source: multimedia/libdriv/alsa-utils.xml@ ff769b8c

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  <!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">
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  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-size          "224 KB">
  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-buildsize     "3.6 MB">
  <!ENTITY alsa-utils-time          "0.08 SBU">
]>

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

<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</command></userinput></screen>

<para>Now, as the root user:</para>

<screen><userinput role='root'><command>make install</command></userinput></screen>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Configuring <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
Utilities</application></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>Probably the easiest way to store mixer levels is to set and retrieve
them using a bootscript.</para>
<indexterm zone="alsa-utils alsa-utils-init">
<primary sortas="f-alsa">alsa</primary></indexterm>

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

<screen><userinput role='root'><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 as the root user after 
installing <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Utilities</application>:</para>

<screen><userinput role='root'><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>

<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, iecset and speaker-test</seg>
<seg>None</seg>
<seg>None</seg>
</seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

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

<varlistentry id="aconnect">
<term><command>aconnect</command></term>
<listitem><para>is a utility for connecting and disconnecting two existing 
ports in the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> 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 
<acronym>ALSA</acronym>.</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 
<acronym>ALSA</acronym> 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 
<acronym>ALSA</acronym> 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 <acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
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 
<acronym>ALSA</acronym> 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 
<acronym>ALSA</acronym> 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 
<acronym>MIDI</acronym> file(s) to one or more <acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
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 
<acronym>ALSA</acronym> 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 
<acronym>MIDI</acronym> file from one or more <acronym>ALSA</acronym> 
sequencer ports.</para>
<indexterm zone="alsa-utils arecordmidi">
<primary sortas="b-arecordmidi">arecordmidi</primary>
</indexterm></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="aseqnet">
<term><command>aseqnet</command></term>
<listitem><para>is an <acronym>ALSA</acronym> 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/<acronym>PDIF</acronym></quote>) status bits of the specified sound 
card via the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> control <acronym>API</acronym>.</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 
<acronym>ALSA</acronym>.</para>
<indexterm zone="alsa-utils speaker-test">
<primary sortas="b-speaker-test">speaker-test</primary>
</indexterm></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect2>

</sect1>