RASPBERY PI COMMANDS

http://kmonkey711.blogspot.kr/2012/12/a2dp-audio-on-raspberry-pi.html
http://diyhacking.com/best-voice-recognition-software-for-raspberry-pi/

ALSA
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6735
http://equalarea.com/paul/alsa-audio.html
http://alsa.opensrc.org/Asynchronous_Playback_(Howto)

AUTO RUN
http://www.raspberry-projects.com/pi/pi-operating-systems/raspbian/autorunning-programs

COMPILATION:
gcc -o summary1 summary1.c lm

SHUTDOWN / REBOOT:

sudo shutdown -h now (or sudo halt)

sudo reboot

IP CONFIGURATION:
TO CHECK CURRENT CONFIGURATION

cat /etc/network/interfaces

To Change to Static from Dynamic

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Remove the line that reads

iface eth0 inet dhcp
Add the following
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.6
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0

broadcast 192.168.0.255
gateway 192.168.0.1
Save the file by pressing CTRL-X and select Y to save the changes.

AUDIO RECORD FROM LINEIN:

./Record_from_lineIn.Sh

arecord Dhw:0 r 44100 c 2 f S32_LE TEST.wav

PLAYBACK TO LINEOUT:

./Playback_to_Lineout.Sh

aplay Dhw:0 r 44100 c 2 f S32_LE TEST.wav

PLAYBACK TO LINEOUT:

./Playback_to_Lineout.Sh

aplay Dhw:0 r 44100 c 2 f S32_LE TEST.wav

LOOPBAK:
alsaloop
alsaloop -C hw:1,0 -P plughw:1,0 -c 1

-t 20000

USB Audio
alsaloop -C hw:0,0 -P plughw:0,0 -c 1

-t 20000

[PROCEDURES]
[http://computers.tutsplus.com/articles/using-a-usb-audio-device-with-a-raspberry-pi-mac-55876]
[http://support.plugable.com/plugable/topics/usb-audio-adapter-microphone-port-onraspberry-pi]
[http://plugable.com/2014/11/06/how-to-switch-to-usb-audio-on-raspberry-pi]
[http://www.g7smy.co.uk/?p=283]

Using minicom on the UART

Install minicom:
sudo apt-get install minicom
Running minicom:
minicom -b 115200 -o -D /dev/ttyAMA0

TO START GUI:
>>

startx

TO START AUTO GUI WITHOUT USERNAME AND PASSWORD:

Auto Login

How to automatically login to Raspberry Pi text console as pi user.

Step 1: Open a terminal session and edit inittab file.

sudo nano /etc/inittab

Step 2: Disable the getty program.
Navigate to the following line in inittab
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 tty1
And add a # at the beginning of the line to comment it out
#1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 tty1
Step 3: Add login program to inittab.
Add the following line just below the commented line1:2345:respawn:/bin/login -f pi tty1
</dev/tty1 >/dev/tty1 2>&1
This will run the login program with pi user and without any authentication
Step 4: Save and Exit.
Press Ctrl+X to exit nano editor followed by Y to save the file and then press Enter to confirm the
filename.
Reboot the pi and it will boot straight on to the shell prompt pi@raspberrypi without prompting you
to enter username or password. But this isn't enough; you need your Pi to automatically run some
command or a script. which is explained in the next section.

Run a Script after login

How to automatically run a script after login.

Step 1: Open a terminal session and edit the file /etc/profile
sudo nano /etc/profile
Step 2: Add the following line to the end of the file
. /home/pi/your_script_name.sh
replace the script name and path with correct name and path of your start-up script.
Step 3: Save and Exit
Press Ctrl+X to exit nano editor followed by Y to save the file.

Auto Start the Desktop (LXDE)

How to automatically boot to desktop

Step 1: Open a terminal session and run raspi-config

sudo raspi-config

Step 2: Select Enable Boot to Desktop/Scratch from the menu and press Enter
Step 3: Select Desktop Login as user pi at the Graphical Desktop.
Step 4: Select <Finish> and Enter, then select <Yes> to reboot.
Pi will now boot straight to the Desktop.

