usb audio issue with kdegames

[Michael Forcier]

Originally posted as Question 127116

I am running Ubuntu 10.04 (gnome desktop) on a home built system (up to date with updates). I have USB speakers (both power and sound through usb port). There is no internal speaker on the computer. The sound works fine when I choose USB AUDIO Analog Stereo on the output tab of the Sound Preferences app. When I run a KDE game (KBattleship or other) I do not have any game sound (even with play sounds selected in the game preferences). However, if I close the game, switch the output device to Internal Audio Stereo, and then reopen the game, I have game sound. But then none of the other sounds work. So I have to switch back to USB when I am done.

I have also played with Linux Mint 9 (gnome desktop) on a thumbdrive. I installed the kdegames package on that as well. I noticed as I switched computers that I would get messages about sound devices no longer being attached when I open a kde game. This is the same message that I would get on kde desktop distributions (kubuntu) when I switched computers. The last message I got I click on a button that opened “Multimedia – KDE Control Module”. From there I could see USB as an output device at the bottom of the priority list. But it was grayed out (different computer that did not have usb speakers) so I could not move it up. Now, because I choose to ignore the messages, I can't open it back up. I have to use the same trick with Mint as I do with Ubuntu to get the sounds to work.

It appears to me that the sound for the kde games is controlled differently from gnome's desktop. However, I can't figure out how to get to it within Ubuntu.

I would appreciate some guidance on either getting into the kde sound controller or making the kde games use the gnome controller (or set USB as a higher priority). Or at least getting my computer setup so that I don't have to switch between the 2 output choices.

I would also appreciate a little insight on how I managed to get sound out of my usb speakers using the internal speaker setting.

Thank you.

Since the original question post I have been able to run my thumbdrive version on Mint on a laptop with only internal speakers. I was able to get sound from both kdegames and another app (online music). In checking the gnome sound preferences I was able to see both under the Applications tab and using ALSA. This makes me think that ALSA is not allowing sharing with the USB speakers on my desktop Ubuntu install. That would explain why the sound for the kdegames started after turning the output preference to internal speaker... because there was no longer a conflict and it could use the USB speakers? However, this conflict only appears to exist with kdegames.

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

Not reproducible with external jack speackers in maverick

[Michael Forcier (mike4ca)]

Correct, I tested both 32 and 64 bit versions of 10.10 on thumbdrives and it appears to have been corrected. I guess I need to update to 10.10.

> Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2010 17:30:56 +0000
> From: <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: [Bug 650785] Re: usb audio issue with kdegames
>
> Not reproducible with external jack speackers in maverick
>
> --
> usb audio issue with kdegames
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/650785
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Ubuntu: New
>
> Bug description:
> Originally posted as Question 127116
>
> I am running Ubuntu 10.04 (gnome desktop) on a home built system (up to date with updates). I have USB speakers (both power and sound through usb port). There is no internal speaker on the computer. The sound works fine when I choose USB AUDIO Analog Stereo on the output tab of the Sound Preferences app. When I run a KDE game (KBattleship or other) I do not have any game sound (even with play sounds selected in the game preferences). However, if I close the game, switch the output device to Internal Audio Stereo, and then reopen the game, I have game sound. But then none of the other sounds work. So I have to switch back to USB when I am done.
>
> I have also played with Linux Mint 9 (gnome desktop) on a thumbdrive. I installed the kdegames package on that as well. I noticed as I switched computers that I would get messages about sound devices no longer being attached when I open a kde game. This is the same message that I would get on kde desktop distributions (kubuntu) when I switched computers. The last message I got I click on a button that opened “Multimedia – KDE Control Module”. From there I could see USB as an output device at the bottom of the priority list. But it was grayed out (different computer that did not have usb speakers) so I could not move it up. Now, because I choose to ignore the messages, I can't open it back up. I have to use the same trick with Mint as I do with Ubuntu to get the sounds to work.
>
> It appears to me that the sound for the kde games is controlled differently from gnome's desktop. However, I can't figure out how to get to it within Ubuntu.
>
> I would appreciate some guidance on either getting into the kde sound controller or making the kde games use the gnome controller (or set USB as a higher priority). Or at least getting my computer setup so that I don't have to switch between the 2 output choices.
>
> I would also appreciate a little insight on how I managed to get sound out of my usb speakers using the internal speaker setting.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Since the original question post I have been able to run my thumbdrive version on Mint on a laptop with only internal speakers. I was able to get sound from both kdegames and another app (online music). In checking the gnome sound preferences I was able to see both under the Applications tab and using ALSA. This makes me think that ALSA is not allowing sharing with the USB speakers on my desktop Ubuntu install. That would explain why the sound for the kdegames started after turning the output preference to interna...

[Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi)]

This bug report is being closed due to your last comment regarding this being fixed with an update. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.