2010/7/9 Rafael Beraldo :

Hi,

I bought a Asus 1201N and installed Arch on it. Sound (a nVidia MCP79) works but I think sound is too low. I've set everything in alsamixer to 100% and even with a headphone it is still low. Although I can hear it well, I think this netbook can amplificate sound a lot more.

Also, the built-in microphone doesn't work. alsamixer doesn't show the controls of it, just of the pararel mic.

Hi Rafael. MCP79 is a pretty common chipset, and support is mostly good (I have it on a Macbook 5,1 and on a mini-itx board and it works fine on both). However, some variations still aren't well supported, but work is ongoing. I suggest you to give a try to the kernel26-rc package on the aur: 2.6.35-rc4 is a very stable release, and reading the shortlog I found a commit that may be helpful at least for your second issue: commit b8f171e7e7ed5c9b77324bcc6bb580ddcc84da49 Author: Alex Murray Date: Mon Jun 14 12:08:43 2010 +0930 ALSA: hda - Fix line-in for mb5 model MacBook (Pro) 5,1 / 5,2 The line-in input is 0x7 not 0x2 for MacBook (Pro) 5,1 / 5,2 models HTH, Corrado

2010/7/10 Rafael Beraldo :

In my old laptop, every time I blew the (parallel) microphone, it could hear it. It doesn't happen with my 1201N and then I assumed that the mic wasn't working at all. For some reason, however, I tested it yesterday on Skype test call and --- surprisingly --- it worked. So this is it: the built-in microphone just works out of the box.

So this doesn't seem to be a kernel problem... As far as I know Skype uses OSS (or, rather, ALSA's OSS emulation). You could try different drivers in your media player and understand if the problem lies here.

Now, how do I know if I'm getting full power from my sound card? I listen to music with everything set to 100% when in my old Toshiba Satellite A135 100% was way too listen to. If things are just the way they are, what is the best way to amplify sound by software? I know that Ubuntu Lucid does that (I think it uses pulseaudio).

Short answer: you can't. Pulse is just another layer, and it won't help you to overcome hardware-related problems. There probably is an internal amplifier in your soundcard which isn't properly detected. I'd go with giving the rc kernel a try.

Finally, if I install a kernel from AUR, will yaourt replace it when a newer version comes to [core] repository?

It is totally a different kernel, which you can run in parallel with the official one. Just compile it and add a grub configuration for it, then choose it when rebooting. If you are satisfied make it the default until 2.6.35 comes out, otherwise keep the old one.

Thank you for the help!

No problem! Please do not top post when replying to mailing lists. Thanks. Corrado

2010/7/10 Rafael Beraldo :

I just tested the microphone in Audacity (I think it uses ALSA, doesn't it?). It works pretty well!

It uses what it's told to, I don't remember what the default is as I change it pretty frequently. Check the input source preferences.

I'm sorry I'm not used to mailing lists ettiquete! I won't do that again.  If there is any problem in the way I answered that e-mail, please let me know. Thank you.

This one was perfect :-) Thanks for understanding. Corrado

On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 9:36 PM, Rafael Beraldo

wrote:

2010/7/10 bardo

...

2010/7/10 Rafael Beraldo :

...

I just tested the microphone in Audacity (I think it uses ALSA, doesn't it?). It works pretty well!

It uses what it's told to, I don't remember what the default is as I change it pretty frequently. Check the input source preferences.

...

I'm sorry I'm not used to mailing lists ettiquete! I won't do that again. If there is any problem in the way I answered that e-mail, please let me know. Thank you.

This one was perfect :-) Thanks for understanding.

Corrado

Tried the RC kernel with no success. Sound was the same as in the current kernel. Maybe it _is_ low and there is no solution or I'm just crazy.

-- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org

does the nvidia MCP79 utilize the intel hda protocol? -- Alexander Lam

2010/7/11 bardo

2010/7/11 Alexander Lam :

...

...

Tried the RC kernel with no success. Sound was the same as in the current kernel. Maybe it _is_ low and there is no solution or I'm just crazy.

I'm sorry about that. You could be right, though, after all it is a netbook.

...

does the nvidia MCP79 utilize the intel hda protocol?

Yes, it does. Now that I think about it, there is the possibility that the card model is not correctly identified... you should check the snd-intel-hda module documentation and see the possible values for the 'model' parameter. Be warned that there are a lot, but it could be a starting point for a google search.

Corrado

alsaconf searches for sound cards and says: ‘No suported PnP or PCI card found. Would you like to probe legacy ISA sound cards/chips?’. lsmod | grep snd output is: snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi 11841 1 snd_hda_codec_realtek 192115 1 snd_seq_dummy 1071 0 snd_seq_oss 25016 0 snd_seq_midi_event 4488 1 snd_seq_oss snd_seq 41656 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq_device 4353 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq snd_pcm_oss 33474 0 snd_mixer_oss 14328 1 snd_pcm_oss snd_hda_intel 18769 1 snd_hda_codec 66623 3 snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel snd_hwdep 4756 1 snd_hda_codec snd_pcm 58460 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec snd_timer 15601 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm snd 42602 13 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer soundcore 5017 1 snd snd_page_alloc 5941 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm According to Corrado, the MacBook uses the same sound card that my netbook uses. This wiki page says the model parameter can be either mbp3 or mb5: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MacBook_Aluminum#Sound I've configured it as mb5 and nothing changed. I'll configure as mbp3 and post if something improves, but I doubt that since the wiki page does not say anything about differences between them. -- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org

2010/7/11 bardo

I didn't say we have the same soundcard, I said we have the same chipset, but also that the same chipset can see different releases in time (my Macbook was bought in late 2008). Check your codec instead, by launching

cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec

$ cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec Codec: Realtek ALC269 Codec: Nvidia MCP79/7A HDMI Which, I think, means that MCP79 only controls HDMI audio output. I was looking at the wrong place all this time. This card is not shown when I run lspci. Anyway, I quickly searched the web and found nothing relevant but that: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-eeepc-devel/2010-February/00.... However, this error doesn't exist in the current kernel.

When you have the codec name, match it to a model parameter by checking the kernel docs at http://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Models.txt

I'll try the parameters for ALC269. There are a few in that link, including two related to eeepc, and no parameters to MCP79.

C

-- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org

Sorry for the late response, I've been away. I've actually been trying to make my own ALC268 louder, so I've read up on hda architecture :P (I haven't been successful though) On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 11:02 AM, Rafael Beraldo wrote:

2010/7/11 Rafael Beraldo

...

 $  cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#* | grep Codec Codec: Realtek ALC269 Codec: Nvidia MCP79/7A HDMI

card0 is a single HDA controller. an HDA controller is basically a dma controller that sends audio data to a codec connected to the HDA bus on that card. In this instance, you have two codecs connected to the same HDA controller, which means...

...

Which, I think, means that MCP79 only controls HDMI audio output. I was looking at the wrong place all this time. This card is not shown when I run lspci. Anyway, I quickly searched the web and found nothing relevant but

You won't see two sound cards in lspci because both sound codecs are on the same pci device.

...

that: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/debian-eeepc-devel/2010-February/00.... However, this error doesn't exist in the current kernel.

I'll try the parameters for ALC269. There are a few in that link, including two related to eeepc, and no parameters to MCP79.

-- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org

I tested all parameters. Two of them give me interesting results: quanta gives me control not only of the internal mic but also of the external mic and basic gives me control of all of it and the front speaker. In both cases alsa daemon gives and error related to the NVIDIA chipset but everything works.

Sound volume didn't change with any parameters.

Also, alsamixer says it is using the NVIDIA MCP79 and I can't change the sound card by typing F6. This may be the fault of your terminal. Did you try amixer instead?

Now I'm just confused and again wondering if the sound isn't just that loud.

-- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org

Anyway, I highly recommend using reading http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Help_To_Debug_Intel_HDA and using the HDA-Analyzer utility mentioned there - you can mess with your codecs manually to try to get louder sound. -- Alexander Lam

Hello, On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 6:29 PM, Rafael Beraldo wrote:

2010/7/15 Alexander Lam

...

Sorry for the late response, I've been away. I've actually been trying to make my own ALC268 louder, so I've read up on hda architecture :P (I haven't been successful though)

card0 is a single HDA controller. an HDA controller is basically a dma controller that sends audio data to a codec connected to the HDA bus on that card. In this instance, you have two codecs connected to the same HDA controller, which means...

You won't see two sound cards in lspci because both sound codecs are on the same pci device.

This may be the fault of your terminal. Did you try amixer instead?

Well, amixer doesn't seem to show nothing relevant. Here is the output: http://pastebin.com/e7Xx7Gce. I don't see anything that I can't control with alsamixer. Also, everything is set to 100%.

...

Anyway, I highly recommend using reading http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Help_To_Debug_Intel_HDA and using the HDA-Analyzer utility mentioned there - you can mess with your codecs manually to try to get louder sound.

I've read it quickly... What should I look for? What should I tweak? I don't know those things very well. Anyway, right know I'm downloading Ubuntu to see if the sound is louder in this distribution. I haven't tested any OS but Arch Linux.

In the HDA-Analyzer, you should look for EAPD, which is External Amplifier Power Down. Also, the sliders are essentially directly hooked up to the sound card's hardware mixers. Just play around with it.

...

-- Alexander Lam

-- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org

-- Alexander Lam

2010/7/18 Rafael Beraldo

I couldn't find the EAPD... And all sliders are set to maximum volume.

Actually, I found it in the Node[0x14] and Node[0x15]. If I disable it, the headphone still with sound but when I remove it there is no sound in the speakers. -- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org

2010/7/19 Alexander Lam

If that's the case I don't have any other ideas. My alc268 had an amplifier on the headphone out, and with the amplifier off (eapd not checked), the headphones were very quiet (alsa turns the amplifier on). You probably should think about emailing the alsa mailing lists if you're really in need. http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Mailing-lists

It is possible to get the datasheets for your audio codec, but you need to be able to interpret them to use them. http://www.realtek.cz/realtek-datasheet.php?datasheet=ALC269

-- Alexander Lam

In Ubuntu, the sound is as loud as it is in Arch Linux. Maybe next versions of alsa may handle the ALC269 codec better. Anyway, using software mixer instead of the sound card is a acceptable workaround to watch to movies. If I found a solution, I'll update the Asus 1201N wiki page. Thank you all for the help. -- Rafael Beraldo http://cabaladada.org