[http://www.opentechguides.com/how-to/article/raspberrypi/5/raspberry-pi-auto-start.html]

WIFI CONFIGURATION GUI BASED

Raspbian releases after 2012-10-28 include a WiFi configuration utility. You will find the
shortcut for this on the Desktop. If you are using command-line tools or are logging in
over Ethernet, check the next page for how to edit /etc/network/interfaces by hand

Step 1.
Double-click the icon and this is what you will see.

Step 2.
Click on the Scan button and a second window will open. Find your Wireless access point
in the list and double click on it. This will open another window.

Step 3.
Enter your password in the PSK field and then click Add. When you look at the first
window, you should see that theCONNECTION is all set up for use. You can connect or
disconnect using the buttons. Notice also the IP address of the Pi is shown at the bottom
of the window.

WIFI CONFIGURATION COMMANDLINE BASED

This method is suitable if you do not have access to the graphical user interface
normally used to set up WiFi on the Raspberry Pi. It is especailly suited for use with a
serial console cable if you don't have access to a screen or wired Ethernet network.
Also note that no additional software isREQUIRED ; everything you need is already
included on the Raspberry Pi.

GETTING WIFI NETWORK DETAILS

To scan for WiFi networks, use the command sudoiwlistwlan0scan . This will list
all available WiFi networks along with other useful information. Look out for:
1. ESSID:"testing" . This is the name of the WiFi network.
2. IE:IEEE802.11i/WPA2Version1 . This is the authentication used; in this case it
is WPA2, the newer and more secure wireless standard which replaces WPA1. This
guide should work for WPA or WPA2, but may not work for WPA2 enterprise; for WEP
hex keys see the last example here.
You will also need the password for the WiFi network. For most home routers this is
located on a sticker on the back of the router. The ESSID (ssid) for the network in this
case is testing and the password (psk) testingPassword .

ADDING THE NETWORK DETAILS TO THE RASPBERRY PI

Open the wpasupplicant configuration file in nano:
sudonano/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Go to the bottom of the file and add the following:

network={
ssid="The_ESSID_from_earlier"

psk="Your_wifi_password"
}

In the case of the example network, we would enter:

network={
ssid="testing"
psk="testingPassword"
}

Now save the file by pressing ctrl+x then y, then finally press enter.
At this point, wpasupplicant will normally notice a change has occurred within a few
seconds, and it will try and connect to the network. If it does not, eitherMANUALLY
restart the interface with sudoifdownwlan0 and sudoifupwlan0 , or reboot your
Raspberry Pi with sudoreboot .
You can verify if it has successfullyCONNECTED using ifconfigwlan0 . If the inet
addr field has an address beside it, the Pi hasCONNECTED

to the network. If not,

check your password and ESSID are correct.

SOLUTION TO THE POORLY MAPPED US KEYBOARDS FOR THE RPi:

When we downloaded the Distribution file, it came with a default

parameter putting our location in Great Britain.
Unless you know
about it, confusion will reign because you will think you are
configuring the keyboard correctly.

So for the Raspberry Pi you need to open the file keyboard and edit
it.

sudo nano /etc/default/keyboard

Will open the file and you just type over two characters in the line

XKBLAYOUT=gb to read XKBLAYOUT=us,

Ctrl X, Y and reboot.

Then you can reconfigure the RPi.

TO PROGRAM USING ALSA PCM:

Install libasound2-dev. To do so just use the following code:

apt-get install libasound2-dev

COMPILATION:
gcc -o summary1 summary1.c lsound

UART
http://www.andremiller.net/content/raspberry-pi-and-arduino-via-gpio-uart

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17254923/raspberry-pi-uart-program-in-cusing-termios-receives-garbage-rx-and-tx-are-con
http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/raspberry-pi-serial-port
http://codeandlife.com/2012/07/01/raspberry-pi-serial-console-with-max3232cpe/
http://brevera.in/blog/software/mini-uart-driver-for-raspberry-pi/
http://pi.gadgetoid.com/pinout/uart
http://blog.oscarliang.net/raspberry-pi-and-arduino-connected-serial-gpio/
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-raspberry-pi-lesson-4-gpio-setup/overview
http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/553/gpio-uart-to-arduinocommunication

http://raspberrywebserver.com/gpio/
http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/a-cheap-bluetooth-serial-port-for-yourraspberry-pi
http://abyz.co.uk/rpi/pigpio/

