Hello!

I apologize in advance for the length of this email, but I think it's necessary to detail my problem:

Of all the problems I've dealt with since I first started using Linux a few years ago, getting my joystick working has definitely been the most challenging. After many trials and errors and tons of manual reading and web searching, I eventually figured out that adding the following to /etc/modules.conf solved the problem...

alias char-major-13 input
options es1371 joystick=0x200
above input joydev analog
options analog js=auto

... then I discoverd ALSA. I followed the instructions at http://freshrpms.net/docs/alsa/, and in the "# module options should go here" section of /etc/modules.conf, I added the above, but had to comment out the "options es1371 joystick=0x200" line and enable the joystick in /etc/asound.state instead.

Since then, I've installed Fedora Core, and have fully updated all my software, including ALSA. After noticing my joystick didn't work, I read that there were big changes to the way the joystick was being handled, and couldn't figure out Joystick.txt (that came with ALSA). I tried adding the line "options snd-ens1371 joystick_port=0x200" to /etc/modules.conf (which I noticed was similar to the way it was before I installed ALSA), but it didn't work. (I also noticed there was no longer a way to enable the joystick in /etc/asound.state.) I then found the command "modprobe snd-ens1371 joystick=1" on the web, which worked the first time I tried it, but since then I haven't been able to get it to work again. What have I missed?

Also, I noticed when I first turn on my computer and type "lsmod", the sound modules aren't there. They only show up after I use a program that accesses the sound card. Is this normal?

Lastly, I'm getting some other odd "errors" from alsa/alsamixer... stuff like it can't find the icon (even though it's there) and it can't find sound cards 1, 2, or 3 (I'm only using snd-card-0) when shutting down.

Ryan