source: multimedia/libdriv/alsa-utils.xml@ 63c29e8

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;

  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-download-http "&alsa-download-http;/utils/alsa-utils-&alsa-utils-version;.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-download-ftp  "&alsa-download-ftp;/utils/alsa-utils-&alsa-utils-version;.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-md5sum        "d4b77e9fe0311772293e402fdd634ad2">
  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-size          "935 KB">
  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-buildsize     "5.9 MB">
  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-time          "0.1 SBU">
]>

<sect1 id="alsa-utils" xreflabel="ALSA Utilities-&alsa-utils-version;">
  <?dbhtml filename="alsa-utils.html"?>

  <sect1info>
    <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
    <date>$Date$</date>
  </sect1info>

  <title>ALSA Utilities-&alsa-utils-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="alsa-utils">
    <primary sortas="a-ALSA-Utilities">ALSA Utilities</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title>Introduction to ALSA Utilities</title>

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

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Package Information</bridgehead>
    <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>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">ALSA Utilities Dependencies</bridgehead>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Required</bridgehead>
    <para><xref linkend="alsa-lib"/></para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of ALSA Utilities</title>

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

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

    <para>This package does not come with a test suite.</para>

    <para>Now, as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="configuration">
    <title>Configuring ALSA Utilities</title>

    <sect3 id="alsa-utils-config">
      <title>Config Files</title>

      <para><filename>/etc/asound.state</filename></para>

      <indexterm zone="alsa-utils alsa-utils-config">
        <primary sortas="e-etc-asound.state">/etc/asound.state</primary>
      </indexterm>

    </sect3>

    <sect3 id="alsa-utils-init">
      <title>Configuration Information</title>

      <para> Use a bootscript to store the values at shutdown.</para>

      <indexterm zone="alsa-utils alsa-utils-init">
        <primary sortas="f-alsa">alsa</primary>
      </indexterm>

      <para>As the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user,
      install the init script <filename>/etc/rc.d/init.d/alsa</filename> included
      in the <xref linkend="intro-important-bootscripts"/> package.</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>make install-alsa</userinput></screen>

      <para>Note that all channels of your sound card are muted by default.
      You can use the <command>alsamixer</command> program from the
      <application>ALSA Utilities</application> to change this.</para>

      <para>The first time the <filename class='directory'>dev.d</filename>
      script below 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 as
      the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>touch /etc/asound.state &amp;&amp;
alsactl store</userinput></screen>

      <para>The volume settings will be restored from the saved state using a 
      <filename class='directory'>dev.d</filename> handler script that will
      execute when the device is detected 
      during boot (when plugged in for USB devices).</para>

      <note>
        <para>For versions of udev greater than 0.58, this script will
        not work by default.  You'll have to add dev.d compatibility by adding
        a udev rules file that contains the line 
        'RUN="/sbin/udev_send_devd" to continue using the now depreciated 
        dev.d system.</para>
      </note>

      <para>  While still the 
      <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user, create the
      <filename class='directory'>dev.d</filename> script with the following
      commands:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>install -v -d -m755 /etc/dev.d/snd &amp;&amp;
cat &gt; /etc/dev.d/snd/alsa.dev &lt;&lt; "EOF"
#!/bin/sh -e
# This script is called by udevd when a change in a device is
# detected, including initial detection upon bootup.
# udevd sets the environment variables ACTION and DEVNAME.

[ "$ACTION" = "add" ] || exit 0
DEV_BASENAME="${DEVNAME##*/}"
N="${DEV_BASENAME#controlC}"
case "$DEV_BASENAME" in
    controlC[0-7])
        x=0
        while [ $x -lt 20 ]; do
            # Wait up to 20 seconds for /usr to be mounted if necessary
            if [ -f /usr/sbin/alsactl ]; then
                /usr/sbin/alsactl restore $N
                exit 0
            fi
            sleep 1
            x=`expr $x + 1`
        done &amp; # Put the while command in the background and continue
    ;;
esac
exit 0
EOF
chmod -v 755 /etc/dev.d/snd/alsa.dev</userinput></screen>


