What Linux Distro do the Linux users of GH use?

[fohat.digs]

everything I "know" seems to be wrong

Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. Many questions have multiple answers.

Q: Is it better turn turn your computer off at night or to leave it on all the time?

[Leslieann]

It may just be depression speaking but everything I "know" seems to be wrong so I'm done here.

Welcome to Windows Linux I.T.

None of us have all the answers, especially Linux, it kicks my rear end on a regular basis.
The reason I know so much about Linux to Windows permissions is because early on I found that it was a way for me to bypass having to deal with Linux user permissions, I feel like an idiot when working with them and you might very well know them better than I do. Linux file permissions are one of the biggest reasons I still run a Windows file server rather than a Linux file server.

And if that sounds like I cheat Linux permissions by using Microsoft. Yes. Yes, I do.
Should I learn more about Linux permissions, of course, but do I want to? Absolutely maybe no.

Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. Many questions have multiple answers.

So much this.

And often as soon as you find an answer and get used to using it someone will probably change it or another program will break it.

[yui]

It may just be depression speaking but everything I "know" seems to be wrong so I'm done here.

Linux does evolve fast, and every system can be unique tailored by the person using it to its own needs, and if you were making allusions to the NTFS and FAT permissions, i do remember not that long ago some versions would not take permissions at all on those, and i think i have also seen settings to disable and enable support for that feature (not quite sure about that last one), you may not be completely wrong, just maybe either have used an outdated version of the ntfs driver (is it still ntfs3g?) or use a distro with different default parameters for it, or some other things, happens to all of us, well maybe not all, most of us, and you may be one of the most knowledgeable and eager to help member of the community, so you are bound to sometimes be wrong. look at me, i am far less often helpful and far more often wrong

[fohat.digs]

I have USB drive that I use to watch downloaded videos on TV, but under LInux I have trouble sometimes deleting videos (usually MP4) from the drive. This was never a problem under Windows.

If I right-click on the file, the "Delete" choice in the dialog box is grayed out. What is that about? This is the same rig that I used to load the file a few days ago.

[suicidal_orange]

Just to be clear you downloaded a video in Linux while logged in as you and put it on the USB then put the USB in the TV to watch it then put it back in the computer and can't delete it as the same user?  What filesystem is on the drive?  Can you put a file on the drive and delete it without unplugging?

It might want to put the file in your .trash folder (like Windows recycle bin) but there's not enough space on the partition to do it, so try holding the shift key and see if delete un-greys.  Doing this skips the "oops - I needed that!" protection in both Windows and Linux.

[fohat.digs]

Just to be clear you downloaded a video in Linux while logged in as you and put it on the USB then put the USB in the TV to watch it then put it back in the computer and can't delete it as the same user?

What filesystem is on the drive?  Can you put a file on the drive and delete it without unplugging?

Thank you for the response, and it seems that you are asking the pertinent questions. To the first question, yes, the system is the same and nothing changed over those few days.

The file system appears as "msdos" - I didn't know that. I just bought the drive recently by mail and just plugged it in and started using it. It seems that now I can neither read nor write to it.

There is nothing irreplaceable on it. Should I re-format it and start over?

What is "msdos"? I remember DOS, and knew that NTFS came in with Windows NT, but I thought that FAT is the oldest and simplest in the "modern family".

[suicidal_orange]

msdos on the properties in Nemo?  That's what it shows for FAT32 which is probably what's on your stick (unless it's new and huge when it might be exfat, I have no exfat to confirm)  If you run the command below in a terminal after plugging it in the bottom line will be the USB stick and the third column is the filesystem.

cat /etc/mtab

If it's exfat I'd reformat it, though leslieann seems to think it works now (when I last tried it it said it mounted ok but didn't show any files, so I reformatted....)

[fohat.digs]

Thanks, I re-formatted it and it seems to be working. Just another one of those weird things.

[fohat.digs]

Music question :

I want to rip some CDs and it seems that K3b is considered the standard, but there are woefully few choices in "Options" and "Preferences". I ripped a CD and never found an option for bit rate but the file sizes seem to indicate that it created MP3s at 128K which is not at all what I want.

And, in conjunction with a larger and ongoing annoyance, the "Properties" response to file inquiries are always woefully inadequate compared to what I am used to in Windows, regardless of file type. In the case of MP3, I should see (and be able to edit - but which should have been embedded in the first place) title, artist, album, composer, number, etc, and attributes like length (in hours/minutes/seconds), bit rate, etc, should be easily seen. About all I actually seem to get in file size.

