http://voices.canonical.com/david.henningsson/2014/03/07/headset-jacks- on-newer-laptops/
the most reliable source is to actually look at the small icon present next to the jack. Does it look like a headphone (without mic), headset (with mic) or a microphon http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~unity-settings-daemon-team/unity-settings-daemon/trunk/view/head:/plugins/media-keys/what-did-you-plug-in/pa-backend.c In PulseAudio ports will show up with the following names: Headphones - analog-output-headphones Headset mic - analog-input-microphone-headset Jack in mic-in mode - analog-input-microphone However, since regular mics also show up as analog-input-microphone, we need to check for certain controls on alsa mixer level too, to know if we deal with a separate mic jack, or a multi-function jack with a mic-in mode (also called "headphone mic"). We check for the following names: Headphone Mic Jack - indicates headphone and mic-in mode share the same jack, i e, not two separate jacks. Hardware cannot distinguish between a headphone and a mic. Headset Mic Phantom Jack - indicates headset jack where hardware can not distinguish between headphones and headsets Headset Mic Jack - indicates headset jack where hardware can distinguish between headphones and headsets. There is no use popping up a dialog in this case, unless we already need to do this for the mic-in mode. */ you may need to file upstream bug report since there should be either headset Mic Jack or headset Mic phantom Jack for you to use the headset mic control.17 { iface CARD name 'Headphone Front Jack' value true comment { access read type BOOLEAN count 1 } } control.18 { iface CARD name 'Headphone Surround Jack' value false comment { access read type BOOLEAN count 1 } } -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to alsa-driver in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1302090 Title: Dell Alienware 14, Speaker sound output is mono until a headphone jack is plugged Status in “alsa-driver” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Here's the required release and package information: Description: Ubuntu Trusty Tahr (development branch) Release: 14.04 Package: linux-image-extra-3.13.0-19-generic Version: 3.13.0-19.40 When playing audio through speakers on my Alienware 14 2014, the sound output is in mono until I plug a headphone in any of the two available headphone jacks (obviously, the auto-mute option must be disabled). When I do so, the sound starts to play in stereo. I would love the sound output to be stereo by default and not be forced to plug anything to achieve that. Attached is the alsa-info.sh output for my machine. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1302090/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
