Hey,

I'm new to Linux so bare with me please , my only experience is about a week with RedHat 9.

I just installed Slackware 9.1 for the first time, the install went great (I think) when I logged into Gnome (is there a graphical login? I had to login and startx) I noticed the speaker with a red slash going through it at the top right of the screen, I clicked it and got this:

Couldn't open device mixer /dev/sound/mixer

I'm using the audio integrated on the A7N8X-E motherboard which according to asus.com is:

Realtek ALC650 6-Channel CODEC
Integrated APU(Audio Processor Unit)
Dolby Digital (AC-3) Encorder
S/PDIF in / out interface

Be gentle with me, if you need more info...also tell me how to get that info so I can give it to you

Thanks for any help.


EDIT: I think I figured out the login thing, I changed the default runlevel to 4 in /etc/inittab, tell me if I'm wrong...I'm affraid to reboot

Try running: alsaconf
If all went ok, run: alsamixer (to configure the sound volumes)
and finally: alsactl store (to save the volume configs)
Of course, do all that as root

You can safely reboot into graphical mode with runlevel 4 in inittab. good luck with your sound.

How do I know if alsaconf went alright, I get upto:

Following card(s) are found on your system
Chose a soundcard to configure:

intel8x0 - Nvidia Coorperation nForce2 AC97 Audio Controller (MCP) (r
legacy - Probe legacy ISA (non-PnP) chips

If I choose the legacy it says something along the lines of if you probe for isa thingy system may become unstable so I stop. If I choose intel8x0 it asks if I want to modify /etc/modules.conf If I say yes the terminal just goes blank, if I say no then i'm returned to the bash prompt

EDIT: scratch the part about yes bringing me to a blank screen, I just had to wait 2 mroe seconds then I did...continuing on with the configuration...I hope

Did you come straight from Redhat? If so, you may need to move the speaker output plug. Redhat uses oss instead of Alsa and outputs from the Mic input on many soundcards.

Woot woot! Thanks gbonvehi, the config and everything went just fine...now one more question if you happen to come back: How'd you learn to do that? I only ask because I'm just wondering how everyone seems to know and I don't lol. Thanks again

Just reading, use man's and how-to's a lot. I learn that about alsa by going to their page, www.alsa-project.org

Baix, i've been on slack for almost a year and just about everything you learn happens from reading. the man pages are essential. Check this out to read man pages for apps you may not have and are considering installing. Also, you will find that for almost every problem you are going to come up against, someone else has already successfully dealt with it. Get familiar with how to use the search function on this forum. the people here are great (no flame wars and no ragging on newb's makes for a forum that is a pleasure to participate in). And this is one of the bigger Slack forums around. If by chance you have an issue that no one has seen before, you can be sure someone (or two or three) will go all out to help you (and in helping you, learn something themselves). I've learned a lot just by hanging out here and reading the posts. It's amazing what you will pick up.

so, thats my advice to you. Stick with it, cause it's worth it.

-crash

Thanks for the link, advice, and just overall boost Crash, much appreciated.