Re: [gentoo-desktop] Gnome and desktop sounds

[Daniel Gryniewicz]

On Wed, 2009-02-25 at 15:13 -0600, Lindsay Haisley wrote:
> I have my desktop system configured to use a custom esd command which
> sends desktop event sounds to a pair of cheezy little speakers in front
> of me (used to be the built-in speakers on my LCD display) but if I play
> a CD, or a sound file, the sound goes to a pair of JBL studio monitors
> connected to an external amp.  When it works, it's very nice, and takes
> advantage of the multi-channel hardware in my sound card.
>
> The trouble is, most of the time when I boot the box, gnome runs the
> command "esd --nobeeps", which sends sound through the big speakers.
> The command it should run is "esd -nobeeps -as 2 -d pcm.lcd" ('pcm.lcd'
> is an ALSA interface defined in my .asoundrc).  If I kill esd from
> within a session and restart it from a command shell, the desktop
> doesn't connect with the new daemon.  The same thing happens if I do
> this from another VT.  If I start esd with the proper command while
> logged out of gnome and then log in, the gnome session kills the running
> esd and starts its own with the wrong command.
>
> I've tried putting the proper invocation in /etc/esd/esd.conf but it
> only works sometimes.
>
> Where in the gnome configuration is the command to start esd stored, or
> is it hard-coded?  I've found switches in the UI and in gconf to turn
> esd on and off, but I can't find where the esd startup command is
> located.
>
> Any help?
>

You want to run esd system wide.  Use /etc/init.d/esound and
modify /etc/conf.d/esound to change it's default settings.

Daniel