Assistant: Audiosetup troubleshooting

[hoppel]

Hi,


this idea popped up, when I thought about the difficulties I had when I was installing Ubuntu/Mint the first time. That time I had no audio after install, and every time I do a complete new install today I also don't have any sound. The reason lies in the surround capability of my mainboard (a Fujitsu-Siemens 1614d) onboard sound. This allows the sound drivers to reconfigure in- and output connectors to be changed in any combination. For a curious reason that I don't know, under Ubuntu based systems (maybe also other Linux systems) in- and output are changed compared with the Windows configuration. It took me several weeks to discover that sound isn't completely broken and about half a year to realize, that it is possible to change it back normal. I suspect, that this error can happen with other mainboards, and since this error isn't easy to decipher, it would be nice to have an audio assistant for setting up the sound completely. With features like different already given configurations and a test mode.

[Husse]

Right you are. One can suspect that it's been made "windows only" by the manufacturers

[hoppel]

Well, I wouldn't make it a Windows or manufacturers fault. In- and output are labeled on the hardware, so nobody would suspect a different usage under Linux. For me the fault is clearly on Linux side. But nobody gets help from a discussion about who's fault it is, I just would like to see a solution. And a audio setup assistant would be really great, not only for this specific issue but also for other things, like reconfiguring a audio device from pure stereo to Dolby surround, for instance. In my opinion, Jack and other audio tools are too complicated. When I try using jack to reconfigure my audio in- and output it usually works, but I'm confronted with a lot of switches whose function are unknown for me. So sometimes I change things just by guessing which could be the right one - not very efficient I think.

[Husse]

I agree
I was thinking of this
This allows the sound drivers to reconfigure in- and output connectors to be changed in any combination
This may have been made "Win only" - key word drivers

[hoppel]

I see
Well, like many other people I'd like to see some things working the same way under different operating systems, not necessary Windows and Linux. It's not the fault of Linux developers that Fujitsu-Siemens developed there audio-drivers and the config tool Windows only. But they are definitely responsible for the extremely complicated configuration under Linux