[Preston] Detection of Sound Cards

[Richard Wellstead]

On Saturday 24 January 2004 23:00 pm, Andrew King wrote:
> Matthew T. Atkinson wrote:
> >'ellow,
> >
> >ALSA on Linux 2.4 works very nicely and I would recommend that you
> > try it.  It's not that hard to set up on a Debian system as there
> > is make-kpkg to help.  I am using Debian Sid with a 2.4.x kernel
> > and ALSA works great with my SB Live (emu10k1 driver).  Here is a
> > guide from Debian Planet:
> >
> >http://www.debianplanet.org/node.php?id=849
> >
> >[ Some of the packages have got more advanced and do more
> > automatically for you since this was written.  Therefore, the guide
> > may be telling you to do some things that you'll notice have
> > already been done for you. Sorry for the confusion; it is the best
> > guide I know of. ]
> >
> >I hope that helps you get set up OK.  If you've never recompiled a
> >kernel before, it can seem daunting but Debian does help a lot in
> > this area.  (Seeing as you say you've used BSD, I am assuming you
> > have recompiled a kernel before.)
> >
> >IMHO, the most important thing is that becase you're letting the
> > ALSA modules do all of the sound card-related tasks, you have to
> > disable almost all of the sound system found in the kernel.  You
> > only need ``Sound Card Support'' enabled.
> >
> >So in menuconfig, go to ``Sound''.  Then make sure the only option
> > you have enabled is the top one ``Sound Card Support''.  I have it
> > built in (not a module).  Make sure that nothing else on that page
> > (not even the OSS modules -- as ALSA provides OSS emulation) is
> > enabled.  If you've got this right, you should be fine.  Also,
> > remember to add yourself to the ``audio'' group when it is all
> > installed, or you won't be able to hear anything -- I know this
> > from personal experience :-)!
> >
> >Finally, the guide mentions that you have to edit text files.  I
> > found that when I installed the alsa-utils package, it set all that
> > up for me (by asking a few debconf questions) so you may not have
> > to go around messing with the text files.  (As I mentioned before,
> > the guide is a bit out-of-date.)
> >
> >Oh, you'll need an ALSA compatible mixer to get the best out of your
> > new setup -- apt-get install gnome-alsamixer.  If you use KDE, I'm
> > not sure which package you need to install (if any), but I'm sure
> > that someone around 'ere will know :-).
>
> Thanks for all that!  I guess I'll go with Alsa then, and just give
> it a few gos over a week or two if it's being a pain.
>
> I guess that since Alsa means recompiling kernels, I may as well just
> go with 2.6 for all the other advantages.  Am ok with recompiling
> stuff - I just never expect anything to work with first time (few
> things ever do with computers I find, unless I've done the exact same
> procedure several dozen times already), and obviously it all just
> means more time spent sitting in front of a computer trying to make
> the damn thing work instead of being able to go and do something
> useful instead - like make a living out of them, or go outside or
> something :)
>
> It's all easy once you know how too isn't it :)
>
> Will let you know when I've got it working.
>
> Andrew
>

Hi,

 Just caught this thread... I swapped from OSS to ALSA on my slackware 
9.0 machine some time ago, cos the microphone didn't work in OSS. A ll 
you need to do is compile the three (i think) alsa packages, and change 
one or two config files, all detailed in the installation guide for 
alsa. It all worked a treat, and haven't had any problems since... No 
need for recompiling the kernel or anything... at least i never did!

Regards,

 Richard Wellstead