Open Sound System

by **igorzwx** » Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:02 am

RATIONALE: It might be reasonable to test how OSS4 and Skype work with your hardware, before installing anything on your computer.

The method is very simple:

1. Boot a proper LiveCD

2. Remove ALSA, pulseaudio, and the like.

3. Install OSS4 and skype-oss, and test how they work.

NOTE: OSS4, skype-oss (and other things) will be installed somewhere in RAM. They will disappear after reboot. This means that you should have enough RAM for such experiments.

From my experience, 500MB RAM is sufficient for Archiso-live LiveCD (Arch Linux, XFCE). The experiments were performed on an old computer (of 2001). Everything was successfully installed and worked as it should, and sound quality was good.

I have an old Archiso-live LiveCD of April 11, 2010 (by Christopher Rogers, aka godane). You may try a new one, of course. Arch Linux LiveCDs can be downloaded here: http://godane.wordpress.com/

Passwords:
user: arch pass: arch
root pass: ArchLinux

Before making experiments, you may want to know which drivers you need. If you have Linux installed (or booted from LiveCD), you may run command:

$ lspci -v

It will tell you something like this:

Code: Select all: 00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 30) Subsystem: Holco Enterprise Co, Ltd/Shuttle Computer Device a139 Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10 I/O ports at e400 [size=256] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: oss_via823x Kernel modules: snd-via82xx 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage 128 PF/PRO AGP 4x TMDS (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: Hightech Information System Ltd. Device 0100 Flags: bus master, stepping, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11 Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M] I/O ports at c000 [size=256] Memory at e9000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] [virtual] Expansion ROM at e8000000 [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel modules: aty128fb

The video driver in use (on my old machine) is aty128fb, and Archiso LiveCD can be booted with this exactly driver (using cheatcode).

Before booting Archiso LiveCD, we disconnect USB audio devices (such as USB webcams with internal microphones).

1. Boot Archiso LiveCD

2. Select language

3. Select boot options

If you need to modify boot options, do this:

Press on [Tab] to enter a 'cheatcode'

You may change "xdriver=no" to "xdriver=vesa" (if you want).

Note: The vesa driver is the most generic, and should work with almost any modern video chipset. If you cannot find a suitable driver for your video chipset, vesa should work.

You may also define the driver you need, for example: xdriver=aty128fb

You may add some other options too. On this old computer, I have to add "acpi=force pci=noacpi". Otherwise, it might be impossible to connect it to Internet.

Press ENTER to start boot process.

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS: If you get a message: "The kernel is not supporting your CPU", it may mean exactly that.
http://godane.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/ ... 7-release/
QUOTE: "I found out that some pentium M cpu will not work with my newer pae kernel. I’m sorry for the inconvenience. Pae kernel was the better way for still having i686 os with wine and virtualbox-ose support. This also meant i didn’t need to build and upload 2 isos."
In this case, you may try to boot an old i686 version of Archiso-live, for example:
Archiso-live 20100114 Release
http://godane.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/ ... 4-release/
archiso-live-2010-01-14-i686.iso
http://arch-live.isawsome.net/iso/archi ... 4-i686.iso
See also: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Archiso-live
Godane’s Development Blog: http://godane.wordpress.com/
Sources: http://github.com/godane/archiso-live/tree/master
ISO download: http://arch-live.isawsome.net/iso

It makes sense to try ArchBang LiveCD. It is available in both 32bit and 64bit (very fast, minimal RAM usage).
http://www.archbang.org/
http://archbang.org/Guide/Guide
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ArchBang

If Archiso-live is booted successfully, you get an XFCE desktop.

Step 1: Click on "Keyboard" icon on the XFCE panel and select the keyboard layout you need.

Step 2: Check your Internet connection (try Aurora web browser, for example).

