Hi,

I'm new to linux and have just joined this forum.
I have just got and installed SuSE 7.2 Professional
Edition, and I'm having problems trying to set-up my Modem and Sound Card.
I’ve posted as much information as I can think of. I hope it’s not information overload.

1. Sound Card

My sound card is auto-detected by Yast2. Yast2 states that the sound card is
"Intel Corportation
ES1371, ES1373 AudioPCI On Motherboard WS440BX" and "will be configured as the first sound card (snd-card-0).

I then go to normal set-up. But when I press the test button I hear nothing.
The volume adjusters are on maximum setting. I've turned my speakers up full and still no sound comes out of the 'test sound' button, or when I play a music CD, no sound comes out of the speakers.
When yast2 is finished the Sound Card is set as Number [0] with a card name of
AudioPCI-Ensoniq AudioPCI


The following are the information I've about the sound card based on information from my Windows98 OS.
Seems to be 2 cards according to the Windows Control Panel, but I don't know enough about hardware to be sure. They are:

Creative Sound Blaster AudioPCI 64D, and ,
SB AudioPCI 64D Legacy Device

My PC is a PENTIUM 2 Gateway G6-450 XL SYSTEM UK, and the Gateway documentation states that the Sound Card is an: Integrated sound blaster PCI 64V.

The Driver on the Gateway system CD is Driver: ENSONIQ Audio PCI 64D

Also the Speakers I have are: Boston Acoustics Media Theater Speakers, in case the speakers have some relevance.

Form a cross-reference of what is set-up in Windows and Linux, yast2 seems to have set-up the Sound card correctly but there is still no sound.

Also in the console log on screen with I highlight the Sound card in the yast2 control center the following appear.
linux kernal: isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards
linux kernal: isapnp: No Plug & Play device found.

I have used Windows to make sure that there is no hardware problem with the Sound Card.

2. Internal Modem

For my modem, it doesn't detect it at all, so my only option is to manually set it up.
When I set it up I have to set the device to /dev/ttyS0, to get any positive results at all (based on the contents of the log file), despite in Windows the port being set to Com2.
I thought this meant I should set the device to /dev/ttyS1
And I set the Dial Tone to Tone Dial.

The following are the contents of the log files when I run kinternet based on which device is set.

Contents of Log file when Device is set to /dev/ttyS0

WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.41
Initializing modem
Sending ATZ
Sending ATQ0
Re-sending ATZ
Modem not responding

Contents of Log file when Device is set to /dev/ttyS1

WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.41
Cannot open /dev/ttyS1: Input/output error

Also in the console log on screen with I highlight the modem in the yast2 control centre the following appear.
linux dhcpcd{1309}: dhcpStart: ioctl SIOCGIFHWADDR: No such device

I may not have spelled all of that correctly

The following are the modem model and manufacturer.
Model: Telepath Internet 56K WinModem
Manufacturer: Lucent Technologies (LT)
Hardware version 001

I have a manual on AT commands for the Modem, but do not know anything about modem commands, in case it is a initialisation command problem

I have used Windows to ensure that there is no hardware problem with the modem and have been able to dial to other servers using this modem.

Any help much appreciated.
If someone wants any more information let me know and I will post it on the forum.

Thanks,

now, my friend, i am not good at all with the snd cards but, im sure i can shed some light on the modem issue.

when yu reboot or start yur computer yull want to get to yur bios. you will find a plugnplay aware os option or something similar...make sure yu DISABLE it!

after that restart and go to yast2 or just plain old yast...yast1 is very easy and quick...

at the command prompt as root type> yast --this should pull up the yast program. look for system administration and go there...look for configure networks and go there...look for configure a ppp connection (modem internet connection) and go there. this will take yu to a semi-graphical setup for the program wvdial...yull want to fill out all the info and on the wait do "autodetect modem" and it should detect it. the red hat version searches every damn serial port possibility on yur system but suse is just a little more intuitive (it assumes yur modem was com1 or 2 for dos/windows).

