How to use Philips monitor's internal USB sound card?

[MrDuckGuy]

The output from the mscwreport.txt file shows that I have another
sound card from the monitor, listed as #2:
2 [P231P4U ]: USB-Audio - Philips 231P4U at usb-0000:00:1a.0-1.3.4

However the sound wizard doesn't show
that this is connected in the OS.

I am running Tahrpup32v6.0.6, the most
current version I can find.

Is there anyone else with the Philips231P4
monitor? I would like to be able to use
these speakers.

File attached.

As always, thanks in advance, Kelikaku B'H.

[rcrsn51]

What does the command "aplay -l" show? (lower case L).

[MrDuckGuy]

... the command "aplay -l" show? ...

Thanks for the tip. I tried the command, and here's the output:

Code: Select all

sh-4.3# aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CX20641 Analog [CX20641 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: pcsp [pcsp], device 0: pcspeaker [pcsp]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The output seems to differ from what the mcsw.report outputs,
the USB sound card doesn't seem to appear here. There is only card 0
and card 1, there is not a card 2 in the terminal output. Here the first
part of mcsw.report output below:

Code: Select all

==========================================
     /tmp/services/10alsa.start.log       
==========================================
tahrpup 6.0.6
Linux puppypc693 3.14.79 #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Dec 
13 19:32:40 GMT 2016 i686 i686 i686 GNU/Linux

 0 snd_hda_intel
 1 snd_pcsp
 2 snd_usb_audio

###############################################
 0 [PCH            ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
                      HDA Intel PCH at 0xe1a30000 irq 41
 1 [pcsp           ]: PC-Speaker - pcsp
                      Internal PC-Speaker at port 0x61
 2 [P231P4U        ]: USB-Audio - Philips 231P4U
                      DisplayLink Philips 231P4U at usb-0000:00:1a.0-1.3.4, high speed
###############################################

The Philips monitor's sound card is the #2 card from
the USB-Audio.

As always, thanks in advance, Kelikaku B'H.

[rcrsn51]

Have you tried the same trick as here?

As a general rule, ALSA should auto-detect a USB sound card and list it as card #2. There is something different about the sound card inside the monitor.

[MrDuckGuy]

Have you tried the same
trick ... ALSA should auto-detect a USB
sound card and list it as card #2 ...

OK, I agree. I tried this while in the
Tahr64 OS, and I couldn't find the
asound.state file anymore.

Also in the terminal output from the
aplay -l command, I get exactly the same
data as we had in the Tahr32 OS. No USB
sound card. However, the Sound Wizard
doesn't have an option in Tahr64 to generate
the mcsw.report file, as it did in Tahr32.

So, although I looked for the asound.state
file again, and now it's not to be found.
The sound is working though, both while
browsing and while playing saved media files.

Another interesting thing is, both the tech
support from the seller and the manufacturer's
technical support representative seemed to
think that the 3.5mm jacks in the monitor
were digitally connected to internal
hardware, which I was referring to as the
USB sound card. I've been reviewing the
operation manual, and according to that,
they're analog jacks, to connect to the PC's
line out, one being a passthrough input and
the other a passthrough output to connect a
listening device, such as headphones, to.
Which stymies me. If it were an internal USB
device, one would be for headphones, and the
other would be for a microphone.

In any case, I am going to try using an
analog stereo jumper wire, and see if that
will solve the issue. I hate to make the
tech support fellows look as if they haven't
a clue, but at least if I do, it's only in
the interests of bringing light to the world.
As well the monitor's speakers will work.
But there will be no microphone.

Do these tech support people just make stuff
up as they go along?

As always, thanks in advance, Kelikaku B'H.

[rcrsn51]

I found some specs for this device online. It looks to me like everything goes out on one USB cable, including the audio signal.

The device contains a USB hub with an internal USB sound card connected to it. So the audio should go either to the internal speakers or to headphones connected to the 3.5mm jack.

The sound is working though, both while
browsing and while playing saved media files.

Even though the device doesn't show up in "aplay -l"?

[MrDuckGuy]

... found some specs for this device ...
everything goes out on one USB cable,
including the audio ... The device contains
a USB hub with an internal USB sound card
... the audio should go either to the
internal speakers or to headphones ...

I am only getting sound from the tower's
outputs.

I do have both ethernets though, the tower's
ethernet and the USB connected ethernet
that's plugged into the back of the monitor.
I tried disconnecting the CAT6 wire from the
back of the tower and used the ethernet
straight from the USB that went into the
monitor which also has ethernet input coming
from my router.

I was online in this manner for several
hours. It was almost indistinguishable from
the direct connection to the tower's network
card. It seemed to work almost as well as
the internal ethernet that went to the tower.

So if my network card goes out, I can use
the USB to access the monitor's network card.
Which is good.

The monitor's sound card isn't plug-and-play
unlike the monitor's network card, however.

I tried, but there's no sound coming from
both the internal speakers in the monitor,
nor the headset I tried to connect to the
output jack.

So the monitor has network hardware, sound
hardware, and a usb hub. But according to
the manual, one of the sound jacks should
also work as a pass through, or maybe I'm
mistaken.

In any case, now I have to get a 3.5mm male
to male jumper to check this out.

As always, thanks so very much for looking
into this. Kelikaku B'H.

[rcrsn51]

The monitor's sound card isn't plug-and-play.

I googled "Philips 231P4U linux" and the most informative post that came up was this one!

[bigpup]

Looking at the manual for this monitor.
It says to get this USB Audio working you need to install a program and driver package into Windows.
May or may not be the same available for Linux.

[MrDuckGuy]

... the manual for this monitor. ... It says
to get this USB Audio working you need to
install a program ... may not be the same
available ...

UPDATE:
The analog wire didn't work, I now realize I
wasn't right. It's digital.

I think that the USB 3.0 card is now my next
possible solution.
========================

I think I might have hit on something. After
all the eth1 in the monitor is working as a
plug-and-play device, so shouldn't the sound
card?

I am suspicious that this is a hardware
issue. My motherboard isn't USB 3.0
compliant. Although I have six USB breakouts,
with four in the rear, two in the front, and
on the motherboard there's another, yes, a
third, USB pin-out which I'm assuming is at
least a dual USB port waiting to be used,
all of these are USB 2.0.

The motherboard has three USB 2.0 pin-outs,
two of which are used, one goes to a four
outlet breakout in the rear, and one goes to
a two outlet breakout in the front.

The hub on the monitor is a 3.0 device. It's
functioning as a backward-compatible 2.0
device, and the keyboard that I'm typing on
is connected to it as I'm typing this. BUT -
would this be of any sense? Since the System
Info output shows the USB sound from the
monitor is there, and the monitor is not
producing sound, and the monitor is a
USB 3.0 device, why wouldn't it make sense
to assume that it's the hardware that
requires a USB 3.0 connection?

Does that make any sense at all? Maybe if I
aquire a USB 3.0 pci breakout card, and hook
this daddyo up to it - bob's your uncle?

In any case. I'm trying the analog option
first, as I will have to order the card and
I can get the 3.5mm jumper right away.

The Philips monitor's manual seems to
indicate that the 3.5mm jacks are analog,
but my System Info (and other sources)
indicate that at least one of the jacks
might ALSO be digitally connected.

Also, is it feasible to assume that BOTH
might work, the analog and the digital?
Maybe it will?

Thanks for all the help, you're a good bunch
of fellows. B'H.