[alsa-devel] how to enumerate useful ALSA devices?

[Raymond Yau]

2011/12/21, Joerg-Cyril.Hoehle at t-systems.com <Joerg-Cyril.Hoehle at t-systems.com>:
> Hi,
>
> The 2008 audio guide recommends
> http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/guide-to-sound-apis.html
> "Do not use the snd_card_xxx() APIs. For enumerating use
>  snd_device_name_hint() (and related functions).
>  snd_card_xxx() is obsolete... Bluetooth audio are not included"
>
> Is that correct advice?

The only correct item is "Bluetooth audio are not included"

AFAIK, snd_card_xxx() is not obsoleted


>
> Wine still uses snd_card, so it knows only about "default" and
> "plughw:x,y".  I believe that's wrong but don't know what should be
> used instead in order not to come up with a long list of artificial
> names mentioned in /usr/share/alsa/alsa.conf such as surround51 when
> the poor on-board card knows nothing but 16 bit stereo.
>

For those MATX size motherboard with 3 audio jacks at rear panel or
those high-end notebook with 3 or 4 jacks

the user need to use "channel mode" or "smart5.1" to retask the two
input pins for output for surroun51

http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-kernel.git;a=blob_plain;f=Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio-Controls.txt

do wine need AC3 pass-though SPDIF ? ( IEC958 )

It is still not clear how to find a valid HDMI device ?


> I'm looking for a list of working devices on this machine, which likely
> should contain "default" (usually leading to PA on a recent Ubuntu
> machine),
> "plug:dmix" (PA getting out of the way when trying to use other devices),
> "hw:0,0" and presumably not much more.
>
> Thank you for your help,
> 	Jörg Höhle