It is going to seem a bit complicated to some, but here it goes...
I have an onboard 6ch Realtek AC97 soundcard and a PCI connected Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 XP Deluxe TV&FM tunner and 2 pairs of speakers... I am going to tell you how I have configured them in XP so you'll understand what is I want...

First, the onboard Realtek AC97 has 6 channels (3 jack sockets): 2 for (speaker) output, 2 for general input and 2 for microphone input...

Second, the WinFast TV 2000 XP has 4 channels: 2 input, 2 output...

What I have configured on XP is the (speaker) output is configured as ch 1&2 speaker output (or front left and front right speakers), the general input socket is configured as ch 3&4 speaker output (rear left and right) and the mic in is configured as Line-In (general input). And last, I have a cable connecting the Leadtek general output socket to the Realtek Line In (formerly mic in, now line in)...

This works without a hitch on XP and the result is 4 channel audio and tunning capabilities working spectacularly... I really don't know how to configure alsa that much so I would appreciate any help to get this configuration...

After the above config is finished i would like to know an easy way to switch between 4 channel/4 speakers output to 2channel/4speaker output... It would really be a bonus

Laur

Alsamixer should be able to accomplish that for you..

just scroll over to the left until you see like the 2ch and make it 4 ch and then fix then you'll have to play with with swapping jack to get where you want the line ins.

or you if you use KDE... you could use KMIX to accomplish the same via the output and switches tab..

Gary