Introduction to Sound Programming with ALSA

ALSA stands for the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture. It consists of a set of
kernel drivers, an application programming interface (API) library and utility
programs for supporting sound under Linux. In this article, I present a brief
overview of the ALSA Project and its software components. The focus is on
programming the PCM interfaces of ALSA, including programming examples
with which you can experiment.
You may want to explore ALSA simply because it is new, but it is not the only
sound API available. ALSA is a good choice if you are performing low-level
audio functions for maximum control and performance or want to make use of
special features not supported by other sound APIs. If you already have
written an audio application, you may want to add native support for the
ALSA sound drivers. If your primary interest isn't audio and you simply want
to play sound files, using one of the higher-level sound toolkits, such as SDL,
OpenAL or those provided in desktop environments, may be a better choice.
By using ALSA you are restricted to using systems running a Linux kernel with
ALSA support.
History of ALSA
The ALSA Project was started because the sound drivers in the Linux kernel
(OSS/Free drivers) were not being maintained actively and were lagging
behind the capabilities of new sound technology. Jaroslav Kysela, who
previously had written a sound card driver, started the project. Over time,
more developers joined, support for many sound cards was added and the
structure of the API was refined.
During development of the 2.5 series of Linux kernel, ALSA was merged into
the official kernel source. With the release of the 2.6 kernel, ALSA will be part
of the stable Linux kernel and should be in wide use.
Digital Audio Basics
Sound, consisting of waves of varying air pressure, is converted to its electrical
form by a transducer, such as a microphone. An analog-to-digital converter
(ADC) converts the analog voltages into discrete values, called samples, at
regular intervals in time, known as the sampling rate. By sending the samples

to a digital-to-analog converter and an output transducer, such as a

loudspeaker, the original sound can be reproduced.
The size of the samples, expressed in bits, is one factor that determines how
accurately the sound is represented in digital form. The other major factor
affecting sound quality is the sampling rate. The Nyquist Theorem states that
the highest frequency that can be represented accurately is at most one-half
the sampling rate.
ALSA Basics
ALSA consists of a series of kernel device drivers for many different sound
cards, and it also provides an API library, libasound. Application developers
are encouraged to program using the library API and not the kernel interface.
The library provides a higher-level and more developer-friendly programming
interface along with a logical naming of devices so that developers do not need
to be aware of low-level details such as device files.
In contrast, OSS/Free drivers are programmed at the kernel system call level
and require the developer to specify device filenames and perform many
functions using ioctl calls. For backward compatibility, ALSA provides kernel
modules that emulate the OSS/Free sound drivers, so most existing sound
applications continue to run unchanged. An emulation wrapper library,
libaoss, is available to emulate the OSS/Free API without kernel modules.
ALSA has a capability called plugins that allows extension to new devices,
including virtual devices implemented entirely in software. ALSA provides a
number of command-line utilities, including a mixer, sound file player and
tools for controlling special features of specific sound cards.
ALSA Architecture
The ALSA API can be broken down into the major interfaces it supports:
Control interface: a general-purpose facility for managing registers of
sound cards and querying the available devices.
PCM interface: the interface for managing digital audio capture and
playback. The rest of this article focuses on this interface, as it is the one
most commonly used for digital audio applications.

 Raw MIDI interface: supports MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital

Interface), a standard for electronic musical instruments. This API
provides access to a MIDI bus on a sound card. The raw interface works
directly with the MIDI events, and the programmer is responsible for
managing the protocol and timing.
Timer interface: provides access to timing hardware on sound cards
used for synchronizing sound events.
Sequencer interface: a higher-level interface for MIDI programming and
sound synthesis than the raw MIDI interface. It handles much of the
MIDI protocol and timing.
Mixer interface: controls the devices on sound cards that route signals
and control volume levels. It is built on top of the control interface.

