this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
24 points (100.0% liked)

Linux

45549 readers
1351 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I've recently switched my primary PC to Linux (Specifically POP_OS). Overall the experience has been incredible. Far less difficult than I feared.

One area that has been a constant annoyance is sound device management. The abilities to independently set volumes by program, and switch between sound devices easily (as opposed to going into settings every time) have eluded me. Perhaps I'm just missing something, but my assumption is that there's a packaged solution for this. I've looked around and seen a few recommendations for pavucontrol, but wanted to check here and see what other people use and why. I'm open to suggestions.

top 10 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

pavucontrol probably the best option given your distro. Go with that.

[–] Grenfur@lemmy.one 2 points 7 months ago

pavucontrol does seem to work well. Just need to choose an easier way to switch now. Thank you kindly.

[–] HumanPrimate@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I use Pop and have a Gnome extension that helps with this. I’m not at home now and I can’t remember the name but I can report back later.

Doing a quick search on this gave me “Application Volume Mixer” but I don’t think this is the exact extension I have.

[–] HumanPrimate@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Okay the extension I have is called “Sound Input & Output Device Chooser.” I think that if you install this and the Other extension above your problem will be solved.

[–] Grenfur@lemmy.one 1 points 7 months ago

Hah, what a novel name, thank you.

[–] WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

KDE's default audio widget is so good, you can congifure your audio devices and mic individually but also on a per app basis, but I suppose pop os doesn't use kde

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

As Chais mentioned use that, but also Gnome has volume per app in sound settings I believe...once the app is playing sound.

[–] Grenfur@lemmy.one 3 points 7 months ago

I think that it does as of gnome 43+. Oddly enough Pop_OS ships with gnome 42.5. Which seems to have been the issue.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is what I use for switching: https://pastebin.com/J5VT03eq
It uses pactl (should work with both Pulse and pipewire-pulse) and KDialog to list available sinks.

[–] Grenfur@lemmy.one 1 points 7 months ago

Ohh what a neat solution, thank you!