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<font color="#B03060">The Answer Gang</font>
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<H4>By Jim Dennis, Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Breen, Chris, and...
(<a href="tag/bios.html">meet the Gang</a>) ...
the Editors of Linux Gazette...
and You!
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Sound</H3>
<p><strong>From Michael Labhard
</strong></p>
<p></strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By Pradeep Padala, Robos, Ben Okopnik, Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<blockQuote>
Answer Gang:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
Just would like to have sound. Installed Mandrake 8.1 on an MSI MS-6390
motherboard with onboard Direct Sound AC97 Audio. No sound comes out.
HardDrake does not recognize card. sndconfig finds card but says it is
unsupported. Exhausted all other options after extensive web search and
many trials.
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [pradeep]
Did you look at "The Linux Sound HOWTO" at
<A HREF="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Sound-HOWTO/index.html"
>http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Sound-HOWTO/index.html</A>.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Some drivers like ESS Maestro3/Allegro are marked as experimental,
so they might not have been built in your stock kernel. If you know your
card name, you can try the experimental drivers. I used maestro3 driver
and works fine.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If your sound card is "sound blaster compatible", you can try the
generic driver for "sound blaster compatible" cards.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I can't tell you more without knowing the sound card type.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Robos]
It depends <EM>a lot</EM> on what you want from the sound card. Maybe you
should be a little bit more specific, up to now I got all my
soundcards working with linux, 7 in all and 3 onboard.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
My own 60-second web search ('linux msi 6390' on Google) has turned up
over 50 references, along with the following recommendation:
</blockQuote>
<TABLE WIDTH="95%" BORDER="1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC"><TR><TD>
<p align="center">...............</p>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
"The sound part works under Linux after you install the latest ALSA
drivers. Just compile ALSA by picking the 8233A option. You may also
want to load its AC97 part as a module too."
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote><p align="center">...............</p>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I'll buy any sound card and do whatever is necessary to get it running
but unable to find any clear explanation of how to install sound on Linux
with respect to any particular sound card. Only generalities and a large
number of options meant to cover all possible sound cards and situations.
Let's pick a card and explain the steps involved in getting that card to
work. Thanks.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
Sure: I just got a computer with a CMedia on-board sound chip. I looked
it up on the Web, typed "modprobe cmpci" and it worked.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Why do you think that this would make any sense for anyone except a
person who has that specific card? If you understand and follow the
instructions in the Sound-HOWTO, and you have a sound chip/system for
which a driver exists, you will have working sound. Yes, it does take a
bit of thinking and a little work. Expecting anything else is
unreasonable.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [pradeep]
Generally, sndconfig does good job of recognizing the card. If the card is
supported, it would have already been configured by harddrake or a similar
utility.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If not, first try to find out as much information as possible about the sound
card. I hate to say this, but system information in windows can help.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><ul>
<!-- *) Is it a PCI card? -->
<LI>Is it a PCI card?
</ul></blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br> lspci -vvv
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote><ul>
<!-- *) If you are lucky, there might be some experiemntal driver for the -->
<LI>If you are lucky, there might be some experiemntal driver for the
<!-- card already. I search on google with the search string -->
card already. I search on google with the search string
</ul></blockQuote>
<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br> "experimental driver" linux "my sound card name"
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote><ul>
<!-- *) If not, you can check the vendor site, and find out if it is -->
<LI>If not, you can check the vendor site, and find out if it is
<!-- compatible with any previous sound cards or "sound blaster" -->
compatible with any previous sound cards or "sound blaster"
<!-- *) Try the drivers comatible with the card and pray -->
<LI>Try the drivers comatible with the card and pray
</ul></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If you don't see smoke coming out of motherboard, mail me with your
findings.
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
Okay, since you ask it this way, I'll give specific advice first, and
general advice second, backwards of my usual.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I have a Creative Ensoniq AudioPCI - according to its box. The box also
states that it has a CT5880 music synthesis engine.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
This jibes well with lspci announcing that it is an Ensoniq 5880
AudioPCI.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The autodetectors in <A HREF="http://www.suse.com/">SuSE</A> 7.3 had no particular problem detecting it
but once I rolled my own kernel (as I like to do) they weren't quite as
helpful to me. Nonetheless I learned from reading their control files
that it's compatible with the ES1371 chipset drivers.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Possibly confusing, these exist under at least two of three major (and
I'll add, very different) means of firing up sound, but are named
slightly differently.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Under kernel based noisemaking, my modutils file contains these
notes to help the drivers deal with things:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>
options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1 snd_device_mode=0666
snd_device_gid=17 snd_device_uid=0
alias char-major-116 snd
alias char-major-14 snd
# I have an Ensoniq 5880
#
# this ones for ALSA and came with SuSE, ignore it right now
#
# bSAa.ouepqRQGtOE:5880 AudioPCI
#alias snd-card-0 snd-card-ens1371
#
# this one's for the kernel space driver
#
alias snd-card-0 snd-ens1371
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-11 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
It may well be that on my new kernel these mean nothing. I was afraid
to chop them out completely.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Since I only use my sound to play beeps and twiddles when I feel like
allowing my computer to be noisy, I don't know how well this alleged OSS
compatibility works. I only know that since my sound is built-in now, I
won't see its parts listed by lsmod.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Now for the general hints.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
If that's not enough for you then I'm sorry, perhaps you should buy a
more boring card, that doesn't have as many interesting features. You
might try asking the major distro websites if they suggest any specific
cards, since their autodetect routines should work. sndconfig is one
such autodetector. YaST has a module with one.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Alternatively you can look for notes where people have had to fight with
their card and win their way through - such that they wrote up a bit of
a HOWTO specific to their hardware themselves. This is especially
true of laptop users, and it's worth noting that some desktop motherboards'
onboard sound may be the same, and therefore use the same instructions.
To find these, surf the stores, note down some chipsets mentioned on
boxes, and mention them to a search engine along with the keywords
"linux" and "sound" and either "configure" or "setup".
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I favor avoiding products who won't mention their chipsets until you've
torn them open.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I favor buying products who actively support Linux on their website.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
ALSA has grown popular and there are rumors it may become the sound in
the 2.5 series. So you can go to the ALSA site and keep an eye on the
cards which have been sorted. Dig through the changelogs a little and
get something that has been well supported for a while. Then you should
be able to easily find it supported in the major distros which use ALSA,
which I know SuSE is one, and I think Mandrake is. It's been a while
since I used <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> so I couldn't say for that one.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
And, sound cards under Linux default to having the mixer settings all
muted or off so you don't get a splitting earful by accident. So, you'll
need to use a mixer program to set the volumes.
</blockQuote>
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<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<H5 align="center">This page edited and maintained by the Editors
of <I>Linux Gazette</I>
<a href=""
>Copyright &copy;</a> 2002
<BR>Published in issue 81 of <I>Linux Gazette</I> August 2002</H5>
<H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
<A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
Starshine Technical Services,
<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
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