[Scarborough] Re: [SLUG] Suse sound (again, but new scenario)

[Carles Pina i Estany]

Hello,

On Apr/20/2006, john at johnallsopp.co.uk wrote:

> The LPI thing doesn't give a lot of attention to sound, but I have a
> page of notes about how to install a card:
> 
> Check IRQ, DMA, I/O port conflicts: checked

when I studied it, one year and half ago, LPI was paying some attention
to ISA cards. Forget about it...

> sndconfig may work: it doesn't
> 
> Configure PnP if applicable, it isn't.

No, usually you had to configure ISA PnP. PCI PnP should be
automatically...

> Next up is modules. Now I don't know much about modules (it shows
> doesn't it, dammit!), so I've done the LPI learning about modules and
> now I know something.

easy: modprobe module_name to load, rmmod module_name to unload
You can see which modules do you have in:

/lib/modules/{kernel_version}/kernel/drivers/sound (I think...)

> I've also got some drivers from Realtek.

very rare that you need to take drivers from some place that is not
kernel place (i mean for sound cards)...

Take a look in module-drivers...

Decide if you should fight for OSS or ALSA (maybe ALSA, it is more
modern... but I think that OSS is more simple to understand...)

If you choose alsa, be careful, lot of programs tries to send sound
output to /dev/dsp and not to alsa devices. Make tests with mpg123 or
ogg123 with -d option, and kill esound and artsd...

With ALSA there is a module/kernel option that allows to use ALSA system
and enables /dev/dsp for backward compatibility. Usually I use it... so
i forget about problems with some programs, default options to oss,
etc...

-- 
Carles Pina i Estany		GPG id: 0x8CBDAE64
	http://pinux.info	Manresa - Barcelona