Help: show available flags.
.TP
-\fI\-c\fP <card number or idenfication>
+\fI\-c\fP <card number or identification>
Select the soundcard to use, if you have more than one. Cards are
numbered from 0 (the default).
Select the mixer device to control.
.TP
-\fI\-g\fP <toggle color settings>
+\fI\-g\fP
Toggle the using of colors.
.TP
-\fI\-s\fP <minimize mixer window>
+\fI\-s\fP
Minimize the mixer window.
+.TP
+\fI\-V\fP <view mode>
+Select the starting view mode, either \fIplayback\fP, \fIcapture\fP or \fIall\fP.
+
+.SH MIXER VIEWS
+
+The top-left corner of \fBalsamixer\fP is the are to show some basic
+information: the card name, the mixer chip name, the current view
+mode and the currently selected mixer item.
+When the mixer item is switched off, \fI[Off]\fP is displayed in its
+name.
+
+Volume bars are located below the basic information area. You can
+scroll left/right when all controls can't be put in a single screen.
+The name of each control is shown in the bottom below the volume bars.
+The currently selected item is drawn in red and/of emphasized.
+
+Each mixer control with volume capability shows a box and the current
+volume filled in that box. The volume percentages are displayed below
+the volume bar for left and right channels. For a mono control, only
+one value is shown there.
+
+When a mixer control is turned off, \fIM\fP (mute) appears in the top
+of its volume bar. Stereo controls may have two \fIM\fP's for left
+and right channels. You can toggle the switch via \fIm\fP key.
+
+When a mixer control has capture capability, the capture flag appears
+over the volume bar. When the capture is turned off,
+\-\-\-\-\-\- is shown. \fICAPTUR\fP in red appears when the
+capture switch is turned on. In addition, \fIL\fP and \fIR\fP letters
+appear in left and right side to indicate that left and the right
+channels are turned on.
+
+Some controls have the enumeration list, and don't show boxes but only
+texts which indicate the currently active item. You can change the
+item via up/down keys.
+
+.SH VIEW MODES
+\fBalsamixer\fP has three view modes: playback, capture and all.
+In the playback view, only the controls related with playback are shown.
+Similarly, only the controls for capture (recording) are shown in the capture
+view. The all view mode shows all controls. The current view mode is displayed
+in the top-left position together with the mixer name, etc.
+
+The default view mode is the playback view. You can change it via
+\fI-V\fP option.
+
+Each view mode can be switched via keys, \fIF3\fP, \fIF4\fP and \fIF5\fP keys
+for playback, capture and all views, respectively. Instead of function keys,
+the number keys \fI3\fP, \fI4\fP and \fI5\fP are accepted, too, for terminals
+which can't handle function keys.
+
+In addition to these view modes, you can switch to the help mode and
+the proc info mode via \fIF1\fP and \fIF2\fP keys, respectively.
+
.SH KEYBOARD COMMANDS
\fBalsamixer\fP recognizes the following keyboard commands to control the soundcard.
Commands shown here in upper case can also be given in lower case.
.SH AUTHOR
.B alsamixer
has been written by Tim Janik <timj@gtk.org> and
-been furtherly improved by Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>.
+been further improved by Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>.
This manual page was provided by Paul Winkler <zarmzarm@erols.com>.