If Dell has provided you with an emu10k1X Sound Blaster card, do you wonder why it doesn't work with Linux, but works very well with Win**?
The reason is because the sound card is not a real Sound Blaster card. What they gave you is a (poison) proprietary piece of hardware, that was designed to only work with Win**. The Linux software drivers will not power your card, and give you the sounds that you expected from it.
If you are stubborn and still want to use this card with Linux, then you will have to make a purchase of a license of proprietary software to overcome this problem. The driver that is reported to work with the Dell sound card is distributed by 4FrontTechnologies (OSS). Below you will find some correspondence between 4FrontTechnologies and myself. They embedded their reply in my message, to answer my questions.
Hopefully this information will save you all the grief that I had to go through to find out why my sound card wasn't working in Mandrake 9.2.
My suggestion is that it is cheaper to throw away this card, and get yourself a "real" Sound Blaster" card instead. It will save you a lot of grief. However if you insist on a driver to keep your existing card, then read on .... Below is a copy of my message to the vendor.
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Wanderer wrote:
> According to your writeup, since my Dell Creative Labs [SB Live! Value]
> sound card is non standard, I want to make sure that I download the
> right driver that will work! I use Mandrake-Linux 9.2, on a Dell 8250
> Dimension computer. Dell has not provided me with a standard sound card
> (yuck!), so it will not operate with standard drivers that come with
> Mandrake-Linux. On the card, I spotted an emu10k1X chip, and also a
> SigmaTel 9708/11 (AC97) chip. I cannot afford to spend time
> downloading a driver that would be useless for this card, so I am
> depending on you to lead me in the right direction, on the first time.
>
Yes our commercial OSS drivers do support the EMU10K1X device that is
in the Dell machines.
> Because of this situation, is there something special or different that
> I must do? All that I want to do, is to operate the two small speakers
> that came with the system, along with the single woofer. I want to be
> able to watch DVD movies, without having to read lips, because there is
> no sound. I would like to be able to hear sound news clips in my
> browser, when needed. I would like to be able to do audio
> conferencing. And lastly, be able to hear system warning sounds, and
> clicks.
>
You should be able to use Xine and Mplayer to play DVDs. We also support
SPDIF output so that you can get AC3 passthrough for 5.1 audio.
> Will your driver do that for me? How much is this going to cost after
> the trial period. This is not to be used for commercial purposes. I am
> trying to wean the family away from Win* dependency. How long is the
> license good for? Is this a one-time purchase? What happens when the
> kernel is changed from 2.4 to 2.6, do we have to spend more money again?
>
It costs $20.00 and you get free upgrades for 1 year and also free tech support
ALternatively you can purcahse it for $45 and get 3 years of free upgrades.
best regards
Dev Mazumdar
> Thank you.
>
> ONEderer
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I hope that this information will be useful to many of you.
Cheers!
