Retromod Computers

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The bad news? I was disappointed in having the exact same experience regarding my audio rear speaker port as I did with my older computer.

This must be something to do with Mint, I haven't had that trouble in about 10 years. Yes, I'm also using an MSI motherboard. Jack sensing works perfectly so if I plug headphones in that's where the sound goes, unplug them and sound instantly returns to the speakers.

And bluetooth still sucks, it always has and it always will.

 

[Judge]

This must be something to do with Mint, I haven't had that trouble in about 10 years. Yes, I'm also using an MSI motherboard. Jack sensing works perfectly so if I plug headphones in that's where the sound goes, unplug them and sound instantly returns to the speakers.

And bluetooth still sucks, it always has and it always will.

Nope, until I actually retasked the rear jack, I had no sound at all regardless of the speaker jack being plugged in the rear, or the headphones being plugged in the front. And of course the connections are all normally used on my other computer so I knew that wasn't the problem. I should also add that the same problem happened when I installed Pop!OS22.04. Further thought on the matter reminded me that it may also involve Nvidia's HDMI control over sound apart from Realtek. Then again instead of considering Mint or Pop!OS, if it is an OS issue it would ultimately go back to Ubuntu. Though it could still be a Realtek problem.

When I open the HDA Retask Jack tool (found in Alsa-Tools-GUI), it defaults to the Nvidia HDMI settings. The first thing I had to do was switch the overall settings to Realtek. Then to checked the box red line out, rear side.To check "override and show internal speakers (back). Then to access Parser Hints and change the jack_detect value to "NO". Essentially the same process I had to do with my Asus system to get the speaker jack to work.

The weird part about using this HDA Retask function is when you are ready to reboot to see if it works, it states that this is all experimental on the developers part. Oh well...the point is that it works. But it would really bother me to hear about noobs walking away from such an issue. I figure I was lucky in figuring it out.

Maybe motherboard manufacturers assume users will default to their video card's HDMI sound options. Beats me...I don't get it. I'm just glad to find that others had the same issue with a viable fix.

 

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Maybe motherboard manufacturers assume users will default to their video card's HDMI sound options. Beats me...I don't get it. I'm just glad to find that others had the same issue with a viable fix.

I forgot about that, I don't use HDMI. I remember having to muck around with a few other people's computers though because yes, it defaults to playing sound through HDMI.

 

[Judge]

I forgot about that, I don't use HDMI. I remember having to muck around with a few other people's computers though because yes, it defaults to playing sound through HDMI.

Good to know. I've never gotten any feedback personally from anyone elaborating on this issue. Frankly I know next to nothing about using a video card's HDMI settings to configure sound. Just figured that since Realtek designed the hardware, that I should use their corresponding software as well. To date I never thought about exploring the use of HDMI for audio.

It still seems weird that this problem persists through two different Realtek audio protocols, two different motherboards and two different Linux operating systems. Oh well...it's Linux. And it's no secret that manufacturers for the most part don't design their hardware to accommodate any one in the industry except Microsoft.

Another thing that pleases me is to know that Linux Mint 21.3 really does have full support when it comes to Secure Boot. Earlier versions only had nominal support in comparison. Offering the cleanest boot process I have seen yet in Linux. No more having to add entries into the "Grub" file just to eliminate so many log errors of the past.

And no evidence of anything slowing down compared to non-uefi without secure boot or TPM 2.0. Just another reason for deciding to build a newer system to make Linux distros work along side Windows using removable SSDs. So in the event Microsoft decides to again counter the ability of dual-booting, it won't matter as I continue to use completely separate solid-state drives as opposed to NVMes. Though I'm still in no hurry to add a Windows SSD just yet. Windows 11 still seems like a hot mess to date.

So I think it was worth it in upgrading to a newer hardware platform now than later. But I agree, I'm not thrilled having to negotiate a totally different BIOS GUI. Oh well, time- and technology marches on.

 

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Frankly I know next to nothing about using a video card's HDMI settings to configure sound.

Completely useless unless your monitor has built in speakers.

I honestly don't understand the mentality behind them making that decision, unless they think people only ever use a computer to watch movies and use a TV as a monitor, and HDMI really sucks at that as well, it can't carry the bandwidth for high quality video. Trying to watch movies through an HDMI lead means you keep getting corruption and "tearing" in your movies.

It's even worse for gaming. And anyone that's in to gaming knows better than to try and use a TV as a monitor, low resolution, low refresh rate and it's still going to burn your TV out in less than 6 months.

I'm so glad HDMI is on it's way out.

