Linux Sound

cant work sound

[StickDeodorant]

I am a linux newbie and i cant figure out why my computer wont play any sounds

[littleman]

Start by finding out what type of sound card you have. Then try doing a couple of google searches for Linux + your sound card. See what's going on on the driver front first.

[dingman]

If you're up to it, you may also find it useful to use 'lspci' to find out what chipset your soud card uses, since sound card drivers are often named after the chip rather than the brand. (That's because you can use the same driver for various differently-branded cards based on the same chips.)

for example, on the machine I'm using now:

# lspci 
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133] (rev 03) 
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8363/8365 [KT133/KM133 AGP] 
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 40) 
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586B PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) 
00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40) 
00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50) 
00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation SMC2-1211TX (rev 10) 
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 86C326 5598/6326 (rev 0b) 
# lspci -vv -s 00:07.5 
00:07.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50) 
  Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. Onboard Audio on EP7KXA 
  Control: I/O+ Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- 
  Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- 
  Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 11 
  Region 0: I/O ports at dc00 [size=256] 
  Region 1: I/O ports at e000 [size=4] 
  Region 2: I/O ports at e400 [size=4] 
  Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2 
    Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-) 
    Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME- 

[martin]

If you try runnning a sound program and a get an error message about /dev/audio, /dev/dsp, or something similar make sure you run your MAKEDEV script and you have these device nodes.

It's something that *nix newbies have a hard time understanding and it's not uncommon for a default install to miss creating those files.

[bartek]

There is also a good chance that your sound IS set up, except it is muted by default...

If you have amixer, try this as root:

amixer set Master 100 unmute

[dingman]

For that matter, if you're a newbie running Red Hat or another distro that gives you Gnome my default, right-click on the icon of a speaker on your panel. In Ximian XD2 and the default Debian install, and I presume in vanilla Red Hat as well if you are running a current version, the speaker icon will appear in the menu panel at the top of the screen. (The one that looks like the Mac OS top-of-screen menu bar.) The choose "Run Volume Control" and set volumes as you like them.

Yes, it is in fact more steps than using 'aumix' from the command line, but for many people, especially newbies, it's easier. The cryptic power of the command line is an acquired taste. I can still remember finding it scary, even if it is home now.

<edit>one should neither type nor play NetHack while tipsy...</edit>