Anyone know how to get the sound output device set so it is default selection on next boot?

[bigpup]

This sound control is new to me, so know little about how it works.

Latest F96-CE frugal install booting with a save file.

Every time I boot.
The selected sound output device is set to the wrong device.

I have to right click on the tray sound icon, select preferences.
Go to Output Devices
Go to the one I want to provide the sound.
Click on the fallback icon for it.
Now sound is coming from that device.

This setting does not seem to be saved for next boot up.

I do have two possible output devices.
Every boot it is trying to use the first one listed in Output Devices.
I want it to use the second one listed.

[mikeslr]

Glad I'm not the only one who wants to know.

This is not anywhere near a solution; but perhaps a starting point for finding one.

As is often the case, archlinux has published comprehensive documentation about Pulse-Audio, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PulseAudio. I only scanned to obtain a mental 'road-map', peer into those Sections which might be relevant and form an assessment as to whether I'm properly outfitted to venture into otherwise unknown territory. That assessment is that I'm not: a knowledge of both coding and audio configuration will be needed, But, perhaps I'm wrong.

The pathway which seemed most relevant was '2 Configuration'. If I understand what was written correctly, pulse-audio writes its default configuration to /etc/pulse. "(Tip): It is strongly suggested not to edit system-wide configuration files, but rather edit user ones. Create the ~/.config/pulse directory, then copy the system configuration files into it and edit according to your need." I've run across similar instructions for other configuration files --e.g. modifying xfce menu to properly handle Puppy application Categories.

Again, if --a BIG IF-- i understand what's been written, 'applications' are referred to as 'clients'. So it should be possible to provide specific instructions for each application.

Physical examination of F-96's file-structure reveals that /etc/pulse exists, but /.config/pulse does not. It would be simple enough to copy /etc/pulse to /.config. But --@ dimkr & other woof-devs-- as /.config/pulse will always be needed it should be woof-generated.

My scan of the documentation suggests that applications may already exist. On the other hand, it also seems to suggest that actual configuration for specific applications is being left up to the user. Even if applications already exist, I suspect that they were built for 'Major Distros' and to use in Puppys might require installing a significant amount of 'infra-structure'.

We would be better off if some audiofile capable of coding were to create a light-weight configuration application for Puppys. Too bad taersh has gone AWOL.

@ zigbert, plinej, norgo, MikeWalsh, anyone?

The only other thing I can suggest is that not all applications generate sound, and some of those which do may work OOTB. Perhaps there could be an application in the Multimedia Section of the Menu which the User could run, selecting the media application requiring configuration which would capture the specific setting required by that application: for example, as I've previously mentioned, for my web-browsers to generate sound pulse-audio has to be configured to use "Built in Audio Analog Stereo" rather than LADSPA plugins or C-Media USB.

[radky]

@bigpup

Pulseaudio and pipewire are well established sound servers in mainstream distros but they are relatively new concepts for the Puppy community, so we learn by trial and error.

For pulseaudio, the following may or may not work for you, but the process is simple and might be helpful.

To save your selection for the default sound output device, try something like this:

1 - Right-click the tray volume control applet and select Preferences -> Output Devices
2 - Select your preferred output device and click the 'Set as fallback' icon to set this as your current output device
3 - Enter the following in a terminal:

Code: Select all

pactl info | grep -i 'default sink'

For my system, this returns the following:

Default Sink: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo

4 - To establish (save) your system-wide default sound output device, add the 'sink name' directive to the bottom of /etc/pulse/default.pa

For my system, this would be something like this:

pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo

5 - Alternatively, you could create /root/.config/pulse/default.pa and add your default sound device to that file. For my system, it would be something like this (note the period symbol preceding include):

.include /etc/pulse/default.pa
pactl set-default-sink alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1b.0.analog-stereo

[bigpup]

Thanks for the info from both of you!

I have not tried the editing yet, but that is probably what is needed.

pavucontrol is the program that is getting run, when you right click on the tray sound icon, and choose preferences.

When you change something using it.
Those changes are used, but not saved to be used after a reboot.
Trying to find out why and maybe fix that.

A Google search for: pavucontrol settings not saved.
Comes up with this being an issue for years.
Only solution offered by anyone is making manual edits to the /etc/pulse/default.pa

pavucontrol changes are used until you reboot.
So the changes are in RAM, but never turned into a reusable settings file.
Seems to me pavucontrol needs some coding changes to produce this settings file or make edits to some config file it uses on boot up.

Anyone know how to edit the code in the pavucontrol?

I wonder if pavucontrol needs some dependency program that will produce this settings file?

I keep seeing references to a ~/.config/pulse and files found in it.
But Puppy does not ever have this ~/.config/pulse