is the Turtle Beach Audio Advantage usb sound card compatible with Linux?
 

It seems to fit exactly what I need, and the price is reasonable. I just want to know if it will be plug/play, or if I will be in the same position that I am in with the Realtek ALC 880 internal sound card that has been giving me such problems with Linux. Thanks!

Hi.

Me again. It's based on the C-Media CM-102 chip, which apparently works on Windows and Macs without drivers, so it's extremely likely to work with the Linux kernel USB audio drivers (i.e. it conforms to the USB audio standard).

Have a look at page 3 of this:
http://www.cmedia.com.tw/doc/CM102%2...0REV%201.5.pdf

Dave

Thanks for the heads-up! More info is always better than less :) Looks like I need to purchase what you have. Have a splendid week :)

I just picked up a Voyetra Turtle Beach Audio Advantage. Plugged into a USB port, it works. I'm using a Fedora Core 3 distribution, 2.6.9-based kernel, default ALSA drivers & config etc. All you need to do is tell your applications to use (for example) /dev/mixer1 and /dev/dsp1 instead of the default mixer & DSP devices.

I love the physical size: it's much smaller than the Griffin iMic that I've been using on a desktop FreeBSD 5.x box.

I do *not* like its volume adjustment. With a pair of small & lightweight headphones (from a Sony Walkman, easy to travel with), "pcm" level #3 is the maximum that I'd typically listen to. Anything above 10 is loud enough to cause distortion. So the only usable volume settings (range 0 - 100) are 1 and 3. So, I guess I need to go out and buy a new pair of travel-friendly small headphones that has an in-line volume control. {sigh}

I just got the same soundcard. How do I tell my applications to use /dev/mixer1 and /dev/dsp1?

I can get a successful test on the USB soundcard using the soundcard detection, but when I try to play a CD for example, I get no sound. There is another soundcard in my computer that is so old Linux won't seem to recognize it properly anymore.

I'm using Fedora Core 3.

Simple answer: Take out the old sound card (or disable it in BIOS, if it's built in).

Dave

Thanks. I have tried that actually, but it didn't seem to have an effect.

Here is what I have found out so far:

1) The CD player itself is working, as I can get sound by plugging my speakers or headphones straight into the CD player jack on front
2) The TB USB card will produce some sounds (successful soundcard tests and "events" in the GNOME GUI). However. when I use CD player, the music will not come through the speakers, if plugged into the card.
3) Linux appears to be recognizing the soundcard(s) correctly, as the correct module shows under soundcard test. They just aren't actually working properly when it comes to producing sound.
4) Based on running a test I found in "Running Linux," the kernel (2.6.12) has the correct modules installed, and it should not be necessary for me to recompile it.
5) "Running Linux" indicates it could be a problem with mixer settings, as the input needs to be set to CD input. I have used the mixer installed with the card as well as the alsamixer, and have yet to figure out a way to do this. Volume is definitely on, though, and no channels are muted.
6) I do get an error when I boot up, which I think is referring to the CD RW drive I am using to play the CDs. Text below, taken from dmesg:

Freeing unused kernel memory: 180k freed
device-mapper: 4.4.0-ioctl (2005-01-12) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com
hdc: command error: status=0x41 { DriveReady Error }
hdc: command error: error=0x54 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x05 }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
ATAPI device hdc:
Error: Illegal request -- (Sense key=0x05)
Logical block address out of range -- (asc=0x21, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Seek" packet command was:
"2b 00 00 0b 84 a0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
end_request: I/O error, dev hdc, sector 3019392
hdc: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdc: command error: error=0x54 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x05 }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
ATAPI device hdc:
Error: Illegal request -- (Sense key=0x05)
Illegal mode for this track or incompatible medium -- (asc=0x64, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Read 10" packet command was:
"28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
end_request: I/O error, dev hdc, sector 0
hdc: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdc: command error: error=0x54 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x05 }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
ATAPI device hdc:
Error: Illegal request -- (Sense key=0x05)
Illegal mode for this track or incompatible medium -- (asc=0x64, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Read 10" packet command was:
"28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
end_request: I/O error, dev hdc, sector 0
hdc: command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdc: command error: error=0x54 { AbortedCommand LastFailedSense=0x05 }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
ATAPI device hdc:
Error: Illegal request -- (Sense key=0x05)
Illegal mode for this track or incompatible medium -- (asc=0x64, ascq=0x00)
The failed "Read 10" packet command was:
"28 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "
end_request: I/O error, dev hdc, sector 0

My theories at this point are that there is a software setting somewhere that needs to be changed, but I haven't been able to figure out where or how because...well, I'm a newb. Or, something is wrong with the CD RW drive. Running Linux talks about modifying config files, but I haven't been able to figure out where the correct ones are on my system. Bugzilla has some related topics, but I wasn't actually able to glean a fix from it.

Any help is appreciated.

You'll have to use something like Xine, or the CDDA plugin for XMMS to get CDs to play through any USB sound card. Most CD player apps just tell the CD drive to 'play' and expect the drive to be hooked up directly to the sound card. With USB devices, you have to do digital extraction, e.g. Xine, or CDDA.

Dave