alsa.dsl for 2.0
Forum: The Testing Area
Topic: alsa.dsl for 2.0
started by: John
Posted by John on Nov. 01 2005,22:11
This Alsa package was put together by Clacker. I am sure many are eager to get Alsa working on our 2.0PR release. Thanks Clacker!< ftp://ibiblio.org:21/pub....lsa.dsl >
< ftp://ibiblio.org:21/pub....sl.info >
< ftp://ibiblio.org:21/pub....md5.txt >
Posted by clivesay on Nov. 01 2005,23:28
This is not working for me on a fresh boot with just gnu-utils. The setup looks like it goes ok but there is no sound when I affempt to play something in xmms.Chris
Posted by clacker on Nov. 02 2005,23:10
clivesay, did you boot with the dsl alsa option? I forgot to mention that in the info file, but that's the same as the old alsadebs.dsl was. I sounds like you did run the setup from the menu, so it couldn't be that. Also, it only works with the 2.0 dsl since the earlier versions used a different kernel.Did alsaconf run and find the sound card you have?
If I had though about it before, I could have added a check in the bash script to look for "alsa" in the boot command line and that gnu-utils was loaded before the script ran.
Posted by roberts on Nov. 05 2005,15:47
This worked fine for me. Placed gnu-utils.dsl and alsa.dsl on a partition. Booted from liveCD with:dsl dma toram alsa mydsl=hda7
When system booted selected menu option to setup alsa.
Setup was sucessful and sounds terrific.
Posted by joer on Nov. 12 2005,05:13
Works great on my Gateway laptop, using liveCD with pcmcia flash as backup/restore device. I know it doesn't take long to run the Setup Alsa from menu, but which files could I backup so I wouldn't have to run the setup?
Posted by clacker on Nov. 13 2005,22:31
joer, I know that the snddevices script creates some devices in the /dev directory. I'm not sure you can save them to a backup because of the permissions required when you try to restore (they are owned by root).It might be possible to add alsa.dsl to the root of your liveCD. This would load alsa for you at startup and then you might be able to add /opt/alsa/alsastart to the /opt/bootlocal.sh script and add bootlocal.sh to your backup. I haven't tried this out, though.
Posted by mvv on Dec. 12 2005,14:48
Since it took some time to figure out how to get my sound working on a Thinkpad 380xd, I thought I'd share...I installed the gnu-utils using myDSL as per the alsa.dsl.info - no problem.
I downloaded the alsa.dsl from the testing area and installed it using emelFM. It appeared to run OK but there was nothing to configure my sound.
I added the "alsa" boot parameter to the "append=..." section in my lilo.conf (I'm running from HD and I'm a linux noob so it took forever to discover where to put this parameter for a HD install!)
I needed to run "alsaconf" manually. I selected the cs4232 (my card shows as a cs4231 or something) ISA card and it worked!
Now I just have to figure out how to play audio CD's with xMMs!
-Hopefully I didn't leave out anything critical, it was a pain in the a$$ to get it working but I have sound and I'm happy!
Posted by clacker on Dec. 12 2005,18:11
mvv, There should have been a new option in the dsl right click menu (DSL -> myDSL -> setup alsa) to setup alsa.I'm glad at least it worked for you in the end.
Posted by mvv on Dec. 12 2005,18:19
That's good to know, I hadn't noticed it in it there. I expected something to popup and ask If I wanted to configure my sound. When that didn't happen I started searching these forums to see what I missed instead of looking for changes to my UI. Thanks for putting this add-in together, it's much appreciated!
Cheers
Posted by Phinger on Dec. 13 2005,20:37
I cant seem to get this to work. My lappy is a toshiba Tecra 730cdt. I have a HDD install, with the gnu-utils already present. I got this package for the 2.0 dsl, right click....run the alsa script.......nothing. Is there supposed to be a menu to select chipsets or something? The thing just looks like a command line............runs by real fast and then dissapears without asking me anything.
Posted by doobit on Dec. 13 2005,20:38
http://damnsmalllinux.org/static/act-ST/f-6/t-3056
Posted by clacker on Dec. 13 2005,23:59
| Quote (Phinger @ Dec. 13 2005,15:37) |
| I have a HDD install, with the gnu-utils already present. I got this package for the 2.0 dsl, right click....run the alsa script.......nothing. Is there supposed to be a menu to select chipsets or something? The thing just looks like a command line............runs by real fast and then dissapears without asking me anything. |
in mvv's post above yours he said he 'added the "alsa" boot parameter to the "append=..." section in [his] lilo.conf' for his harddrive install. Can you try the same thing? You are correct: there should be a menu that comes up (after autodetecting your card) that lets you choose which card you want. The script that the menu runs can be found in /opt/alsa/
Posted by mvv on Dec. 14 2005,04:58
After having it work the other day I got nothing now! I've retried alsaconf without any success. What have I done?lilo.conf still has the alsa parameter.
