FireFox requires PulseAudio for sound; how to install?

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spiritwild · #41 Post by **spiritwild** » Wed 12 Apr 2017, 03:05

I had installed pulseaudio prior to hearing about apulse. Since I got FF to produce sound, I didn't feel the need to go undo things and try apulse.

I eventually tried it and had some kind of crashing issue with FF. I didn't really bother looking into why, I just went back to what was working.

I had read about FF dropping alsa on different forums, some were just dumbfounded that is has worked for 10 years would be no longer supported. Others defended it to the point of arguing. Suddenly it was as if Alsa was representing the democratic vote and Pulse the republican.

My only issue.... It's just a bump in the road but if you're new to linux/Puppy, these little bumps are road blocks. From what I read, it's very hit or miss depending on your distro.

I only run firefox from Wbar, so I just load a script with pulse and FF and get on with my business. I suppose you can change the .desktop EXEC , run the script, command line , etc

There were a few tweaks here and there with configs but it plays sound so I'm content.

Sound test.... https://hpr.dogphilosophy.net/test/

watchdog · #42 Post by **watchdog** » Wed 12 Apr 2017, 05:02

I have found a way to get working pulseaudio-9.0 in slacko64 700 beta. Install it by PPM with pavucontrol and pulseaudio-ctl. Then edit /etc/pulse/default.pa commenting the following lines:

Code: Select all

### If autoexit on idle is enabled we want to make sure we only quit
### when no local session needs us anymore.
#.ifexists module-console-kit.so
#load-module module-console-kit
#.endif
#.ifexists module-systemd-login.so
#load-module module-systemd-login
#.endif

Now pulseaudio should work:

Code: Select all

pulseaudio --start
firefox
pulseaudio --kill

artsown · #43 Post by **artsown** » Fri 21 Apr 2017, 21:59

I was testing google-chrome viewing web page videos and experienced a
very annoying repetitive clicking sound. Uninstalling apulse fixed the
problem.

Edit: I've written script wrappers for Firefox (32 and 64 bit) that enable
apulse only while Firefox is active. Now I can test or use alternate browsers
without interference.

Art

r__hughes · #44 Post by **r__hughes** » Mon 01 May 2017, 00:02

OscarTalks wrote:As an alternative, try installing this apulse package
http://smokey01.com/OscarTalks/apulse-0.1.8-i686-wz.pet
Then just run Firefox as normal.
Just a library so no need to start and stop daemons.
Compiled in Wheezy but tested briefly and worked in Slacko 5.7

Works for me & frugal slacko5.7 npae with FFv53 on a Dell Latitude E6420

Mike Walsh · #45 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Mon 01 May 2017, 14:59

spiritwild wrote:I had installed pulseaudio prior to hearing about apulse. Since I got FF to produce sound, I didn't feel the need to go undo things and try apulse.

I eventually tried it and had some kind of crashing issue with FF. I didn't really bother looking into why, I just went back to what was working.

Mm. Couldn't agree more, TBH.

What I take away from all this is very simple; find what works for your system, your hardware, your Pup.....and stick with it. What works for one won't necessarily work for everyone.

The apulse pet wasn't needed for me in Tahrpup 6.05, because I'd already got PulseAudio as part of watchdog's Skype workaround. I installed FF52 to try it out (I'm not an FF user, really.....more of a Chrome guy).....and for me, there was no 'issue' with the sound. It was just there. After mulling it over, I realised why.....and just as quickly thought, 'If it works, don't 'fix' it..!'

So, it's a case of YMMV.... If it's fully functional, leave it the hell alone. Mind you, telling a geek not to 'tinker' is like trying to forbid the sun to rise in the mornings..!

Mike.

mike001 · #46 Post by **mike001** » Wed 03 May 2017, 01:29

Thanks Oscartalks! One more bug worked out for me.

artsown · #47 Post by **artsown** » Thu 15 Jun 2017, 23:13

Firefox 54 eliminates audio again in spite of apulse. Other things are
broken with 54 as well. I installed a recent ESR version of FF for the time
being.

Will this crap never end?

Art

Mike Walsh · #48 Post by **Mike Walsh** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 00:05

Why d'you think I disowned FireFox years ago in favour of Chrome, back in the autumn of 2008?

Mike.

Puppyt · #49 Post by **Puppyt** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 08:18

Yeah, also jumped ship. I use Palemoon and Light most often nowadays (yes I know they're mozilla forks but...). and finding myself in FF gives me the same queasy feeling that IE does

ac2011 · #50 Post by **ac2011** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 12:13

artsown wrote:Firefox 54 eliminates audio again in spite of apulse. Other things are
broken with 54 as well. I installed a recent ESR version of FF for the time
being.