Step 3: Remove Mixer applet from the panel

Step 4: Change to root terminal

$ sudo su

Step 5: Open /etc/pacman.conf with a text editor, and comment out all unofficial repositories, such as "archiso-live" and "arch-games"

# leafpad /etc/pacman.conf

The official repositories (core, extra, community) should be, of course, enabled:

Code: Select all: [core] # Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [extra] # Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist [community] # Add your preferred servers here, they will be used first Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Step 6: Synchronize package databases

# pacman -Syy

Step 7: Upgrade pacman

# pacman -Sd pacman

Step 8: Install gtk2

# pacman -S gtk2

Step 9: Remove pulseaudio and ESound

# killall pulseaudio

# pacman -Rn pulseaudio

# pacman -Rd esound

Step 10: Stop alsa daemon

# /etc/rc.d/alsa stop

Step 11: Remove alsa-utils and alsa-oss

# pacman -Rn alsa-utils

# pacman -Rn alsa-oss

Step 12: Check which ALSA modules are loaded:

$ lsmod | grep snd

Step 13: Unload ALSA modules. Useful commands:

rmmod -f [name-of-module]

modprobe -rf [name-of-module]

The simplest way to unload ALSA modules is, perhaps, a brutal one, for example:

Code: Select all: [root@arch-live arch]# rmmod -f $(lsmod | grep 'snd' | grep -v codec | awk '{print $1}') soundcore ERROR: Removing 'snd_timer': Resource temporarily unavailable ERROR: Removing 'snd_page_alloc': Resource temporarily unavailable ERROR: Removing 'soundcore': Resource temporarily unavailable ERROR: Removing 'gameport': Resource temporarily unavailable ERROR: Removing 'soundcore': Resource temporarily unavailable [root@arch-live arch]# lsmod | grep snd snd_ac97_codec 87349 0 ac97_bus 782 1 snd_ac97_codec snd_pcm 57457 1 snd_ac97_codec snd_timer 15758 1 snd_pcm snd_page_alloc 5969 1 snd_pcm snd 43328 3 snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer soundcore 5071 1 snd [root@arch-live arch]# modprobe -rf snd_ac97_codec [root@arch-live arch]# modprobe -rf snd_pcm [root@arch-live arch]# modprobe -rf snd_page_alloc [root@arch-live arch]# modprobe -rf snd_timer [root@arch-live arch]# modprobe -rf snd [root@arch-live arch]# modprobe -rf soundcore [root@arch-live arch]# lsmod | grep snd [root@arch-live arch]#

Do not forget to check whether ALSA modules are still loaded!

Step 14: When all ALSA modules are unloaded, you can install OSS:

# pacman -S oss

# /etc/rc.d/oss start

Step 15: Run on Terminal:

$ osstest

$ ossxmix

Consult the OSS manual:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/OSS#Install

You may want to test microphone (ossrecord), etc.

Step 16: Install Skype for OSS

# pacman -S skype-oss

Now you can connect your webcam (and analog microphone), run Skype and test it. See also:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Webcam
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Webcam#Skype

What else to try? First of all, you may want to fix GStreamer.

Download Temüjin's soundproperties.tar.gz and unpack it
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3324#p13359

Install gnome-sound-properties:

# cp gnome-sound-properties /usr/bin/

# mkdir /usr/share/gnome-control-center/glade/

# cp sound-properties.glade /usr/share/gnome-control-center/glade/

Run on terminal:

$ gnome-sound-properties

It may tell you such things: "Unable to start gnome-settings-daemon", and so on. This can be safely ignored. Click "OK", and sound preferences menu (gui) will emerge.

In Sound Preferences, select everywhere OSS4 (playback, sound capture, mixer, etc.)

Now you should be able to use XFCE mixer with OSS4. You may add Mixer applet to panel and configure it: select controls, etc.

You may run gPodder and listen to a podcast. The default audio player (in gPodder) is VLC, it should work "out of the box" in any case. You may try other players as well. Audacity should work "out of the box" too. See also:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/OSS ... ns_for_OSS
http://www.4front-tech.com/wiki/index.p ... _for_OSSv4

Godane's Archiso-live LiveCDs seem to be very special. It is possible to install OSS4 on them, simply because they have the proper kernel26-headers package inside, for example:
http://arch-live.isawsome.net/iso/archi ... kages.list
kernel26 2.6.34-3live
kernel26-headers 2.6.34-3live

This trick does not works with any other LiveCDs which I have tried. Perhaps, you have to find the proper kernel dev package and install it, before installing OSS4.

