[lug] How do you make sound work?

[rm at fabula.de]

On Fri, Jan 04, 2002 at 04:17:43PM -0700, Glenn Murray wrote:
> Thanks for the response.  When I had a RH5.2, I was able to get
> Linus's lesson on pronouncing Linux to come out of the speakers.
> However, sndconfig does not appear to be a Debian package, so it must
> work some other way.  It seems there should be a KDE way to do this...

On Debian you first need to decide what OS level sound system
you want/need to use, OSS(either free or commercial) or ALSA.
Iff you want to use ALSA (my current pick) you only need to enable
basic sound support in the kernel but no compiled in sound card driver.
On a stock Debian system (i.e.  no custom kernel) it should be enough
to install the alsa modules package (alsa-modules-n.n.n-mmm, where n.n.n
is the version of your kernel package and mmm is the processor type
of your current kernel package). Otherwise get alsa-sources, install it,
read the documentation in /usr/share/doc/alsa-source and compile the modules.
On Debian ALSA is configured with files in /etc/alsa/ - have a look at the
sample file that come with the package.

On trap with ALSA: when you insmod the modules the sound is muted by default!
Get some ALSA capable mixer app. (xaumix or the like) and unmute it.
This can also be done in the startup script with alsamixer (package alsa-utils).
Feel frere to contact me if you need more help/infos.


 Ralf Mattes

> Glenn Murray
> http://www.mines.edu/~gmurray
> 
> On 4 Jan 2002, Hugh Brown wrote:
> 
> > Assuming RH, then go to a non-X session (init 3 as root from a terminal)
> > and then run sndconfig.  In the past, when I have tried sndconfig from X
> > it locks up the machine (there's a note to that effect and they really
> > meant it).  That should configure your sound card and load the
> > appropriate modules (assuming it is a supported sound card).
> > 
> > Hugh
> > 
> > On Fri, 2002-01-04 at 16:55, Glenn Murray wrote:
> > > Since I seem to be the only one asking questions today...
> > > 
> > > How do I make sound work?  I have a dual boot machine running Debian
> > > 2.2 and KDE.  The sound works under Windoze, but the best I can get
> > > out of Debian is a system beep.  I have /dev/audio and did a o+rw on
> > > it, but the KDE sound configuration test doesn't make a bleep.
> > > 
> > > The system reports the sound card as:
> > > 
> > > CT4780 SBLive! Value (Multimedia audio controller)
> > > 
> > > Thanks,
> > > Glenn Murray
> > > http://www.mines.edu/~gmurray
> 
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