alsamixer and 2.6.0-test1 kernel
 

Hi, I just tried out the new 2.6.0-test1 kernel. The good news is, it boot's :)
In the 2.4.x kernels, I was used to work with the alsamixer program to ejust sound volume, output gain, ect. But in the new kernel the program doesn't seem to work any more. When I try running alsamixer I get :

[root@linux ~]# alsamixer

alsamixer: failed to open mixer #0/#0: No such file or directory

Running the "snddevices" script that came with previouse versions of alsa naturally don't work. Note, that I do have sound, and I can ejust the vollume and such with kde's mixer. But the thing is, one of my init scripts relies on alsamixer to work. It's a small script that sets the soundvollume when I boot up.
Is there an alsamixer version for the 2.6 kernels. If not, how do things work in the new kernel line? I hope I'm not being vague.
Can any one give me more info on this?

Re: alsamixer and 2.6.0-test1 kernel
 

Well alsa modules are a part of the 2.6 kernels.So did you compiled them.Does lsmod show your cards?
check out
/proc/asound

He, thanks for answering me. I compiled the alsa drivers in my kernel. So lsmod doesn't show the driver. I also compiled in the mixer and the sequencer.
/proc/asound looks alright. I don't know that i'm looking for exactally. But the dir exists and has some stuff in it.
It for example has an dir named "card0". And in that dir, it has an file named "oss_mixer" , thit the content:

VOLUME "Master" 0
BASS "" 0
TREBLE "" 0
SYNTH "Synth" 0
PCM "PCM" 0
SPEAKER "PC Speaker" 0
LINE "Line" 0
MIC "Mic" 0
CD "CD" 0
IMIX "" 0
ALTPCM "" 0
RECLEV "" 0
IGAIN "Capture" 0
OGAIN "Playback" 0
LINE1 "" 0
LINE2 "" 0
LINE3 "" 0
DIGITAL1 "" 0
DIGITAL2 "" 0
DIGITAL3 "" 0
PHONEIN "" 0
PHONEOUT "" 0
VIDEO "" 0
RADIO "" 0
MONITOR "" 0

As you can see, every thing is zero.
Any idea's

Well there is a file called asound.state in /etc/ which is responsible for setting the volumes and can act as a standalone mixer
first check the command
alsactl store
which is supposed to store the current mixer settings in the file that i mentioned (/etc/asound.state)
now manually scan the document(/etc/asound.state) and change the volumes(mixer settings like pcm,pcm2,volume,3d etc) as per your likings.The file is easy to understand.Now
add this line to rc.local
alsactl restore
(I think that you could do that as you have mentioned scripts above,nb that debian don't have rc.local and I don't know anything about suse).

I'm getting :

[root@linux /home/sohail]# alsactl store
alsactl: No soundcards found...

Which is madness because i'm listening to music as I ... speak (? hmm).
Further more, I do not have an file called "/etc/asound.state", but I do have an file called "/etc/asound.conf" which contains data as to how high the vollume is, ect.

well does /etc/asound.conf contain something like this
control 1{
blah
blah
value <either integer or yes/no>
}

control 2 {
}
etc.
If it is ,then it is the file that you are seeking.
Also try
alsactl store <number>
change the number
you can get the number from /proc/asound
look under card0 or card1
and id

It look somthing like that. This is i's content:

soundcard("card1") {
mixer("ALS4000") {
; The type is 'bool'.
switch("Auto Gain Control", false)
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 3
; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 3
element("Input Gain",0,200,Volume1(1,1))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 3
element("PC Speaker Volume",0,200,Volume1(0))
element("MIC Input Switch",0,100,Switch1(off,off))
element("MIC Output Switch",0,100,Switch1(off))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 31
element("MIC Volume",0,200,Volume1(0))
element("Line Input Switch",0,102,Switch3(off,off,off,off))
element("Line Output Switch",0,100,Switch1(off,off))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 31
; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 31
element("Line Volume",0,200,Volume1(0,0))
element("CD Input Switch",0,102,Switch3(off,off,off,off))
element("CD Output Switch",0,100,Switch1(on,on))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 31
; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 31
element("CD Volume",0,200,Volume1(30,30)
element("Synth Input Switch",0,102,Switch3(off,off,off,off))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 31
; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 31
element("Synth Volume",0,200,Volume1(2,2))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 31
; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 31
element("PCM Volume",0,200,Volume1(29,28))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 3
; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 3
element("Output Gain",0,200,Volume1(2,2))
; Bass : Min 0 Max 14
; Treble : Min 0 Max 14
element("Tone Control",0,500,ToneControl1(bass=0,treble=8))
; Voice 0 : Min 0 Max 31
; Voice 1 : Min 0 Max 31
element("Master Volume",0,200,Volume1(28,28))
}
}


Also, speciving a number to alsactl doen't work. I always get the same thing. But it should be 0

Anyway looking at the "/proc/asound" dir some more, I find some interesting files. There is an dir called "card0". In one of it's sub dir, I find an file called "status", with only the content "closed". Also, doing dmesg, I find this kernel message at start-up:

Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 0.9.4 (Mon Jun 09 12:01:18 2003
UTC).
request_module: failed /sbin/modprobe -- snd-card-0. error = -16
ALSA device list:
#0: Avance Logic ALS4000 at 0x9800, irq 10

As you can see, somthing fails. I do not know what, or that if it has any thing to do with my situation.