In short, Archiso-live LiveCDs are the only working solution for now. You should simply find one which is bootable on your computers. The newest Archiso-live LiveCDs might be problematic. They may not have hardware-detection scripts, because they are not likely to work with the newer xorg 1.8, see http://godane.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/ ... 5-release/

It is also possible to install Arch with OSS4 into a bootable USB device
http://chakra-project.org/wiki/index.ph ... _USB-stick
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins ... _a_USB_key
NOTE: It is highly recommended to review the Tips for Minimizing SSD Read/Writes on the SSD wiki article.
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SSD ... d.2FWrites

Chakra LiveCD seems to be bootable on any computer, but you may have to upgrade it, before installing OSS4 (it may take 1GB of memory)
http://chakra-project.org/

by **igorzwx** » Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:23 pm

I have already tried the latest version of Archiso-live, 20100825 Release
http://godane.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/ ... 5-release/

It seems to be bootable on any computer, except for very exotic ones.

What is more, it has already OSS installed, the latest version: oss 4.2_2003-1 (!!!)

together with ALSA...

the list of installed packages is here:
http://arch-live.isawsome.net/iso/archi ... kages.list

It is, of course, very nice that OSS is already installed. But how it can work together with ALSA?

If OSS drivers and ALSA drivers are loaded simultaneously, you may not have sound at all...

Adobe Flash plugin is already installed, and, therefore, we can run Arora web browser and play videos in YouTube. It does play sound, but sound quality allows to suggest that it is most probably sound of ALSA.

The magic commands:

Code: Select all: lsmod | grep snd lsmod | grep oss

make it clear that only ALSA drivers are loaded.

Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel

Code: Select all: [arch@archiso ~]$ lspci -v 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04) Subsystem: Wistron Corp. Device 2017 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 41 Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

If OSS is installed, we can get extensive information about the package oss with command:

Code: Select all: $ pacman -Qi oss

And we get this:

Code: Select all: [arch@archiso ~]$ pacman -Qi oss Name : oss Version : 4.2_2003-1 URL : http://developer.opensound.com/ Licenses : GPL2 Groups : None Provides : None Depends On : gcc make kernel26-headers module-init-tools libtool sed Optional Deps : gtk2: for graphical mixer (ossxmix) hal: for automatic USB audio configuration Required By : pcsxr Conflicts With : oss-linux oss-linux-free oss-testing libflashsupport libflashsupport-pulse libflashsupport-oss Replaces : libflashsupport-oss Installed Size : 5284.00 K Packager : Unknown Packager Architecture : i686 Build Date : Thu 01 Jul 2010 03:46:29 PM UTC Install Date : Wed 25 Aug 2010 03:10:09 PM UTC Install Reason : Installed as a dependency for another package Install Script : Yes Description : Open Sound System UNIX audio architecture

Thus, OSS was packged by "Unknown Packager" and, what is more, it was "installed as a dependency for another package". Which one?

OSS is required by pcsxr

Code: Select all: [arch@archiso ~]$ pacman -Qi pcsxr Name : pcsxr Version : 1.9.92-1 URL : http://pcsxr.codeplex.com/ Licenses : GPL Groups : None Provides : pcsx Depends On : libgl libglade libxtst libxv oss sdl Optional Deps : None Required By : None Conflicts With : pcsx pcsx-df Replaces : None Installed Size : 2100.00 K Packager : Unknown Packager Architecture : i686 Build Date : Sun 08 Aug 2010 01:00:55 PM UTC Install Date : Wed 25 Aug 2010 03:13:41 PM UTC Install Reason : Explicitly installed Install Script : No Description : A Sony PlayStation emulator based on the PCSX-df Project

Perhaps, that Sony PlayStation emulator (pcsxr) may not work, because ALSA is loaded.

But how we can get rid of ALSA and make OSS work?