 

[Judge]

My first post using my newly-built computer. Wow. I'm finally done with this project. Tweaked Linux Mint 21.3 as far as I could. Definitely worth the effort considering the boost in performance combined with lower temperatures. Funny to see that 92mm Noctua cooler beat the pants off my old Coolermaster Hyper 212. And it runs so quiet. Though I have yet to try out any games...which I'll be doing later.

Most importantly is that it is running optimally despite secure boot, UEFI and TPM 2.0. So if I do get another 1TB SSD, I'll put Windows on it. Though the more I read about Windows 11 "advancing", the less I like it. Seems they keep retarding the ability to customize things. But that's Microsoft for ya. Always wanting EVERYTHING their way or the highway.

The last thing will be to take out my old computer and install the new one in my workstation. I
l'll have to alter the steel shelves under my desk to accommodate this case which is a bit taller.

"What a long, strange trip it's been." - Jerry Garcia

 

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Though I have yet to try out any games...which I'll be doing later.

What games? The most graphic intensive I have is No Mans Sky. My ATI RX6700 doesn't even blink at that, never gets warmer than basic running temp and so the fans never make any noise. On my other computer running the nVidia 1650 that game is almost at the card's limit, it does get warm and the fans do wizz up.

Right now I'm playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It's an older game but it's the first time I've played it, been having a lot of fun with it too.

 

[Judge]

On my other computer running the nVidia 1650 that game is almost at the card's limit, it does get warm and the fans do wizz up.

Exactly. The present card I'm using is an Nvidia GTX 1660Ti.

Though in the future I may upgrade to an RTX 3060/3070, which may be comparable to an AMD RX6700.

 

[Judge]

So far I have no complaints about HDMI. Works fine with my Nvidia GTX1660Ti. This is actually the first system I built where I opted to go with HDMI instead of using my old and trusted, but very bulky DVI port.

But then I'm using sound based on my motherboard's Realtek audio....and Pulse Audio Volume Control. Once I got the audio jack "retasked", and made some tweaks on the Intel sound files it all sounds great. Though I'm also playing around with getting more sophisticated speakers. My Logitech Z130 speakers get the job done, but they are by no means what I'd call "High Fidelity".

Still, I wish I could have gotten great speaker sound "out of the box" upon installation of the OS. Oh well...it's Linux and they "promise you a rose garden". I'm still stoked by all the third-party support I find on the Internet though. Allowing me to solve virtually 99% of whatever problems I encounter.

 

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My Logitech Z130 speakers get the job done, but they are by no means what I'd call "High Fidelity".

Before my big burn out I had a really nice amplifier and big 1980s style 220 watt speakers, I used to run my computer audio through that and the sound was superb. The quality of sound that your computer produces is amazing but if the speakers can't handle it they let you down.

 

[Judge]

Before my big burn out I had a really nice amplifier and big 1980s style 220 watt speakers, I used to run my computer audio through that and the sound was superb. The quality of sound that your computer produces is amazing but if the speakers can't handle it they let you down.

Sounded like fun!

I play the exact same MP3 files through my tv set to my Sony Home Theater receiver via optical connector. It gets the job done I suppose. However I'd love to hear them through my 80s Boston Acoustics 3-way tower speakers which are connected to a second 80s analog Sony receiver.

But if I were to get a third digital receiver exclusively for my computer....that could be fun. But the ugly bottom line is all the same. I live in an apartment, and a loud audio system remains the kiss of death. Making most of it academic. Still, I'd love to be able to make use of my digital optical output to a powerful digital receiver connected to some bodacious speakers.

There are a few promising powered speakers out there dedicated to PCs. Wth connectors to subwoofers to give it some ooomph. But it still remains daunting to be able to crank it up without getting kicked out. Life in the apartments....

 

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But the ugly bottom line is all the same. I live in an apartment, and a loud audio system remains the kiss of death.

I have exactly the same problem, it's why I never bothered buying another amplifier. Late last year I bought myself a decent pair of noise cancelling headphones and the sound quality in them is really good but it's not the same as listening to good quality speakers.

I wish the headphones connected through ordinary unbranded wireless instead of stupid bluetooth though.

 

[MildredHubble]

When I was Hackintoshing a PC a few years ago I ran into the same issue with the speaker jack. Sound defaulted to HDMI as "Internal Speakers" based on the MacOS interpretation. The green speaker output remained stubbornly silent. It turned out that it defaults to SPDIF under MacOS and back then fixing the issue involved a lot of messing around with the .plist files with quite a lot of trial and error and the occasional Kernel Panic.

The frustrating thing was that each manufacturer may essentially wire up the outputs in such a way that they don't appear in a logical way in the OS. This is basically untangled by the drivers within Windows, at least in theory. As manufacturers prioritise Windows and just leave the Linux community to fix the issues, sometimes you just get unlucky and end up with a system that hasn't been "fixed" yet.

