Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 in Slackware 14.0
 

Hello!
Want to share my findings how to get work SB Live! 5.1 ( emu10k) in slack 14.0 x32, SB Live! 5.1 sb0060, intel dg965ss mb, 3 gb ram, c2d cpu, stereo sound ( 2.1).


Preambula:
i we old man, i remember Fido, and my first WT card - Gravis UltraSound PnP, who i purchase for big money for my Intel Pentium 166MMX computer :) sounds in games like as duke nukem 3d, and midi play was much, much better, than my previously turtle beach montecarlo ( FM synthesis, SB Pro compactible). As so i want again hear a my old MIDI, and purchase this SB Live ( i also own my GUS PnP, but it has ISA card, and in modern motherboards no ISA at all :( ).


after i put my SB Live in PCI slot on my motherboard, connect speakers to green connector of this, turn on computer, going in BIOS, and disable built-in mb AC97 sound. then i start computer, go in KDE and found - soundcard work out of the box. sounds playing, etc. i open kmix, go "mixer", "settings", "configure channels", and add a almost all sliders.

then i want to play my MIDI files -i found it from my old archives, open with Audacious, and got a error message.
open "file" - > "preferences" in audacious, choose "plugins", then "Input" tab, and "AMIDI-Plug (MIDI player)" in that preferences, "ALSA Backend" tab, in "ALSA output ports" i choose ( check-in)

17:0 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 0

try again play midi - it plays, but no sound at all...

then i investigate, i need a AWESFX utility - get a 5.0.1d from
ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/tiwai/awesfx/
extract it, ./configure, make, make install - as always.
it compiles and install ok, without errors.
now we need soundbank ( .sf2 patch set file for our wavetable).
there is site with various links to good patch sets:
http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=3188.0

i use a 8MBGMSFX.SF2 ( creative standart patch set, also can be download in various locations in internet, search via google.com for filename), and WeedsGM3.sf2

must be download it, unpack \ rename if necessary, and put it in
/usr/local/share/sounds/sf2/

now is time to finish all:
go to midnight commander, open /etc/rc.d/rc.local

make it looks like

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/rc.d/rc.local: Local system initialization script.
#
# Put any local startup commands in here. Also, if you have
# anything that needs to be run at shutdown time you can
# make an /etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown script and put those
# commands in there.


echo "SB synth module load!"
/sbin/modprobe snd_emu10k1_synth

echo "Load 8 Mb midi patch set for SB Live! 5.1 soundcard!"

#/usr/local/bin/asfxload /usr/local/share/sounds/sf2/8mbgmsfx.sf2
/usr/local/bin/asfxload /usr/local/share/sounds/sf2/WeedsGM3.sf2

echo "Pause ***** Sleep 5 ********"
sleep 5


save, and restart. now, MIDI in Audacious must be play with sound.

P.S. you must comment "sleep 5", if you dont want 5 secs pause in booting process. i adding this for have a time to read if soundbank loading is ok, without error.

Just saw your addition at SlackDocs http://docs.slackware.com/howtos:mul...kware_14.0_x32
Thankyou for your effort as I am sure that it will be helpful to others. With your permission, I would be happy to work on the English a little.

I have a query about how you load the modules. You are currently using commands in rc.local that include sleeps. Have you tried using /etc/rc.d/rc.modules-$(uname -r) to do the loading? This would happen earlier in the boot process and could avoid the sleeps.
From /etc/rc.d/rc.modules-3.7.1 on my -current setup with possible modifications in blue.

Nice write-up, WiseDraco! Thank you!

Thank you for editing, it be good!
about a rc.modules - i not using it, because i want a similar things in one place.
try to explain: at first, sleeps be need for my monitoring purposes, as i write, because first times, when i experimenting with load soundbank via asfx, after log in to kde, i found, i was nio sound when playing midi - soundbank from command in rc.local not loaded. why?i look dmesg and not find any message. i try to run again rc.local ( from terminal from kde), all load without error messages, and midi start playing with sound hear. it be disappointing to me, i restart computer, and in booting stage look who happens when rc.local start executing.
but its executing fast, and i cannot read all it output. for that reason i put sleeps in rc.d -while sleep command works, i can comfortably read if any errors \ another outputs on asfxload command.

i prefer my own hacks and commands put to rc.local, because it is small and contains only my additions, and i keep its on migrating \ etc, and also rc.local is last script, who run automatic - sometimes that is too important. but anyone can put these commands, where it want - even in rc.M or rc.inet1 :) i prefer rc.local, and not see bad sides of that preferances, only + ;)

I was too slow on the editing, Alien_Bob has already been there and done that!

Your reasons for using rc.local (seeing messages and easy migration) are valid. Thanks for the response.

Then thanks to AlienBob :)
in next month i plan to try replace my old "production server" no new one, slack14_64, as so, i may write some new articles, like as "set up software raid1 with one disk", set up small dns \ ftp \ mailserver with spam filtering, and so on...;)