source: multimedia/libdriv/alsa-utils.xml@ 4a21942

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<sect1 id="alsa-utils" xreflabel="ALSA Utilities-&alsa-utils-version;">
<sect1info>
<othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
<date>$Date$</date>
</sect1info>
<?dbhtml filename="alsa-utils.html"?>
<title>ALSA Utilities-&alsa-utils-version;</title>

<sect2>
<title>Introduction to <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
Utilities</application></title>

<para>The <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Utilities</application> package 
contains various utilities which are useful for controlling your sound 
card.</para>

<sect3><title>Package information</title>
<itemizedlist spacing='compact'>
<listitem><para>Download (HTTP): 
<ulink url="&alsa-utils-download-http;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download (FTP): 
<ulink url="&alsa-utils-download-ftp;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download MD5 sum: &alsa-utils-md5sum;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download size: &alsa-utils-size;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated disk space required: 
&alsa-utils-buildsize;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated build time: 
&alsa-utils-time;</para></listitem></itemizedlist>
</sect3>

<sect3><title><application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Utilities</application> 
dependencies</title>
<sect4><title>Required</title>
<para><xref linkend="alsa-lib"/></para>
</sect4>
</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Installation of <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
Utilities</application></title>

<para>Install <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Utilities</application> by 
running the following commands:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>./configure &amp;&amp;
make &amp;&amp;
make install</command></userinput></screen>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Configuring <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
Utilities</application></title>

<sect3><title>Config files</title>
<para><filename>/etc/asound.state</filename></para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>Configuration Information</title>
<para>Probably the easiest way to store mixer levels is to set and retrieve
them using a bootscript.</para>

<para>Install the init script <filename>/etc/rc.d/init.d/alsa</filename> 
included in the <xref linkend="intro-important-bootscripts"/> package.</para>

<screen><userinput><command>make install-alsa</command></userinput></screen>

<para>Note that all channels of your sound card are muted by default. You can
use the <command>alsamixer</command> program from
<application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Utilities</application> (or any other
<acronym>OSS</acronym> mixer) to change this.</para>

<para>The first time the above script is run, it will complain that
there is no state in <filename>/etc/asound.state</filename>.  You can
prevent this by running the following commands after installing
<application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Utilities</application>:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>touch /etc/asound.state &amp;&amp;
alsactl store</command></userinput></screen>

<para>A final note is that the lines loading <filename>sfxload</filename>
are commented out.  They are there as an example of other things you may
wish to do in the startup script.  <filename>sfxload</filename> is a
separate package of interest to SoundBlaster AWE and Live! 
users.  It is designed for loading "sound-fonts" (which are used for
<acronym>MIDI</acronym> output).  You may wish to delete these lines and add 
your own or, if you have the relevant sound card, install <filename>sfxload
</filename> and uncomment them.</para>

</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Contents</title>

<para>The <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Utilities</application> package 
contains <command>aconnect</command>, 
<command>alsactl</command>, <command>alsamixer</command>,
<command>amixer</command>, <command>aplay</command>,
<command>arecord</command> and <command>aseqnet</command>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Description</title>

<sect3><title>aconnect</title>
<para><command>aconnect</command> is a utility for connecting and 
disconnecting two existing ports in the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
sequencer system.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>alsactl</title>
<para><command>alsactl</command> is used to control advanced settings
for the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound card drivers.</para></sect3>

<sect3><title>alsamixer</title>
<para><command>alsamixer</command> is an ncurses-based mixer program for
use with the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound card drivers.</para></sect3>

<sect3><title>amixer</title>
<para><command>amixer</command> allows command-line control of the
mixers for the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound card drivers.</para></sect3>

<sect3><title>aplay</title>
<para><command>aplay</command> is a command-line soundfile player for
the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound card drivers.</para></sect3>

<sect3><title>arecord</title>
<para><command>arecord</command> is a command-line soundfile recorder
for the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound card drivers.</para></sect3>

<sect3><title>aseqnet</title>
<para><command>aseqnet</command> is an <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sequencer 
client which sends and receives event packets over a network.</para></sect3>

</sect2>

</sect1>