If you are running out of time here is a simple way out, but it'll cost you. $19.00 for a usb card, $10.00 for a sound card. If you do have time, then this is an excellent learning experience...

It's alright, I can live with it until it's fixed...

Alright, now I just installed the Java plug-in for Firebird and /dev/dsp has stopped working.



And, Java still won't work...

well, you have varied from my instructions, at this point I don't think I can help you, sorry, uhm try chmod 777 /dev/ds* /dev/mix* /dev/sn*

that will make sure permissions are correct, except that with devfs improperly configured i will not save that info, but it is probably correct. do an lsmod and see if your sound is loaded by modules, if it is you can install alsa, it is not very hard go to alsa.sourceforge.net and play around with it :-P

let me know if you have any questions.

OK, i810_audio is loaded, as is ac97_codec, but soundcore is missing...

Right, alsa drivers downloaded, compiled and installed.

alsa utils and tools downloaded, compiled and installed too.

devfs downloaded and ready to be set up, all I need to know now is how to disable devpts...

oh, not quite enoguh done:
first install driver like this:
./configure
make
make install
./snddevices (not if you have devfs)
then install alsa-lib
./configure
make
make install
then install alsa-oss (without this you get no sound in 70% of apps, and it needs alsa-lib)
./configure
etc
etc.
then the utils are obviously important.
set it to load the ai810 driver module on boot (snd-i810?) there is just 810* that is basic (don't use) and snd-810* that is alsa driver, use that one
then also snd-mixer-oss (snd-oss-mixer?)
then also snd-pcm-oss (snd-pcm-mixer?)
then also at the end of rc.local add this:
alsactl restore
chmod 777 /dev/ds*
chmod 777 /dev/sn*
chmod 777 /dev/mix*
that was first to restore volume settings on reboots
the others are to ensure permissions encase devfs forgets them
then in a terminal type:
alsamixer
adjust everything to the way you want it
when done type alsactl store (this saves volume settings for a reboot)
then it should work fine. if alsactl does nto work look for it in /sbin and /usr/sbin

OK, following your instructions as I speak. My connection's going down in a bit, so I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow...

why does your connection go up and down at specific times?

Well, I'm sharing a broadband connection and the owner has set time limits on my access to the router.

OK, I've figured that you use alsactl to configure the drivers, but I need to know what commands to pass to it in order to set the correct drivers.

modrpbe driver-name
you need:
snd-yourcard
snd-oss-mixer (might be snd-mixer-oss)
snd-oss-pcm (might be snd-pcm-oss)
load those 3 and modprobe will load the others on its own
use the snd-drivers ntot he driver with out the snd-
alsamixer sets the cards volume, bass, surround, etc.
alsactl is a way to store and restore those settings for reboots

OK, modeprobe snd-intel8x0 returned:

/lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdkcustom/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o: unresolved symbol snd_verbose_printk
modprobe: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.21-0.13mdkcustom/kernel/sound/acore/snd.o failed
modprobe: insmod snd-intel8x0 failed

modprobe, even...

have you:
A) run depmod
B) restarted?

lloks like it is missing a component of alsa... try reinstalling alsa-driver
use default ./configure options, that might do it