This guy seems to have an similer problem

give me the content of your /etc/modules.conf
or rather remove entries of ALSA from modules.conf
now surely the dmesg would not show the modules part
now try again with first aumix
and then alsamixer
(next the link that you gave definately had a different problem than yours!)

This is my modules.conf

# /etc/modules.conf
# created 17-4-2003

# stuff for the sound card

alias char-major-116 snd
options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1
alias snd-card-0 snd-card-als4000
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
post-install snd-card-als4000 /usr/sbin/alsactl restore

I will remove it all together and see what happens. I don't have the program aumix.
There are some changes in the situation. I had an pretty old alsa lib and utils version (0.5.x). So I upgraded to the version that comes with the kernel, which is 0.9.4. Now when I do "alsamixer" (or any other prog in the alsa-utils package) I get


ALSA lib conf.c:1565:(snd_config_load1) _toplevel_:6:8:Unexpected char
ALSA lib conf.c:2821:(snd_config_hook_load) /etc/asound.conf may be old or corrupted: consider to remove or fix it
ALSA lib conf.c:2667:(snd_config_hooks_call) function snd_config_hook_load returned error: Unknown error
ALSA lib conf.c:3067:(snd_config_update_r) hooks failed, removing configuration

alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: Unknown error


When I remove (or rename) "/etc/asound.conf", I only get the last line of the error (i.e. "alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: Unknown error") Any way, I will edit modules.conf and report back
I also want to thank you for having the patiants for helping me.

I edited modules.conf. Nothing changed. I stll get the same message at boot-up and alsamixer or any other program from the alsa-utils package doesn't seem to work.
And I posted that link because the guy has a similer error message buring boot-up :

hobbiton kernel: request_module: failed /sbin/modprobe --
> snd-card-0. error = -16

Also, I installed the aumixer program. The gui fails to come up, but the program it self seems to work. Because when I bring it up in the console (and not in an xterm) I see an similer interface as alsamixer, and I can ejust vollume and other parameters.

do
ntsysv
and remove entries of alsa
(most likely they are called alsasound or alsastart).
Or you can remove entries from /etc/rcX.d where X is the runlevel you are using.
Now the modprobe part would not come again.
I was just wondering if the problems are becoz of the fact that you compiled the alsa drivers as the part of the kernel whereas most tend to install them as modules.
Maybe the alsa-utils are supposed to not work with kernel2.6 as they are the latest.Don't know but you could try the alsa mailing list too!
The good news is that music is still working, and I think that would be enough.
Finally if you know how to 'echo' values to /proc/asound you can try that too,to change mixer settings.

Thanks for the help rch. I'm going to recompile the kernel and load the drivers as modules instead of compiling then in. At fist, I actually did that. Then I tried compiling them in. Maby loading them as modules will work now that I have updated alsa lib and utiles. Who knows.
I actally edited the start-up script that was responsible for loading the alsa modules. I made sure they are not being tried to be inserted any more. So that's not the problem. Any how, I do have sound, so it's not that big of an deal. But somthing is broken and I don't like it. I'm going to give it a break for a while, while I do some more importent stuff (study for my up comming exames :( )
Thanks again alot for your help.

Sorry for joing the fun late. I've run into similar issues.

I have ALSA built into my kernel. The soudn works, but there is one issue. Let's say I have Gaim running and XMMS, only one of these programs will produce sound at a time. I'm assuming that it's because they are using OSS as the output, and I have OSS emulation in my kernel. I thought that I could get ALSA output by working by instalinng alsa-libs, alsa-utils, and alsa-xmms out plugin. I did all that but it's a no-go. I'm assuming that it's because the alsa downloads are not meant for the 2.6 kernel. Furthermore, running alsamixer won't work, and spits out:
Once again...probably because Alsa is built in the kernel. I'm planning on recompiling when test3 comes out, and have ALSA built as a module. Before though, I'm curious as to whether getting a complete ALSA-based sound system will work with the test kernels. Am I bound to run into software incompatibilites and whatnot?

Hi there. Sound comming from two different sources never worked for me, unless I used kde's arts deamon. I don't think it has any thing to do with this problem.
I think why this problem occures is that the alsa packeges (utils, libs, ect) just arn't compatible with alsa in the 2.6 kernels, yet. I haven't tried compiling the alsa drivers as modules yet, but it could solve the problem.

I really don't know. I hope that by the time the major distributions come out with kernel 2.6, this problem will be solved. But atleast until then, I suspect so.

I compiled the kernel 2.6-test too - it works well; but there are new features the
kernel can implement.
In the case you configure the kernel with (alsa-) sound as "m" you'll have the module coming with the kernel not your old sound module ! Perhaps you play a little and copy
the old one over the new (backup your file!) ??

In the case with sound-support in the kernel:
If the kernel find your soundboard correct - (verbose mode on boot-time) before the green "dones" - it will only be configurable over alsa.conf and other config files.
Perhaps you missed to generate new Nods in /dev for sound - look which
sound-device-names your system needs and make them with mknod - the major
number do I not now, but it is perhaps described in the kernel-configuration (xconfig ..)
You only have to do this if the nod-numbers are different to your modules.conf.

Keep on playing with this system

Further a lot of fun.