Comment 8 for bug 1236965

I was using 9 channels, in the posted test-run, because I was getting weird errors and out-of-orderings (so I'd been trying random numbering to see what I could get to work). Here is what happens when I run with 8ch instead of 9ch right now:

j@j-P180HMx:/usr/share/sounds/speech-dispatcher$ speaker-test -c 8 -l 1 -Ddefault
speaker-test 1.0.25
Playback device is default
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 8 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 24 to 262144
Period size range from 8 to 87382
Using max buffer size 262144
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 65536
was set buffer_size = 262144
 0 - Front Left [loud]
 4 - Center [loud]
 1 - Front Right [loud]
 7 - Side Right [quiet_but_audible]
 3 - Rear Right [quiet_but_audible]
 2 - Rear Left [quiet_but_audible]
 6 - Side Left [quiet_but_audible]
 5 - LFE [silent]
Time per period = 25.117010

So, similar to what happens when I test 9ch, but with the numbering a bit odd. Is it supposed to be out-of-order like that?

Here is what happens when I run the commands you specified -- note that specifying another device-name *can* work.

$ speaker-test -c2 -t wav -Dhw:0,0
speaker-test 1.0.25
Playback device is hw:0,0
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 2 channels
WAV file(s)
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 64 to 16384
Period size range from 32 to 8192
Using max buffer size 16384
Periods = 4
was set period_size = 4096
was set buffer_size = 16384
 0 - Front Left [works]
 1 - Front Right [works]
Time per period = 2.731724
^C

$ speaker-test -c4 -t wav -Dhw:0,0
speaker-test 1.0.25
Playback device is hw:0,0
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 4 channels
WAV file(s)
Channels count (4) not available for playbacks: Invalid argument
Setting of hwparams failed: Invalid argument

j@j-P180HMx:~$ speaker-test -c6 -t wav -Dhw:0,0
speaker-test 1.0.25
Playback device is hw:0,0
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 6 channels
WAV file(s)
Channels count (6) not available for playbacks: Invalid argument
Setting of hwparams failed: Invalid argument

j@j-P180HMx:~$ speaker-test -c8 -t wav -Dhw:0,0
speaker-test 1.0.25
Playback device is hw:0,0
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 8 channels
WAV file(s)
Channels count (8) not available for playbacks: Invalid argument
Setting of hwparams failed: Invalid argument