Selecting output from multiple audio devices

[pajamabama]

I've got both the onboard audio and a USB audio device configured. In the yast sound configure tool, both devices produce sound when they are tested. What I'm not sure how to do is select which output device to use for playback normally. They're configured with the onboard device as [0] and the USB device as [1], so it seems like it's defaulting to the first device listed. Is there a way to change this?

sean@Iago:~> cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [I82801CAICH3   ]: ICH - Intel 82801CA-ICH3
                     Intel 82801CA-ICH3 with CS4205 at 0xd800, irq 5
1 [Audio          ]: USB-Audio - USB Audio
                     C-Media INC. USB Audio at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1, full speed

[pajamabama]

For anyone who's looking at this in the future, I think I got it working.

create a ~/.asoundrc file (in your home dirctory) with the following entries:

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 1
}

ctl.!default {
type hw
card 1
}

the '!default' entry will overwrite the alsa system's default device reference to the one you define here. the number follwing the word 'card' refers to the index of the sound card you're trying to set as the default one. As shown here, this sets my USB audio device as the default.

I'll make simple script that will replace the '1' with a '0' to set the default device back to the onboard audio.

This works with anything configured to use the ALSA sound system. Kaffiene, Amarok, and XMMS if you explicitly set the output system to be ALSA.

Check here for more info:

http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc...module=Generic