Install PulseAudio on Xubuntu 8.10 (XFCE)

Posted by Sam Lesher on December 2, 2008

Here is how to install and use PulseAudio on Xubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex.

1. Install packages for PulseAudio
$ sudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins pulseaudio pulseaudio-esound-compat pulseaudio-module-gconf pulseaudio-module-hal pulseaudio-module-lirc pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-module-zeroconf pulseaudio-utils paman padevchooser paprefs pavucontrol pavumeter libao-pulse

2. Configure Alsa
Edit the file /etc/asound.conf as root. Create it if it doesn’t exist. Enter the following in this file and save:

pcm.pulse {
    type pulse
}
ctl.pulse {
    type pulse
}
pcm.!default {
    type pulse
}
ctl.!default {
    type pulse
}

3. Add your user account to the pulse groups:

$ sudo gpasswd -a YOURUSERNAME pulse
$ sudo gpasswd -a YOURUSERNAME pulse-access
$ sudo gpasswd -a YOURUSERNAME pulse-rt

4. Configure PulseAudio
Click Applications > Settings > PulseAudio Preferences
On the Network Access tab, check:
– Enable network access to local sound devices
– Allow other machines on the LAN to discover local sound devices
– Don’t require authentication

On the Multicast/RTP tab, check:
– Enable Multicast/RTP receiver
– Enable Multicast/RTP sender

Configure PulseAudio to run as a daemon and allow users to load modules. Edit the file /etc/default/pulseaudio as root.
Change PULSEAUDIO_SYSTEM_START=0 to 1
Change DISALLOW_MODULE_LOADING=1 to 0

Edit the file /etc/libao.conf as root, create it if it doesn’t exist. Enter the following into that file:
default_driver=pulse

Restart your session or reboot to have changes go into effect.

Sources: Ubuntu Wiki, ivotron on Ubuntu Forums, pulseaudio.org

Posted in Ubuntu   |   Comments (11 )

Comments

Comment from Tim on January 28, 2009 @ 8:44 am

Thanks Sam!

I’ve been struggling with this one for a while, I think the one thing that I hadn’t done was that libao.conf file (all other stuff I had done on separate occasions.

(apt-get install pulseaudio* tried to install *dbg versions of pulseaudio though)

By the way, nice site design!

Comment from Sam Lesher on January 28, 2009 @ 10:01 am

Thanks for the feedback, Tim. I updated the post to avoid the dbg packages.

Comment from webaake on February 28, 2009 @ 7:16 am

This worked very nice on Hardy 8.04 with Xfce as well!

Thanks!

Comment from Pablo on March 4, 2009 @ 7:54 pm

Thanks Sam,

I also been struggling with my USB headset, and pulseaudio has been the solution. Thanks for taking the time to write your findings!

Cheers from Argentina,
///Pablo

Comment from Dave on April 11, 2009 @ 4:42 pm

Sam – Came across your page by googling “xubuntu pulse audio”. Worked great – it got my Creative Sound Blaster USB external audio card working right away.

Thank you!

Comment from John on June 20, 2009 @ 1:18 am

Excellent work Sam. I’ve been at this for a few days now without success. Your method worked in five minutes.

Worked with Creative X-Fi 5.1 USB on mythbuntu 8.04. Many others are struggling with this sound card under ubuntu.

Thx again. :)

Comment from Francisco on July 26, 2009 @ 12:10 am

From Argentina, a millon thanks. Everything worked just fine.

Comment from Ivo Jimenez on July 30, 2009 @ 1:32 pm

Dude, these worked flawlessly in Jaunty too!

Thanks a lot from Mexico

Comment from Ren on October 10, 2009 @ 6:51 am

Thanks a lot! Using Jaunty here. Greeting from Italy :)

Comment from manuee on December 11, 2009 @ 4:19 pm

Just confirming that in my case, having Ubuntu Jaunty installed, i then installed xubuntu-desktop to give it a try, and sound wasnt working.

I followed the instructions outlined here besides installing the packages (I think i already had most), and I have sound on xubuntu now, not only that, but i can play sound on two seperate programs simultaniously.

Thanks a ton for this information!

Greetings from Spain :)

Comment from El1iP3S01D on May 13, 2010 @ 11:25 pm

Sam, i’ve installed pulseaudio according to your instructions and all i get is static or a woof sound and when i raise the volume to maximum on my sony receiver, is when i can finally hear the movie Endgame on Youtube.com Any, suggestions as to how to fix this? My mobo is a Asus P5N-D nvidia chipset and i’m using Debian Xfce4 Lenny amd64…

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