Can this be right? No sort of geek could be satisfied with so little information. Or is this another case where there is some sort of outside program that I need to download to probe the attributes of my files?

[suicidal_orange]

K3B is a KDE program, you've probably installed a lot of dependencies you didn't need to get that to run.  For CD ripping I use Asunder which is GTK and has plenty of options, should be available in Mint.

File properties would depend on your file manager, sounds like you're still using Nemo?  Thunar (which you installed for the renamer) has an audio tab with more of what you're expecting to see.

[fohat.digs]

File properties would depend on your file manager, sounds like you're still using Nemo?  Thunar

Asunder seems to be the proper program for what I want to do, it is chugging away now.

How do I "use" Thunar? After I installed it per your instructions, I can select multiple files, right-click, and the "rename all" or whatever it is comes up.

Is there a place that I can't find that selects which file manager I am using? And set it as default?

Thank you again, profusely! I truly appreciate your help and patience, and hope that these answers are helping more people than just me.

[suicidal_orange]

There surely is something to choose your default file manager, it's just where they hide it.  I found a screen shot of something called "Control Center" in the MATE desktop with default programs at the bottom of the left panel - does that still exist?

[fohat.digs]

I found it and tried it but it didn't seem to "take" - it didn't seem to change anything.

Will I need to restart to kick it in?

[user 18]

I found it and tried it but it didn't seem to "take" - it didn't seem to change anything.

Will I need to restart to kick it in?

You shouldn't need a restart. How are you opening the file manager? If you're using a shortcut from the taskbar or menu, I suspect that shortcut is hardcoded to launch nemo, rather than launching whatever your default file manager is.

For example, I use nemo on my system, but the launcher I use for it is hardcoded to nemo, rather than more intelligently selecting my default. If I wanted to change it, I would right click on the launcher icon, select edit, and change the command (see attached). In your case, the command you want is probably

Code: [Select]

thunar %U

[fohat.digs]

I would right click on the launcher icon, select edit, and change the command (see attached). In your case, the command you want is probably

Code: [Select]

thunar %U

Why is it that the thing that I want always seems to the the thing that isn't there, or is grayed out?

[user 18]

What version of Mint/Cinnamon are you running? There should be a system info page somewhere on that settings menu you posted earlier

[fohat.digs]

It is Mint 20.2 and Cinnamon 5.0.7

I was planning to upgrade to Mint 21 when it comes out.

[suicidal_orange]

Is the panel locked?  Right click on an empty part of the bar and there might be "unlock" (or similar), it's supposed to stop you dragging and moving things by mistake.  This is a thing on at least one desktop but I don't remember which.

[user 18]

It is Mint 20.2 and Cinnamon 5.0.7

I was planning to upgrade to Mint 21 when it comes out.

I'm still on 20.0, with Cinnamon 4.x. That would explain the difference. Let me see if I can find a changelog.

E: ooh, I think I know what the issue is. Cinnamon 5.x defaults to the 'Grouped Window List' applet, instead of having separate applets for panel launchers and open windows. This applet works a little bit differently. Let me see if I can figure it out.

E2: Okay, try this: Open Thunar, it should appear with its own icon in your panel. Right click, and select 'pin to panel' on the Thunar icon. See if this new Thunar icon has all the behaviour you expect.

Is the panel locked?  Right click on an empty part of the bar and there might be "unlock" (or similar), it's supposed to stop you dragging and moving things by mistake.  This is a thing on at least one desktop but I don't remember which.

On my older Cinnamon, I believe that what you're referring to is 'panel edit mode'. I'm able to get the screenshots I posted without turning edit mode on, but it's possible that this is one of the changes in 5.x

[fohat.digs]

Right click, and select 'pin to panel' on the Thunar icon. See if this new Thunar icon has all the behaviour you expect.

Thank you.
Thunar is now pinned to the panel, but it still doesn't give me anything but the most fundamental information about a file when I right-click on it. For example, it still does not give me anything about a music file except its full path and size in bytes. I am looking for "Length" and "Bit Rate" in particular, but Windows Explorer gave me tons of information.

[suicidal_orange]

You don't get the Audio tab with the information button?  This is Thunar 4.16

[user 18]

Try installing 'Thunar-media-tags-plugin' from the software manager.

[fohat.digs]

Try installing 'Thunar-media-tags-plugin' from the software manager.

