Sound issue in 2.0, look here first.

[TheeMahn]

I have posted this in Ultimate Edition 2.0 thread, yet it is ignored, I felt a sticky would help curve problems that admin have to repost over and over.

people with sound issues... I personally hate pulse audio as well, but it is tightly integrated into the O/S, I tried to completely remove it and replace it with alsa, once pulse is removed from the system it no longer allowed me to enter the GUI. I have found a non-destructive solution, please let me know if this helps.

TheeMahn

[2hot6ft2]

This is not intended to take away from TheeMahns post in any way but to offer an alternative solution.

I came across a real good how to thread and thought I would share it here. It goes the other way though. Instead of trying to remove or disable pulse audio it is about setting it up to work properly.

I followed the guide and it has worked good for me while others have had some issues, most of which seem to get resolved, at least when it's PA's fault. The thread is close to 100 pages now and the OP is still trouble shooting any issues that people have. Here's the link.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578

What it did for me.

On the desktop Ultimate Edition 1.9 64 bit.
The stutter while surfing and listening to my tunes with Rhythmbox is either gone or a whole lot less frequent now than it was (I haven't noticed it since), and Audacious hasn't stuttered yet.

2 programs can play sound at the same time including Rhythmbox and Audacious (kinda weird playing 2 songs at the same time but it works).

Seems an added benefit is I haven't had a system freeze since completing the guide a few days ago, and it was freezing pretty frequently before then.

On the laptop Ultimate Edition 2.0 32 bit.
The equalizer sure makes a difference. Once I get it adjusted right it will be great. Trial and error for just the right sound.

Submitted in the hopes that someone finds this helpful.

[TheeMahn]

This is not intended to take away from TheeMahns post in any way but to offer an alternative solution.

I came across a real good how to thread and thought I would share it here. It goes the other way though. Instead of trying to remove or disable pulse audio it is about setting it up to work properly.

I followed the guide and it has worked good for me while others have had some issues, most of which seem to get resolved, at least when it's PA's fault. The thread is close to 100 pages now and the OP is still trouble shooting any issues that people have. Here's the link.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=789578

What it did for me.

On the desktop Ultimate Edition 1.9 64 bit.
The stutter while surfing and listening to my tunes with Rhythmbox is either gone or a whole lot less frequent now than it was (I haven't noticed it since), and Audacious hasn't stuttered yet.

2 programs can play sound at the same time including Rhythmbox and Audacious (kinda weird playing 2 songs at the same time but it works).

Seems an added benefit is I haven't had a system freeze since completing the guide a few days ago, and it was freezing pretty frequently before then.

On the laptop Ultimate Edition 2.0 32 bit.
The equalizer sure makes a difference. Once I get it adjusted right it will be great. Trial and error for just the right sound.

Submitted in the hopes that someone finds this helpful.

I greatly appreciate your input, why because not everyone has the same hardware, you do point in a good perspective. While I think Pulseaudio is a piece of garbage (currently I have had intermittent problems with it, never with alsa), others may not have the option of alsa. I do not make those kind of big decisions, I just get caught up in the wake of the decisions they make, such as just that they are the ones that decide pulse-audio is to replace alsa (I did almost purge it from the system & put alsa back in it's place). I hope you can understand that.

I read the post, I am not saying that alsa "just works" out of the box it has every time for me & on multiple systems, I really think they made a bad choice by doing so, as a programmer; why re-create the wheel? Should I expose my users to a howto as exhaustive as that 4 or 5 pages, just to get your sound working? It perhaps should have "just worked" to begin with, that is their doing, not mine

Thanks for you input and intuition,

TheeMahn

[2hot6ft2]

I completely agree. You have enough of a workload without trying to beat on that new wheel and make it roll.

Yes it's a long how to. On the other hand Hardy does parts A and B, Intrepid does A and C, so it's really not that long the rest is just trouble shooting if there's still an issue.

When I see posts where someone is saying removing pulse audio will fix all there sound issues I let them know about your post and your insight to the problem, along with it's possible solutions. And let them decide.

Considering that many will jump on the first hint of a quick fix without searching out all the possibilities first and what the results may be. To most including myself loosing the desktop could be disastrous (I know my way around windows but not linux just yet, I'm catching on) and your warning should be taken seriously.

