(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Hi,
I have re-posted this here on the 'puppy derivatives' forum in the hope of getting some clarification specifically on the problem in so far as it relates to Studio4.
Last week I downloaded Studio4 and have not been able to get any sound coming through my headphones even though the netbook's speaker-sound works OK.
I subsequently found out that this was most likely due to Studio4 using an old kernel (based on Lucid) which has been known for its headphone sound problems in the past
See post:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 10ce087372
The Studio4 kernel is 2.6.33.5 - rt25 (a 'real-time' kernel). My sound card is Hda-Intel with a Realtek ALC269 chip and its headphone sound has not been a problem with newer puppies/kernels that I have tried.
* Is there anyway that I will ever be able to update or fix this particular Studio4 kernel in order to get the headphone sound working ?
* Has anyone else had problems with 'no headphone sound' when using Studio4? If so, did you ever manage to get it working?
* Is the Hda-intel Realtek ALC269 soundcard the only one that has problems with this old kernel?
thanks
dave

Did you try turning the headphone volume up in retrovol or alsamixer?

Hi, there is no headphone option at all in retrovol/alsamixer.
dave

As greengeek said in the other thread you posted in, please post a full screenshot with all of the sliders turned up.

Not to say you're lying, but just in case you missed something.

Hi,
Screenshot of Studio4 'retrovol' and 'alsamixer' enclosed ie. no headphone option is available. (This is similar to the situation in Lucid528).
Running the alsawizard does not fix this.
Incidentally, the output of running /usr/bin/amixer in the Studio4 terminal is also shown below:
sh-3.00# /usr/bin/amixer
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined penum
Playback channels: Mono
Limits: Playback 0 - 87
Mono: Playback 71 [82%] [-12.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Speaker',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 87
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 0 [0%] [-65.25dB] [on]
Front Right: Playback 0 [0%] [-65.25dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Capabilities: pvolume penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 255
Mono:
Front Left: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Front Right: Playback 255 [100%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mic Boost',0
Capabilities: volume penum
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: 0 - 3
Front Left: 0 [0%]
Front Right: 0 [0%]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
Capabilities: cvolume cswitch penum
Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Capture 0 - 31
Front Left: Capture 11 [35%] [0.00dB] [off]
Front Right: Capture 11 [35%] [0.00dB] [off]
sh-3.00#
dave

Looks like you're out of luck!

Sorry!

Is it a practical solution to purchase a usb sound adapter? They are pretty small and I understand they are only a few dollars on Ebay. I have seen several people report that this solution fixed their issues - but then I do not remember what kernel or puppy they were using.

Apart from the annoyance of having a dongle hanging out the side of your laptop it just might allow you to use Studio4 on that laptop.

Having said that, when I've used Studio4 I've had configuration problems with sound as a result of my not knowing how to configure the "Jack" utility, so just keep in mind that getting the sound card volume controls recognised is problem 1, then configuring Jack might be problem 2.

(I got things working with a bit of fiddling - but didn't feel confident i was understanding the process)

Studio 4 seemed quite good to me so it may well be worth the effort and a few dollars if the idea of a usb dongle works...

Thanks greengeek.
I'll certainly consider that if I can't sort it out some other way.
dave

Is there a particular piece of software that you are interested in using in Studio 4 davec60?
I can't remember if headphones worked with Alsa 1022, but it definitely works fine with 1024, ala Lucid 529 (3HD) onwards, not Lucid 528.
It's a good little chip too, clean on line input and output, but hideous on mic input (much like the rest of 'em).

No, not any specific app. in Studio4 - I really just wanted to take a look at them all and see how useful they may or may not be. I do have a couple of the apps already elsewhere but by downloading Studio4 I was hoping to be able to have all music-related apps together and working in the one place without having to reboot into different distros to use different apps.
EDIT: I installed Alsa v1.0.24 but that didn't fix the problem. It's probably the old kernel that's at least part of the problem - although what may also be significant is that Studio 4 shows my sound chip to be a Realtek ALC259 whereas the same thing in other puppies (eg. Precise 5.5 using Alsa v1.0.25) appears as a Realtek ALC269VB.
dave

Re: greengeeks suggestion of 19 June 2013 about trying an USB sound adapter. I have now got one and this has solved the problem - thanks !
dave

Great - thanks for the update. Was the adapter expensive?

No, I got 2 for 2.50 GBP (on Amazon) ie. about NZ$4.60.