Pipe System sound to another computer

Question

i have no speakers in my PC(Cent-OS 5.5) but there is a stereo speaker connected to the computer next to my Computer(Cent-OS 5.5). Both computers are networked. Is there any way to pipe my system sounds to that computer speaker ?

Answer 1

PulseAudio can be used over the network.

1. On computer B, enable incoming network access:

   • Via paprefs → Network Server → Enable network access to local devices

   • Or, by editing ~/.pulse/default.pa (need to restart pulseaudio)

     .include /etc/pulse/default.pa
     load-module module-native-protocol-tcp
     

2. Copy ~/.pulse-cookie from computer B to computer A.

3. On computer A, enable network streaming:

   • Edit ~/.profile or equivalent startup script to add:

     export PULSE_SERVER="tcp:computer-b-address"
     test "$DISPLAY" && pax11publish -e
     

   • Log out, log in again, and ensure that at least one of printenv PULSE_SERVER and pax11publish shows the address of computer B.

---

Many programs already support PulseAudio. Those which do not, can be configured to use a PulseAudio-ALSA compatibility layer via /etc/asound.conf. The following example is taken from the pulseaudio-alsa package in Arch Linux:

pcm.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
  hint {
    show on
    description "Default ALSA Output (currently PulseAudio Sound Server)"
  }
}
ctl.!default {
  type pulse
  fallback "sysdefault"
}

Answer 2

Well... the first thing that came to my mind was a version of VNC that allows for sound. Not every install does. So, I cranked up a VNC comparison page.

Looking through it, there are a number of VNC based installs that not only work with Linux, but support sound. So right there, that's one way. You install the server on your computer, install the client on the computer with the speakers, enable multi-user sessions so you don't get disconnected, and you can pipe your sound to that computer.

Otherwise, you can try the Network Audio System which I got out of a similar question asked last year Play system sounds from one computer through another computer's speakers?

Answer 3

I think is is better to set up samba shares for your whole music collection, then access it with your player of choice on the second machine. I am sure it will work better than VNC (I reckon VNC sound isn't stereo)