Installing Ubuntu affects the sound settings on other distors, how/why?
 

I was experimenting with istalling a few different distros to see which would be a good one to start with, considering the hardware I use. At some point I discovered that Suse, Mandrake and Yoper couldn't access the sound mixer unless I installed Ubuntu. How is this possible.

I am still having problems with the sound server for Debain Sarge however.

Any advice?

It's not. There is something else going on.

Install alsa-base and configure with the 'alsaconf' command after su to root.

That sounds good to me, I understand how to install the base, but the next bit you've lost me on, I do think this part is what I need t get to grips with.