[Solved] sound problems Debian Lenny

[Gnudoll]

well, I have no room for my desktop in my new place, so I'm standardizing on my new laptop. hardware is as follows:

CPU: Pentium M 1.86Ghz
RAM: 2Gb
Video: Mobility Radeon X300
Resolution: 1400x1050
Audio:Intel ICH6 (intel8x0) compiled into kernel

My problem is that the sound is really badly choppy at almost all times. it is reasonable when I'm in deep space and there is nothing being tracked. the sound lags quite badly as well. The graphics (which I expected to be more of a problem seem to be fine, as I'm generally getting around 30FPS or more in most instances. What I'm guessing is that there is an audio interface that is being emulated in software right now, and I need to compile (or add a package) for the correct type of sound. . .

[Getafix]

Hi Gnudoll,

could you, please, post the Oolite version you use and
the type of installation (autopackage or Debian package management) you used ?

[Gnudoll]

Oolite version 1.74.2 from package manager builds.

[Getafix]

I have tried the debian package version of oolite 1.74.2.3712 on a fresh Debian Lenny installation (VBox) and the sound was smooth.
It looks like a sound configuration issue. A first search showed that Lenny had sound issues with older kernels.
Please, post the output of the following

Code: Select all

$ uname -a

I just want to see your kernel version.

Furthermore (this one is really a shot in the dark) assuming that

Code: Select all

$ which oolite
/usr/games/oolite
$

could you edit your /usr/games/oolite file to show the following

Code: Select all

$ cat /usr/games/oolite
#!/bin/sh
export SDL_AUDIODRIVER=alsa
openapp oolite "$@" &

and check if the sound breaking is still there?

[Gnudoll]

I have reverted to the stock install kernel after a fresh install (haven't gotten around to cooking a custom one yet) so the kernel version is

Linux butterfly 2.6.26-2-686 #1 SMP Thu Nov 25 01:53:57 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

the shot in the dark missed, sound is still choppy. gameplay seems fine despite the sound being wonky, though. I was just hoping for better sound.

[Getafix]

Would you try the .package version? It will not mess with your existing oolite installation and
it will use your existing user-files (i.e. add-ons, saves, oolite configuration etc.).
The difference is that it uses it's own libraries (contained in Oolite's folder, not messing with your system's libraries) and
it could address the sound issue.

EDIT (14/Jan/2011): Before downloading make sure to select the appropriate architecture (i.e. 32bit or 64bit) package.
If you do it, run it as "/usr/bin/oolite" and not just "oolite"
in order to make sure that you execute the 2nd installation

If the sound issue is still there you may always
uninstall it and keep your original installation.

I would also suggest to get an opinion from Debian User Forums.

[Gnudoll]

Well, unless the framerates fall below 40 or so, biut that takes a bit. I'm averaging 60+ now that i have the fglrx driver installed. turns out that the sound was being chopped up by excessive processor load. . . Go figure. . .

[Rxke]

So is the problem solved, then?

What caused the load?

[Gnudoll]

So is the problem solved, then?

What caused the load?

What caused the loas was the processor handling too many functions that the chipset was supposed to. A better video driver that correctly uses the hardware fixed a lot of that. . .

[Getafix]

What will remain a mystery to me, in this case,
is how a virtual box vanilla installation of a debian lenny on a laptop,
performs better than a native one.
Perhaps, the driver upgrade fixed some configuration.

[Gnudoll]

the 3D part of my particular graphics hardware is not well supported at this juncture. ATI only just recently started really supporting the Open Source community. I really doubt I would have had any trouble if the chipset had been nVidia instead of ATI...

[DaddyHoggy]

the 3D part of my particular graphics hardware is not well supported at this juncture. ATI only just recently started really supporting the Open Source community. I really doubt I would have had any trouble if the chipset had been nVidia instead of ATI...

You might have, it'd just be a different subset of trouble...

[Gnudoll]

Oh, and add to the above that the "sound card" is also software based. . . They cut a few corners on this model, but the general package is still quite nice.