How I did to make USB/webcam microphone work with aMSN SVN

[kakaroto]

Hi,
did you try to open the aMSN console (ctrl-shift-C) and type :

Code:

package require snack

to see what error it shows ? maybe it's a missing symbol or something... I know debian/ubuntu made libsnack compile with --disable-alsa because snack was using a function that doesn't exist anymore in alsa, so it became broken.

[wildnux]

I tried and get:

(amsn) 1 % package require snack
couldn't load file "/home/blackhat/.amsn/plugins/snack2.2/libsnack.so": /home/blackhat/.amsn/plugins/snack2.2/libsnack.so: undefined symbol: _snd_pcm_mmap_hw_ptr
(amsn) 2 %

[kakaroto]

just as i said, libsnack needs a function from libalsa which does not exist anymore... you must compile it without alsa support, or revert to an old version of alsa.

[wildnux]

just as i said, libsnack needs a function from libalsa which does not exist anymore... you must compile it without alsa support, or revert to an old version of alsa.

so that means i have to use snack without alsa support, which in turn makes me unable to use the webcam microphone??

[kakaroto]

or.. since you can and know how to compile snack yourself, just patch it with the patch I provided to fix that bug that prevents the usb mic from working...

[wildnux]

or.. since you can and know how to compile snack yourself, just patch it with the patch I provided to fix that bug that prevents the usb mic from working...

can you please give me the link of your patch. I am sorry i could not find it.

[kakaroto]

lol, me neither...
It seems I didn't post it in the forums, I only sent it by mail to the original author (who never answered, and I lost the mail I sent :s)
What I could find is this though :
http://www.amsn-project.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19370#19370
so the code looks like this :

Code:

   /* Test if the device is not locked by another process. This is
   * just a crude workaround to avoid complete lockup of snack. It is
   * not perfect since it is theoretically possible that another program
   * locks the device between the close() and open() calls below. */
  A->afd = open(device, O_WRONLY|O_NONBLOCK);
  if(A->afd == -1) {
    Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "Could not gain access to ", device, " for writing.",NULL);
    return TCL_ERROR;
  }
  close(A->afd);

  A->mode = mode;
  switch (mode) {
  case RECORD:
    if ((A->afd = open(device, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1) {
      Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "Could not open ", device, " for read.",
             NULL);
      return TCL_ERROR;
    }
    break;

And if we make it into this :

Code:

   /* Test if the device is not locked by another process. This is
   * just a crude workaround to avoid complete lockup of snack. It is
   * not perfect since it is theoretically possible that another program
   * locks the device between the close() and open() calls below. */

  if (mode == RECORD) {
     A->afd = open(device, O_RDONLY|O_NONBLOCK);
  } else {
     A->afd = open(device, O_WRONLY|O_NONBLOCK);
  }
  if(A->afd == -1) {
    Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "Could not gain access to ", device, " for writing.",NULL);
    return TCL_ERROR;
  }
  close(A->afd);

  A->mode = mode;
  switch (mode) {
  case RECORD:
    if ((A->afd = open(device, O_RDONLY, 0)) == -1) {
      Tcl_AppendResult(interp, "Could not open ", device, " for read.",
             NULL);
      return TCL_ERROR;
    }
    break;

It should work...
Note that I didn't test this code, so if it doesn't compile or doesn't work, try to fix it the best you can.

[wildnux]

Lets give it a try.....  :lol:

[wildnux]

nope...... nothing

the piece of code you gave to me is for oss driver (isn't it?). After i install the snack with alsa enabled, the snack cannot be loaded. the module snd-usb-audio loads well (i guess, as it doesnot give any error messages). If i use the snack from my distro's repo, it works for sound, it can play from speakers using snack library but cannot capture from usb mic. Now after installing the alsa enabled snack, it cannot even load it.

is this the dead end?

[kakaroto]

Yes, the patch is for OSS, it will fix the problem where the snack-oss isn't able to record from the usb mic... this will not fix the alsa problem that prevents it from loading because of the missing symbol!

[wildnux]

Yes, the patch is for OSS, it will fix the problem where the snack-oss isn't able to record from the usb mic... this will not fix the alsa problem that prevents it from loading because of the missing symbol!

So it means i have to recompile and reinstall it without --enable-alsa option? coz it is not even loading now (with --enable-alsa)

[kakaroto]

yes, you need to compile it and reinstall it without the --enable-alsa because with --enable-alsa it will not load!

[gilles.hamel]

I tried and get:

(amsn) 1 % package require snack
couldn't load file "/home/blackhat/.amsn/plugins/snack2.2/libsnack.so": /home/blackhat/.amsn/plugins/snack2.2/libsnack.so: undefined symbol: _snd_pcm_mmap_hw_ptr
(amsn) 2 %

Hello,

here is a small patch to fix that :

http://gilles.hamel.free.fr/alsa.patch

to apply :
cd snack2.2.10/unix
patch -p0 <alsa.patch

I don't recommend alsa support in snack, it is weak. OSS with alsa emulation behaves better in snack.
Snack project seems dead, the last release is almost 3 years old. It would be nice if amsn could use external program to capture sample (ie: arecord) ...

[conta]

hi, i cant get my mic working too

i have aMSN 0.97.2
alsa
libsnack2-alsa
sidux (debian sid)

please, ideas?

[afrox]

I just solved it, by uninstallng libsnack2-alsa and replacing it with "libsnack2", it does the work perfectly on jaunty ubuntu.

If you use the amsn-daily repositories for ubuntu, it might unistall your amsn, so reinstall it!

Cheers