Device Naming
The library API works with logical device names rather than device files. The
device names can be real hardware devices or plugins. Hardware devices use
the format hw:i,j, where i is the card number and j is the device on that card.
The first sound device is hw:0,0. The alias default refers to the first sound
device and is used in all of the examples in this article. Plugins use other
unique names; plughw:, for example, is a plugin that provides access to the
hardware device but provides features, such as sampling rate conversion, in
software for hardware that does not directly support it. The dmix and dshare
plugins allow you to downmix several streams and split a single stream
dynamically among different applications.
Sound Buffers and Data Transfer
A sound card has a hardware buffer that stores recorded samples. When the
buffer is sufficiently full, it generates an interrupt. The kernel sound driver
then uses direct memory access (DMA) to transfer samples to an application
buffer in memory. Similarly, for playback, another application buffer is
transferred from memory to the sound card's hardware buffer using DMA.
These hardware buffers are ring buffers, meaning the data wraps back to the
start when the end of the buffer is reached. A pointer is maintained to keep
track of the current positions in both the hardware buffer and the application

buffer. Outside of the kernel, only the application buffer is of interest, so from
here on we discuss only the application buffer.
The size of the buffer can be programmed by ALSA library calls. The buffer
can be quite large, and transferring it in one operation could result in
unacceptable delays, called latency. To solve this, ALSA splits the buffer up
into a series of periods (called fragments in OSS/Free) and transfers the data
in units of a period.
A period stores frames, each of which contains the samples captured at one
point in time. For a stereo device, the frame would contain samples for two
channels. Figure 1 illustrates the breakdown of a buffer into periods, frames
and samples with some hypothetical values. Here, left and right channel
information is stored alternately within a frame; this is called interleaved
mode. A non-interleaved mode, where all the sample data for one channel is
stored followed by the data for the next channel, also is supported.

Figure 1. The Application Buffer

Over and Under Run
When a sound device is active, data is transferred continuously between the
hardware and application buffers. In the case of data capture (recording), if
the application does not read the data in the buffer rapidly enough, the
circular buffer is overwritten with new data. The resulting data loss is known
as overrun. During playback, if the application does not pass data into the
buffer quickly enough, it becomes starved for data, resulting in an error called
underrun. The ALSA documentation sometimes refers to both of these

conditions using the term XRUN. Properly designed applications can

minimize XRUN and recover if it occurs.
A Typical Sound Application
Programs that use the PCM interface generally follow this pseudo-code:
open interface for capture or playback
set hardware parameters
(access mode, data format, channels, rate, etc.)
while there is data to be processed:
read PCM data (capture)
or write PCM data (playback)
close interface

We look at some working code in the following sections. I recommend you

compile and run these on your Linux system, look at the output and try some
of the suggested modifications. The full listings for the example programs that
accompany
this
article
are
available
for
download
fromftp.linuxjournal.com/pub/lj/listings/issue126/6735.tgz.
Listing 1. Display Some PCM Types and Formats

#include <alsa/asoundlib.h>
int main() {
int val;
printf("ALSA library version: %s\n",
SND_LIB_VERSION_STR);
printf("\nPCM stream types:\n");
for (val = 0; val <= SND_PCM_STREAM_LAST; val++)
printf("

%s\n",

snd_pcm_stream_name((snd_pcm_stream_t)val));
printf("\nPCM access types:\n");
for (val = 0; val <= SND_PCM_ACCESS_LAST; val++)
printf("

%s\n",

snd_pcm_access_name((snd_pcm_access_t)val));
printf("\nPCM formats:\n");

for (val = 0; val <= SND_PCM_FORMAT_LAST; val++)

if (snd_pcm_format_name((snd_pcm_format_t)val)
!= NULL)
printf("

%s (%s)\n",

snd_pcm_format_name((snd_pcm_format_t)val),
snd_pcm_format_description(
(snd_pcm_format_t)val));
printf("\nPCM subformats:\n");
for (val = 0; val <= SND_PCM_SUBFORMAT_LAST;
val++)
printf("