Excellent! This is what I was looking for.
Again, I am perplexed, why is this so arcane that it takes multiple questions to multiple experts?
My searches on Linux Mint forums never even got me close to this.
Shouldn't be included by default? Wouldn't everybody want to know it?

edit -
Issues like this that hardly rise to the level of "trivial" to experienced users like you guys are colossal barriers to entry for Windows users who don't think in terms of having to chase down and install "assistance" programs for things have "always seemed like defaults" in M$. It just makes them throw up their hands and run back to what they know. I am speaking for myself, of course, but I suspect that I am pretty typical of millions of others out there.

If there was an easy-to-find and easy-to-read Linux compendium of "How to do basic computer things .... " it might catapult Linux forward in popularity by an order of magnitude.

[fohat.digs]

it might catapult Linux forward in popularity by an order of magnitude.

Your generous help with these frustrations have been an immense help to me, and I am extremely grateful that I accidentally fell into such a valuable resource.

I have dabbled with Linux for a decade in a dual-boot scenario, but I never got very far because I invariably ran into snags like these and turned back. Linux forums are notoriously snarky and unhelpful (the openSUSE forum is probably the worst) even when they are pretending to be helping newbies.

Of course, since there is no significant monetization available to anyone in a FOSS environment, by definition, then there is no reason for anybody to distribute information or help.

I get that, I do. I am just sorry that it is such an intractable conundrum.

PS - I never did get my (modern common standard 2020 Brother) printer/scanner to work until I snaked a USB cable around the room to it.
 

[Leslieann]

On printers/scanners on networks

Pre-install any printer driver you need, there's usually a second generic one for scanning, you also need cups, but that will likely install as a dependency.
Then in add printer, if it doesn't find it automatically, you want to use "URI" or "manual URI", URI being the IP address. Just pop in the address and point to the driver. If you still can't do it let me know, I can fire up a Mint system and make a small guide. Hopefully this is enough.

I've had better luck with Linux than Windows when it comes to printing, scanning is a mixed bag, but scanning is ALWAYS problematic regardless of OS.



It took me 6 months of full time Linux to REALLY get comfortable, no amount of dual boot or VM use shortened that, as you learn the lingo though your ability to troubleshoot improves and it gets easier. Take notes, write down things that work and store them somewhere safe.  Also once you learn one distro well enough, it's easy to go from one to another with only minor adjustment.

[suicidal_orange]

I also find it strange that a big distro ships it's flagship version which it admits is resource heavy with such a limited file manager.  Had you chosen the XFCE version of Mint you would have had Thunar as standard so your renaming would have worked (although very differently than in Windows) and I strongly suspect the media plugin would be included too - worth considering when you install Mint 21?

The printer problem is entirely on Brother as they provide their own driver, if it can work with a cable it should be able to work without one.

You do highlight the main problem of Linux though - there are two big graphical toolkits (QT and GTK) with multiple desktops using each toolkit (that's why K3B looks different) and each desktop has it's own filemanager, though you don't have to use it.  This is ignoring Enlightenment which has been doing it's own thing forever, it's by far the prettiest and very light on resources but it's also the least popular because no-one used their toolkit to make programs.

If the community can't decide on a toolkit there's no way they're going to agree on the best way to do anything to put it all in a newbie friendly book.  You just have to get used to everything being in pieces - when you typed "Thunar" into the package installer there was probably a list of packages, why not have a quick look through through them now and see if anything sounds useful?  As with renaming the Windows way is often not the best, it's just what you're used to

[user 18]

Excellent! This is what I was looking for.
Again, I am perplexed, why is this so arcane that it takes multiple questions to multiple experts?
My searches on Linux Mint forums never even got me close to this.
Shouldn't be included by default? Wouldn't everybody want to know it?

edit -
Issues like this that hardly rise to the level of "trivial" to experienced users like you guys are colossal barriers to entry for Windows users who don't think in terms of having to chase down and install "assistance" programs for things have "always seemed like defaults" in M$. It just makes them throw up their hands and run back to what they know. I am speaking for myself, of course, but I suspect that I am pretty typical of millions of others out there.

There is always some performance tradeoff for reading and displaying this extra metadata. I suspect the philosophy of the people writing these programs and extensions is to build a fast core program, and allow for customization. But that customization comes at the cost of needing to know how to find it -- and I agree this is completely unhelpful for a large group of users.

There's also a contingent who don't want Linux to be like Windows, because they don't like Windows. That's all well and good, but it ignores the freedom in Linux to choose your own distribution and programs. If you're an advanced user looking for something different from Windows, I don't think that should impact the availability of distros that are designed to be easy to transition Windows users to. This has definitely been getting better over the last decade or so, but it's definitely still not where it needs to be, and most distros don't have the resources to keep up with new features in Windows.