SOLUTION is very simple:
1. Remove PulseAudio, ESound, alsa-tils and alsa-oss
2. Unload ALSA modules
3. Start OSS by running "sudo soundon"

Then you can run the standard commands:

Code: Select all: osstest ossxmix

Troubleshooting: If osstest does not play music, run ossdetect (as root) and reload OSS

Code: Select all: ossdetect -v soundoff soundon

If OSS4 works, you can install gnome-sound-properties, Skype-oss, Twinkle, etc.

Listing from Terminal:

Code: Select all: [arch@archiso ~]$ sudo su [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Syy :: Synchronizing package databases... archiso-live 13.8K 31.8K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100% core 35.5K 162.1K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100% extra 462.0K 322.9K/s 00:00:01 [######################] 100% community 380.0K 317.9K/s 00:00:01 [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Sd pacman warning: pacman-3.4.0-2 is up to date -- reinstalling looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (1): pacman-3.4.0-2 Total Download Size: 0.59 MB Total Installed Size: 2.04 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n [root@archiso arch]# killall pulseaudio [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Rn pulseaudio checking dependencies... Remove (1): pulseaudio-0.9.21-8 Total Removed Size: 5.88 MB Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y (1/1) removing pulseaudio [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Rd esound Remove (1): esound-0.2.41-1 Total Removed Size: 0.31 MB Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y (1/1) removing esound [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# /etc/rc.d/alsa stop :: Saving ALSA Levels [DONE] [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Rn alsa-utils alsa-oss checking dependencies... Remove (2): alsa-oss-1.0.17-1 alsa-utils-1.0.23-2 Total Removed Size: 1.87 MB Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y (1/2) removing alsa-oss [######################] 100% (2/2) removing alsa-utils [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# lsmod | grep snd snd_seq_dummy 1079 0 snd_seq_oss 25104 0 snd_seq_midi_event 4496 1 snd_seq_oss snd_seq 41752 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq_device 4369 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq snd_pcm_oss 33662 0 snd_mixer_oss 14686 1 snd_pcm_oss snd_hda_codec_si3054 3106 1 snd_hda_codec_analog 52968 1 snd_hda_intel 19020 0 snd_hda_codec 67274 3 snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_intel snd_hwdep 4764 1 snd_hda_codec snd_pcm 58276 4 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec snd_timer 15423 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm snd 43283 12 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer soundcore 5025 1 snd snd_page_alloc 5949 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm [root@archiso arch]# rmmod -f $(lsmod | grep 'snd' | grep -v codec | awk '{print $1}') soundcore ERROR: Removing 'snd_timer': Resource temporarily unavailable ERROR: Removing 'soundcore': Resource temporarily unavailable ERROR: Removing 'snd_page_alloc': Resource temporarily unavailable ERROR: Removing 'soundcore': Resource temporarily unavailable [root@archiso arch]# lsmod | grep snd snd_hda_codec_si3054 3106 0 snd_hda_codec_analog 52968 0 snd_hda_codec 67274 2 snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec_analog snd_hwdep 4764 1 snd_hda_codec snd_pcm 58276 2 snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec snd_timer 15423 1 snd_pcm snd 43283 6 snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec_analog,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer soundcore 5025 1 snd snd_page_alloc 5949 1 snd_pcm [root@archiso arch]# modprobe -rf snd_hda_codec_si3054 snd_hda_codec_analog snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep snd_pcm snd snd_timer soundcore snd_page_alloc [root@archiso arch]# lsmod | grep snd [root@archiso arch]# pacman -S gtk2 warning: gtk2-2.20.1-2 is up to date -- reinstalling resolving dependencies... looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (1): gtk2-2.20.1-2 Total Download Size: 5.08 MB Total Installed Size: 34.95 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n [root@archiso arch]# soundon [root@archiso arch]# pacman -S skype-oss resolving dependencies... looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (1): skype-oss-2.0.0.72-2 Total Download Size: 20.97 MB Total Installed Size: 25.93 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y :: Retrieving packages from community... skype-oss-2.0.0.72... 21.0M 346.5K/s 00:01:02 [######################] 100% checking package integrity... (1/1) checking for file conflicts [######################] 100% (1/1) installing skype-oss [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# pacman -S twinkle resolving dependencies... looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (5): commoncpp2-1.8.0-1 qt3-3.3.8-17 ccrtp-1.7.0-4 libzrtpcpp-1.4.2-4 twinkle-1.4.2-6 Total Download Size: 9.20 MB Total Installed Size: 37.34 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y :: Retrieving packages from extra... commoncpp2-1.8.0-1... 444.2K 315.1K/s 00:00:01 [######################] 100% qt3-3.3.8-17-i686 7.3M 345.4K/s 00:00:22 [######################] 100% ccrtp-1.7.0-4-i686 170.6K 282.8K/s 00:00:01 [######################] 100% libzrtpcpp-1.4.2-4... 103.8K 253.9K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100% twinkle-1.4.2-6-i686 1260.1K 336.8K/s 00:00:04 [######################] 100% checking package integrity... (5/5) checking for file conflicts [######################] 100% (1/5) installing commoncpp2 [######################] 100% (2/5) installing qt3 [######################] 100% Optional dependencies for qt3 libmysqlclient postgresql-libs unixodbc (3/5) installing ccrtp [######################] 100% (4/5) installing libzrtpcpp [######################] 100% (5/5) installing twinkle [######################] 100%

