Hammerfall DSP needs alsactl init db entry to work with Pulseaudio

Advice for getting Pulseaudio to work with the DSP Hammerfall one can find on the net is rather scarce. The default behavior mostly refuses to operate at all.

The advice found on the net more or less recommends starting with something like

load-module module-alsa-sink sink_name=dsp_out device=hw:DSP format=s32le channels=18 channel_map=left,right,aux0,aux1,aux2,aux3,aux4,aux5,aux6,aux7,aux8,aux9,aux10,aux11,aux12,aux13,aux14,aux15 tsched=0
load-module module-alsa-source source_name=dsp_in device=hw:DSP format=s32le channels=18 channel_map=left,right,aux0,aux1,aux2,aux3,aux4,aux5,aux6,aux7,aux8,aux9,aux10,aux11,aux12,aux13,aux14,aux15 tsched=0

in the /etc/pulse/default.pa configuration.

It turns out that tsched=0 operation is not actually necessary: it suffices to do

amixer -D hw:DSP cset 'iface=CARD,name=Precise Pointer' On

before starting Pulseaudio. It seems likely that this kind of setup should be put somewhere in the alsa initialization.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: alsa-base 1.0.22.1+dfsg-0ubuntu3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.154-rt
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-rt i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.20.
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: dak 12880 F.... hdspmixer
 /dev/snd/controlC0: dak 14300 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'I82801DBICH4'/'Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1981B at irq 5'
   Mixer name : 'Analog Devices AD1981B'
   Components : 'AC97a:41445374'
   Controls : 26
   Simple ctrls : 18
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'DSP'/'RME Hammerfall DSP + Multiface at 0xc8000000, irq 5'
   Mixer name : 'Xilinx FPGA'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 25
   Simple ctrls : 18
Date: Mon Sep 27 17:07:03 2010
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: alsa-driver
dmi.bios.date: 06/18/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 1RETDRWW (3.23 )
dmi.board.name: 2373TG5
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr1RETDRWW(3.23):bd06/18/2007:svnIBM:pn2373TG5:pvrThinkPadT41:rvnIBM:rn2373TG5:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 2373TG5
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T41
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM