From ba6231b38172c03ff9137602f44445957153f10f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jaroslav Kysela Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 11:49:21 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] New version... --- alsactl/alsactl.1 | 110 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------- 1 file changed, 85 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-) diff --git a/alsactl/alsactl.1 b/alsactl/alsactl.1 index 539bf57..17c8cf9 100644 --- a/alsactl/alsactl.1 +++ b/alsactl/alsactl.1 @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ .TH ALSACTL 1 "25 Nov 1998" .SH NAME -alsactl \- command-line control for ALSA soundcard driver +alsactl \- advanced controls for ALSA soundcard driver .SH SYNOPSIS @@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ soundcard drivers. It supports multiple soundcards. .SS Commands - \fIstore\fP saves the current driver setup for the selected soundcard to the configuration file. @@ -44,18 +43,92 @@ Use debug mode: a bit more verbose. Print alsactl version number. .SH FILES -\fI/etc/asound.conf\fP (or whatever file the user specifies with the -\fB-f\fP flag) is used to store current mixer settings. There are two benefits -of using alsactl: first, alsactl doesn't force the user to -use any particular mixer app; second, alsactl knows about pretty much -everything alsa is capable of controlling, which the various mixers -(like \fBamixer\fP, \fBalsamixer\fP, or \fBxamixer\fP) might not. +\fI/etc/asound.conf\fP (or whatever file you specify with the +\fB-f\fP flag) is used to store current settings for your +soundcards. The settings include all the usual soundcard mixer +settings. More importantly, alsactl is +capable of controlling other card-specific features that mixer apps +usually don't know about. The configuration file is generated automatically by running -\fBalsactl store\fP. Editing the configuration file by hand is -possible and may be necessary for some of the card-specific features -that aren't known by the mixer apps (e.g. automatic mic gain, digital -outputs, etc.). +\fBalsactl store\fP. Editing the configuration file by hand may be +necessary for some soundcard features (e.g. enabling/disabling +automatic mic gain, digital outputs, joystick/game ports, some MIDI +routing options, etc.). + +.SS Configuration File Syntax + +There are some terms in the config file that bear explaining. The +"capabilities" comments before each line will tell you which flags you +can set for each channel. The comments start with semicolons. To set a +flag, simply add it to the channel() line you want. + +.TP +\fIhardware-mute\fP +The soundcard itself is capable of muting the channel. +Otherwise, kernel midlevel code will set the volume to minimum when an +application requests muting on this channel. + +.TP +\fIjoin-mute\fP +Muting this channel can \fBonly\fP be +toggled for left and right at the same time, \fBnot\fP independently +-- even if you can control the volumes for left and right independently! + +.TP +\fIstereo\fP +The channel is stereo. + +.TP +\fIrecord\fP +Use the channel as a recording source. + +.TP +\fIjoin-record\fP +Recording from this channel can only be toggled for \fBboth\fP left +and right at once; they cannot be toggled independently. + +.TP +\fIrecord-by-mute\fP +Allow recording the channel even if it's muted, so you can avoid +feeding your record source to the speakers. Not all hardware supports this. + +.TP +\fIexternal-input\fP +This flag is purely informational: it tells you that the channel +controls a signal from an external input (like Line-In or CD). This +serves to distinguish external source channels from onboard +source channels (like OPL-3 synth), which don't have this flag set. + +.TP +\fIdigital\fP +If you have a card with digital outputs and/or inputs, this flag +toggles digital output/input for the channel. + +.PP +Another feature of the configuration file is the \fIboolean\fP switches +which are used to toggle certain card-specific advanced features. For +example: + + ; Type is 'bool'. + switch( "MIC Gain", false ) + +This shows that my card has a switchable mic gain, and that it's +currently turned off. To turn it on, just change "false" to "true" and +run \fBalsactl restore\fP. + + +.SH EXAMPLES + +Let's say I have this entry in /etc/asound.conf for my PCM output. + + ; Capabilities: stereo hardware-mute digital. + ; Accepted channel range is from 0 to 63. + channel( "PCM", stereo( 40 mute, 50 mute ) ) + +When \fBalsactl restore\fP is run, volume will be set to 40 for the left +and 50 for the right, but both will be muted (by hardware). + .SH SEE ALSO \fB @@ -70,16 +143,3 @@ None known. .SH AUTHOR \fBalsactl\fP is by Jaroslav Kysela This document is by Paul Winkler . - - -.SH QUESTIONS!!! - -There are some things in the asound.conf file that I don't -understand: - ---What's the difference between "hardware mute" and "join mute"? - ---What does "record-by-mute" do? - ---What does "external-input" do? -