It makes sense to try Twinkle with ZFone

Code: Select all: # pacman -S twinkle

To compile ZFone on Arch, you have to install "iptables"

Code: Select all: # pacman -S iptables

Twinkle is a free software open source software application for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) voice communications in IP networks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkle_(software)
http://www.twinklephone.com/

ZFone is a real-time encryptor for secure voice communication over the Internet (VoIP), using the ZRTP protocol. It is created by Phil Zimmermann, the creator of the PGP encryption software.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zfone
http://zfoneproject.com/
http://zfoneproject.com/getstarted.html

Twinkle is "open source" and it works well with OSS4, it is actually a kind of alternative to Skype.

A free SIP account you can get here: http://wiki.sip2sip.info/
SIP2SIP is free SIP service that provides a SIP account (together with free voice-mail).

by **igorzwx** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:35 pm

There are new Arch LiveCDs to try:

Archiso-live 20110104 Release •January 5, 2011
http://godane.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/ ... 4-release/

Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.1pre2
http://chakra-project.org/news/index.ph ... eased.html

It seems that Archiso-live does not have OSS inside
http://arch-live.isawsome.net/iso/archi ... kages.list

If you have Intel HDA, you may try to install OSS over ALSA.
It may not work for old cards, such as ICH4. In this case, you may try to unload ALSA modules, and, then, install OSS.

Chakra is a fork of Arch Linux:

http://chakra-project.org/wiki/index.php/Chakra_Linux
Chakra is a free, user-friendly and extremely powerful GNU/Linux distribution born from Arch Linux, based on a half-rolling release model focused on KDE software, and so targeted at any KDE lover. Its repositories are full of binary packages for KDE, Qt and CLI applications, and there is also a bundle system for other applications.

From the beginning, the whole idea of Chakra was based upon the concept of a "half-rolling release model", a rolling release, with a stable base. What this means is Chakra's core packages (graphics, sound, etc.) are frozen and are only updated for security fixes. Core packages are only upgraded after the latest versions have been thoroughly tested as part of our continous testing cycle, before being moved to the stable repositories (about every six months). This stable base, allows us to keep the programs stable. Applications (web-browsers, games, media-players, office-suites, etc) are upgraded following a rolling-release model, and generally available immediately upon their release.

Chakra LiveCD looks really cool!
Although it is also infected with libpulse, it has not yet PulseAudio installed (it will be inevitably compromised in the near future). The "half-rolling release model" seems to be a reasonable idea (this means that the removal of evil PulseAudio would not be time-consuming).

To change keyboard layout, open "System Settings" → "Input Devices" → Keyboard → Layouts → "Configure layouts" → "Add layout". Add the layout you need, and remove US layout.

