[pulseaudio-discuss] alsa plugin vs. pulse

[Jim Carter]

> On 10/9/07, Brad Midgley <bmidgley at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Under pulse 0.9.6, the headset must be on when starting the server,
> > but even so, the server fails. default.pa contains:
> >
> > load-module module-alsa-sink sink_name=bluetooth device=bluetooth
> >
> > I get:
> >
> > bmidgley at med:~$ /usr/bin/pulseaudio --log-target=syslog
> > -Lmodule-esound-compat-spawnfd fd=24
> > ALSA lib ctl_bluetooth.c:150:(bluetooth_send_ctl) Unable to request
> > new volume value to server: Socket operation on non-socket
> > Segmentation fault

I get similar but not the same.  The headphone has to be running when 
bluetoothd-service-audio starts (I have no 
/usr/local/etc/bluetooth/audio.conf and by analogy with a2dpd I suspect 
that some conf in that file would help a lot).  I'm *sure* that bluetoothd 
is supposed to start it (judging from the names), but for me it doesn't 
happen, so I start it manually (omitting bluetoothd, and instead using hcid 
and sdpd).  Eventually I'll figure out what's intended to happen, and what 
configuration is needed to realize that.

I play direct to Bluetooth ALSA: aplay -D a2dpd 01_aria.wav -- perfect.
This is really bluez-utils-3.19 but I still call the ALSA device a2dpd.

Now: pulseaudio -v -v --log-target=stderr --daemonize=0
After loading modules it goes into an infinite loop saying 10 times/sec:
I: module-alsa-sink.c: *** ALSA-XRUN (playback) ***
Even so, I can play via ALSA sink-input: aplay -D pulse 01_aria.wav
It got one or two buffer-loads of music out, but at least 98% was lost.
No complaints from bluetoothd-service-audio: no underruns, etc.

This is all with the default.pa and .asoundrc in my last posting, in which 
Bluetooth is the default sink, and PulseAudio has a compulsion to open it 
at startup.

I didn't mess with esound compatibility, and no client touches ctl_a2dpd 
(yet) even though the ALSA plugin for that is installed.  And 
coincidentally I got no segfaults.

James F. Carter          Voice 310 825 2897    FAX 310 206 6673
UCLA-Mathnet;  6115 MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095-1555
Email: jimc at math.ucla.edu  http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc (q.v. for PGP key)