Well, my onboard, AC97 compatible sound doesn't work.


1. This is a new install of Slackware. Sound worked decently without me having to do anything when I had Mandrake 9 installed before.
2.My kernel was compiled from 2.4.20 sources from kernel.org.
3. lspci -v tells me this about the onboard sound:

00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp: Unknown device f614
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 18
I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

4.I downloaded alsa-driver-0.9.5.tar.gz from Alsa-Project.org, extracted it to my home directory.

5. I can do a make uninstall, and then a ./configure and it's all cool, but when I make install, I get:

bash-2.05b# make install
rm -rf /lib/modules/2.4.20/kernel/sound
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/alsa-driver-0.9.5/support'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `modules_install'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/alsa-driver-0.9.5/support'
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/alsa-driver-0.9.5/acore'
mkdir -p /lib/modules/2.4.20/kernel/sound/acore
cp snd-hwdep.o snd-page-alloc.o snd-pcm.o snd-rawmidi.o snd-timer.o snd.o /lib/modules/2.4.20/kernel/sound/acore
cp: cannot stat `snd-hwdep.o': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-page-alloc.o': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-pcm.o': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-rawmidi.o': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd-timer.o': No such file or directory
cp: cannot stat `snd.o': No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [_modinst__] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/alsa-driver-0.9.5/acore'
make: *** [install-modules] Error 1


I don't have any modules loaded, and I compiled everything I thought I needed straight into the kernel, without compiling anything as modules. Silly, but I'm like that. Should I just try going to a 2.5 kernel since I heard those have ALSA included already?

My AC97 VIA onboard works perfectly well with the 2.4.21 kernel... with the 2.4.20 kernel I had to use ALSA to make them work... don't ask me why :?

Anyway, you might wanna try 2.4.21.

Yep, same here...using kernel 2.4.21 mine worked without much effort or the alsa drivers, but using Slack 8.0/2.4.20 I needed the alsa drivers.

Bah. ok. I'll try different kernels, but that seems f-ing stupid, no offense, to have to recompile a kernel just to get one piece of hardware to work.

It's not so much the kernel the problem, it's because the mfg. made their hardware and drivers for Windoze systems. And now their beginning to release the code so Linux developers can create drivers for their hardware.

why is "stupid" to recompile a kernel to add new hardware support? it's normal. Recompile a Kernel is an easy task, no myths!

p.s.

Alsa works MUCH better then OSS, so use it also if you're using 2.4.21!

I would agree with you if the issue were something like, I need to recompile the kernel to interface with an ISA device, or some other broad class of hardware, but see, the kernel already knows how to interface with onboard pci devices in general, so it seems like I should just be able to add a module or a driver, or something else minor. In the days of MS-DOS, the most that I ever needed to do to add a soundcard was install some files from some floppies into a directory and add a few lines to config.sys and autoexec.bat.

No changes to the the operating system ITSELF were necessary, and DOS is quite primative compared to Linux, to say the least. The process is comparable in win9x and NT based systems as well. I've been using linux as my sole operating system for about a year, and I love it, but I feel that the process to add new hardware should be more modular. Adding drivers for an onboard soundcard should be a minor process, and shouldn't involve compiling 40 megs of stuff.


Yes compiling a kernel is easy, but it's also very time-consuming, that's my secondary concern to the philisophical one.

hey, linux IT'S modular, and compiling ALSA modules and loading it it's a FAST operation.

Well, if it's so easy and fast, could you maybe give me a hand with my problem and tell me what I did wrong? By the way, I'm running 2.4.21 now and still no sound.

When you type the command /sbin/lsmod in a console window does it show your sound related files, along with soundcore?

No, I don't have any modules loaded.

I have the same sound card and only had to recompile the kernel with VIA sound support added in, I have never used the ALSA drivers....

UPDATE: I grabbed 2.6test1 from kernel.org and compiled it, and now sound works. Only thing is that it seems to be using OSS instead of ALSA, even though I compiled ALSA into the kernel and left out OSS. when i try to use ALSA with xine -A alsa or with alsaplayer, it doesn't work, and I STILL can't compile the alsa-driver from the package i downloaded from alsa-project. The OSS sound is terrible. It loops and cuts out when momentarily when maximizing windows, exiting the program etc. It loops when i try to play video with sound, other little quirks. I'd really like to get it to work PROPERLY....

dunno if this is any use, but I have a via AC97 onboard sound chip too. Unnder mandrake 9.0 and 9.1 it was detected and worked without a hitch. however, when playing with gentoo (live version on the CD) I had to tell linux about it manually.

# modprobe via_82xxx_audio

or something like that (can't remember the exact module name).

this is probably of absolutely no help, but I'm posting it just in case it proves useful.

MN