alsa please

[wildpossum]

I am that close to getting Skype to work corerctly on Puppy. I want this so that I can give people a Puppy CD with Skype and say, boot with this and Skype me!

What I have done:

Booted Puppy 1.0.1. Unpacked Skype 1.1.x (dynamically linked). Missing libdbus so unpacked libdbus from a Slackware site.

Skype starts up ok, I can login, etc. But.....!

The sound is faint on recording with the echo123 service. I know why, I need to turn on the +20dB boost on the mic channel.

But none of the mixers on Puppy have this channel. Reason is OSS drivers don't have this control. alsamixer (ncurses app) can control this channel but needs ALSA modules.

So, pretty please, can we have ALSA sound drivers soon?

[Lobster]

Part of the reason for moving to the new kernel is better sound support and Barry is indeed working on better sound.

As official cructacean it is my c lawful duty to remind all Pups to provide how to's, bug reports for 1.0.2 RC and generally send in feedback no matter how trivial.

On the matter of Skype. This Wednesday 17 May 2005 sees the "official launch" of 1.0.2. We can have up to 4 people running Skype (I believe) So would anyone like to set up a conference? I'll be there if my sound card is working again. Mostly I gurgle and blow bubbles. Bill Gates is welcome but try not to invite him.

Any info on Skype would look good on the wiki. I have used the program and it is a lot of fun.

We will be able to say, "yeah, good day mate" to Barry. Hooray

[GuestToo]

i have a mic channel

note that aumix (and xtmix) automatically have a systray icon when using icewm

pic: http://tinypic.com/52x9g6

[BarryK]

Skype is available for download as a PupGet package -- have you tried that?
It's not the latest version though.
I think Lobster played with it awhile back.

Pup 1.0.2 will only support OSS, as I have just put a toe in the water, so to speak, with the 2.6 kernel. The new kernel supports alsa natively, so I hope to go that extra step for 1.0.3.

[Lobster]

If the soundcard is working then you can use skype - BUT you must also ensure your mic is working - mine was and Skype installed OK - never tried it from Puppy

- now my sound might have to wait until 1.0.3

oh well . . .

[wildpossum]

i have a mic channel

note that aumix (and xtmix) automatically have a systray icon when using icewm

pic: http://tinypic.com/52x9g6

Yes, of course there is a mic gain channel but where is the +20 dB boost button? Go to a system with a better mixer if you don't understand.

[wildpossum]

If the soundcard is working then you can use skype - BUT you must also ensure your mic is working - mine was and Skype installed OK - never tried it from Puppy

- now my sound might have to wait until 1.0.3

oh well . . .

Yes, you can start up skype. As I said, I did have it running fine, logged into my Skype account and everything. But you may not be heard by the other side if your gain is insufficient. When I was trying out Skype on this machine with a mainstream distro, my callees complained they could barely hear me. I compared the specs of my mic and the input sensitivity of the sound input and I thought I had to make a hardware preamp for the mic, until I discovered this boost setting, which apparently is available on many sound devices. It's used to adapt the input to either a high line level device or a low level dynamic mic.

[wildpossum]

Skype is available for download as a PupGet package -- have you tried that?
It's not the latest version though.
I think Lobster played with it awhile back.

Pup 1.0.2 will only support OSS, as I have just put a toe in the water, so to speak, with the 2.6 kernel. The new kernel supports alsa natively, so I hope to go that extra step for 1.0.3.

Well if could make sure to compile the kernel with whatever config hooks are required by alsa, it should be fairly easy to build a package of alsa modules, one of alsa libraries and one of alsa apps.