That would be your sound driver issue not a FF Browser issue. I don't have trouble with mine when I do that it takes a micro second to switch over and if your takes longer then you got either software driver or hardware issues causing it.

That is how it always has worked in Firefox. Firefox only detects the currently used output device when Firefox starts and doesn't detect changes made during the session.

WestEnd said

That would be your sound driver issue not a FF Browser issue. I don't have trouble with mine when I do that it takes a micro second to switch over and if your takes longer then you got either software driver or hardware issues causing it.

Well, it sometime detects my USB headset, but not the 3.5 jack. And My driver is healthy.

cor-el said

That is how it always has worked in Firefox. Firefox only detects the currently used output device when Firefox starts and doesn't detect changes made during the session.

Thank you! I noticed the same. But other browsers say chrome and Edge, they are picking me up in between the sessions. Moreover, fyi I am using a VM.

Harty said

Well, it sometime detects my USB headset, but not the 3.5 jack. And My driver is healthy.

USB "devices" connect into the operating system thru the USB controller chip, which handles connecting an additional device more smoothly than the motherboard plugs, such as the keyboard, mouse, and parallel printers. The USB controller is programmed in the operating system to select a "known device" (the API used & code knowledge for each device) and automatically use the correct driver. Although the first time a new device is used on that operating system Windows will ask confirmation about the new device before selecting (and saving) that device so that it will connect seamlessly after the first use.

In my experiences, I can't remember the last time Firefox didn't recognize a USB device that was plugged in while Firefox was running, and be able to use automatically the USB device without "jumping thru hoops". But I have always needed to restart Firefox after plugging in a headphone or mic into a 3.5 jack; electronically I don't understand the "why" Firefox works this way.

My guess it is due to Firefox being written for cross-browser compatibility where most parts of Firefox are the same whether the OS is Windows, Mac, or Linux. Extra code is added for each different type of OS and for each major version of those different types of OS's.

the-edmeister said

Harty said

Well, it sometime detects my USB headset, but not the 3.5 jack. And My driver is healthy.

USB "devices" connect into the operating system thru the USB controller chip, which handles connecting an additional device more smoothly than the motherboard plugs, such as the keyboard, mouse, and parallel printers. The USB controller is programmed in the operating system to select a "known device" (the API used & code knowledge for each device) and automatically use the correct driver. Although the first time a new device is used on that operating system Windows will ask confirmation about the new device before selecting (and saving) that device so that it will connect seamlessly after the first use.

In my experiences, I can't remember the last time Firefox didn't recognize a USB device that was plugged in while Firefox was running, and be able to use automatically the USB device without "jumping thru hoops". But I have always needed to restart Firefox after plugging in a headphone or mic into a 3.5 jack; electronically I don't understand the "why" Firefox works this way.

My guess it is due to Firefox being written for cross-browser compatibility where most parts of Firefox are the same whether the OS is Windows, Mac, or Linux. Extra code is added for each different type of OS and for each major version of those different types of OS's.

Cool. I totally agree about the cross-platform thing as you described. On my point of view, chrome is also cross-platformed, right? and it works. But I don't use chrome as much as I use Firefox and sadly I am restarting my Firefox for USB head-set too.

Harty said

Cool. I totally agree about the cross-platform thing as you described. On my point of view, chrome is also cross-platformed, right? and it works. But I don't use chrome as much as I use Firefox and sadly I am restarting my Firefox for USB head-set too.

I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but Chrome / WebKit was created in a different era (2007) than Netscape / Gecko (1995?) and Internet Explorer (1996 or '97?). IMO part of the limitations that affected the older era of web browsers had to do with the DOS underpinnings of Windows 95, 98, and ME, which Google didn't face with WinXP and later being on NT. Plus there's a 16-bit vs 32-bit "thing" that could have affected the older era difference or limitations in cross-browser programming. Plus MS IE supported MacOSX until it didn't after Safari WebKit came about; iirc, that was about the time that Mac began with 64-bit versions of MacOSX. One of the things that led me to think of the 16 vs 32-bit situation.

Google Chrome never had to support the DOS based versions of Windows, it was WinXP (NT-based) and later. Or possibly it could be due to the web browser market being much larger in 2007 and Google was huge by then and had the money to hire away programmers from all over to achieve their goals; work out the "kinks" or just author code for each of the major 3 OS types involved.

By 2005 Mozilla with Firefox was able to chip away an IE dominance of the web browser market in the early 00's, Google then stepped in hiring away the best Mozilla "minds" to help "put the nail in IE's coffin"; subsequently Google managed to just about kill Firefox by 2011. IMO, Mozilla was too slow to move away from its roots in Netscape/Gecko; IOW, too slow moving towards what is now called Quantum; which is going over like a lead balloon in many long term Firefox users's minds.

Then there's the probability that Chrome has access with Alphabet "cash" to almost write platform specific code to meet their goals for what amounts to an "advertising delivery vehicle" for the internet. Overall there's could be a lot of anti-trust issues coming down the pike for Google / Alphabet. The USA didn't touch (or couldn't) touch Microsoft in the mid-00's, but the EU did at least least get a 5 year ( ? ) consent order to equalize the web browser playing field in the "teens"; and EU has something going on with Google as far as potential litigation over their practices.

Hey, just ramblings from a 68 yo man who is far from an expert in anything, and just a spectator / observer. I love Firefox and I am clinging to the Firefox of the past. Quantum "excites" me as much as going to the dentist does.