Case 1. Default installation & asound.conf from bug #198453
a) Flash audio will play, but still hogs the sound card and does not show on the PulseAudio Volume Control applet. Checking .xsession-errors after flash playback shows the following line:
ALSA lib pcm.c:2106:(snd_pcm_open_conf) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
b) mplayer with forced ALSA output - does not work.
$ mplayer -ao alsa /usr/share/example-content/ubuntu\ Sax.ogg
(snip)
[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm.c:2106:(snd_pcm_open_conf) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_pulse.so
[AO_ALSA] Playback open error: No such file or directory
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.
Audio: no sound
Video: no video
(snip)
Case 2. Default installation, libasound2-plugins & asound.conf from bug #198453
a) Flash does not produce audio output. Checking .xsession-errors does not show the error in Case 1.
b) mplayer with forced ALSA output - audio works, no error messages.
$ mplayer -ao alsa /usr/share/example-content/ubuntu\ Sax.ogg
(snip)
AO: [alsa] 44100Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...
(snip)
Conclusion: the proposal in bug #198453 *requires* libasound2-plugins package to be installed, helps with some applications but it still does not fix Flash, unfortunately.
The problem is a little more complicated.
Case 1. Default installation & asound.conf from bug #198453
a) Flash audio will play, but still hogs the sound card and does not show on the PulseAudio Volume Control applet. Checking .xsession-errors after flash playback shows the following line:
ALSA lib pcm.c:2106: (snd_pcm_ open_conf) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/ alsa-lib/ libasound_ module_ pcm_pulse. so
b) mplayer with forced ALSA output - does not work. example- content/ ubuntu\ Sax.ogg
$ mplayer -ao alsa /usr/share/
(snip) (snd_pcm_ open_conf) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/ alsa-lib/ libasound_ module_ pcm_pulse. so
[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm.c:2106:
[AO_ALSA] Playback open error: No such file or directory
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.
Audio: no sound
Video: no video
(snip)
Case 2. Default installation, libasound2-plugins & asound.conf from bug #198453
a) Flash does not produce audio output. Checking .xsession-errors does not show the error in Case 1.
b) mplayer with forced ALSA output - audio works, no error messages. example- content/ ubuntu\ Sax.ogg
$ mplayer -ao alsa /usr/share/
(snip)
AO: [alsa] 44100Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
Video: no video
Starting playback...
(snip)
Conclusion: the proposal in bug #198453 *requires* libasound2-plugins package to be installed, helps with some applications but it still does not fix Flash, unfortunately.