%s (%s)\n",

snd_pcm_subformat_name((
snd_pcm_subformat_t)val),
snd_pcm_subformat_description((
snd_pcm_subformat_t)val));
printf("\nPCM states:\n");
for (val = 0; val <= SND_PCM_STATE_LAST; val++)
printf("

%s\n",

snd_pcm_state_name((snd_pcm_state_t)val));
return 0;
}

Listing 1 displays some of the PCM data types and parameters used by ALSA.
The first requirement is to include the header file that brings in the definitions
for all of the ALSA library functions. One of the definitions is the version of
ALSA, which is displayed.
The remainder of the program iterates through a number of PCM data types,
starting with the stream types. ALSA provides symbolic names for the last
enumerated value and a utility function that returns a descriptive string for a
value. As you can see in the output, ALSA supports many different data
formats, 38 for the version of ALSA on my system.
The program must be linked with the ALSA library, libasound, to run.
Typically, you would add the option -lasound on the linker command line.
Some ALSA library functions use the dlopen function and floating-point
operations, so you also may need to add -ldl and -lm.

Listing 2. Opening PCM Device and Setting Parameters

/*
This example opens the default PCM device, sets
some parameters, and then displays the value
of most of the hardware parameters. It does not
perform any sound playback or recording.
*/
/* Use the newer ALSA API */
#define ALSA_PCM_NEW_HW_PARAMS_API
/* All of the ALSA library API is defined
* in this header */
#include <alsa/asoundlib.h>
int main() {
int rc;
snd_pcm_t *handle;
snd_pcm_hw_params_t *params;
unsigned int val, val2;
int dir;
snd_pcm_uframes_t frames;
/* Open PCM device for playback. */
rc = snd_pcm_open(&handle, "default",
SND_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK, 0);
if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"unable to open pcm device: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
exit(1);
}
/* Allocate a hardware parameters object. */
snd_pcm_hw_params_alloca(&params);
/* Fill it in with default values. */

snd_pcm_hw_params_any(handle, params);
/* Set the desired hardware parameters. */
/* Interleaved mode */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_access(handle, params,
SND_PCM_ACCESS_RW_INTERLEAVED);
/* Signed 16-bit little-endian format */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_format(handle, params,
SND_PCM_FORMAT_S16_LE);
/* Two channels (stereo) */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_channels(handle, params, 2);
/* 44100 bits/second sampling rate (CD quality) */
val = 44100;
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_rate_near(handle,
params, &val, &dir);
/* Write the parameters to the driver */
rc = snd_pcm_hw_params(handle, params);
if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"unable to set hw parameters: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
exit(1);
}
/* Display information about the PCM interface */
printf("PCM handle name = '%s'\n",
snd_pcm_name(handle));
printf("PCM state = %s\n",
snd_pcm_state_name(snd_pcm_state(handle)));
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_access(params,
(snd_pcm_access_t *) &val);
printf("access type = %s\n",
snd_pcm_access_name((snd_pcm_access_t)val));

snd_pcm_hw_params_get_format(params, &val);
printf("format = '%s' (%s)\n",
snd_pcm_format_name((snd_pcm_format_t)val),
snd_pcm_format_description(
(snd_pcm_format_t)val));
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_subformat(params,
(snd_pcm_subformat_t *)&val);
printf("subformat = '%s' (%s)\n",
snd_pcm_subformat_name((snd_pcm_subformat_t)val),
snd_pcm_subformat_description(
(snd_pcm_subformat_t)val));
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_channels(params, &val);
printf("channels = %d\n", val);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_rate(params, &val, &dir);
printf("rate = %d bps\n", val);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_time(params,
&val, &dir);
printf("period time = %d us\n", val);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_size(params,
&frames, &dir);
printf("period size = %d frames\n", (int)frames);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_buffer_time(params,
&val, &dir);
printf("buffer time = %d us\n", val);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_buffer_size(params,
(snd_pcm_uframes_t *) &val);
printf("buffer size = %d frames\n", val);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_periods(params, &val, &dir);
printf("periods per buffer = %d frames\n", val);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_rate_numden(params,
&val, &val2);

