Installing PulseAudio on Ubuntu

=====================================

PulseAudio was once a popular sound server used by many Linux distributions including Ubuntu for handling multiple audio streams and clients efficiently. However, with newer versions of Ubuntu such as 21.10 (impish) onwards, PipeWire has taken over the role that PulseAudio previously held.

This article will guide you through removing any existing instances of PulseAudio on your system before installing and configuring PipeWire instead.

Prerequisites

---------

1. Before proceeding with this tutorial, ensure that you have Ubuntu 20.04 or later installed on your computer.

2. You should also be logged in as a user with root privileges to perform these steps successfully.

Step-by-Step Instructions

----------------------

### Step 1: Remove PulseAudio and its Dependencies (Optional)

If for some reason you still require using PulseAudio instead of PipeWire, follow the following commands:

```bash

sudo apt update -y && sudo apt remove --purge pulseaudio pulseclient libpulse0 jackd1 libjack-dev \

libasound2-plugins python-pulse* git y-tempest paman paplay pavucontrol pavumount \

espeak-ng flite1 libespeak-data libflite1 speech-dispits

```

### Step 2: Add the PipeWire PPA Repository

PipeWire is not included in official Ubuntu repositories yet. Therefore, we need to add a third-party repository called Universe first and then install the WirePlumber package from its official repository.

```bash

sudo apt update -y && sudo apt-add-repository ppa:dna3841/wireplumberv5-staging --yes

# To enable this PPA for pipewire0.3 instead, use:

# sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wireless-museum/ppa --yes

```

### Step 3: Install PipeWire and its Dependencies

Now we can install the required packages using apt:

```bash

sudo apt update -y && \

sudo apt-get install pipewire pulseaudio --frozeed --no-manual-ppa-upgrade --reinstall -y libgstreamer1.0-dev libjackd2-dummy0 jack-pulse

```

### Step 4: Start and Enable PipeWire Services

To start the services immediately:

```bash

systemctl enable --now --force-dep=networking \

systemd-resolved.service pulseaudio.socket \

pipewire-media-client.service \

wireplumberv5.service \

pulseaudio.service \

jackd.socket

```

### Step 5: Set up PulseAudio as the Default Sound System (Optional)

If you still want to use PulseAudio instead of PipeWire, run:

```bash

sudo sed -i '/^Exec=/s/ Exec=.*/#Exec=*/g > /usr/share/alsa/default.conf~

```

After making these changes, reboot your system for them to take effect.

Troubleshooting and Additional Tips

------------------------------

If you encounter any issues during the installation or configuration process, refer to the PipeWire documentation for more detailed troubleshooting instructions:

* https://docs.pulseaudio.org/tutorials/ Troubleshoot.html

Also, keep in mind that using PulseAudio with newer versions of Ubuntu might cause compatibility problems due to its deprecation. It is recommended to switch entirely to PipeWire and WirePlumber instead.

-------

In this article, we covered the steps necessary for installing and setting up PulseAudio on an older version of Ubuntu (20.04 or later). However, please note that as newer versions of Ubuntu ship with PipeWire by default, it's highly recommended to transition away from PulseAudio towards more modern audio technologies like WirePlumber.

By following these instructions carefully, you should be able to successfully remove any existing instances of PulseAudio and its dependencies while installing the latest version of PipeWire along with necessary packages required for smooth operation.

Pulseaudio ubuntu