Chakra LiveCD passwords:

Code: Select all: user: live pass: live root pass: root

Arora web browser can be installed from Chakra repositories:

Code: Select all: $ sudo su Password: live # pacman -Syy # pacman -Sd pacman # pacman -S arora

It is not difficult to install OSS4 on Chakra LiveCD.
You have to download OSS package from the Community repository of Arch Linux
http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/com ... pkg.tar.xz
and install it with pacman

Code: Select all: # pacman -U oss*

Before running OSS, you have to unload the ALSA driver for your soundcard, for example:

Code: Select all: # rmmod -f snd_hda_intel

Skype-oss can be downloaded from the same repository
http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/com ... pkg.tar.gz
and installed in the same way.

Audacity can be easily installed from "bundles"
http://chakra-project.org/bundles.html

For testing purposes, Archiso-live might be more convenient, because you can install OSS4 and Skype-oss directly from Arch repositories. Archiso-live works well even on very old computers, it has a lot of software installed (Audacity, etc.)

Chakra LiveCD might be better suitable for testing ALSA.
NOTE: skype-oss also works with ALSA, but you have to install it without dependency check (pacman -Ud skype-oss* )
The manual for Skype is here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Skype

Chakra GNU/Linux 0.3.1 released
http://chakra-project.org/news/index.ph ... eased.html

Chakra is not simply a fork of Arch Linux, it seems to be a kind of asylum for Ubuntu refugees. That is why, perhaps, Chakra LiveCD contains an installer (similar to that of Ubuntu). PulseAudio is not installed by default for a similar reason (to lure Ubuntu users who need Skype working).

There is a special repository:

http://www.archlinux.org/news/true-multilib-for-arch-linux-x86_64/
News: True multilib for Arch Linux x86_64
2010-08-27 - Thomas Bächler
I am happy to announce the availability of the new multilib repository. At this time, it contains wine, skype and flashplugin. Furthermore, a multilib compiler is available.

With the launch of the multilib repository all old 'lib32' packages are being removed from community - the core/extra/community repositories will be "pure 64 bit" again.

If you want to use the new multilib packages (and most desktop or laptop users probably do), add the following lines to your pacman.conf:

Code: Select all
[multilib] Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

by **igorzwx** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:08 pm

Archiso-live LiveCD 20110104 Release •January 5, 2011

Code: Select all: http://godane.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/archiso-live-20110104-release/

The Manual for Open Sound System (OSS4) is available here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/OSS

I have alredy tried to install OSS over ALSA (without unloading ALSA modules) on the new Archiso-live LiveCD (ICH6, Fujitsu Siemens notebook)

Code: Select all: $ lspci | grep Audio 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)

As a result, I got such errors:

Code: Select all: [root@archiso arch]# /etc/rc.d/oss start :: Starting Open Sound System [BUSY] ERROR: Module snd_hda_codec_si3054 is in use ERROR: Module snd_hda_codec_analog is in use ERROR: Module snd_hda_codec is in use by snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec_analog ERROR: Module snd_hwdep is in use by snd_hda_codec ERROR: Module snd_pcm is in use by snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec ERROR: Module snd_timer is in use by snd_pcm ERROR: Module snd_page_alloc is in use by snd_pcm [DONE]

Nevertheless, everything seems to work "out of the box" with default settings (!)

1. osstest plays music.
2. Audacity records sound.
3. Adobe Flash plays videos in YouTube as it should, see, for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KApK_Lg6 ... h_response
4. Jack-sensing works too (it has always been working with this card).
5. ossxmix produced a huge mixer with a lot of controls (much more than before).

The buggy "Fast resampler" is still the default.

Step 1: Boot Archiso LiveCD http://godane.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/ ... 4-release/

Step 2: Click on "Keyboard" icon on the XFCE panel and select the keyboard layout you need.

Step 3: Check your Internet connection (try Arora web browser, for example).

