Script to fix sound for skype-oss and "exclusive mode"

[igorzwx]

If you are using "skype_oss_wrapper" or "exclusive" mode, you may need a magic tool to kill all "audio-terrorists", such as adobe-flashplugin and the like.

This magic instrument should be able
(1) to kill adobe-flashplugin without killing browsers,
(2) to fix all problems with a mouse click.

To create such a magic tool, you can simply modify the native script "killprocs.sh"

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$ cat freesound.sh
#!/bin/bash

# Script to free the sound device for "skype_oss_wrapper" and/or "exclusive mode", e.g. "ossplay -R"
# Source: /usr/lib/oss/scripts/killprocs.sh

# Step 1: Kill programs which are using OSS devices

PROCS="`fuser /dev/mixer* /dev/dsp* /dev/audio* /dev/sequencer /dev/music /dev/midi* 2>/dev/null`"

if test "$PROCS " = " "
then
   exit 0
fi

for pid in $PROCS
do
   # ps ax|grep "^ *$pid "
   # echo killing $pid
   kill -9 $pid
done

wait

# Step 2: Relaunch the OSS Mixer GUI daemon
ossxmix -b &

# Pop-up notifications for MATE desktop
# See: http://mate-desktop.org/blog/2013-01-20-changes-to-mate-notification-daemon/

killall mate-notification-daemon -q

icon=/opt/scripts/icons/freesound48.xpm

notify-send "   Sound device is free" --icon=$icon -t 5000

exit 0

Save it as "freesound.sh" and make it executable

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$ chmod +x freesound.sh

If you do not use pop-up notifications, you may comment them out.

Copy freesound.sh to your script folder

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$ sudo cp freesound.sh /opt/scripts

Create a symbolic link:

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$ sudo ln -s /opt/scripts/freesound.sh /usr/bin/freesound

Unzip icons and copy them to your script folder

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$ sudo cp -r icons /opt/scripts

Now we can create a launcher for freesound

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$ echo "[Desktop Entry]
Name=freesound
Comment=Free sound device for "exclusive mode"
Exec=freesound
Icon=/opt/scripts/icons/freesound24.xpm
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=AudioVideo;" > freesound.desktop

You can view it on terminal

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$ cat freesound.desktop

or open it with a text editor of your choice

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$ pluma freesound.desktop

To enable this "application launcher", you can copy it to /usr/share/applications/

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$ sudo cp freesound.desktop /usr/share/applications/

It will appear in the "Application Menu", and you can drag and drop it to panel.

Now you can test it with browsers/adobe-flash, etc.

How to use:
1. Run "freesound" with a mouse click.
2. Then you can run "skype_oss_wrapper", or "ossplay -R", or "pcm_play -e", or DeadBeef in exclusive mode.

[cwpjr]

Nice clean example. I learned a lot. Thanks!

[igorzwx]

A simple solution:

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$ cat killaudio.sh
#!/bin/bash

# Script to free the sound device for "skype_oss_wrapper" and/or "exclusive mode", e.g. "ossplay -R"

# 1: "find" will find all audio devices of OSS4
# 2: "fuser" will kill all audio apps
# 3: The OSS Mixer GUI daemon (ossxmix) will be restarted

killall -q ossxmix
fuser -ks $(find /dev/oss -type c 2>/dev/null) 2>/dev/null
ossxmix -b &

exit 0


Audio apps can also be killed in interactive mode with one command:

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$ fuser -ikv $(find /dev/oss -type c 2>/dev/null)

__________________________________

See also:

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$ man find
$ man fuser

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$ man find | grep -A5 '\-type c$' | grep -v '^$\|block'
       -type c
              File is of type c:
              c      character (unbuffered) special

Unix Device file
_https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_file_types#Device_file
Character devices
_https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_file#Character_devices

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$ fuser --help
  -a,--all              display unused files too
  -i,--interactive      ask before killing (ignored without -k)
  -k,--kill             kill processes accessing the named file
  -s,--silent           silent operation
  -v,--verbose          verbose output
  -w,--writeonly        kill only processes with write access


[igorzwx]

There is a nice website which explains shell commands:
_https://explainshell.com/

It does explain all details of the magic command:

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$ fuser -ikv $(find /dev/oss -type c 2>/dev/null)


It is interactive, just click on the parameters to get them explained
_https://explainshell.com/explain?cmd=fuser+-ikv+%24%28find+%2Fdev%2Foss+-type+c+2%3E%2Fdev%2Fnull%29