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Getting ALSA to work with SBAWE32 in LM9.1


Glitz
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I always have the same problems with sound on Linux. Since the SB AWE32 isn't plug and play it is never detected at install time and therefore the ALSA drivers are never configured (or even installed in some cases). Then later there is no information on how to install and configure the stuff properly.

 

So, can anyone help me get ALSA working under LM9.1?

 

I know the old ALSA (version 0.5.x) had a snddevices script that you could run to set up all the /dev entries. However, I haven't been able to find a similar script for the 0.9.x version. All the howtos I've found on the web refer to the 0.5.x and earlier versions.

 

Glitz.

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Thanks for the reply Technonoid. I did run sndconfig and the aRTs server works fine. However, ALSA doesn't. I am specifically trying to get Rosegarden working with ALSA. The sequencer always dies at startup and ALSA complains there are no sound devices (/dev/dsp etc.) and that it will output to the null device. The ALSA daemon says that it started okay on bootup but when I check the services it says that it is stopped. If I try to start it, it says it started okay but the status is still stopped. I have installed all the updates so far.

 

Glitz.

 

PS. Rosegarden compiled no problem.

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rosegarden is cool. Hmmm, I'm not sure. I run mine on a sblive in my other computer. I'll check some places I have in mind.....

 

 

edit: just thinking of something quick.... Do you have awesfx loaded ? Seems like I remember something about RG4 needing it for awe32. Not sure.

 

 

 

Tech

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I totally fscked my LM9.1 installation now. Even aRTs wont run. I messed around with the /dev filesystem to try and manually add /dev/dsp, /dev/midi, /dev/sequencer, and /dev/mixer. Now it's a big mess and devfs insists on perpetuating it.

 

I think I have only two options. Remove ALSA from the kernel and compile it from scratch using the ./configure and ./snddevices scripts. This should set up all the required devices properly. Or buy a more modern PnP soundcard that will be recognized during installation.

I don't understand why Mandrake removed the snddevices configuration script. I've searched everywhere for it but it is not there.

 

Glitz.

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  • 5 months later...

Okay, I've moved onto LM9.2 and managed to get ALSA to run using an old SBAWE32 ISA non-plug and play card. I had to edit the modules.conf file by hand (since alsaconf doesn't recognize my sound card) but everything on the system seems to work with regards to sound now.

 

I then downloaded the latest version of Rosegarden, compiled it (not that the version of Jack installed in 9.2 is too old but I compiled it anyway), and installed it. It runs but not properly.

 

Only the external midi device produces any sound (my old waveblaster addon board). I figured out that the emu8000 driver was loaded but the soundfonts were not loaded. I had to do this manually from a console since I haven't been able to get modprobe to so this automatically. The OPL3 (FM synthesis) however, still produces no sound. And finally, the external midi in does work (my old midi keyboard) but the notes aren't recorded properly. Many have a duration of 0 or are not there at all. This seems to be related to quantization since if I play really slowly then the notes seem to be recorded. I haven't found any settings that change this behaviour. If I just play on the keyboard (not recording) the notes play properly on the midi output device.

 

I am currently using rosegarden 4-0.9.5.

 

I will list the contents of my modules.conf file here in case anyone can help me with the soundfont loading problem:

 

alias net-pf-4 ipx
alias autofs autofs4
probeall scsi_hostadapter aic7xxx ide-scsi ataraid
probeall usb-interface usb-uhci
alias eth0 tulip

# sndconfig configuration (OSS drivers)
#alias sound-slot-0 sb
#options sound dmabuf=1
#options opl3 io=0x388
#alias synth0 awe_wave
#post-install awe_wave /bin/sfxload /etc/midi/GU11-ROM.SF2
#options sb io=0x220 irq=5 dma=1 dma16=5 mpu_io=0x330

alias /dev/nvidia*   nvidia

### update-modules: start processing /etc/modutils/alsa
alias char-major-116 snd
alias char-major-14 soundcore
#alias snd-card-0 snd-card-sbawe
alias snd-card-0 snd-sbawe
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

#alias sound snd-card-sbawe
#alias sound snd-sbawe

alias snd-synth-midi snd-seq-midi

#post-install snd-card-sbawe /usr/bin/alsactl restore
#pre-remove snd-card-sbawe date > /tmp/file; echo Storing mixer > /tmp/file;/usr/bin/alsactl store

#options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1 snd_device_mode=0660 snd_device_gid=29 snd_device_uid=0
options snd major=116 cards_limit=1 device_mode=0660 device_gid=29 device_uid=0

#options snd-card-sbawe snd_irq=5 snd_mic_agc=1 snd_id=SB_AWE32_ISA
#snd_index=0 snd_id=sb16 snd_port=0x220 snd_irq=5 snd_mpu_port=0x330 snd_awe_port=0x620 snd_dma8=1 snd_dma16=5 snd_mic_agc=1 snd_isapnp=1 snd_csp=1
options snd-sbawe irq=5 mic_agc=1 id=SB_AWE32_ISA port=0x220 mpu_port=0x330 awe_port=0x620 dma8=1 dma16=5 isapnp=0 csp=1 index=0 dma8_size=64 dma16_size=64 opl3_port=0x388

post-install snd-emu8000-synth /bin/sfxload /etc/midi/GU11-ROM.SF2

### update-modules: end processing /etc/modutils/alsa#

 

Note that alsaconf did not produce the entries here. I cut and pasted them from various web pages.

 

Glitz.

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