[alsa-devel] Use of _hint() functions and older machines

[Clemens Ladisch]

Randell Jesup wrote:
> On 10/23/2011 6:36 AM, Clemens Ladisch wrote:
> > The best way to get a list of devices would have been to enumerate sound
> > cards with snd_card_next(), then use device names "default:CARD=x".
> > However, this gets only the primary device of each card, there might be
> > sound cards without a PCM device, devices not based on an ALSA kernel
> > driver aren't listed, and the "default:CARD=x" mechanism doesn't work if
> > the user has redefined the "default" device.
> 
> Ugh.  So, there's no reasonable way to get a user-understandable list
> before .14?  How useful was snd_ctl_card_info_get_name()?

That gives you the card name, which is not the same as the name of the
PCM device (although it shouldn't matter when the card has only one
PCM device).

> And I guess I'd need to enumerate the 'devices' and 'subdevices' on
> each card as well...

Yes, but subdevices are typically used for multiple streams that are
mixed together, so you can ignore them.


Regards,
Clemens