2015 — 3 December: Thursday
Today's the day for seeing if I can get the HP All-in-one PC that Iris uses (on my advice) "up" to Windows 10 from 8.1. Should make a pleasant change from wrestling with my Linux system's audiosyncracies1 for a day. After all, Windows 10 is widely regarded — within Microsoft, if nowhere else — as the very best operating system on the planet. What could possibly go wrong?
TTFN
While I was out...
... keeping a watchful eye on the progress of an entirely painless upgrade to Windows 10, enjoying my free "lunch" reward for services to computing, and just chatting, my two Linux gurus have been hard at work batting theories back and forth about possible reasons for, and possible solutions to, my Linux audio / HDMI / HDCP(?) woes. But, you know what? Woes, problems, and glitches are all — when viewed in the correct light — merely an excuse to buy a new toy. In this case, an external USB sound card that is already known to work well with Linux, and has a built-in high-quality headphone amplifier. The Marantz A/V amp can go back to driving the audio system upstairs, and the Audiolab pre-amp (with its far more versatile set of digital audio I/O) can come back down here.
I shall give up...
... chasing that distant pipedream of a single digital connection between BlackBeast and the A/V system. Instead, I shall connect the PC directly to one of the two HDMI inputs on the Kuro screen, so anything "iffy" about it won't get anywhere near the A/V system. Meanwhile, the audio signal will go directly into the A/V amp, unperturbed by any video effects or interactions with the graphics card or HDCP protocol handshakes. Worst case, I just go back to watching the occasional video file on the PC screen. As I do today.
Primitive?
Perhaps. But not anywhere near as primitive as the "solution" seriously offered to me (as "state of the art", unbelievably) back when cable TV first appeared in the Gardens. "You want stereo sound, sir? Really? Well, I suppose you could hook your FM tuner to our box, and try matching the sound to the TV picture. It may be stereo. Of course, if you switch to another TV channel, you'll have to retune your FM tuner, too."
Is it time for tea yet?
Oh, I like...
... this sentiment, very much:
If an MP is not robust enough to withstand emails and tweets, they should really not be voting for bombing other people — those who wish to be alone with their consciences would do better to consider a life of religious contemplation...
Remind me when bombing anywhere actually brought lasting peace? (Link.)
In preparation...
... for the new sound card — an Asus Xonar U7 — and acting on suggestions received, I have side-stepped (ahead of its delivery) a known problem that would have crashed the sound system if trodden in:
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf
Supply the password, then add the following line to the end of the file:
options snd-usb-audio ignore_ctl_error=1
Laura Norder...
... is cavorting happily at the other end of my living room. Now that I'm not trying to force an HDMI stream from the Linux PC to do unnatural acts in the face of unwillingness from its 'adjacent' DisplayPort stream I find the Audiolab handles both the Oppo Blu-ray player and the Humax hi-def satellite PVR via HDMI (exactly as designed) and sends perfect video to the Kuro. Plus, of course, I get back all the other digital and analogue audio I/O that the Marantz — with its emphasis on HDMI — singularly lacks.
Meanwhile, I note that seven years ago I was having similar loads of digital audio non-fun with my external USB Soundblaster "running" under Windows XP SP3 on two separate PCs. Does nothing ever change?