The audio section of the slit is still there so something is loaded.
After running alsaconf for the 10th time, I still have no sound.
TIA
-Mark
Posted by mvv on Dec. 15 2005,15:31
I've reinstalled my DSL 2.0 using the Frugal install this time and had the same experience. I made sure to use the menu items for GNU Utils and ALSA Setup. It all looked and sounded good until I did a reboot and then I had nothing. Re-running the alsaconf produced a pile of errors and didn't help. I looked in modules.conf and there's no mention of my audio configs. I expected to see something there.
Not sure why but the audio controls never did show in the slit at any point in this install.
-Mark
Posted by doobit on Dec. 15 2005,16:47
After you did the Alsa setup, did you do back up? I'm not using alsa because I was able to get sound working using a short line in the bootlocal.sh script. Maybe there is a script for the alsa setup that needs to be referenced in bootlocal.sh, or filetool.lst in order to call the parameters for your alsa setup.For example, iwconfig writes a script for it's parameters that is placed in /opt, but you need to place a line in bootlocal.sh to call that script at bootup, or your settings will not be reloaded.
Posted by clacker on Dec. 16 2005,23:34
I'm not by my machine right now, but I thought that there was a file in /etc/init.d/ for starting alsa. Something like alsa start. perhaps running sudo alsa start from a terminal will start it for you.
Posted by sarah on Dec. 28 2005,06:16
Is there somewhere I can get the alsa.dsl for DSL2.0+ please? It seems to have disappeared from the testing directory :o( Cheers and beers!
Sarah (please that she finally has a machine that would have sound.. if she can get the alsa package! ;o) )
Posted by roberts on Dec. 28 2005,07:04
It has been moved in the regular area of Multimedia!
Posted by sarah on Dec. 28 2005,07:35
Heh, thanks Roberts! Silly me, I looked in testing and system where the previous version was found! Didn't think to look there (obviously).Cheers and beers!
Sarah
Posted by Phinger on Dec. 28 2005,19:25
OK. I got frustrated that this wouldn't work, so I wiped the HDD, and did a fresh install. I set up the gnu.util, and went to download the alsa.dsl again. 
The darn thing gives me a constant "download or checksum" error, EVERY time I try to get it. This is really raining on my DSL parade.
Posted by cbagger01 on Dec. 28 2005,19:39
System is probably a better area for it.I think of "system" as the place for drivers, etc and multimedia as the place for A/V programs like mplayer and audacity,etc.
Just my $0.02
Posted by sarah on Dec. 29 2005,06:29
I'm getting the same error as Phinger (cool avatar). :o\ Downloaded alsa.deb "manually" (via firefox), checked the md5sums, and it matched. Tried the install, it runs right through, but still no sound. :o( I get a weird crackle from the speakers as it does the configuration.If I start X again straight away I get the little volume control on the bottom of the dock. It (the mixer control) goes away on reboot, even if I've backed up.
I've used the alsa boot code and have gnu-utils (and dsl-dpkg) at start-up.
I was going to start a new thread, but since I came across this one, I thought others might too... ?
cbagger: thanks, I don't feel like such an idiot now ;o)
Cheers and beers,
Sarah
Posted by clacker on Dec. 29 2005,23:53
sarah, it sounds like you started with the dsl alsa boot option, loaded gnu-utils.dsl first, then loaded alsa.dsl. Did you run alsa setup from the mydsl menu (the right click menu)? If you don't do that then alsa isn't fully installed. The script creates some devices and searches for your card. Did the script run in a window and say that it was going to look for your sound card? Did you get a message saying it found your card? Did it think you have a legacy card?
Posted by !sLEEP on Dec. 30 2005,19:57
Maybe this should be here (sorry for cross-posting!):Steps I found useful for setting up ALSA with an i810 device under DSL 2.0:
1. Verify that your card is detected during the bootup.
2. VERY IMPORTANT!! Use the 'dsl alsa' boot option at the boot prompt (see Note B below).
3. Using MyDSL, get the alsa.dsl package (in MyDSL->Multimedia).
4. Verify that alsa is installed-Right-click on the desktop and select MyDSL. Verify that 'Alsa Config' is there, but DO NOT run it yet.
5. Using MyDSL, get the gnu-utils.dsl package (in MyDSL->System).
6. Run 'Alsa Config' under MyDSL.
7. In the terminal app, choose the defaults. Once you are finished, it will close automatically.
8. Verify sound using xMMs. Pressing the play button should automatically link xMMs to SKY.FM Classical.
NOTES:
A. If you don't see that the sound device is detected (autoconf doesn't load 'i810_audio'), this post isn't for you. This device needs to be found before you can use sound and autodetect is having a problem finding it...possibly check BIOS to see that it's enabled.
B. You must use the 'dsl alsa' boot option. Alsa won't work if you don't use it (verified by me!). Also, This step is important because 'alsa' isn't listed on the option screen after you press 'F2' and it won't be obvious that it's available as a boot option.
C. For some reason, I needed to download the alsa.dsl package before downloading the gnu-utils.dsl package to make this work. If I downloaded the gnu-utils first, I would get a 'Download or Checksum error' after I downloaded the 'alsa.dsl' package. You can also download the alsa.dsl package using the package list, wget, and emelfm as outlined in the PDF doc that explains how to get other packages from the web.
D. I suggest not to use the alsadebs.dsl package in MyDSL->System because I couldn't get it to work and I stopped trying when I found the alsa.dsl package in MyDSL-Multimedia. Also, you need to download dsl-dpkg.dsl to use it and I think the alsa.dsl in Multimedia is newer. It really shouldn't matter because some may need to download dsl-dpkg.dsl anyway, but if you don't use this package or don't know if you're going to use it and you don't download it, the method outlined above will get sound working on your system faster.
E. If anyone knows why there is an error when downloading the alsa.dsl package after downloading gnu-utils, please post. I don't think this should be happening and it isn't obvious why it does. If you know of a link or post already explaining this, please post a link to it.
F. The method listed above may work for other devices other than the i810 sound device. If you get your sound device to work using this method, please post your results.
H. I did not need to use modprobe or change any IRQ settings. You may need to do this if still don't have any sound. I have seen other threads that explain how to do this. Also, I don't know that much about Alsa, but the Alsa Config may make these changes for you.
I have used DSL 1.4 and 1.5 on another machine and it worked great! The sound worked for it, but I was using a VIA-based chipset and Autoconfigure detected the VIA82xxx_audio device. I did not need to use the method listed above to get sound working. I popped in the CD, let the system boot up and I was off and running. I have not tried using DSL 2.0 with this system yet and I don't know if I need to use Alsa with it. Judging by the amout of posts (very little) I've seen throughout my research to get this sound device running, I don't think there will be a problem. If I do have to install Alsa to get the VIA audio device running, I'll post my results.
Anyway, I hope this helps some of those first trying out DSL 2.0. Remember, post your results if you get it to work.
Posted by sarah on Jan. 03 2006,12:25
Hi all - Happy New Year!Many thanks for the responses.
I have just tried (again) to get the alsa.deb package going, and still no luck with that.
OK, running DSL 2.0 from my CD rather than HD frugal install, just to be sure of what's happening. Boot with
| Code Sample |
| dsl alsa norestore base vga=normal toram |
Post-boot, mydsl-load madwifi.dsl(.) and nothing else other than the alsa.dsl and gnu-utils.dsl (as posted by !sLEEP above - thank you for passing on the tip!)
Clacker: Yes, I've run the ALSA setup script, selected all the defaults, and it appeared to select the card driver (emu10k1) which is the one that works fine under Knoppix 4.02 English version (autodetected on boot).
Oddly enough, when I boot without the alsa option, it seems to detect the card and driver needed (emu10k1), but I don't have sound, and the little mix app thingie doesn't appear in the dock. The card is a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2.
To whoever: I'll verify the workaround for downloading the alsa.deb package via mydsl (ie download it before gnu-utils, but don't run the script). Though I did grab it manually last time, it's useful to be able to verify stuff like that. Can we please add that to the .info file? Perhaps we could also add the note that the package is for DSL 2+ and if you're using DSL1.5 or earlier to try the alsadebs package? Can we also add to the alsadebs.dsl.info that it is for versions 0.8-1.5 and a suggestion to look in the system section if they want ALSA for 2+?
More information:
The card appears to be working according to XMMS. I've tried playing with volume settings, turning the sound right up (and I'm kind of glad it didn't work because it would have been deafening). Running xmms from the shell (so I can catch the errors because it was the easiest way I could think of) yielded:
| Quote | ||
|
xmms is really giving every appearance of playing, as though I don't have the speakers on (which I do, and have verified by booting with other distros to test that they're connected, working and have the volume up).
