Slashdot Mirror
Firefox Goes PulseAudio Only, Leaves ALSA Users With No Sound (omgubuntu.co.uk)
An anonymous reader shares a report: If you're a Linux user who upgraded to Firefox 52 only to find that the browser no longer plays sound, you're not alone. Firefox 52 saw release last week and it makes PulseAudio a hard dependency -- meaning ALSA only desktops are no longer supported. Ubuntu uses PulseAudio by default (as most modern Linux distributions do) so the switch won't affect most -- but some Linux users and distros do prefer, for various reasons, to use ALSA, which is part of the Linux kernel. Lubuntu 16.04 LTS is one of the distros that use ALSA by default. Lubuntu users who upgraded to Firefox 52 through the regular update channel were, without warning, left with a web browser that plays no sound. Lubuntu 16.10 users are not affected as the distro switched to PulseAudio.
While I quite like PulseAudio, does it even run on anything but ALSA?
Yes, hence why it can be used on BSDs, Solaris and macOS.
All you need is the --enable-alsa configure option. The resulting Firefox will prefer PulseAudio if it is present, but will use pure ALSA if it is not.
Except Chrome doesn't require PulseAudio. So you're getting exactly what you want in Mozilla choosing their own path.
Pulse is just an alsa client. Alsa isn't unmaintained. It is the defacto sound system for linux.
ALSA works great. PulseAudio uses it for actual output. Most apps that output sound will use ALSO if PulseAudio isn't available. So the quickest way to fix most Linux audio problems is to uninstall PulseAudio.
ALSA is a kernel interface, PulseAudio is userspace and higher level.
PulseAudio is not just a wrapper and can do a lot of neat stuff like independent volume control, multiple outputs, bluetooth, network transmission, LADSPA filters, etc.
This is simply not true:
Quite obviously, ALSA remains an option...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
They'd have to resolve the schizophrenic extremes between systemd's THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE USER, and PulseAudio's THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF USERS AND UNIX PERMISSIONS ALONE CANNOT PROTECT THE SOUNDCARD.
Once they figure out how to get audio to work when I'm logged in as both my user and as root in different VCs, then they'll be able to merge the projects.
Most likely, though, they'll just continue to be schizo and merge it as is, and come up with some new way of fucking everyone over to deal with the fallout (much like the "kill every process on logout, even those not attached to the terminal" solves some shitty gnome app not shutting down properly when the X session ends and them being too drunk on the Not Invented Here koolaid to SIGHUP all the processes like everyone has done for decades.)
ALSA has supported software mixing for over a decade.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Your anecdote is pretty, but irrelevant. We already know that PulseAudio works for some people. It does not work for everyone.
(I am genuinely happy to know that this part of your life is easy, though.)
Bottom line, I guess: PulseAudio in 2017 _just effin' works_.
Just effin' works? You gotta' be effin' kiddin' me.
Pulse is _barely acceptable_ if you ONLY deal with stereo.
If you're using 5.1, or better yet, 7.1, you are sooooo fucked.
1. Pulseaudio has "enable_remixing" enabled by default.
This effectively ruins stereo content when played back on surround hardware. It sends L to L, SL, BL, and C. It sends R to R, SR, BR, and C. Do you see the problem here? C=L+R.
Bonus, it will also synthesize a LFE channel for you. LFE=L+R lowpassed at 200hz.
This can be disabled in the config file. I've never seen any pulseaudio manager with an option for it.
2. ZERO of the about 40 linux games which support surround in my steam library actually work properly in 7.1. (This might be steam runtime's fault). It invents channels that don't exist in a 7.1 configuration. Instead of SL and SR, there is a Front-Left-of-Center and, Front-Right-of-Center.
If remixing is disabled, you will have no output on SL and SR. If remixing is enabled, you will have incorrect output on SL and SR (A mix of the front and rear channels).
3. If you're trying to set up 5.1 over optical SPDIF, may god have mercy on your soul. Good luck getting it to output 5.1 DTS. I was only ever able to get stereo, but I hear it's doable.