USB headset, skype and esd

[pmatos]

Hi all,

I'm currently using Gnome, skype and a logitech USB headset. When I plug it to USB /dev/dsp2 shows up but in skype it doesn't seem to work. Using ALSA and gentoo kernel 2.6.12. For testing I tried the recording vol app in gnome but it said I should start esd. On a terminal I did that:

[Bill Thompson]

I have a Logitech headset that work perfectly. In the skype configuration with is shown as /dev/dsp1, because Skype uses OSS rather than ALSA. Do you have OSS emulation enabled in the kernel?

[pmatos]

[Bill Thompson]

A Logitech USB Headset has its own sound card. Youj do not need the sound on your motherboard. Alsa has a snd-usb-audio driver.

[pmatos]

[Bill Thompson]

working on it. will revert.

[Bill Thompson]

Here are some of the things I have done:

1. The Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide
I wound up using the drivers in the kernel because I could not find 'soundcore'. The downloaded drivers were the same, so I kept them. Soundcore is, of cource, the basic sound module and was there all along. this should be pointed out to the users trying to get this going.
I tried to follow the guide as closely as possible. There were two changes:
a. In addition to /etc/modules.d/alsa, I also loaded the drivers in /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 as
snd_ice1712 and snd_usb_audio.
The syntax here calls for an underscore rather than a dash. I don't know if there entries are needed, but they don't seem to hurt.

b. In code listing 5.1, the Guide calls for the entry of
ALSA_TOOLS="ice1712,usb-audio"
It didn't work and I removed both so that I could emerge alsa-tools.

2. .asoundrc
Just a vanilla file

pcm.ice {
type hw
card 0
}

ctl.ice {
type hw
card 0
}

pcm.usb {
type hw
card 1
}


ctl.usb {
type hw
card 1
}

3. /etc/modules.d/alsa
This took some tinkering. dmesg shows the option for ice1712: enable_midi="1" as an unknown parameter. However, it is all over the documentation. It's there, but probably inoperative. You will also see the following option for both drivers: id="first" and "second". Both show up on /proc/asound. I have no idea what they do. Probably not necessary.
The option that is necessary is: index="0" and index="1". This sets the identitly of the drivers permanently, so that the USB headset is always recognized as the second driver.
Herewith etc/modules.d/alsa

# Alsa 0.9.X kernel modules' configuration file.
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-sound/alsa-utils/files/alsa-modules.con
f-rc,v 1.4 2004/11/16 01:31:22 eradicator Exp $

# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
##
## IMPORTANT:
## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)
## and then run `update-modules' command.
## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.
##
##ALSA portion
alias snd-card-0 snd-ice1712
alias snd-card-1 snd-usb-audio

options snd-ice1712 id="first" enable_midi="1" index="0"
options snd-usb-audio id="second" index="1"
##OSS/Free portion
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
## OSS/Free portion - card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
:## OSS/Free portion - card #2
alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

# Set this to the correct number of cards.
options snd device_mode=0666
options snd cards_limit=2

3. Permissions
This is really screwed up, because my fear was that the headset did not play because of some permission problem. I did the following:

a. chmod 0666 /proc/bus/usb/, and for devices 001 thru 004 and also specifically for /proc/bus/usb/devices. It didn't hurt, but probably not necessary.

b. chmod -R go+rw for /dev/snd and /dev/sound.

c. changes to /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules by adding GROUP="audio". This is what it looks like
# alsa devices
SUBSYSTEM="sound",GROUP="audio"
KERNEL="controlC[0-9]*", NAME="snd/%k",GROUP="audio"
KERNEL="hw[CD0-9]*", NAME="snd/%k",GROUP="audio"
KERNEL="pcm[CD0-9cp]*", NAME="snd/%k",GROUP="audio"
KERNEL="midiC[D0-9]*", NAME="snd/%k",GROUP="audio"
KERNEL="timer", NAME="snd/%k",GROUP="audio"
KERNEL="seq", NAME="snd/%k",GROUP="audio"

4. USB Connections.
I have a relatively new motherboard with USB 2.0. My monitor is brand new: a Dell 2005FPW wide screen (21 inch) with USB connections. I dutifully connected the USB cable that came with the monitor to a USB port, and to correct port on the monitor, so I could run the headset off the monitor (more room to move, etc.). While all of the outward signs of recognition were there: /proc, dmesg, etc., the headset did not work from that USB connection. Once I plugged it directly into the motherboard, it worked perfectly.

There has been an enormous amount of frustration trying to get everything together, the final blow being the USB connection : it is always a software problem, the hardware is always right!!

My guess is that it is a very simple setup. I managed to make it difficult. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Ask any questions that you have.

Bill Thompson