog:
asoundconf-gtk
# Select your sound card from the list. Mine showed "LIVE", as I have a Sound Blaster Live! card.
# Run aumix-gtk, from the menu->Sound & Video->aumix
Make the window larger so you can see the sliders better. I had turn "PCM2" way up before I could hear anything.
I now have working sound on UO (and flash, and all the other apps I was having problems with), and my system seems to be more responsive. The only problem still, is the stupid Gnome volume control only works with Pulse!! But I would rather have working sound and no volume control applet, than an applet and crappy sound. I'll just run aumix until the volume control is fixed.
I tracked the problem down to the Pulseaudio sound server that the jerks at Ubuntu are forcing down our throats... In Ubuntu 9.04, you had the option to choose your sound server - Pulse, Alsa, OSS, etc.. They removed the option to choose.
PulseAudio has known issues with Wine, as wine wants to talk to the hardware. Alsa lets it, but when PulseAudio is in use, Alsa passes the audio over to Pulse before it makes it to the sound card.
So, there are two options: Try to use pasuspender, or remove PulseAudio all together.
pasuspender is a program that 'disables' pulseaudio for whatever application you specify on the command line... So you would want to go to properties on your icon for UO/Razor and add 'pulseaudio -- ' before the 'wine "C:\\Program Files...etc"' -- You may find that you have no sound, at which point you will need to install the aumix-gtk package and turn up the volume on "VOL" "PCM" and "PCM2"
I must note, that I didn't think to adjust volume levels using aumix before I did the next thing, which is to remove pulse all together... So the above may or may not work.
So, to remove PulseAudio from Ubuntu 9.10, do the following:
# Remove PulseAudio and reboot!
sudo killall pulseaudio
sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio
sudo reboot # or reboot through the Gnome dialogs
# Install asoundconf-gtk and aumix-gtk
sudo apt-get install aumix-gtk
sudo apt-get install asoundconf-gtk
# Download the missing 'asoundconf' binary, as it is no longer in the alsa-utils package!!!
Get alsa-utils_1.0.18-1ubuntu11_i386.deb from here (64-bit version also on the page):
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/alsa-utils
Extract asoundconf from alsa-utils*.deb with Archive Manager
Then put it in the proper place:
sudo cp asoundconf /usr/bin/
# Type on Terminal, or from your run dialog:
asoundconf-gtk
# Select your sound card from the list. Mine showed "LIVE", as I have a Sound Blaster Live! card.
# Run aumix-gtk, from the menu->Sound & Video->aumix
Make the window larger so you can see the sliders better. I had turn "PCM2" way up before I could hear anything.
I now have working sound on UO (and flash, and all the other apps I was having problems with), and my system seems to be more responsive. The only problem still, is the stupid Gnome volume control only works with Pulse!! But I would rather have working sound and no volume control applet, than an applet and crappy sound. I'll just run aumix until the volume control is fixed.