I am still having to exit X and startx to see the mixer app after installation..? (restarting the window manager doesn't do it)
Also Clacker, just wanted to say cheers for the time you've put into the drivers so far :o) and to all others for their help and suggestions. This will be nailed!
By way of comparison, I'm going to test this in DSL2.1RC2 and DSL 1.5, and post back. As a side note too, the speaker test doesn't work either, but that could be because the test files seems to be absent. ;o)
Rebooting....
Cheers and beers!
Sarah
Posted by sarah on Jan. 03 2006,13:35
DSL2.1RC2 | Quote | ||
|
No sound.
:o(
Cheers and beers.
Sarah
Posted by sarah on Jan. 03 2006,14:01
And by way of comparison, sound just about blew my ears off with heart failure for good measure in DSL 0.9.3 with the alsadebs pkg.(For my own reference to check against 2.x when I get back in:
| Code Sample |
| 02:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs: Unknown device 0004 (rev 04) 02:08.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs: Unknown device 4001 (rev 04) 02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Unknown device 168c:001a (rev 01) 02:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 10) dsl@box:~$ modinfo soundcore filename: /KNOPPIX/lib/modules/2.4.26/kernel/drivers/sound/soundcore.o description: "Core sound module" author: "Alan Cox" license: "GPL" |
... to be continued..
rebooting (and going for scotch!)
Cheers and beers ^H^H^H^H^H^Hscotch ;o)
Sarah
Posted by sarah on Jan. 03 2006,15:01
[*sigh*] Ok, I give up, I'm off to get sleep. Maybe.
Cheers and scotch....
Sarah
Posted by Chuckakan on Jan. 03 2006,21:19
Hi SarahHave you tried running "alsamixer" from a terminal?
Every time I reboot my mixer settings are at zero and turning the knob on the desktop app does nothing till I run alsamixer. After that it works fine.
I haven't figured out how to automate this part yet
Posted by sarah on Jan. 03 2006,23:40
Hi Chuckakan - thanks for the suggestion.Yeah, I did run alsamixer before and again just now to check :o( still no sound [*sigh*]
Hmm.. would adding alsamixer to your /opt/bootlocal.sh work to get it to run on startup?
Or you could add the alsamixer to the list in /home/dsl/.xinitrc
I don't know which is the best way to go with that one.
Cheers and beers
Sarah
Posted by !sLEEP on Jan. 04 2006,07:35
Hi Sarah, a few words...1. You mentioned that you were using an Audigy 2 sound card from creative labs. I did some poking around on the Alsa website and found that some versions of the Audigy 2 aren't supported yet or aren't supported until 1.0.11rc2. I don't know your exact version of Audigy 2, but you can check it out for yourself here:
< Alsa Sound Card Compatibility > Maybe this will shed some light.
2. This doesn't explain why it works with Knoppix 4.0.2, which is what you said a couple posts ago. I checked the Alsa package included with Knoppix and it is 1.0.9 as well. I don't know what the kernel is in 4.0.2, however. It maybe different than the one used for DSL. Knoppix might come with a more "feature-rich" kernel that may impact Alsa sound in some way (but if DSL had that kernel it probably wouldn't be..."Damn Small" ?!?!? [sorry
])Anyway, just some info that might be of help...I do hope you get your sound working!
Posted by Chuckakan on Jan. 04 2006,19:25
Hi SarahI apologize ahead of time if I sound like a complete dope, but when you ran alsamixer did you use the arrow keys to navagate between outputs and to turn them all up? Also I think the M key turns on the PCM filter.
:o)
Posted by sarah on Jan. 06 2006,11:56
!sLeep - typed out a huge response to you yesterday, but obviously didn't post it :o( Short version is, thanks for linking to the ALSA site. I had already checked it out just in case, but it might be useful to others who happen across this thread. Also, it didn't explain why the alsadebs package worked under DSL .9.3 and 1.5 but I couldn't make the alsa.dsl package work under DSL 2+. I had checked earlier versions of Knoppix too and the sound worked, so I was thinking it was just something weird in the way this particular package was compiled or its default settings or in the way DSL 2+ was doing stuff. I figured it couldn't be that ALSA itself doesn't support the card, because it worked in different distros and previous versions of DSL. I don't have enough experience to troubleshoot very much.Chuckakan - nope, you're no dop - you nailed it! I had turned it all up using alsamixer several times, but it was the 'M' thing I was missing, don't ask me which one, I just did them all. ;o) Sheesh, and to think that I was just about ready to download and compile stuff! I'm sure it would have been an ... erm.. educational experience, but I'm glad I don't have to do it! ;o)
I'm going to see if I can figure out how to have the alsamixer retain the settings.... [*grin*] just for fun.
