Can't switch between headphones and speakers

I realize this question has been asked before, but i'm yet to find an answer that helps me, so I guess I'll have to ask it again.

Hi! I'm a new Ubuntu user, first time in Linux switching from Windows, running Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial?) I have a laptop which of course, has built-in speakers and an audio jack, I have a couple of headphones plugged into it at all times, since plugging them and unplugging them would wear out the port, and in Windows this is not an issue, since I can just go to the sound control panel and software switch which device outputs audio.

Homever, in Ubuntu that does not seem to be an option, when I plug the headphones in, the OS will recognize them as built-in audio, and I'd like to know how I can fix this, I already tried installing a software called "sound switcher indicator", but I was not able to go trough with that because I'm missing the authentication key, and I don't know where to get it.

Other than that, the other threads I've found seem to only say it's not possible, or to get an external sound card, which of course I don't think is necesary considering I did this on Windows with no problems.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the tired old question, but I'd definitely like to solve this issue. And i'm kinda lost.

1 Answer

I don't think plugging them and unplugging them wears out the jack or port. Having your headphone cables snag on something and rip your smartphone out of your pocket and onto the pavement does cause wear as I've discovered many times.

That said, this thread discusses many options to achieve what you want. When you read the thread note that Ubuntu uses Pulse Audio and not ALSA.