Tiny Core Linux
Tiny Core Extensions => TCE Talk => Topic started by: thane on April 27, 2009, 04:04:58 PM
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I've just started playing with Tiny Core Linux.
I've been able to install the Opera TCE (and even got it to persist!) but when I installed XMMS and OSS to listen to streamed radio (Radio Paradise) the sound was sped up (like an old record played too fast) and then died after a few minutes. Played around with various settings (which I don't really understand) but it didn't help. I'm running on a year 2000+ Compaq box.
Also, if you don't mind a newbie suggestion it would be nice if the TCE/TCZ lists were divided into various categories instead of just alphabetically. Or maybe they are and I didn't see it.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
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OK, got XMMS to work using ALSA instead.
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Just wondering if there are any other Radio Paradise (or other streaming radio) fans out there who found a software combination that works, other than XMMS + ALSA. The combo sounds great but I still haven't got ALSA settings persistency figured out. I see info praising OSS and some of the other media players but haven't found an alternative to what I have.
Also is there any editor for files other than vi? I've used it before and can manage it, but it always makes me paranoid about clobbering something.
Starting to really like TCL though. It's a bit frustrating at first but fun when you start learning your way around.
I've even got my own forum thread.
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You may want to redownload alsa.tcel as I have made some improvements in the alsasound script. If after your sound settings are saved (alsactl store) and /etc/asound.state is in your backup, then when you run /usr/local/etc/init.d/alsasound start it should load the settings automatically. I think before there was issues with loading saved settings.
In fact, I need to add a restart function to the present alsasound and perhaps make the default saved file /usr/local/etc/asound.state as that would eliminate the need for including the file in backup for PPI users.
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Thanks for the reply.
I did re-download alsa last night (about 14 hours ago; were changes made since then?). I ran alsaconf and alsactl store in sudo mode, and added (I hope correctly) /etc/asound.state to the backup and "/usr/local/etc/init.d/alsasound start" to the boot script. Nothing bombed but it didn't restore my settings.
Thinking about it, in the backup I entered the save file as etc/asound.state (no slash). It bombed the shutdown when I had the slash there. Also if that's a script I'm adding to the boot script does it need .sh at the end? Sorry I'm at work and don't have the code in front of me.
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Also is there any editor for files other than vi? I've used it before and can manage it, but it always makes me paranoid about clobbering something.
Try beaver.
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Thanks, I will.
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thane,
Scripts don't need a .sh at the end, though many have it to identify it as a script.
Also, I am curious. Did using the alsasound script in /opt/bootlocal.sh result in the sound being started correctly even though it did not restore the actual settings?
EDIT: I was able in TC 2.x to get alsa to auto load and persist across reboots by backing up /etc/asound.state and running the alsasound script.
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"Did using the alsasound script in /opt/bootlocal.sh result in the sound being started correctly even though it did not restore the actual settings?"
No. After booting I got the same configuration error message when trying to use XMMS that I did previously. I manually ran alsaconf and this resolved the problem. It acted as though none of the changes I made had any effect.
Oops, something I forgot. When I run alsaconf it gives me a choice of sound cards to configure (don't know why there's two; one is described as 'legacy'). I have to manually select which one I want (the non-legacy one) and click through a couple of selections after that. The box is a Compaq Deskpro circa year 2000. Maybe those are factors. Anyway I'd like to double-check the boot script and backup list before I say anything categoric.
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The alsasound script assumes one soundcard, anything more complex must use alsaconf. But as TC's alsaconf as well as alsasound are custom, I have never tried alsaconf with two soundcards to make sure it would work. I may test that now and see.
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OT, but since I started this thread I don't feel too bad about it.
I recently downloaded mplayer.tcz and have run into problems with video/sound sync and "too many packets in the buffer". These problems aren't unique to TCL; they seem to be widely reported for mplayer under various versions of Linux. Just wondering if anyone here has run across this and found solutions.
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It is OT, but seems to me like you have the same issues I have with some of my machines. That is a processor that cannot keep up with the video, especially in unaccelerated Xvesa mode. I don't see this with the same Mplayer and the same video/DVD on my faster machines. YMMV.
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Thanks for the reply. I'm away from my TCL box now so I can't follow-up, but I'll look at the video setting when I get home.
In future I'll start a new thread if I have a new topic. I'm more used to forums where posters either can't start threads at all or are discouraged from doing so. But every place has its own etiquette.
Edit: Started mplayer problems thread for further mplayer discussion.
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I'm trying out TCL 2.0rc4 in TCE mode. On my box, XMMS with both ALSA and OSS has the same problem with accelerated and choppy sound when playing streaming radio that it has with OSS under TCL 1.x. I tried various XMMS settings with no effect. In TCL 1.4.3 (and previous 1.x TCL versions) the XMMS + ALSA combination has worked fine.
Has anyone else run into this? I'm not in love with XMMS but so far haven't found another TCL app that plays m3u links.
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Doesn't mplayer play those? mplayer -playlist mylist.m3u
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You're right curaga. Mplayer from the command line will play m3u -- hadn't tried that because it didn't seem like it could from the desktop.
But it has the same problem on TCL 2 that XMMS does -- accelerated sound that starts getting choppy and cutting out after a couple minutes, through both ALSA and OSS.
It works with ALSA on 1.4.3 though (as XMMS does). Maybe there's a difference in the ALSA versions between TCL 1.x and 2.x?
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Some digging on the web suggests that the sped-up sound problem in ALSA/OSS may have to do with sampling rates and/or interactions with particular sound cards, but I'm very unclear on how all that works. Looks like it's a more general issue (like so many others) with Linux/ALSA/OSS and not just a TCL thing.
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Downloaded TCL 2.0 final release and tried it out in TCE mode.
Still having the problem with distorted sound in XMMS using both ALSA and OSS. I tried some configuration changes and using .ram rather than .m3u on streaming radio (Radio Paradise) with no effect.
I'm making arrangements to get a newer box with faster video and presumably a different model sound card. I'll probably stay with 1.4.3 until that happens unless another solution comes along.
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I tried out TCL 2 with Opera, Flash10, and OSS.
The YouTube videos I ran had accelerated sound (Joe Strummer sang like he was breathing helium). Manipulating the settings in OSS didn't help. ALSA under TCL 2 has similar problems, although it works fine under TCL 1 and is what I'm using there.
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After more noodling around on the web, it looks like the default sound driver on my Compaq box isn't right for the sound chipset. A number of Linux forums for various distros note the accelerated sound problem.
Not sure how that explains why the sound is OK in TCL 1 using ALSA (but not OSS), and why it's bad using either ALSA or OSS on TCL 2.
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Going off what Curaga said above, I fiddled some more with mplayer from the command line and got something that sounds OK (speed at .85). Good enough for voice playback but I'm not sure if the speed or pitch is exactly right for music.
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I am seeing the fast sound issue with alsa, though OSS works perfect on this particular machine. And it has the chipset that another machine has that works fine with alsa.
Fortunately, with both alsa and oss extensions available, normally one will work in a case where trhe other does not.
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Alsa worked fine with XMMS on TCL 1.x, but both Alsa and OSS have fast sound on TCL 2 (so far tried flash, mplayer, and xmms). My machine (Compaq Deskpro EN) is mentioned on some Linux blogs as one that has this problem, so it's not really a TCL thing. I can adjust the playback speed in command-line mplayer to compensate but for whatever reason music still doesn't sound quite right.
I'm using OSS now but may give alsa another try.