printf("exact rate = %d/%d bps\n", val, val2);

val = snd_pcm_hw_params_get_sbits(params);
printf("significant bits = %d\n", val);
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_tick_time(params,
&val, &dir);
printf("tick time = %d us\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_is_batch(params);
printf("is batch = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_is_block_transfer(params);
printf("is block transfer = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_is_double(params);
printf("is double = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_is_half_duplex(params);
printf("is half duplex = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_is_joint_duplex(params);
printf("is joint duplex = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_can_overrange(params);
printf("can overrange = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_can_mmap_sample_resolution(params);
printf("can mmap = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_can_pause(params);
printf("can pause = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_can_resume(params);
printf("can resume = %d\n", val);
val = snd_pcm_hw_params_can_sync_start(params);
printf("can sync start = %d\n", val);
snd_pcm_close(handle);

return 0;
}

Listing 2 opens the default PCM device, sets some parameters and then
displays the values of most of the hardware parameters. It does not perform
any sound playback or recording. The call to snd_pcm_open opens the default
PCM device and sets the access mode to PLAYBACK. This function returns a
handle in the first function argument that is used in subsequent calls to
manipulate the PCM stream. Like most ALSA library calls, the function
returns an integer return status, a negative value indicating an error condition.
In this case, we check the return code; if it indicates failure, we display the
error message using the snd_strerror function and exit. In the interest of
clarity, I have omitted most of the error checking from the example programs.
In a production application, one should check the return code of every API call
and provide appropriate error handling.
In order to set the hardware parameters for the stream, we need to allocate a
variable of type snd_pcm_hw_params_t. We do this with the macro
snd_pcm_hw_params_alloca. Next, we initialize the variable using the
function snd_pcm_hw_params_any, passing the previously opened PCM
stream.
We now set the desired hardware parameters using API calls that take the
PCM stream handle, the hardware parameters structure and the parameter
value. We set the stream to interleaved mode, 16-bit sample size, 2 channels
and a 44,100 bps sampling rate. In the case of the sampling rate, sound
hardware is not always able to support every sampling rate exactly. We use the
function snd_pcm_hw_params_set_rate_near to request the nearest
supported sampling rate to the requested value. The hardware parameters are
not actually made active until we call the function snd_pcm_hw_params.
The rest of the program obtains and displays a number of the PCM stream
parameters, including the period and buffer sizes. The results displayed vary
somewhat depending on the sound hardware.
After running the program on your system, experiment and make some
changes. Change the device name from default to hw:0,0 or plughw: and see
whether the results change. Change the hardware parameter values and
observe how the displayed results change.
Listing 3. Simple Sound Playback

/*
This example reads standard from input and writes
to the default PCM device for 5 seconds of data.
*/
/* Use the newer ALSA API */
#define ALSA_PCM_NEW_HW_PARAMS_API
#include <alsa/asoundlib.h>
int main() {
long loops;
int rc;
int size;
snd_pcm_t *handle;
snd_pcm_hw_params_t *params;
unsigned int val;
int dir;
snd_pcm_uframes_t frames;
char *buffer;
/* Open PCM device for playback. */
rc = snd_pcm_open(&handle, "default",
SND_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK, 0);
if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"unable to open pcm device: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
exit(1);
}
/* Allocate a hardware parameters object. */
snd_pcm_hw_params_alloca(&params);
/* Fill it in with default values. */
snd_pcm_hw_params_any(handle, params);

