15.6" Ultranote II = Clevo W550SU / W54_55SU1,SUW
I was surprised that I had to do a fair bit of work to get sound
working properly: I had checked these forums before buying and didn't
see any significant problems reported. Perhaps I missed some.
Below I describe in some detail how to set up ALSA sound and what
the controls actually do.
ALSA is the underlying kernel system for sound on linux, so once that is
operating correctly, then higher level abstractions like pulseaudio and
jack should also work correctly.
Executive summary:
Out of the box, the snd_hda_intel driver finds two "cards"/
subsystems/codecs, but chooses HDMI as the default rather than the
on-board Intel PCH. Unless you are using an external HDMI monitor,
this is the wrong way around for a laptop. The solution is simple:
pass an option to the driver. Put a file containing the line
More detail
The hardware:
PCI soundcards:
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
In greater detail (lspci -v -k extract):
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core ProcessorHD Audio Controller (rev 06)
[ INDENT] Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device 5455
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 48
Memory at f7e14000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
{ This is supports the HDMI interface. }[/INDENT]
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
The software
Experiments done on kernel 3.14-2-amd64 (from debian testing).
Default:
With no options passed to the snd_hda_intel driver the soundcards
are indexed as follows:
0 [HDMI ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel HDMI
HDA Intel HDMI at 0xf7e14000 irq 48
1 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7e10000 irq 47
The ALSA default device is hw:0,0 and thus HDMI. None of my HDMI monitors
include sound so I cannot test to see how or whether this works, but the mixer controls seem minimal.
It is possible to play sounds to the onboard speakers by explicitly
specifying the device. For example
However the mixer controls do not then behave as I expect. I found that
means that the mixer pcm level control does then work.
If you want to use HDMI sound as your default, and so presumably have
an external monitor normally connected, then perhaps you do not need
to change anything. However that seems extraordinarily unlikely for a laptop.
Rather we want the "PCH" card connected to the laptop's
own sound devices to be the default.
Changing the default card.
The snd_hda_intel accepts many parameters as
proper detail. Here we just need to specify the index and id.
I placed a file which I called sdn-hda.conf under /etc/modprobe.d/:
The mixer controls.
ALSA is notorious for its poor documentation. There is actually a fair
amount, but it is not well structured and makes no concessions to
someone not already familiar which the overall structure and
terminology. Thus it is difficult to get started.
This shows up in somewhat mysterious mixer controls. In fact, this is
not entirely ALSA's fault: in the main (with one particular exception
discussed below) this is because ALSA simply retrieves the
strings associated with controls from the hardware/firmware. In
turn these are seldom properly documented by the manufacturers.
These strings, together with other useful information can be inspected
with the amixer command. However, alsamixer is a little more
user friendly, but abbreviates the mixer control names which can be
a little confusing. Most of the time, the gui version alsamixergui
is probably the best choice, but perhaps only after getting familiar
with the command line version.
Here I describe the controls in the order shown by alsamixer for the
PCH card when displaying all controls (F5).
1) "Master" This controls the level to the laptop speakers and headphones.
It seems to control both channels simultaneously which perhaps is why
it is described as "mono". Mute control.
2) "Headphones" This controls the output to the headphone socket on
the right of the laptop. It is stereo. I had to set it fairly
high for the headphones I used in testing. Mute.
3) "Speaker" Stereo volume to laptop speakers. Mute.
4) PCM. Stereo PCM volume.
5) "Mic". Controls amplification for the microphone connector. Appears
to be stereo, although I only tested with a mono microphone. Mute
supported.
6) "Mic Boost". Boosts the microphone socket amplication. Stereo.
Appears to be a duplicate (bug?) of 7) to which it seems locked.
7) Duplicate of above.
8) "Beep". Stereo. Volume of "system" sound. Mute supported.
9) "Capture". Gain and enable control for sound output to system
(typically for recording or transmission as in voip,etc).
10) "Auto-Mut". Auto-Mute Mode. This is a simple switch. It controls
whether plugging in headphones automatically turns the speakers
off, or leaves them connected.
11) "Digital". This is the exception mentioned above which does not
come from the hardware. You have to consult the kernal
../sound/alsa/HD-Audio.txt documentation to discover that
this is purely a software gain/attenuation control. It needs to
be set to 50% (0dB) to avoid it modifying the signal. I did not
find that I needed to use it so I would recommend that 50% setting.
12) "Internal". Internal Mic Boost. This is a stereo boost for the
laptop microphone near the webcam. The onboard microphone is
only mono, of course. I found that these are best set at zero.
I could not monitor the internal microphone from
alsamixer, but these controls worked when a webcam program
(I used cheese, guvcview did not work for reasons I have yet to
explore) was recording.
13) "Internal". Seems to be a duplicate, and locked to, above.
---------------------------------------------
It is best to test with aplay and a wav file to avoid complications.
After that, I recommend alsaplayer for playing other formats like ogg. It can
also play audio CDs and such.
I hope this rather lengthy report will save others time.
I was surprised that I had to do a fair bit of work to get sound
working properly: I had checked these forums before buying and didn't
see any significant problems reported. Perhaps I missed some.
Below I describe in some detail how to set up ALSA sound and what
the controls actually do.
ALSA is the underlying kernel system for sound on linux, so once that is
operating correctly, then higher level abstractions like pulseaudio and
jack should also work correctly.