Cheers and beers! (And I'm toasting to you, !sLEEP, Clacker and the DSL team!)
Thanks.
Sarah
Posted by mvv on Jan. 06 2006,14:58
Sarah,Are you saying that the sound was working but the outputs were so low that you didn't hear anything? If that's right I'll be going back to retry my own audio setup.
-Mark
Posted by sarah on Jan. 06 2006,15:15
I'm not certain that was the case. I think it is one of the options you toggle by using 'M' that did it.I pretty much went through and cranked up everything (which is what I did before reading Chuckakan's post), but I hadn't realised that some of those ones that don't move up and down could be activated by using hitting the 'M' key.
I might go through tomorrow when I'm less tired and see what nailed it, but no guarantees, as I suspect that I might be dragged off to go up north (willingly though ;o) ).
It's worth a shot though if xmms gives every appearance of starting :o)
type 'alsamixer' in a terminal and go from there.
Good luck!
Cheers and beers,
Sarah
Posted by Chuckakan* on Jan. 06 2006,20:10
Hi SarahIt's great to hear you got it to work!
I haven't had this much "Fun" configuring sound since my 1st 486 using Win 3.1.
Going back to trying to automate the process. There is a command line version called "amixer". I need to do some reading though, because I haven't had much success getting it to accept my commands. I think if you type "amixer -h" you'll get a list of possible commands. I'll check when I get home. I'm hoping get together something usefull to put in the Bootlocal.sh. I'll keep you posted.
Cheers (MMM I love Scotch Yum Yum)
Chuck
Posted by Chuckakan* on Jan. 07 2006,05:03
Hi SarahI managed to get this to work. I put these lines in my Bootlocal.sh. "amixer sset Master 5"
"amixer sset PCM 5". Seems to work fine. There are more options, if you need them. Type "amixer -h".
Chuck
Posted by sarah on Jan. 23 2006,02:31
Chuckakan - thank you, I'll try adding that in when I get home (I'm about 900 km south of my machine at the moment ;o) )Cheers and Beers!
Sarah
Posted by lagerratrobe on Jan. 28 2006,21:24
alsa.dsl worked fine for me with a Creative Soundblaster Live 24. I'm running this in a headless MP3 jukebox, so I went through the same alsamixer muting and commandline options with amixer that Sarah's been talking about.I have my /opt/bootlocal.sh set to:
/usr/bin/amixer set "Analog Front" 60% >/dev/null 2&1
It seems the reason that the alsamixer settings are set back to zero everytime is because it is explicitly set that way in the /etc/init.d/alsasound script. Here is the relevant section from there:
| Code Sample |
# mute master to avoid clicks at unload # /usr/bin/amixer set Master mute >/dev/null 2&1 # |
(btw, if someone could tell me htf to copy text from an xterm into another application, like this web forum's pages, I'd be greatly appreciative. Sick of typing the stuff.)
There does appear to be one problem with this, alsa is supposed to restore previous settings when you reboot. It doesn't do that, and there is a message about it at boot time when alsa is setting up that says something like, "Unable to restore mixer settings". This appears to be a problem in other Linux distros as well, from what I've been able to gather on the web.
Having said all that, thanks for the package. It does a good job and sounds great.
--
Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 29 2006,05:15
Highlight the text in your XTerm by using the mouse to click-n-drag over the text.Then move over to firefox and click on the middle mouse button into your reply text entry box.
For most mice, the scroll wheel is also the middle-mouse button, so push down on the scroll wheel.
For two-button mice, press both mouse buttons at the EXACT same sime.
The highlighted text should get pasted into your firefox reply text entry box.
Posted by cloakable on Mar. 21 2006,10:57
Does this work with 2.2?The description says:
ALSA for DSL v2.0 v2.1 only
Posted by cloakable on Mar. 21 2006,12:19
Unsurprisingly, it's not working. Has anyone had any luck getting alsa to work with a ThinkPad 380MX with 2.2?The setup script fails to detect anything - it simply runs straight through.
Posted by doobit on Mar. 21 2006,13:06
With 2.2 you need to use the alsadebs package and read the info page before you download.