at any rate, try yast2 it is a little slower but it is very very easy...simply fill out the boxes and yull be amazed at how easy the connection will be and yull know for certain if yur modem is detected or not.

if, however, yur modem is not detected, yu have a winmodem, my friend. and i would not be surprised to hear that because yu have a gateway. thats ok tho, a lot of new modems that are linux compatible are being made. at first choice yull want an internal modem but they can be hard to find,almost all external modems work with linux but seem to cost a bit more. i like internals because they are cheaper and everything is in one neat place.

let us know how all that went...good luck!

Quick question about "winmodems". Is this an exceptionally linux-unsupported peripheral, or are there winsound-cards etc? If it's just modems in paticular, why modems? I can understand why external modems would be more supported, but why are internal ones so hard to find?

beats me...

a damn good question!

my theory is this since i base a lot of "why's" on the path of least resistance theorem...

modem drivers are simply harder and more time consuming to write than snd card, printer, and other drivers.

when yu buy a new computer the evil winmodem should be immediately ripped out (unless its onboard the mb hehehe) and replaced with some type of "real" hardware modem.

winmodems were just (on the surface anyways) a way for computer manufacturer's to increase their waning profit margin... and a way to hedge microsoft's bets on being able to monopolize the desktop and business computer market.

then again i could be wrong...

Well winmodems are designed for windows operating systems, with out windows based software these modems become useless for the most part. These are referred to as software modems, because they require certain software to run. And to answer your first question, yes for the most part they are linux- unsupported peripherals.

A hardware modem, is one that is pretty much self-contained (everything that is needed for its function is on the modem card), you pop it into your box, let the programs know where it is and it works.


"Why are internal ones so hard to find?" Well this is easy, when you don't have to put as much junk on a card to make it work, this lowers cost, which in turn slowly makes hardware modems obsolete and harder to find.

Ontrose

I forgot about software/hardware modems, guess I spend to much time in windows to notice these things

That being said, you'd have thought that a modem that relied on software would be easier to implement on a linux box by use of some wrapper or emulator of some kind. I guess there's probably a good reason why this can't be done, or someone out there would have done it by now (another nail to microsofts coffin perhaps?). Presumably there isn't a standard API for windows to communicate with software modems, requiring that every manufacturer write a version of a wrapper for their particular modems (possibly even for different models of the same make). Now if only manufacturers supported linux more............

glj

Firstly, my apologies for not getting back quicker, but I have been keep busy at work for the past couple of week, plus a couple of other things.
Secondly I would like to thank all that replied to this posting.
This is what I have achieved so far.

Modems

As I was saying I have a Lucent Technologies (LT) Telepath Internet 56K WinModem. I was able to download a driver for this particular model from the linmodems.org website, which can be accessed from the following link http://www.linmodems.org/

The source code for my particular modem can be accessed at http://www.heby.de/ltmodem.
The version of the code I downloaded was contained in the ltmodem-6.00a.tar.gz

I followed the instructions contained in the package and I am now able to make this post from my Linux OS. There is a very good compile and upload driver script with the package.

If anyone else tries this and wants help let me know and I see if I can lend a hand

Sound Card.
No good news on this front.
My sound card is an Integrated sound blaster PCI 64V, according to the Gateway documentation, which has a Creative ES1373 chip
(Double-checked this by opening up my PC and viewing the chip for myself).
I have tried a number of approaches, modified various files and tried using alasconf, but have had no success.
Using alsaconf I have the following cards returned.

ens1371 Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 04)
legacy Probe legacy ISA (non-PnP) chips

When I select the ens1371 option the card appears to have been correctly configured, but there no so much as a beep from the speakers,
when the sound test is done.

When I select legacy option I end up with a result of No Legacy cards found.

Has anyone had any success with setting up a sound card with the same specifications as mine?
(See first post for details)

Once again any help appreciated.

Thanks,

DJ