[alsa-devel] Intel alsa sound request for Laptops

[Lars-Peter Clausen]

On 01/31/2017 10:13 AM, Takashi Iwai wrote:
[...]
>>>> $ alsamixer
>>>> cannot open mixer: No such file or directory
[...]
>> However, if the default sound device has been disabled by not loading i915, then alsa should be smart enough to use the next available sound device without the need to resort to obscure commands (snd_hda_intel.index=1,0) or additional software (pulseaudio).
> 
> Sorry, ALSA layer isn't designed to be smart.  It's rather dumb, gives
> simply what the kernel provides.  You can implement many things on top
> of it in a form of plugins, but the basic policy is not to modify the
> given stuff, and pass it as is.

Given that alsamixer is capable of handling multiple cards and able to
switch between them at runtime we should still look into this. The
application should not refuse to launch if the default card is not available.

- Lars