GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 589357
gnome-volume-control does not allow to configure necessary mixer settings such as the PCM volume. OkCancel
Last modified: 2009-08-12 11:57:57 UTC
Please describe the problem: I reported this bug in ubuntu too: https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-media/+bug/402954 Binary package hint: gnome-media The new gnome-volume-control does not allow to configure the separate volume channels. I can imagine the usual reasons for that (it's an advanced configuration hence gnome must not have it). But it can't work. I agree that all these settings are to be done once in a lifetime, and appreciate a lot the new, very clean interface, but it's impossible that a machine guesses the correct setup. A way to configure these settings at least once without resorting to alsamixer is needed. Example: a laptop with low-quality speakers will need pcm set almost to the maximum to maximize the volume, while a 5+1 speaker system connected to a good sound card will need pcm at about 70% so that distortion will be unlikely. Also (but the problem above is enough IMHO) there are many switches in soundcards which are a "trial and error" system, e.g. to enable 5+1, 3d, digital input, mic autogain etc. I dislike all of that, but it's reality, we can not act like these problems do not exist. I typically set them only once for each new installation, but the interface for doing that needs to be discoverable by all users. If you want alsamixer to be the only way, then you should link alsamixer to the volume-control for discoverability. Steps to reproduce: Actual results: Expected results: Does this happen every time? Other information:
PulseAudio will soon provide the concept of ports, which will do just what you need. You should try PA git (0.9.16rc) if you are concerned about the development of that feature. You can also read this (it's a bit rough though) http://git.0pointer.de/?p=pulseaudio.git;a=blob;f=src/modules/alsa/mixer/paths/analog-output.conf.common (also , this bug is somewhat related to bug 583097)
Thanks for the update, so what I can expect as an user is that I will have an UI for setting the pcm volume again? Do you know if this will be in gnome 2.28?
Setting the PCM volume separately isn't something that gnome-volume-control knows how to do, or should know how to do. It should be possible to control it in tandem with the Master volume by just using a newer version of PulseAudio (eg. 0.9.16 and its pre-releases). The problem isn't a problem in gnome-volume-control, but in PulseAudio's realm.