[SOLVED] Audio issues with Linux

I'm currently using Debian as my distro. I have a 5.1 surround sound setup also. When listening to music I usually have the "Center" and "Surround Sound" speakers checked (to have stereo sound "upmixed" to surround sound.

However, I disable these options (via the GNOME sound applet). I try to enable 5.1 surround sound in the game but nothing comes out of the center speakers or rear speakers.

This is the output from the terminal.

Code:

Loading OpenGL driver libGL.so.1
GL_VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER: GeForce GT 520/PCI/SSE2
GL_VERSION: 4.2.0 NVIDIA 290.10
vid.support.arb_multisample 1
vid.mode.samples 0
vid.support.gl20shaders 1
Video Mode: fullscreen 1920x1080x32x0.00hz (4x AA)
S_Startup: initializing sound output format: 48000Hz, 16 bit, 2 channels...
SndSys_Init: using the ALSA module
SndSys_Init: PCM device is "default"
Sound format: 48000Hz, 2 channels, 16 bits per sample
ioctl CDROMREADTOCHDR failed
CDAudio_Init: No CD in player.
Initial CD volume: 1
CD Audio Initialized
MQC Build information: xonotic-v0.5.0

What is your version of Xonotic? (just in case) 0.5 alright
What is the output when you go into the audio menu in Xonotic, select 5.1 and click apply? It works fine here in ALSA.
Can you post the output of aplay -L too?

Code:

Wanted audio Specification:
    Channels  : 6
    Format    : 0x8010
    Frequency : 48000
    Samples   : 2048
Obtained audio specification:
    Channels  : 6
    Format    : 0x8010
    Frequency : 48000
    Samples   : 2048

Is this under SDL or GLX? They may work a little differently soundwise.

Both use ALSA, I don't think it matters.

Both use ALSA, I don't think it matters.

I used to have issues with GLX in 0.1 preveiw, but not SDL. I think they interact with alsa differently.

/layman speculation

nexuiz and xonotic GLX always went silent for me after a few secs/minutes, use SDL executable

Wow, that's what did it. I launched the SDL version and I have surround sound working

Thanks.

Well that's good then. It may be that some more troubleshooting can be done here to try and get the GLX version sound working correctly. It might be that the SDL version might perform better for you but maybe we can help someone else out in the process by resolving this sound issue?

Perhaps SDL doesn't use alsa. Can we get a startup log from the sdl binary?

Maybe he's missing a surround51 pcm device in his alsa config (which is why I'd like to know what aplay -L shows)

mb updating of ALSA drivers should help? http://www.stchman.com/alsa_update.html

Why would one do that instead of using package management? Surely this is a way to interfere with ubuntu's package manager.

Besides, the link you gave is for ubuntu, and OP uses Debian.

And it's probably a better idea to try to understand the problem before applying fixes at random