Friday August 01, 2008 Getting Audio Working With OpenSolaris On An Ultra 40
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I started with OpenSolaris 2008.05 and yesterday updated to build 94. I'm now trying to get the audio working. I have a couple speakers connected to the light green audio socket on the back of the machine. As this is current Sun hardware, I was hoping it would "just work" out of the box. Unfortunately that is not the case. |
Before somebody says "install OSS",
I just did that. I then rebooted and when I ran osstest I got:
$ osstest Sound subsystem and version: OSS 4.0 (b1016/200806171344) (0x00040003) Platform: SunOS/i86pc 5.11 snv_94 *** Scanning sound adapter #-1 *** /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm0 (audio engine 0): HD Audio play front - Performing audio playback test...OK OK OK /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm1 (audio engine 1): HD Audio play rear - Performing audio playback test... OK OK OK /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm2 (audio engine 2): HD Audio play center/LFE - Performing audio playback test... OK OK OK /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm3 (audio engine 3): HD Audio play side - Performing audio playback test... OK OK OK /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm4 (audio engine 4): HD Audio play pcm4 - Performing audio playback test... OK OK OK /dev/oss/hdaudio0/spdout0 (audio engine 5): HD Audio play spdif-out - Performing audio playback test... OK OK OK /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcmin0 (audio engine 6): HD Audio rec mix - Skipping input only device /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcmin1 (audio engine 7): HD Audio rec mix - Skipping input only device /dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcmin2 (audio engine 8): HD Audio rec mix - Skipping input only device /dev/oss/hdaudio0/spdin0 (audio engine 9): HD Audio rec spdifin - Skipping input only device *** All tests completed OK *** $
I heard their special test music only for:
/dev/oss/hdaudio0/pcm0 (audio engine 0): HD Audio play front - Performing audio playback test...OK OK OK and /dev/oss/hdaudio0/spdout0 (audio engine 5): HD Audio play spdif-out - Performing audio playback test... OK OK OK
which I thought was a little strange as the speakers are plugged into the back of the machine not the front.
I then inserted an audio CD and tried to run rhythmbox. Okay, I can live with it having plugin failures for "Magnatune Store", "Jamendo" and "Cover art", but it didn't want to play any music either.
I see that the little loud speaker icon in the top GNOME panel has a red bar through it.
If anybody knows the magic incantations to get this to work, I'll update this blog post with the instructions. Then hopefully the next person to google to try to find the answer will come across this post and have better luck then I currently am.
Update
I should mention that I booted from the initial OpenSolaris 2008.05 image (which is build 86) and my audio CD plays just fine with Sound Juicer. Perhaps it's a build 94 specific problem...
( Aug 01 2008, 12:19:51 PM PDT ) [Listen] Permalink Comments [4]
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I run OS 2008.11 (the NV94 update) on a Sun Ultra 40 M2 and didn't do anything special for sound. I have separate speakers I bought at Target that is plugged into the back port marked "BACK"
I've played all sorts of realaudio and flash video OK.
The speaker volume icon in GNOME is there and has no red slash.
$ cat /etc/release
OpenSolaris 2008.11 snv_94 X86 . . .
The system is amboy.west if you wanna peak.
Posted by Dan on August 04, 2008 at 10:38 AM PDT #
Hey Rich.
I was hoping that someone would post the magic incantations because I could use some enlightenment as well. :-) That said.... I have a laptop that requires I get OSS in order to have sound. Here's what I've observed:
1. If ESD is enabled (it's not by default I believe, including on the live CD), sound juicer won't work; rhythmbox seems fine though.
2. If ESD is disabled, both sound juicer and and rhythmbox seem happy.
3. I have the little red slash the first time I log in as well. But if I log out and back in, it goes away. The slash doesn't seem to have any relevance to my ability to play a CD, and it adds color to an otherwise dull-looking icon.
4. ossxmix can be used to configure various and sundry volume settings.
With any luck, one of these is relevant to your situation. :-)
Posted by joanie on August 04, 2008 at 03:01 PM PDT #
Okay. Thanks Joanie (and Dan).
For now I'm going to stick with my build 86
boot image. I didn't have to install OSS there
in order to get audio working, so I'm wondering
whether in might be a hindrance with build 94.
When I have a bit more time, I'll try out your
various suggestions.
Posted by Rich Burridge on August 04, 2008 at 04:57 PM PDT #
Thanks to everybody you offered help and
suggestions.
I finally got around to trying to fix this.
As I didn't need OSS with build 86, I simply
removed that package. I wasn't sure if installing
it had had any effect on the other Sun supplied
audio packages, so I decided to uninstall them and
install them again. So I did the following:
# pkgrm oss
# pfexec pkg uninstall SUNWaudd
# pfexec pkg uninstall SUNWaudf
# pfexec pkg uninstall SUNWaudiohd
# pfexec pkg install SUNWaudd
# pfexec pkg install SUNWaudf
# pfexec pkg install SUNWaudiohd
After that I rebooted, and when I came back
up, audio was working just fine.
Why it initally failed with build 94 is still
a mystery but lifes too short.
Posted by Rich burridge on August 06, 2008 at 03:17 PM PDT #