If there was an easy-to-find and easy-to-read Linux compendium of "How to do basic computer things .... "

I think the trick with this is that there often isn't just one way of doing things on linux, there are several. And any two people may not agree on the 'right' way to do any given thing. This is partially why we have so many distributions, for all the different combinations of ways that things are set up.

For instance, if you wanted similar data for audio files in nemo, I think the right thing to install is 'nemo-media-columns' -- a totally different naming convention, and it doesn't work in quite the same way. In this case, I suspect it's not included by default because of the performance issues some people have with it.

Of course, since there is no significant monetization available to anyone in a FOSS environment, by definition, then there is no reason for anybody to distribute information or help.

There are some organizations that have paid user support as an income model -- Red Hat comes to mind. But in general, this is part of the problem, and ties back to not necessarily having the resources to keep up with Windows.

[fohat.digs]

Issues like this that hardly rise to the level of "trivial" to experienced users like you guys are colossal barriers to entry for Windows users who don't think in terms of having to chase down and install "assistance" programs for things have "always seemed like defaults"

I agree this is completely unhelpful for a large group of users.

There's also a contingent who don't want Linux to be like Windows, because they don't like Windows.

I also find it strange that a big distro ships it's flagship version which it admits is resource heavy with such a limited file manager.

Of course you guys are right.

I am just looking at it from the perspective of a casual but experienced computer user who has had a steady, if rocky, relationship with MicroSoft since DOS 2, but who is done with MS and just wants to be free (literally and monetarily). My needs are pretty simple: general basic office stuff like word processing and spreadsheets along with serious but simple straightforward audio and photo manipulating. And, being from the prehistoric times when RAM was measured in hundreds of KB and drive storage in tens of MB, I feel a "moral" desire to keep my computer "lean and clean" at all times - so I want to fully understand its files and structure so that I can regularly take out the garbage.

So I feel like I should be an ideal candidate for the transition, and the Linux world has been calling out to me for decades. Now that I am retired and don't have to interface with a Windows environment at work, it is time. But these barriers to entry are monumental, and starting to understand how much handholding MicroSoft has been doing all these years makes it daunting.

Perhaps the most bewildering part is the realm of "permissions" and all its related roadblocks. I live alone and am the sole user of my desktop (which I built myself from parts!) and laptop computers, the concept that I can't just give myself "permission" to do whatever I want any time is profoundly perplexing. Why am I not the apex "super user" everywhere all the time?

Sorry for the rant, but I can't help but think that I am a very representative example of the potential user that the Linux world would want to court.

[user 18]

Perhaps the most bewildering part is the realm of "permissions" and all its related roadblocks. I live alone and am the sole user of my desktop (which I built myself from parts!) and laptop computers, the concept that I can't just give myself "permission" to do whatever I want any time is profoundly perplexing. Why am I not the apex "super user" everywhere all the time?

As I understand it, this is a security thing more than anything else. Similar to Windows Vista and onward having UAC and similar. Basically, trying to make sure you aren't accidentally running something malicious, and reducing the damage that can be done by something malicious pretending to be you. I have found that most GUI software I need higher privileges for under linux is good about prompting me for escalation, and in the terminal if something yells at me, it's easy enough to retry with sudo. If you really want to, I think it's possible to set up login as root, but I've never found it necessary, personally.

[suicidal_orange]

The reason you are not the superuser the whole time is security - if someone walks into your room or you get a virus it can't break the system as it only has your permissions.  In your situation you'd probably be more upset about losing your data but not much you can do about that.  If you want to log in as root there shouldn't be anything stopping you from doing so, look for a "login as other user" link on the login screen and use the username root (not recommended) and your files will be stored in /root instead of /home/username

If you're trying to keep your computer "lean and clean" you'll want to get rid of k3b ("purge" gets rid of the config files, you can use "remove" instead to uninstall the program but keep the config) then check for and remove any orphaned dependencies (things which are installed that are no longer used by anything)

Code: [Select]

apt-get purge k3b
apt-get autoremove

[fohat.digs]

apt-get autoremove

Thanks, I did purge K3b.
Does this autoremove just refer to k3b or does it clean out the whole system?

[suicidal_orange]

autoremove checks all the installed packages, it will probably be a long list as k3b was probably the only thing using the QT toolkit, but maybe it wasn't in which case it will do nothing.

