Re: [Gwc-general] Anyone still using GWC?

[Alister H. <ali...@gm...>]

If you're really getting ""failed to open OSS audio device ..." when you
tried to build with the alsa backend it means you didn't run `make clean`.
Unfortunately it is essential when changing backend.

On Tue, 9 Mar 2021, 07:50 John Cirillo, <jo...@in...> wrote:

> Some progress and success today.  And it may have been a poor choice of
> OSS emulation on my part that caused this.
> It appears that the osspd modules for simulating oss with alsa was causing
> the frozen cursor issue.  After removing osspd and installing oss-compat,
> all is back as it was.  Cursor works fine.  I think I changed this about a
> month ago, not knowing which one was right, but didn't use GWC afterward so
> didn't know I broke it.
> There are several choices to get oss compatibility, and that is the
> problem I had.  Before this, I used to have to modprobe snd-pcm-oss to get
> a /dev/dsp but now alsa supplies up to three different ways to get
> /dev/dsp.  I chose the wrong one.   I can live with this, as I have been
> all along but it would be nicer if I could get GWC to work with ALSA.
>
> I have never found the correct ALSA syntax to put in the audio device bar
> (in place of /dev/dsp).   I know that my sound card is an Ensoniq AudioPCI
> (Cirrus Logic CS4297A rev 4) also known as ES1371.   When I looked to see
> how Audacity calls this card, they put the entire name of the card and then
> at the end  in parenthesis it says (hw:0,1).  So I've tried putting those
> numbers in the audio device bar of GWC, and every other choice from hw:0,0
> to 2,2 and plughw:0,0 to 2,2, also things like default, front, rear, and
> whatever else aplay -L listed as devices.  So far, no luck.  It always
> posts an error message "failed to open OSS audio device ..."
> Alsa would be better because as it is, if I use any other sound device at
> the same time as using GWC with /dev/dsp, the other device blocks gwc (such
> as using netflix on firefox).  If you have any suggestions to get Alsa
> syntax correct on the GWC settings bar that would be great, but otherwise I
> can live with oss-compat.     I have never liked Pulseaudio.  For some
> reason it breaks KMIX and there's no way to select the desired input
> channel.  Pulse's own mixer panel does not work for me.  It says I selected
> line in, for example, but no sound is heard.  So I always disable Pulse and
> use Alsa.
>
> Hope I was not too wordy.  I can summarize if needed.  I don't like
> leaving out what might be a crucial piece of info.
> Thanks,
>
> John
>
> On 3/8/21 3:13 AM, Alister Hood wrote:
>
> If audio playback works in other programs, sure, maybe something could be
> tweaked on your system to make it work, but it may well indicate something
> that should be fixed in GWC too.
> I'm pretty confident it will be audio related, not graphics, so there's a
> pretty good chance it will work fine if you try compiling with a different
> audio backend.  The default is alsa - run `make clean`  first and configure
> with --disable-alsa to use oss, and --enable-pa to use pulseaudio.
>
>
> On Mon, 8 Mar 2021 at 20:18, John Cirillo <jo...@in...>
> wrote:
>
>> Follow-up note.  I downloaded both your update and Jeff's on github,
>> built both versions.  They both compiled fine and ran.  Audio works, if
>> that was ever an issue.  But the cursor is still frozen.  If I don't
>> highlight an area, there is no apparent cursor.  If I highlight some data,
>> the cursor appears on the left, and just as I hit play, you can see the
>> cursor start moving and then stop.  The music continues to play.
>> I don't think this is a GWC problem but a symptom of something else.  I
>> am going to go about my business trying other programs in the next day or
>> so, and see if there are any other weird video issues.
>> If it was a system update, it might go away with the next update and
>> we'll never know what it was.  If I get desperate I may try reinstalling
>> Buster from the latest release, or reinstalling my earlier iso to see if
>> the problem goes away.   Very strange.
>>
>> On 3/8/21 2:00 AM, John Cirillo wrote:
>>
>> Hello Alister,
>> Wonderful to know you're still out there.  The list has been very quiet.
>>
>> My latest install of Buster was probably done in December of 2020.  I had
>> been running Jessie up until then, but finally it had to go.
>> I normally use either the "GTK Wave Cleaner" package provided by Debian
>> 10 (version 22 with no suffix shown) or my still-favorite version of
>> 0.21-18.  Last time I used either was about a month ago and things seemed
>> normal.
>> I didn't use it again until yesterday and that was when I noticed this
>> oddity.  Everything seems to work, but the scrolling cursor bar doesn't
>> appear or if/when I highlight an area and hit play, the bar stays at the
>> beginning of the highlight area.   I did a full reboot to make sure nothing
>> was locked up, which didn't help.    I downloaded the latest version from
>> sourceforge (0.22-4) and it compiled fine.  I ran that version too, and it
>> also has this cursor problem.  So the same issue exists whether using
>> 0.21-18, 0.22, or 0.22-4.  Something changed within the last few weeks but
>> what?  Video driver?  I am using Nouveau.  I always use Nouveau as long as
>> it plays nice with Netflix.   I had the proprietary Nvidia drivers a few
>> years ago but there was some issue and I went back to the free Nouveau
>> package.
>>
>> I just now fired up Audacity to test it, and the cursor moves OK on that
>> one.  I know it's apples to oranges but it was easy to try.  I don't prefer
>> Audacity for anything besides recording.
>> So that's where I am with this.  I don't think the issue is with GWC at
>> all, but something changed in a system file that doesn't play nicely with
>> that cursor.
>>
>> I am willing to try the 2021 cleanup version to see what happens.
>>
>>
>> On 3/8/21 1:27 AM, Alister Hood wrote:
>>
>> Hi John,
>> There are certainly still people using gwc, and there has even been a
>> small burst of development recently (no release yet).  No, the mailing list
>> hasn't moved.
>>
>> Are you running the gwc package Debian provides for Buster?  I see Buster
>> was updated recently, so I guess that is when your problem started?
>>
>> Are you able to compile from source instead?  I doubt the latest release
>> will behave any differently, but Jeff has a go at reworking the playback
>> code this year, so I'd be interested to know whether the master branch on
>> github (where I have merged the first half of his work), or Jeff's working
>> branch at https://github.com/weltyj/gwc/tree/gwc_cleanup_2021 behave
>> better.  In the systems I test on they have fixed various issues like
>> this.  But unfortunately someone else reported at
>> https://github.com/AlisterH/gwc/issues/24 that they break playback on
>> his system.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Alister
>>
>> On Mon, 8 Mar 2021 at 19:01, John Cirillo <jo...@in...>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Is this still the mailing list for Gnome Wave Cleaner, or has it moved
>>> and I missed it?
>>> I've been using it all along but now am having issues with the cursor
>>> not moving along with the music playing.
>>> Debian Buster 64 bit.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>>
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