[pulseaudio-discuss] a simple way to disable pa

[Colin Guthrie]

'Twas brillig, and H.S. at 20/12/08 19:03 did gyre and gimble:
> Sean McNamara wrote:
> 
>>> I see. But why reboot? Isn't there an init script to restart pulse audio
>>> or something like this?
>> Yes, there is an init.d script for pulseaudio in Ubuntu; you can also
>> run `pulseaudio --daemonize=true`. I figured I would select the least
> 
> Ah, yes, thanks.

I just want to clarify and say that the init script will gererally *not* 
be used under normal operation.

Pulseaudio has two modes, system and per-user. System mode would use the 
init script but is generally not recommended for standard desktops. 
Per-user mode is usually the way to go and should be the default on 
Ubunutu (as far as i know). This mode allows proper integration info the 
console-kit for knowing which user is active (e.g. if you loging > 1 
user at a time) and thus grants and denies access to the sound hardware 
as appropriate.

>> is sort of like "PulseAudio light" -- it provides the core
>> functionality of software mixing, but you're missing out on all the
>> other great features of PA. Of course, since Ubuntu doesn't take
> 
> Some hints on those features please?
> 
> For now, I have discovered in my Debian machines that I can change the
> source and sink from pulseaudio's gui, restart the application of
> interst and its sound get channeled through the new path.


Well I presume you are using padevchooser. This should not be used. Use 
pavucontol. The whole point in pulseaudio is that you can change the 
source and sink *without* restaring the application!!

The fact that Ubuntu does not install pavucontrol and promote it's uses 
is IMO a mistake as without pavucontrol, the benefits of pulseaudio 
cannot be realised.


>> Good luck with Audacity - that's one of the most stubborn applications
>> to get working on a system using either Dmix _or_ Pulseaudio.
> 
> hmm .. not very encouraging.

See my other reply about this. It's working well here now with the 
fedora patch. If it doesn't work on Ubuntu, you should poke them and ask 
them to include the patch.

Col.


-- 

Colin Guthrie
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http://colin.guthr.ie/

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