DSL on Dell CP laptop has no sound. oss_open() says no /dev/dsp device.

mkenyon2 · 08-01-2008, 10:22 AM

I think the issue is oss doesn't support this card.

I believe Alsa does.

Here's some info:
Laptop: http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...ojav/specs.htm
Audio:
Audio controller Crystal 4237B
Audio type Sound Blaster Pro-compatible voice and music functions
Stereo conversion 16-bit (analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog)
FM music synthesizer 20-voice, 72-operator
Interfaces:
ISA bus

I'm running DSL on this laptop, and getting things working. But sound isn't working yet. What can I do?

jax8 · 08-01-2008, 11:28 AM

Try this, type

Code:

aoss command

replace command with the name of the program you want to run.

mkenyon2 · 08-01-2008, 11:37 AM

I tried:
aoss xmms

I got bash: aoss: command not found

jax8 · 08-01-2008, 12:12 PM

Run

alsamixer

and make sure all the volumes are up
(Use the arrow keys to adjust and the "m" key to turn things on/off)

jax8 · 08-01-2008, 12:18 PM

actually that will probably not work. I would suggest installing the alsa package, this has better support for cards. I am pretty sure your drivers are not loaded. You can use "lsmod" to view you current loaded modules but given that it says /dev/dsp does not exist, I doubt you will have success. Anyway - download ALSA

good luck

mkenyon2 · 08-01-2008, 01:49 PM

Ok, so I installed alsa-utils -source -base... a bunch of them.
(dpkg -i xxx.deb)

Ran alsaconf, it says No legacy drivers are available. What can I try next?

mkenyon2 · 08-01-2008, 02:46 PM

In the path:
/lib/modules/extra/alsa/
I have a number of .o files.

How do I set up Alsa to use one?

jax8 · 08-01-2008, 09:07 PM

Run

Code:

modprobe snd-sb8 ; modprobe snd-pcm-oss ; modprobe snd-mixer-oss ; modprobe snd-seq-oss

Then test using alsa mixer

Code:

alsamixer

jax8 · 08-01-2008, 09:10 PM

if this works. Complete the rest of the tutorial located here

http://www.alsa-project.org/main/ind...rix:Module-sb8

Go to the part about "Setting up modprobe and kmod support"

mkenyon2 · 09-18-2008, 03:11 PM

I've switched the OS to full blown Debian, Etch.

I have some more info:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.p...870&highlight=

Since it's basically an ISA, and not a PCI/PNP card, it's difficult to know if I have the right settings. Please help.