How to make Alsa driver loading?

Waldi · 04-09-2003, 06:35 AM

Hi!

After making all necessary compiling and so on jobs with ALsa I have still one problem : during booting something (kmod?, pnp?) loads by default kernel drivers for my maestro2 sound card. What and where should I change to load Alsa drivers instead?
Step by step guide would be appreciated.

Excalibur · 04-09-2003, 07:04 AM

If Slack 8.1 then probably /etc/rc.d/rc.modules. Edit the script and look for the module names. If they are not remarked out then remark them. You could also add your alsa driver commands here in this script to load them when the system boots. But also, check the /etc/rc.d/rc.local file as well. You may have added the modules there instead.

If Slack 9.0 and hotplug is enabled, then add the maestro kernel modules to the end of the /etc/hotplug/blacklist to prevent the modules from loading. You could then add your alsa drivers to the /etc/rc.d/rc.modules script or the /etc/rc.d/rc.local script.

Waldi · 04-09-2003, 10:27 AM

Thanks Excalibur.

I use Slack 9.0, your way seems to be OK, but isn't it possible to force hotplug (if it is really responsible for loading sound card module) to "see" Alsa modules instead of kernel ones? I think it would be more elegant (result probably the same).

notAcoolNick · 04-09-2003, 11:53 AM

Prefered way to load alsa modules is through /etc/modules.conf (this way you'll be able to setup all sound related services and options in a consistent way) unless you have specific requirements on the order of the modules loading (check out recent thread started by neenee a few days ago). In any case I strongly recomend to visit the project's website: www.alsa-project.org and browse documentation both general and specific to your sound card (such as writing /etc/modules.conf and ~/.asoundrc files).
Best of luck,
Nick.

Excalibur · 04-09-2003, 02:12 PM

I would think the method would probably be to add the kernel modules to the blacklist and then setup the aliases for the alsa modules in the /etc/modules.conf file. Since this file is normally blank in Slackware and not normally used I am not familar with the syntax of the statements. But I would agree with the prior post by Nick that the Alsa project page would have the info on how to setup the modules.conf file. I would be interested in knowing if Slack would actually use it. For my part it has always been easier to add it to rc.local.

Waldi · 04-10-2003, 04:37 AM

Hi

You are right, Excalibur, problem is not in inserting proper statments in modules.conf (it is really well described on Alsa project page) but if modules.conf is used by Slackware. I didn't find any calls to this file in init scripts or hotplug (but maybe I missed something or this file is used directly by kmod).
Do yo have any idea, which scripts (exept rc.modules and hotplug) are responsible for loading modules?

neenee · 04-10-2003, 05:21 AM

/etc/modules.conf is used by slackware.

i recommend adding your soundcard module to
your blacklist, even though you might find it an
ugly method. first get it to work. you can always
polish the process afterwards.

good luck.

Excalibur · 04-10-2003, 07:51 AM

I am not sure since I do not use the modules.conf, but I suspect it is used by the kernel module autoloader that has been around for quite awhile. If the stock kernels enable that feature then I suspect it would use the file. If I recall from what I remember reading, the modules.conf only contains statements to create alias assignment. In your case I think the alias is for "sound". I do not know if the different alias assignments are distro dependent or not. Since the file has always been empty in Slack I have never had a reason to really investigate it. Loading the modules from the rc.local script appears to be just fine and polished to me. But I tend to avoid any process that starts with the word "auto".

Waldi · 04-11-2003, 04:28 AM

Thanks a lot, guys!!!

I inserted my "old" (kernel) sound module in hotplug's blacklist, how you advised, and modproped proper Alsa modules in rc.local and ...yabadabado!!!! It works!!!! I haven't touched modules conf (it remains empty).
But, by the way, what for is this modules.conf? Is it alternative way of inserting modules? What for are all of these aliases in this file, if it looks like Slackware works pretty good without them?

Excalibur · 04-11-2003, 08:44 AM

I believe it is there for compatibilty purposes. If a program or script wants to locate the file, then it would be present.

Waldi · 04-15-2003, 03:34 AM

I made some experiments recently and I discovered, that modules.conf is also suitable place to load Alsa drivers (I inserted all necessary statements and aliases to modules.conf according advices on www.alsa-project.org). All modules are loaded correctly and it works. Just one strange problem (it was the same when I used rc.local to start Alsa). In /proc/asound/cards it says, that I have two sound cards (both maestro2). Naturally, I have only one. And in syslog it complains about missing devices for sound_card_1 and sound_slot_1......bla, bla, bla.
Why it tries to load second card, which is not present ?
By the way, sound quality is really much better with Alsa drivers, and no dropouts anymore.

Aussie · 04-15-2003, 09:22 AM

Modprobe looks at /etc/modules.conf when loading modules and applies any options and/or post module install commands, this is mine as an example,

Code:

# I2C module options
alias char-major-89 i2c-dev
options adm1021 ignore=2, 0x18

#SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
alias char-major-116      emu10k1
alias sound-slot-0        emu10k1
alias sound-service-0-0   emu10k1
alias sound-service-0-1   emu10k1
alias sound-service-0-3   emu10k1
alias sound-service-0-8   emu10k1
alias sound-service-0-12  emu10k1
post-install enu10k1 /usr/local/etc/emu-script


# DXR3 MPEG decoder
alias char-major-121      em8300
alias sound-slot-1        em8300
alias sound-service-1-0   em8300
alias sound-service-1-1   em8300
alias sound-service-1-3   em8300
alias sound-service-1-8   em8300
alias sound-service-1-12  em8300

below em8300 adv717x
below adv717x sound-slot-0 sound-service-0-3
options adv717x pixelport_16bit=0 pixelport_other_pal=0 swap_redblue_pal=0
options em8300 dicom_fix=1 dicom_control=1 dicom_other_pal=0
post-install em8300 /usr/local/bin/em8300setup

alias char-major-195 nvidia

Waldi · 04-16-2003, 08:30 AM

OK, Aussie, but how I see you have a device (em8300) inserted in "sound_slot_1". I have nothing (just one sundcard maestro2) inserted (it is laptop CA6300). So what tries to find any device inserted in "sound_slot_1", why it complains (in syslog) about missing "sound_card_1" and how to stop it from doing this?

Aussie · 04-16-2003, 08:54 AM

I have a soundblaster live 5.1 sound card and a hollywood+ dvd decoder card that also has sound components, thus the two sound slots, the other em8300 entries are to do with the mpeg decoder and tv out chips on the card.

What brand is your laptop?
A search on linux-laptop.net may shed some light on the problem.

Waldi · 04-16-2003, 09:13 AM

Thanks, Aussie for quick reply.
It is California Access 6300, rather old one (Pentium II 266Mhz), but still working, I use it generally for testing different distros (Vector recently - as it is Slackware based I "dropped" into Slack 9). It contains maestro2 as sound device and nothing more is added, except pcimcia modem (but the last one is properly detected and works OK). Is it possible that hotplug (or other init script) expects something in sound _slot_1 and complains when nothing is found?
Or maybe I should insert something like "alias sound-slot-1 off", but I don't know if this is possible in "modules.conf".
I will try link you adviced me a.s.a.p.