Sound
 

I know there are a million sound howtos out there. I've tried a few and no luck. I'm running Ubuntu 64 and looking to get my Audigy 2ZS working. Can someone point me in the right direction. Much thanks!

What exactly have you tried? That will help in solving your problem. Also, I have the same sound card and to fix it I had to open up the alsa utility and make sure that the Digital out option was checked. That got my sound working.

I tried the things I found on the unofficial ubuntu starters guide http://ubuntuguide.org/#configuresoundproperly. And a procedure that was very similar on another website. I really have no idea where to even start. I'm such a linux noob my penguin father still has to sit on me.

Try this config as well
$su -
$alsamixer
Configure bars with arrows, enable or disable service with "m" key.
When done ESC
#alsactl store
P.S. If you have 5.1 speaker system, be sure that LFE channels bars are all way down and [off]. LFE channel is to generate 5.1 emulation matrix on 4 speaker systems.
;)

That worked... now I'm getting sound. THANKS!!! Now my next question is it's of really crappy quality. Windows sounded so much better. What's the next step?

Check LFE channels, play with them until you have the best sound. See also that mike is not interfering, remove boost if needed
;-P

are there specific drivers for my sound card that need to be installed... in teh alsamixer it says Sound Blaster Audigy 2 and then cuts off

I tell you a little secret. I also had Audigy. Because of all the sh#t with compatibility I replaced it with LIVE! 5.1

lol... I just bought this computer... I'm not replacing my 200 dollar sound card... I guess I'll just have to figure it out

In this case open Kmix if you're using KDE and play with switches. SOME PEOPLE REPORTED IMPROVEMENTS