I'm running Debian and Soundblaster Live! and I have no sound =(. I get the following message at KDE startup:

Informational - artsmessage
Sound server informational message:
Error while initializing the sound driver:
device /dev/dsp can't be opened (No such device)
The sound server will continue, using the null output device.

I found something that said for me to use the following command:
modprobe emu10k1
but I get this:
/lib/modules/2.4.19-xfs/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.19-xfs/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.19-xfs/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.19-xfs/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: insmod emu10k1 failed

I also heard something about installing ALSA, but I don't know what it is, how to do it, and where to get it from....

soundblaster live is a popular card and should be detected if you have it, try this...
cat /proc/pci | less

...go through the list till you find a sound card to see what type of card you have.


alsa has some alternative drivers....
www.alsa-project.org

Thanks...i'll give that a shot =).

If that doesn't help, then make sure you have installed the emu10k1 module.

During the installation, it asks you what kernel modules you will need. It sounds like you missed installing the emu10k1 module. Just use apt to install the kernal module. Then modprobe it.

Do you get anything as root?
My soundblaster live only works for the super user account, now that I am using Lindows (supposedly based on debian).
This is probably not the same problem as you are having though.
I sure miss my redhat!

after doing modprobe emu10k1 you need to log in as root and change the permissions on /dev/dsp and then anyone can run it.