On 12/4/23 14:31, Joel Roth via Dng wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 04, 2023 at 12:11:01PM -1000, Joel Roth via Dng wrote:
>> On Mon, Dec 04, 2023 at 01:22:31PM -0800, Marc Shapiro via Dng wrote:
>>> My sound has recently stopped functioning.  This seems to be all sound,
>>> Youtube on Firefox and Xine are both silent.
>>>
>>> I am using Pulseaudio.
>> For diagnostic purposes, you could try removing pulseaudio,
>> and seeing if you can get output from your soundcard using
>> ALSA.
>>
>> Depending on your use habits, you might be able to manage
>> comfortably without PA at all.
>>
>> AAUI, the main benefit of PA is centralized volume controls.
>> For decades the default ALSA device has performed software
>> mixing of multiple streams.
> Also, I had experiences recently that Firefox completely
> captured the sound device while producing no sound, I had to kill and restart
> FF to restore sound. Or delete and restore an individual
> tab where the process had captured the soundcard.
> The FF plugin Switch to Audible Tab can be helpful.

The problem was not with pulseaudio, but with alsa.  The playback volume
was set to 0, which is why it was disabled in pulseaudio.

I have a related question, however.  Does sound on Firefox now work
without pulseaudio.  Years ago, I went with pulseaudio because Firefox
switched to requiring it for sound output.  If that is no longer the
case, then eliminating pulseaudio becomes a really viable option.


Marc


Mrac