/* Set the desired hardware parameters. */

/* Interleaved mode */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_access(handle, params,
SND_PCM_ACCESS_RW_INTERLEAVED);
/* Signed 16-bit little-endian format */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_format(handle, params,
SND_PCM_FORMAT_S16_LE);
/* Two channels (stereo) */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_channels(handle, params, 2);
/* 44100 bits/second sampling rate (CD quality) */
val = 44100;
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_rate_near(handle, params,
&val, &dir);
/* Set period size to 32 frames. */
frames = 32;
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_period_size_near(handle,
params, &frames, &dir);
/* Write the parameters to the driver */
rc = snd_pcm_hw_params(handle, params);
if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"unable to set hw parameters: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
exit(1);
}
/* Use a buffer large enough to hold one period */
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_size(params, &frames,
&dir);
size = frames * 4; /* 2 bytes/sample, 2 channels */
buffer = (char *) malloc(size);
/* We want to loop for 5 seconds */
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_time(params,
&val, &dir);

/* 5 seconds in microseconds divided by

* period time */
loops = 5000000 / val;
while (loops > 0) {
loops--;
rc = read(0, buffer, size);
if (rc == 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "end of file on input\n");
break;
} else if (rc != size) {
fprintf(stderr,
"short read: read %d bytes\n", rc);
}
rc = snd_pcm_writei(handle, buffer, frames);
if (rc == -EPIPE) {
/* EPIPE means underrun */
fprintf(stderr, "underrun occurred\n");
snd_pcm_prepare(handle);
} else if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"error from writei: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
}

else if (rc != (int)frames) {

fprintf(stderr,
"short write, write %d frames\n", rc);

}
}
snd_pcm_drain(handle);
snd_pcm_close(handle);
free(buffer);
return 0;
}

Listing 3 extends the previous example by writing sound samples to the sound
card to produce playback. In this case we read bytes from standard input,

enough for one period, and write them to the sound card until five seconds of
data has been transferred.
The beginning of the program is the same as in the previous examplethe
PCM device is opened and the hardware parameters are set. We use the period
size chosen by ALSA and make this the size of our buffer for storing samples.
We then find out that period time so we can calculate how many periods the
program should process in order to run for five seconds.
In the loop that manages data, we read from standard input and fill our buffer
with one period of samples. We check for and handle errors resulting from
reaching the end of file or reading a different number of bytes from what was
expected.
To send data to the PCM device, we use the snd_pcm_writei call. It operates
much like the kernel write system call, except that the size is specified in
frames. We check the return code for a number of error conditions. A return
code of EPIPE indicates that underrun occurred, which causes the PCM
stream to go into the XRUN state and stop processing data. The standard
method to recover from this state is to use the snd_pcm_prepare function call
to put the stream in the PREPARED state so it can start again the next time we
write data to the stream. If we receive a different error result, we display the
error code and continue. Finally, if the number of frames written is not what
was expected, we display an error message.
The program loops until five seconds' worth of frames has been transferred or
end of file read occurs on the input. We then call snd_pcm_drain to allow any
pending sound samples to be transferred, then close the stream. We free the
dynamically allocated buffer and exit.
We should see that the program is not useful unless the input is redirected to
something other than a console. Try running it with the device /dev/urandom,
which produces random data, like this:

./example3 < /dev/urandom

The random data should produce white noise for five seconds.

Next, try redirecting the input to /dev/null or /dev/zero and compare the
results. Change some parameters, such as the sampling rate and data format,
and see how it affects the results.
Listing 4. Simple Sound Recording

/*
This example reads from the default PCM device
and writes to standard output for 5 seconds of data.
*/
/* Use the newer ALSA API */
#define ALSA_PCM_NEW_HW_PARAMS_API
#include <alsa/asoundlib.h>
int main() {
long loops;
int rc;
int size;
snd_pcm_t *handle;
snd_pcm_hw_params_t *params;
unsigned int val;
int dir;
snd_pcm_uframes_t frames;
char *buffer;
/* Open PCM device for recording (capture). */
rc = snd_pcm_open(&handle, "default",
SND_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE, 0);
if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"unable to open pcm device: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
exit(1);
}