Interestingly the apparently quicker way to fix the Hackintosh sound problem was to boot Linux and use it to spit out a sound device configuration file that you could open on the Mac and copy into (I think it was) DSDT.aml or something like that, but since my system required a DSDT.aml free setup I couldn't go that route.

 

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When I was Hackintoshing a PC a few years ago I ran into the same issue with the speaker jack.

Where I was living up north very few people had TV reception, and for those that did it was pretty dodgy. In fact when I first moved out there the town electricity supply was just being extended to that region for the very first time, in 2010. So now people wanted TVs and they need something to watch on them.

I showed many how to use their computer as the home entertainment system, plugged in to both the TV and the stereo, out in the bush with no neighbours close by you can have a decent stereo system.

A lot of older people found the computer a lot easier to use once they got used to the idea too. Most remote controls have a hundred and seventy twelve buttons on them and if you want to use them you have to turn the bright lights on and find your other glasses. A mouse only has 2 buttons, so much easier and more intuitive.

Where ever I could I connected the TV using the old VGA cable because of the HDMI sound problem. Power cuts are common up the top end and every time the power went out the sound would switch back to HDMI again, but only if an HDMI cable was being used.

 

[MildredHubble]

Where ever I could I connected the TV using the old VGA cable because of the HDMI sound problem. Power cuts are common up the top end and every time the power went out the sound would switch back to HDMI again, but only if an HDMI cable was being used.

I kept using VGA quite a lot until I got my iMacs. I found there wasn't much difference between HDMI and VGA that couldn't be solved by creating a suitable colour profile. There's a tiny bit of noise, but that probably could be solved with a better shielded cable.

I would use an HDMI to VGA convertor that had a stereo jack and treated that like the green audio output. That way, I could side step Windows inexplicably changing back to HDMI sound output whenever I was booting into that OS.

When I was in MacOS it was pretty convenient to just think of my HiFi system as "Internal Speakers" and of course plugging in headphones would automatically switch it to "Headphones" and back once removed. I had several instances where Windows would seem to jump to HDMI for no apparent reason for an audio output and it's weird "mixer" application would create outputs for individual applications, sometimes obscured and had to be tracked down by scrolling the window to the right. It was very frustrating, but my HDMI convertor pretty much cured it immediately.

Whenever I use a computer with an external monitor I use HDMI or Display Port as I prefer the video quality these days. But I don't mind VGA if it's my only option

 

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Out at Dundee I had more than 80% of them running Linux. It meant I didn't have to keep coming back and fixing problems all the time.

About a year after I left one of my mates got me to recommend a computer shop in Darwin he could go to. He said when he went there and started talking to the bloke he mentioned he was running Linux and the bloke in the shop laughed and said "You live at Dundee too then?".

 

[Judge]

Out at Dundee I had more than 80% of them running Linux. It meant I didn't have to keep coming back and fixing problems all the time.

Good point. My experience with Linux has been once I have solved a problem, that's it. I don't have such issues popping up or reoccurring all the time like Windows.

Heard Windows 10 will have security fixes beyond next year, but starting at $61 a year. Then the price doubles. Also heard they intend to release a "light" version of Windows 11 shortly. Less bloatware, but also no access to the Microsoft Store....which sucked last time I accessed it. Not impressed.

 

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Good point. My experience with Linux has been once I have solved a problem, that's it. I don't have such issues popping up or reoccurring all the time like Windows.

That's exactly what got me to make the switch, it behaves exactly the same every time you turn it on. Nothing ever interferes with it. That and no possibility of any virus threats meant once I tried it there was no going back.

 

[MildredHubble]

You live at Dundee too then?".

Lol! Kinda reminds me of when a very long time ago, mobile phones started to have a feature that allowed you to record something with the microphone to use as a ring tone. You could also exchange them with other people. One of my friends asked me to play Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit intro on guitar to use as a ring tone. He'd obviously shared it about a lot as for about a year afterwards I would be sitting on a bus or something and I'd hear my rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit playing on someone's phone as a ringtone!

 

[Judge]

That's exactly what got me to make the switch, it behaves exactly the same every time you turn it on. Nothing ever interferes with it. That and no possibility of any virus threats meant once I tried it there was no going back.

LOL. I was just thinking, so many jaded and skeptical Windows users would probably scoff at such a statement.

But for the most part it's true. So much aggravation with Windows. So easy to gravitate to Linux if you have the chops to make it all work. It's just such a good time to make the transition if you can.

Microsoft is so gaga over AI that I suspect they've lost a lot of their interest in their OS. Much like Nvidia seems to have abandoned the interests and concerns of gamers.