[fohat.digs]

autoremove checks all the installed packages

Cool, it is vaguely similar to "chkdsk" in DOS/Windows. Sounds like something good to run every once in a while.

Off-topic, when do you think that Mint 21 might come out?

[suicidal_orange]

Chkdsk checks for filesystem errors, the Linux equivalent would be fsck.  There is no Windows equivalent for apt-get (autoremove) as Windows software is self contained and you have to update every program yourself rather than being able to do all at once.

Mint 21 is supposed to have a beta late May/early June and that's still not been released and the final version wont be released for weeks after that to allow for mass testing.

[hvontres]

Perhaps the most bewildering part is the realm of "permissions" and all its related roadblocks. I live alone and am the sole user of my desktop (which I built myself from parts!) and laptop computers, the concept that I can't just give myself "permission" to do whatever I want any time is profoundly perplexing. Why am I not the apex "super user" everywhere all the time?

It also protects you from yourself to some degree. The last thing you want to do is be logged in as root and then somehow end up typing "rm -rf /". or other stupid things you might do at o-dark thirty while not thinking. Having to type sudo first makes you think a bit before hitting enter.

[suicidal_orange]

The last thing you want to do is be logged in as root and then somehow end up typing "rm -rf /". or other stupid things you might do at o-dark thirty while not thinking.

I ran "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda" to test the speed of an SD card once, it wiped my Windows partition then started on / before crashing   Luckily /home was later on the drive so restoring the partition table recovered it.  I'd have typed sudo just as easily though - some things just shouldn't be done late at night or after drinking...

[fohat.digs]

OK, here is another less-than-critical question :

I feel like the choices in LibreOffice Writer fonts are lame and boring, but I am having a heck of a time finding the real list of (what I feel like must exist) optional fonts. A Google search shows some "lists" that do not show what the fonts listed actually look like or how to get them.

For now, I am looking for something along the lines of Cooper, Benguiat, or Vagabond, but I would like access to better selections than what appear by default.

Thanks again ....

 

[suicidal_orange]

As with everything "missing" have you looked in the package manager? ttf stands for True Type Font so that's a good thing to search for, the description should say whether it's fonts or something to use fonts in a specific program.

[user 18]

OK, here is another less-than-critical question :

I feel like the choices in LibreOffice Writer fonts are lame and boring, but I am having a heck of a time finding the real list of (what I feel like must exist) optional fonts. A Google search shows some "lists" that do not show what the fonts listed actually look like or how to get them.

For now, I am looking for something along the lines of Cooper, Benguiat, or Vagabond, but I would like access to better selections than what appear by default.

Thanks again ....

The only extra fonts I've ever installed is the 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer' package, which included some basic fonts for better MS Office compatibility. Just searching for 'ttf' comes up with lots of packages, but the previews are often lacking.

This appears to be a guide for the more Windows-like way of installing fonts, if you can find a download for the font you want.

[fohat.digs]

The only extra fonts I've ever installed is the 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer' package, which included some basic fonts for better MS Office compatibility.

This appears to be a guide for the more Windows-like way of installing fonts

Thank you, but I had found that (without the "ttf-") and tried it, and got "something", but there is still something unhinged.

It appears that I have a file with some fonts in it, but LibreOffice does not seem to be picking it up. Will waiting for a reboot bring it in?

[user 18]

A reboot is probably worth a try. Been a long time since I've done this myself, so don't remember if that was necessary or not.

[Leslieann]

There's tens of thousands of fonts.
They do not need to be Linux or MS, just search for fonts.

Beware, you will get overwhelmed quickly.

[fohat.digs]

There's tens of thousands of fonts.

No doubt about that. My question is how to get them incorporated into LibreOffice Writer.

For example, if I wanted to type "This is a Test" and print it in Cooper Black (or a clone of it).

[Leslieann]

In Plasma and Cinnamon, double click a TTF file and the viewer should offer an install option. Worked for me in both, probably other D.E.'s as well.

In both cases you will need to restart Office.
Also, many font places are scams, so beware, first place I downloaded from (first hit in DuckDuckGo) wasn't actually a font.

[fohat.digs]

double click a TTF file and the viewer should offer an install option.

Excellent, thank you. Worked fine in Cinnamon/LibreOffice and I didn't even have to restart.

So it will be a matter of installing fonts one at a time, no particular problem beyond tracking them down.

This whole thing is a slow process for a long-time MicroSoft user, you guys are a priceless resource. I just hope that others can follow in these footsteps and cut down on their own time and frustration.

[Leslieann]

You're welcome.

