[plug] Sound Card Setup

[Beau Kuiper]

On Tue, 14 Aug 2001, Clinton Butler wrote:

> Okay... I know you people do not particularly like me as I am trying to
> leap too far too soon.
> I am slowing right down now.. I am putting the POP3 thing on hold for a
> while and I am now configuring my workstation.
>
> My Debian workstation has a Sound Blaster 16 ISA PnP card installed in
> the box.
> I cannot see to get any sound events happening.
> I was told to do a 'modprobe sb io=0x220 irq=5 dma=1'
> This game access to the sound card.. apparently.
>
> I was then told to do a 'cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp'
> This made my sound card make a hissing sound like a pulse.
> Ctrl-C killed the sound... I was told that this means my sound card is
> working.
>
> I was then told to install a mixer and I installed aumix and it
> installed fine and it runs.
> the only problem is.. I can still get no sound... either as root or a user.
>
> I could not understand the HOWTO I was told to look at on the net. It
> was specifically design for RedHat Users.
>
>
>
>
> If you do not wish to help... then just say so.. but please do not pick
> on me just because I do not have the level of knowledge about Linux that
> you people do.. I am trying to get there but I still have a long way to
> go and a lot of hurdles to leap. I have been referred to you people
> because I was told you were good people to ask for help and would help
> the best you can... so far I haven't had a lot of help.. just critisism
> and a lot of links to documentation.. I am a 'hands on' person.. I do
> not like reading heaps of things... I have tried to get help for Linux
> at school but they do not offer students that help at my school.
> Yes, I'm at school.. I go to Hamilton Senior High School where I attend
> year 12... so I am only young still.. and all those bastards will teach
> us is Microsoft.. whenever you try to step away they stop helping until
> you go back into their ways... IT SUCKS.
>
Ok, you probably shouldn't read the documentation just by itself. If you
are a hands on person, then print the stuff out and use it while you play
with the linux system. (or have it on a different virtual terminal, as I
did while I learnt) It is important to read the documentation because
there is a lot to learn in linux.

You were critizied not because you were not knowledgable, but because you
expected us to spoon feed you stuff that has been documented over and over
again. You should always attempt to fully research any problems you are
having before contacting a mail list.

Anyway you can test if your sound card is working with the command sox
(see the manual page for its usage, you can play wav files with it). if
you are having problems with xmms, make sure your output plugin is
correctly set.

Also, if you are interested in linux, curtin university uses linux
computers in the CS department for clients and servers.

Good luck
Beau Kuiper
kuiperba at cs.curtin.edu.au