Step 4: Remove the Mixer applet from the panel

Step 5: Change to root terminal

Code: Select all: $ sudo su

See further steps here:

Code: Select all: [arch@archiso ~]$ sudo su [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Syy :: Synchronizing package databases... archiso-live 1.4K 315.8K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100% core 36.1K 164.8K/s 00:00:00 [######################] 100% extra 461.9K 319.4K/s 00:00:01 [######################] 100% community 415.9K 317.2K/s 00:00:01 [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Sd pacman warning: pacman-3.4.2-1 is up to date -- reinstalling looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (1): pacman-3.4.2-1 Total Download Size: 0.67 MB Total Installed Size: 2.29 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n [root@archiso arch]# pacman -S gtk2 warning: gtk2-2.22.1-1 is up to date -- reinstalling resolving dependencies... looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (1): gtk2-2.22.1-1 Total Download Size: 4.69 MB Total Installed Size: 33.62 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n [root@archiso arch]# killall pulseaudio [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Rn pulseaudio checking dependencies... Remove (1): pulseaudio-0.9.22-2 Total Removed Size: 4.53 MB Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y (1/1) removing pulseaudio [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Rd esound Remove (1): esound-0.2.41-1 Total Removed Size: 0.31 MB Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y (1/1) removing esound [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# /etc/rc.d/alsa stop :: Saving ALSA Levels [DONE] [root@archiso arch]# pacman -Rn alsa-utils alsa-oss checking dependencies... Remove (2): alsa-oss-1.0.17-1 alsa-utils-1.0.23-3 Total Removed Size: 1.98 MB Do you want to remove these packages? [Y/n] y (1/2) removing alsa-oss [######################] 100% (2/2) removing alsa-utils [######################] 100% [root@archiso arch]# pacman -S oss resolving dependencies... looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (1): oss-4.2_2004-1 Total Download Size: 1.13 MB Total Installed Size: 5.27 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y :: Retrieving packages from community... oss-4.2_2004-1-i686 1152.2K 333.1K/s 00:00:03 [######################] 100% checking package integrity... (1/1) checking for file conflicts [######################] 100% (1/1) installing oss [######################] 100% Running OSS install script... ------------------------------------------------------------- Open Sound System was installed. Now you should add 'oss' to your DAEMONS variable at /etc/rc.conf, and start the daemon by running /etc/rc.d/oss start. Note that OSS can't currently work together with kernel ALSA modules, so they were moved out by the OSS install scripts. If you want the ALSA kernel modules back, you can just remove this package using pacman. Please note that OSS stores some of its configuration files at /usr/lib/oss. If you are upgrading from an older OSS release and it doesn't work properly, try removing that directory and reinstall this package. ------------------------------------------------------------- Optional dependencies for oss gtk2: for graphical mixer (ossxmix) hal: for automatic USB audio configuration [root@archiso arch]# /etc/rc.d/oss start :: Starting Open Sound System [BUSY] ERROR: Module snd_hda_codec_si3054 is in use ERROR: Module snd_hda_codec_analog is in use ERROR: Module snd_hda_codec is in use by snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec_analog ERROR: Module snd_hwdep is in use by snd_hda_codec ERROR: Module snd_pcm is in use by snd_hda_codec_si3054,snd_hda_codec ERROR: Module snd_timer is in use by snd_pcm ERROR: Module snd_page_alloc is in use by snd_pcm [DONE]

Skype also works "out of the box" with default settings

Code: Select all: [root@archiso arch]# pacman -S skype-oss resolving dependencies... looking for inter-conflicts... Targets (1): skype-oss-2.0.0.72-2 Total Download Size: 20.97 MB Total Installed Size: 25.93 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y :: Retrieving packages from community... skype-oss-2.0.0.72... 21.0M 346.5K/s 00:01:02 [######################] 100% checking package integrity... (1/1) checking for file conflicts [######################] 100% (1/1) installing skype-oss [######################] 100%

If you are concerned with security problems, you may want to try Twinkle with ZFone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zfone

Code: Select all: # pacman -S twinkle

see also:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/25 ... r_rumours/
CryptoSystem Backdoors
http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-268.htm
Skype's Cryptography Reverse-Engineered
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2 ... ptogr.html
Side-Channel Privacy Leakage
http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-264.htm

Archiso-live LiveCD seems to be the best option for testing OSS4 in 32-bit environment, simply because Arch is optimized for i686 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P6_(microarchitecture) That is why Arch Linux is much faster than Ubuntu, Debian and the like on old computers.