      <para>You may wish to do additional configuration on a per card basis.
      For example, if you wish to load soundfont banks, use the following 
      sample script:</para>

<screen>#!/bin/sh -e
# Begin /etc/dev.d/snd/<replaceable>[DEVICE]</replaceable>/asfxload.dev

x=0
    while [ $x -lt 20 ]; do
        # Wait up to 20 seconds for /usr to be mounted if necessary
        if [ -f /usr/bin/asfxload ]; then
            # Load 8 MB sountfont bank
            /usr/bin/asfxload /usr/share/sounds/sf2/8mbgmsfx.sf2 -D "<replaceable>[ALSA device string]</replaceable>"
            exit 0
        fi
        sleep 1
        x=`expr $x + 1`
    done &amp; # Put the while command in the background and continue

exit 0
# End /etc/dev.d/snd/<replaceable>[DEVICE]</replaceable>/asfxload.dev</screen>

    </sect3>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="content">
    <title>Contents</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed Programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Libraries</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Directories</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>aconnect, alsaconf, alsactl, alsamixer, amidi, amixer, aplay, aplaymidi,
        arecord, arecordmidi, aseqnet, aseqdump, iecset, and speaker-test</seg>
        <seg>None</seg>
        <seg>None</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="aconnect">
        <term><command>aconnect</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a utility for connecting and disconnecting two existing
          ports in the ALSA sequencer system.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils aconnect">
            <primary sortas="b-aconnect">aconnect</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="alsaconf">
        <term><command>alsaconf</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a configuration tool which tries to detect the sound cards
          on your system and write a suitable configuration file for ALSA.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils alsaconf">
            <primary sortas="b-alsaconf">alsaconf</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="alsactl">
        <term><command>alsactl</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is used to control advanced settings for the
          ALSA sound card drivers.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils alsactl">
            <primary sortas="b-alsactl">alsactl</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="alsamixer">
        <term><command>alsamixer</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is an ncurses-based mixer program for use with the
          ALSA sound card drivers.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils alsamixer">
            <primary sortas="b-alsamixer">alsamixer</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="amidi">
        <term><command>amidi</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is used to read from and write to ALSA
          RawMIDI ports.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils amidi">
            <primary sortas="b-amidi">amidi</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="amixer">
        <term><command>amixer</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para> allows command-line control of the mixers for the
          ALSA sound card drivers.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils amixer">
            <primary sortas="b-amixer">amixer</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="aplay">
        <term><command>aplay</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a command-line soundfile player for the
          ALSA sound card drivers.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils aplay">
            <primary sortas="b-aplay">aplay</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="aplaymidi">
        <term><command>aplaymidi</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a command-line utility that plays the specified
          MIDI file(s) to one or more ALSA sequencer ports.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils aplaymidi">
            <primary sortas="b-aplaymidi">aplaymidi</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="arecord">
        <term><command>arecord</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a command-line soundfile recorder for the
          ALSA sound card drivers.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils arecord">
            <primary sortas="b-arecord">arecord</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="arecordmidi">
        <term><command>arecordmidi</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a command-line utility that records a standard
          MIDI file from one or more ALSA sequencer ports.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils arecordmidi">
            <primary sortas="b-arecordmidi">arecordmidi</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="aseqdump">
        <term><command>aseqdump</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a command-line utility that prints the sequencer events it
          receives as text.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils aseqdump">
            <primary sortas="b-aseqdump">aseqdump</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="aseqnet">
        <term><command>aseqnet</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is an ALSA sequencer client which sends
          and receives event packets over a network.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils aseqnet">
            <primary sortas="b-aseqnet">aseqnet</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="iecset">
        <term><command>iecset</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a small utility to set or dump the IEC958 (or so-called
          <quote>S/PDIF</quote>) status bits of the specified sound
          card via the ALSA control API.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils iecset">
            <primary sortas="b-iecset">iecset</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="speaker-test">
        <term><command>speaker-test</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a command-line speaker test tone generator for ALSA.</para>
          <indexterm zone="alsa-utils speaker-test">
            <primary sortas="b-speaker-test">speaker-test</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>