Will this crap never end?

Art

Noticed this yesterday too, and reverted to ESR 52.2. How hard can it really be to consistently play audio through a browser? I'm pretty sure we had that feature in 1997...

B.K. Johnson · #51 Post by **B.K. Johnson** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 13:24

What distributions are you guys running?
Where have you got FF installed?
Do you use Flash? What add-ons?
What hardware?

FF and Seamonkey have been installed on my tahr for an eternity; my FF updated itself yesterday to 45.0; I don't have apulse installed and I use VLC and DeadBeef to play my local .mp3s (even as I type this) and listen to youtube offerings (just did). I have YouTube ALL HTML5 as an add-on. You guys are giving FF a bad rap! Got to be another reason/reasons for your failures.

ac2011 · #52 Post by **ac2011** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 13:58

B.K. Johnson wrote:What distributions are you guys running?
Where have you got FF installed?
Do you use Flash? What add-ons?
What hardware?

FF and Seamonkey have been installed on my tahr for an eternity; my FF updated itself yesterday to 45.0; I don't have apulse installed and I use VLC and DeadBeef to play my local .mp3s (even as I type this) and listen to youtube offerings (just did). I have YouTube ALL HTML5 as an add-on. You guys are giving FF a bad rap! Got to be another reason/reasons for your failures.

FF 52 ESR works fine (HTML5 audio). FF 54 does not. Same hardware, same (minimal) plugins, same location, no flash. I'm no newbie: I've been doing this stuff for decades.

It's not hugely surprising that 54 doesn't do what ESR 52 does, as even Google warns that there are ongoing changes to FF that render some media playback - even Google hangouts video - 'temporarily' unusable on FF for now.

I'm not giving FF a bad rap. FF 52 ESR is the most effective 32-bit Linux browser I've found for HTML5 media. But 54 is, at least in that respect, a big step backward.

watchdog · #53 Post by **watchdog** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 18:16

Apulse is defective. I realized it first using skype 4.3 and then recent Firefox. My package pulseaudio-4.0-tahr606-i386.pet is working in slacko 700rc, thar6.0.6 and other recent puppies:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 288#947288

Tested working firefox 54.0.

artsown · #54 Post by **artsown** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 21:19

@watchdog

What about 64 bit versions of tahrpup and xenialpup?

Art

ferretgrandpa · #55 Post by **ferretgrandpa** » Fri 16 Jun 2017, 22:06

slacko 5.7.0 PAE Frugal on usb, Firefox 54.0 (32bit) with current Shockwave Flash (v24.0), installed apulse-0.1.9 pet from ppm

Sound works fine

tried on 2 different computers, same results

Tom

watchdog · #56 Post by **watchdog** » Sat 17 Jun 2017, 04:00

artsown wrote:@watchdog

What about 64 bit versions of tahrpup and xenialpup?

If you are going to try pulseaudio in 64 bit puppies then I have posted some experiments:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 004#957004

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 004#951004

ETP · #57 Post by **ETP** » Sat 17 Jun 2017, 09:21

Hi folks,

I am currently using Waterfox64 instead of Firefox when pulseaudio is an issue. (eg Quirky Xerus 64)
The author is sticking with alsa. You may wish to give it a try.

Code: Select all

Waterfox64_53.0.1|Waterfox64_53.0.1|53.0.1||Internet|177816K||Waterfox64_53.0.1.pet||Web Browser|ubuntu|xenial||

Direct download link for pet follows:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=down ... UVaSlptbnc

artsown · #58 Post by **artsown** » Sat 17 Jun 2017, 10:07

@ watchdog

Success! In Xenialpup64, I followed your suggestion to install pulseaudio
via the PPM even though it claims it's already installed. I installed all
three of the "already installed" including pulseaudio_8.0

I use a Startup script:
pulseaudio --system
pulseaudio --start

and that's it! I checked and made sure that no pulseaudio --kill seems to
be required. Other browsers don't seem to be affected. Audio in music
and video players aren't affected.

Firefox 54 is now working well. I haven't yet tried to follow your
suggestions for tahrpup64.

I appreciate your help! Thanks.

Art

artsown · #59 Post by **artsown** » Sat 17 Jun 2017, 11:03

@watchdog

Tahrpup64 same as with Xenialpup64. Install the three checked items
via PPM, use Startup script, and all is well with Firefox 54. BTW, my
tahrpup64 is using the 4.9.15 kernel.

Art

artsown · #60 Post by **artsown** » Sat 17 Jun 2017, 17:38

@watchdog

Your method for slacko64 worked fine on version 6.9.9.9

Art

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FireFox requires PulseAudio for sound; how to install?