Talk:Linux FAQ

S/PDIF out for both analog and digital audio
I have the iec958 device used as an example for this section, and the .asoundrc works exactly as promised - thanks! All my audio comes out the S/PDIF, and I get 5.1 passthrough when appropriate. Now, at the bottom of the section there is the following sentence: Now all audio output (besides menu sounds) should work including crossfading and switching digital/analog audio sources.

Can someone explain why menu sounds don't work after this? I would have thought that the menu sounds would follow the same "path" or whatever that other 2 channel audio files take. I would prefer not to have menu sounds when media is playing, and I can see how it might be technically impossible, but I'm not clear on why we can't have the menu sounds play when no other media is playing. I've read various forum posts and tried some of the suggestions with no luck. Thanks in advance!

S/PDIF out for both analog and digital audio

 * You might find yourself able to get one of both working, but switching from one to the other might not work. Ubuntu and other distributions use PulseAudio to manage ALSA devices and unfortunately it doesn't provide management for passthrough digital audio. The following solution bypasses PulseAudio and forces XBMC to directly use ALSA. There is no need to uninstall or tweak PulseAudio on Ubuntu in any way.


 * Open ~/.asoundrc in a text editor (create the file if it doesn't exist) and add the following:


 * Launch XBMC and go to "system->settings->system->audio hardware" and change the following:

AUDIO OUTPUT DEVICE: custom CUSTOM AUDIO DEVICE: plug:dmixer (note: this is case sensitive, even though XBMC shows only capitals!) PASSTHROUGH AUDIO DEVICE: iec958

Now all audio output (besides menu sounds) should work including crossfading and switching digital/analog audio sources.

Why port to linux
With the recent news of xbox development being dropped, this section should probably be revised.

Compiz is not compatible with XBMC
This isn't the case, at least for me. I can even do cube rotation with 1080p vc-1 video playback (using vdpau) with 3d windows and partial transparency on the video without any performance hit.

Setup:

Software: Ubuntu Lucid XBMC r30515 NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-195.36.15-pkg2.run

Hardware: Dell Studio Processor: 4x Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU   Q9650  @ 3.00GHz Memory: 8194MB Grapics Card: nVidia Corporation G92 [GeForce 9800 GT] (rev a2)