I have Slackware 10 installed used the 2.6.11 kernel. My computer has a
Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA Audio Controller.
How do I get the sound to work?

Is the solution in a re-compiling of the kernel.?

try "alsaconf"

Pardon me if your problem is bigger than this (you didn't not specify), but sometimes it's enough to run 'alsamixer' and enable the sound ('m' toggles mute on/off for each line )

I ran the alsaconf program without any result. It came with the following reponses:

Running alsamixer gives the following:

Go to www.alsa-project.org and download the drivers for your card, then follow the instructions to install it.

As my soundcard is Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA Audio Controller is it eniugh to download the VIA Generic device?

Via have linux drivers for all their hardware on the download site. You could try and find a driver for your card there.

Eric

If you haven't checked whether sound is enabled in your kernel yet,
yes that is part of the answer. You also need to make sure that the via
drivers are enabled in the kernel.

Then you can download the ALSA drivers from the web site and you enable
the drivers for your particular sound device when you configure ALSA before
you make then make install. After you get ALSA and untar it do
"configure --help |more" (without the quotes) and it will tell you how to enable your
drivers for the AC'97 codec.

After you install then reboot, you can run alsamixer and unmute the channels.
This is one of the few programs you will build where you should go ahead and
reboot after installation because it is the easiest way to install the modules into
the kernel. And there'll be a bunch of them.

Hope this helps.