For some strange reason, 32bit Ubuntu/Debian is optimized for i386 (this means really ancient processors of the last century). It is optimized for ancient computers, on which it does not work. It may seem to be a kind of fantastic absurdity, but, taking into account the phenomenon of PulseAudio, you may easily accept it as just another example of advanced Linux engineering.

If you have a very old computer (of 2001) with Pentium 4 and 500MB RAM, you can safely install Arch with Gnome and OSS4, Firefox, OpenOffice, VLC, SMplayer, Audacity, Skype, etc. It may not work very fast, but it will be usable.

Arch shows its advantages over other distros in 32-bit environment, because Arch packages are optimized for i686 whereas the most of others are optimized for i586 or ealier architecture. In other words, Arch is a good choice for old machines (with non-64-bit capability). http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.p ... post129455

Although Arch Linux is incredibly fast in 32-bit environment (in comparison with Ubuntu), it may work even better, if it were optimized for newer processors (i686 also means the last century, but it is unclear what it really means in Linux-speak):

1985 Intel 80386 - i386 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80386
1989 Intel 80486 - i486 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80486
1993 Pentium 1 - i586 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium
1997 Pentium 2 - i686 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_II
1999 Pentium 3 - i686 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_III
2000 Pentium 4 - i786 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_4

In fact, Arch Linux cannot be installed on really ancient computers, but there is a kind of Arch Linux recompiled for i586
http://www.connochaetos.de/wiki/mainpage
http://www.connochaetos.de/wiki/devel:packagebuilding

Bodhi Linux - enlightenment and liberation
http://www.bodhilinux.com/

by **igorzwx** » Mon May 30, 2011 2:49 pm

UPDATE

Arch Linux is a "rolling release" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_release
Many things have already changed. However, the Archiso-live has not been updated yet.
It is still usable for testing OSS4, but the instruction has to be updated (see below).

Before testing OSS4, you may want to read the manual:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/OSS

Step 1: Download Archiso-live LiveCD 20110104 Release •January 5, 2011

Code: Select all: http://godane.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/archiso-live-20110104-release/

Step 2: Boot Archiso LiveCD.

Code: Select all: user: arch password: arch root password: ArchLinux

Step 3: Click on "Keyboard" icon on the XFCE panel and select the keyboard layout you need.

Step 4: Check your Internet connection (try Arora web browser, for example).

Step 5: Remove the Mixer applet from the panel (right click on the Speaker icon and select "remove from panel").

Step 6: Upgrade pacman:

Code: Select all: $ sudo su # pacman -Syy # pacman -Sd pacman # pacman-db-upgrade # pacman -Syy # pacman -Sd pacman

Step 7: Remove PulseAudio:

Code: Select all: # killall pulseaudio # pacman -Rn pulseaudio

Step 8: Remove ESound and ALSA things:

Code: Select all: # pacman -Rdd esound # /etc/rc.d/alsa stop # pacman -Rn alsa-utils alsa-oss

Step 9: Install OSS4:

Code: Select all: # pacman -S oss

Step 10: Start Open Sound System:

Code: Select all: # /etc/rc.d/oss start

Step 11: Start OSS Mixer GUI (as ordinary user)

Code: Select all: $ ossxmix

Step 12: Run osstest (as ordinary user)

Code: Select all: $ osstest

If osstest plays music, everything should work.

Flash plugin is already installed on Arch LiveCD. Arora web browser is also installed.
You can play videos in YouTube, for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB-26XqDZj8

Troubleshooting
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/OS ... leshooting

If you have an Intel HDA soundcard (e.g. ICH7), you may need to change something in the OSS Mixer.
Run on terminal:

Code: Select all: $ osstest -lV

and try different mixer settings.

You may also want to test jack-sensing and microphone (internal and external).
USB audio devices are not likely to work with OSS4.

Code: Select all: $ ossrecord -vl - | ossplay - Recording wav: Speed 48000Hz 16 bits Stereo - [....... ] 7.00 secs VU -------++

Open Sound System

HOWTO: OSS4 and Skype on a LiveCD

HOWTO: OSS4 and Skype on a LiveCD

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Re: HOWTO: OSS4 and Skype on a LiveCD

Re: HOWTO: OSS4 and Skype on a LiveCD

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