1ALSAUCM(1)                  General Commands Manual                 ALSAUCM(1)
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NAME

6       alsaucm - ALSA Use Case Manager
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SYNOPSIS

9       alsaucm <options> [command]
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DESCRIPTION

12       alsaucm  (ALSA  Use Case Manager) is a program to use the ALSA Use Case
13       Interface from the command line.
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15       On complex sound cards, setting up audio  routes  is  not  trivial  and
16       mixer  settings  can  conflict one another preventing the audio card to
17       work at all.
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19       The ALSA Use Case Manager is a mechanism for controlling complex  audio
20       hardware  establishing  a  relationship between hardware configurations
21       and meaningful use cases that the end-user can relate with.
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23       The use case manager can also be used to switch between use cases  when
24       necessary, in a consistent way.
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26       At  a  lower level, the use case manager works by configuring the sound
27       card ALSA kcontrols to change the hardware  digital  and  analog  audio
28       routing to match the requested device use case.
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30       The use case manager kcontrol configurations are stored in easy to mod‐
31       ify text files. An audio use case can be defined by a verb  and  device
32       parameter.
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34       The  verb describes the use case action i.e. a phone call, listening to
35       music, recording a conversation etc. The device describes the  physical
36       audio  capture  and  playback  hardware i.e. headphones, phone handset,
37       bluetooth headset, etc.
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OPTIONS

40       Available options:
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42          -h, --help
43                 this help
44
45          -c, --card NAME
46                 open card NAME
47
48          -i, --interactive
49                 interactive mode
50
51          -b, --batch FILE
52                 batch mode (use '-' for the stdin input)
53
54          -n, --no-open
55                 do not open first card found
56
57       Available commands:
58
59          open NAME
60                 open card NAME.
61
62                 valid   names   are   sound   card   names   as   listed   in
63                 /usr/share/alsa/ucm.
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65          reset  reset sound card to default state.
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67          reload reload configuration.
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69          listcards
70                 list available cards.
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72          list IDENTIFIER
73                 list  command,  for  items  returning two entries (value+com‐
74                 ment).
75
76                 the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can can be:
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78_verbs - get verb list (in pair verb+comment)
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80_devices[/{verb}] - get list of supported devices (in  pair
81                   device+comment)
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83_modifiers[/{verb}]  -  get list of supported modifiers (in
84                   pair modifier+comment)
85
86                 The forms without the trailing /{verb} are valid only after a
87                 specific verb has been set.
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89          list1 IDENTIFIER
90                 list command, for lists returning one item per entry.
91
92                 the  value  of  the IDENTIFIER argument can vary depending on
93                 the context, it can be:
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95TQ[/{verb}] - get list of Tone Quality identifiers
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97_enadevs - get list of enabled devices
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99_enamods - get list of enabled modifiers
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101_supporteddevs/{modifier}|{device}[/{verb}] - list of  sup‐
102                   ported devices
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104_conflictingdevs/{modifier}|{device}[/{verb}]   -  list  of
105                   conflicting devices
106
107          get IDENTIFIER
108                 get string value.
109
110                 the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can can be:
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112_verb - return current verb
113
114[=]{NAME}[/[{modifier}|{/device}][/{verb}]]   (For    valid
115                   NAMEs look at the ALSA Use Case Interface)
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117          geti IDENTIFIER
118                 get integer value.
119
120                 the value of the IDENTIFIER argument can can be:
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122_devstatus/{device}
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124_modstatus/{device}
125
126          set IDENTIFIER VALUE
127                 set string value
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129                 The value of the IDENTIFIER argument can can be:
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131_verb - set the verb to VALUE
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133_enadev - enable the device specified by VALUE
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135_disdev - disable the device specified by VALUE
136
137_swdev/{old_device} - switche device:
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139                   • disable  old_device  and then enable the device specified
140                     by VALUE
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142                   • if no device was enabled just return
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144_enamod - enable the modifier specified by VALUE
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146_dismod - disable the modifier specified by VALUE
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148_swmod/{old_modifier} - switch modifier:
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150                   • disable old_modifier and then enable the modifier  speci‐
151                     fied by VALUE
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153                   • if no modifier was enabled just return
154
155                 Note  that the identifiers referring to devices and modifiers
156                 are valid only after setting a verb.
157
158          h, help
159                 help
160
161          q, quit
162                 quit
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FILES

165       The master use  case  files  for  each  supported  sound  card  are  in
166       /usr/share/alsa/ucm.
167
168       For  example,  the  master  use case file for the Pandaboard card is in
169       /usr/share/alsa/ucm/PandaBoard/PandaBoard.conf, this file lists all the
170       supported use cases, e.g.
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172          SectionUseCase."HiFi" {
173                          File "hifi"
174                          Comment "Play HiFi quality Music."
175          }
176          ...
177
178       Each use case defines a _verb, which is described in the file specified
179       in the File directive, like above.
180
181       The  HiFi  verb  above  is   described   in   /usr/share/alsa/ucm/Pand‐
182       aBoard/hifi.
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184       For  more  details  on the syntax of UCM files, see the alsa-lib source
185       code:
186       http://git.alsa-project.org/?p=alsa-lib.git;a=blob;f=src/ucm/parser.c
187

EXAMPLES OF USE

189       Some  commands,  like  for  instance list _devices, can only work after
190       setting a _verb in the  same  execution,  for  instance  this  sequence
191       doesn't work:
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193          # alsaucm -c bytcr-rt5640 set _verb HiFi
194          # alsaucm -c bytcr-rt5640 list _devices
195
196       However this command does:
197
198          # alsaucm -n -b - <<EOM
199          open bytcr-rt5640
200          set _verb HiFi
201          list _devices
202          EOM
203
204       An  example  of  setting  the  Speaker  device for the HiFi verb of the
205       bytcr-rt5640 card:
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207          # alsaucm -n -b - <<EOM
208          open bytcr-rt5640
209          reset
210          set _verb HiFi
211          set _enadev Speaker
212          EOM
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SEE ALSO

215       • Use                          Case                          Interface:
216         http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-lib/group__ucm.html
217

BUGS

219       None known.
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AUTHOR

222       Antonio Ospite <ao2@ao2.it>
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225       GPLv2+
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230                                  2016-09-22                        ALSAUCM(1)
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