Did some more digging (ran out of time yesterday)....
As soon as you install a single font (for personal, not for all users, this is the default install) it creates a folder in home to put them in. The folder is .local/share/fonts

You can either install one and find that folder or create it yourself (may need to hit CTRL-H to see .local) then you can just drop all TTF fonts into that folder. Tested on Cinnamon and Plasma and they did show up in Writer.

[fohat.digs]

The "Sound" section in the main menu shows both playback and recording to be active. Audacity plays music files as it should.

When I press the "Record" button in Audacity whatever you call the vertical "moving line" opens and moves from left to right but the sound wave is a flat line.

Am I understanding that Audacity is failing to find the record portion of the sound card even though it uses the play portion properly?

I am necro-ing this problem that I have never gotten anywhere with - I can't record from my computer and/or the internet using Audacity (which I have done under Windows for many years).

You guys gave me numerous suggestions when we went through this before but none of them worked. Can we please try it again?

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

 * Here is what my system reports in terms of audio hardware:
Device-1: AMD Ellesmere HDMI Audio
      [Radeon RX 470/480 / 570/580/590]
       vendor: Sapphire Limited driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 09:00.1
           chip ID: 1002:aaf0
           
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio
   vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 0b:00.4
      chip ID: 1022:1487
 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-113-generic

 * Here is what my system reports for the motherboard, etc:
System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-113-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.7 wm: muffin dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma
           base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal

Machine:   Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter>
           UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3003 date: 12/09/2019

*    *    *    *    *    *    *

Audacity has no problem with playback and opening existing files for editing, but will not record properly.
When I attempt to record from my computer, I get nothing. The sweeping bar goes from left to right but shows only a flat silent line.

When I attempt to record from my stereo, for example a record on the turntable, via RCA jacks from "Tape Out" out to a 3.5mm plug in to the "Line In" jack on the computer, I get a small squiggly line in Audacity but only static noise when I play it back. I think that I have tried all the permutations but I may have missed something. BTW, Audacity does not give me any option but ALSA.

This same hardware configuration has always worked properly under Windows with no drama or hang-ups.

Do you guys have any additional suggestions? Thank you again in advance.
 

[suicidal_orange]

ALSA is correct, it replaced OSS long ago as the standard soundsystem in Linux.  You have two scenarios to fix - recording what's playing and recording from line in.  No reason you shouldn't be able to do both but we'll debug separately for now.

It looks strange that the HDMI device comes first and even stranger that it appears to offer it as a recording device.  Run pavucontrol and on the configuration tab set it to off and click the padlock, this will stop pulseaudio from trying to use it if it is.  You need re-open Audacity otherwise it doesn't notice otherwise then try recording pulse and pulse_monitor while something's making noise.

Then the other scenario is getting your line in to show up.  Do you get any "line in" devices if you disable pulseaudio?  Again, you need to re-open Audacity to get it to notice.

Code: [Select]

systemctl --user stop pulseaudio.socket
systemctl --user stop pulseaudio.service

[fohat.digs]

It looks strange that the HDMI device comes first and even stranger that it appears to offer it as a recording device. 

Run pavucontrol and on the configuration tab set it to off and click the padlock, this will stop pulseaudio from trying to use it if it is. 

then try recording pulse and pulse_monitor while something's making noise.

Then the other scenario is getting your line in to show up.  Do you get any "line in" devices if you disable pulseaudio?

After killing pavucontrol I don't get any response in trying to record from the computer. There is also no sound when attempting to play music or Youtube video.

Audacity will record "something" from the 3.5mm plug from the stereo, but while it is the correct signal, it is very low in volume and sounds muffled as if it was coming from the bottom of a barrel.

I use 2 monitors coming off the Radeon card, 1 uses HDMI and the other DVI.

[suicidal_orange]

So pulse is blocking direct access to the soundcard inputs, that's a start.  When you say "killing pavucontrol" was that disabling the HDMI audio or running the command to kill pulseaudio entirely?  Disabling HDMI in pulse wont affect the picture but if you send sound to speakers in the monitor over HDMI you can't disable it.  Also probably should have checked you have the built in soundcard in pavucontrol on "analog stereo duplex".  Surely that's default...

I guess your volume is turned down on the input, you can see it by running alsamixer -c1 (c1 being the second card, the first is numbered 0 as with everything in Linux) then pressing tab to see the output screen.  You might also be able to swap what physical sockets the two inputs are, this is done using up and down arrows just like the volume.  If you can't get a good recording without pulse it is a driver issue, don't think it will be though.