/* Allocate a hardware parameters object. */

snd_pcm_hw_params_alloca(&params);
/* Fill it in with default values. */
snd_pcm_hw_params_any(handle, params);
/* Set the desired hardware parameters. */
/* Interleaved mode */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_access(handle, params,
SND_PCM_ACCESS_RW_INTERLEAVED);
/* Signed 16-bit little-endian format */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_format(handle, params,
SND_PCM_FORMAT_S16_LE);
/* Two channels (stereo) */
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_channels(handle, params, 2);
/* 44100 bits/second sampling rate (CD quality) */
val = 44100;
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_rate_near(handle, params,
&val, &dir);
/* Set period size to 32 frames. */
frames = 32;
snd_pcm_hw_params_set_period_size_near(handle,
params, &frames, &dir);
/* Write the parameters to the driver */
rc = snd_pcm_hw_params(handle, params);
if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"unable to set hw parameters: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
exit(1);
}
/* Use a buffer large enough to hold one period */
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_size(params,
&frames, &dir);

size = frames * 4; /* 2 bytes/sample, 2 channels */

buffer = (char *) malloc(size);
/* We want to loop for 5 seconds */
snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_time(params,
&val, &dir);
loops = 5000000 / val;
while (loops > 0) {
loops--;
rc = snd_pcm_readi(handle, buffer, frames);
if (rc == -EPIPE) {
/* EPIPE means overrun */
fprintf(stderr, "overrun occurred\n");
snd_pcm_prepare(handle);
} else if (rc < 0) {
fprintf(stderr,
"error from read: %s\n",
snd_strerror(rc));
} else if (rc != (int)frames) {
fprintf(stderr, "short read, read %d frames\n", rc);
}
rc = write(1, buffer, size);
if (rc != size)
fprintf(stderr,
"short write: wrote %d bytes\n", rc);
}
snd_pcm_drain(handle);
snd_pcm_close(handle);
free(buffer);
return 0;
}

Listing 4 is much like Listing 3, except that we perform PCM capture

(recording). When we open the PCM stream, we specify the mode as
SND_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE. In the main processing loop, we read the
samples from the sound hardware using snd_pcm_readi and write it to

standard output using write. We check for overrun and handle it in the same
manner as we did underrun in Listing 3.
Running Listing 4 records approximately five seconds of data and sends it to
standard out; you should redirect it to a file. If you have a microphone
connected to your sound card, use a mixer program to set the recording source
and level. Alternatively, you can run a CD player program and set the
recording source to CD. Try running Listing 4 and redirecting the output to a
file. You then can run Listing 3 to play back the data:

./listing4 > sound.raw

./listing3 < sound.raw

If your sound card supports full duplex sound, you should be able to pipe the
programs together and hear the recorded sound coming out of the sound card
by typing: ./listing4 | ./listing3. By changing the PCM parameters you can
experiment with the effect of sampling rates and formats.
Advanced Features
In the previous examples, the PCM streams were operating in blocking mode,
that is, the calls would not return until the data had been transferred. In an
interactive event-driven application, this situation could lock up the
application for unacceptably long periods of time. ALSA allows opening a
stream in nonblocking mode where the read and write functions return
immediately. If data transfers are pending and the calls cannot be processed,
ALSA returns an error code of EBUSY.
Many graphical applications use callbacks to handle events. ALSA supports
opening a PCM stream in asynchronous mode. This allows registering a
callback function to be called when a period of sample data has been
transferred.
The snd_pcm_readi and snd_pcm_writei calls used here are similar to the
Linux read and write system calls. The letter i indicates that the frames are
interleaved; corresponding functions exist for non-interleaved mode. Many
devices under Linux also support the mmap system call, which maps them
into memory where they can be manipulated with pointers. Finally, ALSA
supports opening a PCM channel in mmap mode, which allows efficient zero
copy access to sound data.

Conclusion
I hope this article has motivated you to try some ALSA programming. As the
2.6 kernel becomes commonly used by Linux distributions, ALSA should
become more widely used, and its advanced features should help Linux audio
applications move forward.
My thanks to Jaroslav Kysela and Takashi Iwai for reviewing a draft of this
article and providing me with useful comments.
Resources for this article: /article/7705.
Jeff Tranter has been using, writing about and contributing to Linux since
1992. He works for Xandros Corporation in Ottawa, Canada.