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This advanced topic assumes you are using one of the recommended distro's or remasters.

If you are using Puppy without external speakers you may find that the sound volume is low. This is often the case with Laptop computers. Note that laptop computer speakers are quite small, usually 1/2-5/8 inch (12-16mm) diameter and can be easily damaged if played at high volume. Here are methods to boost your audio.
These only apply to Puppy Linux versions that use ALSA sound (most).

General – adjust volume levels

1. open the Terminal

2. type: retrovol

3. press Enter

Adjust the Master and PCM controls to maximum and test the sound

Adding boost:
Method 1 – create a Pre-Amp setting in retrovol (also see Method 1 notes below)

1. run audio-boost.pet (installs /etc/asound.conf)

   audio-boost.pet

   (464 Bytes) Downloaded 171 times

2. reboot

play a sound file

1. reboot (it may take several reboots before the Pre-Amp shows)

Adjust Pre-Amp:

1. open the Terminal

2. type: retrovol
   press Enter

3. scroll down to the bottom of retrovol to find Pre-Amp

4. adjust level

CAUTION: adjust slowly and test, to much Pre-Amp will distort the audio

Method 2– adjust all levels in alsamixer (working in Fossapup64 9.5, Friendly-Fossa64, Dpup Stretch 7.5)
Open alsamixer:

1. open the Terminal

2. type: alsamixer -V equal

3. press Enter

4. increase all settings, try 72 first, then test

Note: use up/down arrows to adjust, right/left arrows to change bars

Method 1 Notes:
audio-boost.pet installs the file /etc/asound.conf and is configured for a system sound card running as: card 0, device 0. This is the most common configuration. You can check your system as follows.

1. open a Terminal window

2. type: aplay -l (lower case L)

3. press Enter

The first card line should should list card 0 and device 0. If the card is not zero you may have to edit the card line in /etc/asound.conf.

Here is the content of asound.conf.

#! /bin/bash
pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "softvol"
}

pcm.softvol {
type softvol
slave {
pcm "dmix"
}
control {
name "Pre-Amp"
card 0
}
min_dB -5.0
max_dB 20.0
resolution 6
}  

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