Executive summary:
Out of the box, the snd_hda_intel driver finds two "cards"/
subsystems/codecs, but chooses HDMI as the default rather than the
on-board Intel PCH. Unless you are using an external HDMI monitor,
this is the wrong way around for a laptop. The solution is simple:
pass an option to the driver. Put a file containing the line
options snd_hda_intel id=PCH index=1
under /etc/modprobe.d/More detail
The hardware:
PCI soundcards:
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
In greater detail (lspci -v -k extract):
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core ProcessorHD Audio Controller (rev 06)
[ INDENT] Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device 5455
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 48
Memory at f7e14000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
{ This is supports the HDMI interface. }[/INDENT]
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
Subsystem: CLEVO/KAPOK Computer Device 5455
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 43
Memory at f7e10000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
{ Supports the on board microphone, speakers, and mic/phone sockets. }
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 43
Memory at f7e10000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
{ Supports the on board microphone, speakers, and mic/phone sockets. }
The software
Experiments done on kernel 3.14-2-amd64 (from debian testing).
Default:
With no options passed to the snd_hda_intel driver the soundcards
are indexed as follows:
0 [HDMI ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel HDMI
HDA Intel HDMI at 0xf7e14000 irq 48
1 [PCH ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel PCH
HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7e10000 irq 47
The ALSA default device is hw:0,0 and thus HDMI. None of my HDMI monitors
include sound so I cannot test to see how or whether this works, but the mixer controls seem minimal.
It is possible to play sounds to the onboard speakers by explicitly
specifying the device. For example
Code:
aplay -D plughw:CARD=PCH,DEV=0 test.wav
Code:
aplay -D default:1 test.wavIf you want to use HDMI sound as your default, and so presumably have
an external monitor normally connected, then perhaps you do not need
to change anything. However that seems extraordinarily unlikely for a laptop.
Rather we want the "PCH" card connected to the laptop's
own sound devices to be the default.
Changing the default card.
The snd_hda_intel accepts many parameters as
modinfo snd_hda_intel
will reveal. However, you need to consult the kernel documentation for proper detail. Here we just need to specify the index and id.
I placed a file which I called sdn-hda.conf under /etc/modprobe.d/:
# cat /etc/modprobe.d/snd-hda.conf
options snd_hda_intel id=PCH index=1
#See /usr/local/src/linux-stable/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio.txt
options snd_hda_intel id=PCH index=1
#See /usr/local/src/linux-stable/Documentation/sound/alsa/HD-Audio.txt
The mixer controls.
ALSA is notorious for its poor documentation. There is actually a fair
amount, but it is not well structured and makes no concessions to
someone not already familiar which the overall structure and
terminology. Thus it is difficult to get started.
This shows up in somewhat mysterious mixer controls. In fact, this is
not entirely ALSA's fault: in the main (with one particular exception
discussed below) this is because ALSA simply retrieves the
strings associated with controls from the hardware/firmware. In
turn these are seldom properly documented by the manufacturers.
These strings, together with other useful information can be inspected
with the amixer command. However, alsamixer is a little more
user friendly, but abbreviates the mixer control names which can be
a little confusing. Most of the time, the gui version alsamixergui
is probably the best choice, but perhaps only after getting familiar
with the command line version.
Here I describe the controls in the order shown by alsamixer for the
PCH card when displaying all controls (F5).
1) "Master" This controls the level to the laptop speakers and headphones.
It seems to control both channels simultaneously which perhaps is why
it is described as "mono". Mute control.
2) "Headphones" This controls the output to the headphone socket on
the right of the laptop. It is stereo. I had to set it fairly
high for the headphones I used in testing. Mute.
3) "Speaker" Stereo volume to laptop speakers. Mute.
4) PCM. Stereo PCM volume.
5) "Mic". Controls amplification for the microphone connector. Appears
to be stereo, although I only tested with a mono microphone. Mute
supported.
6) "Mic Boost". Boosts the microphone socket amplication. Stereo.
Appears to be a duplicate (bug?) of 7) to which it seems locked.
7) Duplicate of above.
8) "Beep". Stereo. Volume of "system" sound. Mute supported.
9) "Capture". Gain and enable control for sound output to system
(typically for recording or transmission as in voip,etc).
10) "Auto-Mut". Auto-Mute Mode. This is a simple switch. It controls
whether plugging in headphones automatically turns the speakers
off, or leaves them connected.
11) "Digital". This is the exception mentioned above which does not
come from the hardware. You have to consult the kernal
../sound/alsa/HD-Audio.txt documentation to discover that
this is purely a software gain/attenuation control. It needs to
be set to 50% (0dB) to avoid it modifying the signal. I did not
find that I needed to use it so I would recommend that 50% setting.
12) "Internal". Internal Mic Boost. This is a stereo boost for the
laptop microphone near the webcam. The onboard microphone is
only mono, of course. I found that these are best set at zero.
I could not monitor the internal microphone from
alsamixer, but these controls worked when a webcam program
(I used cheese, guvcview did not work for reasons I have yet to
explore) was recording.
13) "Internal". Seems to be a duplicate, and locked to, above.
---------------------------------------------
It is best to test with aplay and a wav file to avoid complications.
After that, I recommend alsaplayer for playing other formats like ogg. It can
also play audio CDs and such.
I hope this rather lengthy report will save others time.