While I don't mind a reinstall it does take time to get everything just how I want it.

I'm looking at another post right now here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=885437 the title of which is "HOWTO: Fix all PulseAudio-related issues in 2 minutes" basically replacing pulse audio with esound.

My stutter is back on the desktop and I'm adjusting the /etc/pulse/daemon.conf file and see if that fixes it. If not I'll be following the guide you linked to myself. I figured I would try and fix it first.

Keep up the great work it is appreciated.

[kiwinsn]

Just a quick note to thank both of you...

TheeMahn - you may not remember but I had all sorts of problems with sound when I changed over, and more so when pulse was included in 2.0.

Thanks to the posts from both of you, I now have SOUND GLORIOUS 5.1 SOUND.....

I bow in the presence of greatness....

Cheers

[2hot6ft2]

You're welcome.

Glad to hear you have it all set up and with surround too.

Just for the record I ended up following TheeMahns link but it is still too early to say if it fixed my stuttering issue or not. I'm starting to wonder if some of my mp3's may have become corrupted and be causing the stutter themselves. Trying them in Audacious now.

[pwburns]

Hi, I am new to Linux and have just installed 32bit Ultimate 2.0 on my machine, the install went great until Noticed that there wasn't anny sound.
I have a Audigy 2 creative card and have Ubuntu 8.04 on another partition that works great.

Can anyone tell me why Ultimate 2.0 (ubuntu 8.10) will not play any sounds?

[2hot6ft2]

A couple quick quotes from here might help http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4928900

Note 1. Intrepid users: due to a bug in the ALSA libraries, your PCM mixer may occasionally become muted or reset to 0% volume. If you cannot hear sound - or hear a faint crackling - refer to Part C, Step 3.

3. Ensure that your sound card's PCM mixer is not muted or set to 0% volume (this appears to be a bug in Intrepid):

Code:

$ alsamixer -Dhw

Note: When the PulseAudio ALSA plugins are active, you must explicitly specify your hardware device in alsamixer (marked in blue above), otherwise it will open the PulseAudio mixer.

Maybe this will help.

[TheeMahn]

A couple quick quotes from here might help http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4928900

Note 1. Intrepid users: due to a bug in the ALSA libraries, your PCM mixer may occasionally become muted or reset to 0% volume. If you cannot hear sound - or hear a faint crackling - refer to Part C, Step 3.

3. Ensure that your sound card's PCM mixer is not muted or set to 0% volume (this appears to be a bug in Intrepid):

Code:

$ alsamixer -Dhw

Note: When the PulseAudio ALSA plugins are active, you must explicitly specify your hardware device in alsamixer (marked in blue above), otherwise it will open the PulseAudio mixer.

Maybe this will help.

Thank you for bring that up I just installed Ultimate Xmas Edition (unavailable at time of post) & my sound was also muted from the rip, what are they thinking? I will say this again I do not make the "big decisions", I just feel the waves of their repercussions. Maybe I should man up & make it all myself...

Lets be honest, I can do only so much. Writing a distro is a job in itself, writing ultamatix another job, repo management another, usplash, gdm, I can carry on I have done it all at the same time, I need a break. I am working on that (I am 1 man), what do you say my only job is writing a distro, I can do so much better if that is my only job. Or would you rather me wake up ultamatix, I am no slouch when it comes to programming, over 20 years of EXP? One job is all I ask....

Now I am going to fully be open / honest:

wrong but is what I deal with, notice the secs between, not minutes.

All that say city unknown does not drop a balloon. All but 1 rethink worse then you can see.

Please 1 job,

TheeMahn

[pwburns]

Hi, I am new to Linux and have just installed 32bit Ultimate 2.0 on my machine, the install went great until Noticed that there wasn't anny sound.
I have a Audigy 2 creative card and have Ubuntu 8.04 on another partition that works great.

Can anyone tell me why Ultimate 2.0 (ubuntu 8.10) will not play any sounds?

I have tried, you sugestions but, still no sound.
I have no idea why, it sees my Audigy 2 creative card and when the system boots
I hear the speakers pop but still no sounds for anything???
Please Help