[pulseaudio-discuss] Problems with pulseaudio / asla on PS3

[Lennart Poettering]

On Wed, 27.08.08 21:32, Kevin Gilbert (kevin952 at tpg.com.au) wrote:

> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008, Lennart Poettering opined:
> <snip>
> > PA tries to open audio device via a lot of different device strings,
> > but apparently it may not be opened via any of them. Could you check
> > if you can open the device with aplay? (i.e. "aplay -f CD -D hw:0 <
> > /dev/urandom" or something similar?)
> >
> > Maybe you have a permission problem?
> 
> Permissions with what? Can't be /dev/dsp as I have tried running pulseaudio 
> after a "chmod 0666 /dev/dsp".

/dev/dsp is the OSS device name. The ALSA devices are in /dev/snd/

> > Please check with strace what actually happens.

> pulseaudio log same as before but just in case it isn't:

Uh? With strace you should be able to find out whether /dev/sdn/pcm*
was actually opened. Call it like this:

strace -f -o log pulseaudio -vvvv --system

> # aplay -f CD -D hw:0 -vvv < /dev/urandom
> Playing raw data 'stdin' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 44100 Hz, Stereo
> aplay: set_params:913: Access type not available
> === end ===

Uhh? Access type not available? This is strange! Does aplay -D
plughw:0 work=

> I'm not sure what all that means but doesn't the fact the pulseaudio cannot 
> load the ALSA module mean that there will be no sound generated via
> ALSA?

It measn that with your ALSA setup is wrong.

> 
> What does the log entry:
> 
> E: alsa-util.c: Error opening PCM device hw:0: No such file or directory
> 
> really mean? Just what is says? IE, the device "hw:0" really does not exist? 
> Given that I'm running pulseaudio on a PS3, is the device called something 
> else on that hardware platform? Where would I check?

ALSA error codes are usually misleading. You should thus check with
strace what is actually goign on.

> Where does pulseaudio get the device string:
> 
> device_id=0 sink_name=alsa_output.ps3_system_bus_ioc0_02_alsa_playback_0

The sink_name is just something the HAL module generates from the HAL
UDI of the audio device.

> from? Should "hw:0" be that string? If so, how do I tell pulseaudio?

device_id=0 means that PA should open the audio device #0. Which will
cause it to try to open it as "hw:0", besides other device strings.

Lennart

-- 
Lennart Poettering                        Red Hat, Inc.
lennart [at] poettering [dot] net         ICQ# 11060553
http://0pointer.net/lennart/           GnuPG 0x1A015CC4