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1	<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>	1	<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml,v 1.21 2003/11/23 16:30:50 swift Exp $ -->	2	<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml,v 1.37 2004/06/15 07:21:07 bennyc Exp $ -->
3	<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">	3	<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">
4		4
5	<guide link = "/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml">	5	<guide link = "/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml">
6	<title>Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide</title>	6	<title>Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide</title>
7	<author title="Author">	7	<author title="Author">
…		…
11	<mail link="g2boojum@gentoo.org">Grant Goodyear</mail>	11	<mail link="g2boojum@gentoo.org">Grant Goodyear</mail>
12	</author>	12	</author>
13	<author title="Author">	13	<author title="Author">
14	<mail link="agenkin@gentoo.org">Arcady Genkin</mail>	14	<mail link="agenkin@gentoo.org">Arcady Genkin</mail>
15	</author>	15	</author>
		16	<author title="Author">
		17	<mail link="eradicator@gentoo.org">Jeremy Huddleston</mail>
		18	</author>
16	<author title="Editor"><!-- zhen@gentoo.org -->	19	<author title="Editor"><!-- zhen@gentoo.org -->
17	John P. Davis	20	John P. Davis
18	</author>	21	</author>
19	<author title="Editor">	22	<author title="Editor">
20	<mail link="swift@gentoo.org">Sven Vermeulen</mail>	23	<mail link="swift@gentoo.org">Sven Vermeulen</mail>
…		…
23	<mail link="bennyc@gentoo.org">Benny Chuang</mail>	26	<mail link="bennyc@gentoo.org">Benny Chuang</mail>
24	</author>	27	</author>
25	<author title="Editor">	28	<author title="Editor">
26	<mail link="blubber@gentoo.org">Tiemo Kieft</mail>	29	<mail link="blubber@gentoo.org">Tiemo Kieft</mail>
27	</author>	30	</author>
28		31	<author title="Editor">
29	<license/>	32	<mail link="erwin@gentoo.org">Erwin</mail>
		33	</author>
30		34
31	<abstract>	35	<abstract>
32	This guide will show you how to set up the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture	36	This guide will show you how to set up the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
33	(ALSA) on Gentoo Linux. In addition to the Gentoo Linux Desktop Configuration	37	(ALSA) on Gentoo Linux. In addition to the Gentoo Linux Desktop Configuration
34	Guide, this guide is supposed to give you more information on this subject.	38	Guide, this guide is supposed to give you more information on this subject.
35	</abstract>	39	</abstract>
36		40
		41	<license/>
		42
37	<version>1.3.4</version>	43	<version>1.5.0</version>
38	<date>November 23, 2003</date>	44	<date>May 18, 2004</date>
39		45
40	<chapter>	46	<chapter>
41	<title>Introduction</title>	47	<title>The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture</title>
42	<section>	48	<section>
43	<title>What is ALSA?</title>	49	<title>What is ALSA?</title>
44	<body>	50	<body>
45		51
46	<p>	52	<p>
47	The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) is a project to improve the Linux	53	ALSA is the <e>Advanced Linux Sound Architecture</e>, a project dedicated to the
48	sound subsystem by rewriting large chunks of it. It is anticipated that ALSA	54	development of a high-quality Linux sound subsystem. It has replaced OSS
49	will make it into Linux kernel 2.6.x (or 3.x.x -- whichever comes first) as it	55	(<e>Open Sound System</e>) as default sound subsystem in the 2.6 kernel series.
50	becomes ready.
51	</p>
52
53	<p>
54	ALSA provides audio and MIDI functionality for Linux.
55	</p>
56
57	<p>
58	Quoted from <uri>http://www.alsa-project.org</uri>, ALSA has the following
59	features:
60	</p>
61
62	<ul>
63	<li>
64	Efficient support for all types of audio interfaces, from consumer
65	soundcards to professional multichannel audio interfaces
66	</li>
67	<li>Fully modularized sound drivers</li>
68	<li>SMP and thread-safe design</li>
69	<li>
70	User space library (alsa-lib) to simplify application programming and
71	provide higher level functionality
72	</li>
73	<li>
74	Support for the older OSS API, providing binary compatibility for most OSS
75	programs
76	</li>
77	</ul>
78
79	<p>
80	There's lots more to ALSA however, like support for Full Duplex playback and
81	recording, multiple soundcard support, hardware mixing of streams, extensive
82	mixer capabilities (to support advanced features of new soundcards), ...
83	</p>
84
85	</body>
86	</section>
87	<section>
88	<title>Why use ALSA?</title>
89	<body>
90
91	<p>
92	If your soundcard is supported by the Linux kernel sound system or the
93	commercial OSS/4Front sound driver system, which can be found in all 2.4.x
94	Linux kernels, you could just aswell build <e>those modules</e> for use with
95	your soundcard. If you want this, just read through the <uri
96	link="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Sound-HOWTO/index.html">Linux Sound HOWTO</uri>.
97	</p>	56	</p>
98		57
99	<p>
100	However, those OSS/4Front drivers have some limitations -- being commercial is
101	one. ALSA is an attempt to go beyond these limitations and to do so in an open
102	source fashion. ALSA is a fully GPL and LGPL'ed sound driver system, that
103	provides a professional quality system for recording, playback, and MIDI
104	sequencing.
105	</p>
106
107	</body>
108	</section>
109	<section>
110	<title>What cards does ALSA support?</title>
111	<body>
112
113	<p>
114	ALSA tries to support as many (new) cards as possible by providing open-source
115	drivers. However, some vendors may provide binary-only packages.
116	</p>	58	<p>
117		59	ALSA provides efficient support for all types of audio interfaces, is fully
118	<p>	60	modularized, is SMP and thread-safe and provides a high-quality user space
119	To know if your card is supported, you can find a Soundcard Matrix of supported	61	library called <e>alsa-lib</e> to simplify application programming. It also
120	and not-supported cards here: <uri>http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/</uri>.	62	provides a backwards compatibility layer with OSS.
121	</p>	63	</p>
122		64
123	</body>	65	</body>
124	</section>	66	</section>
125	</chapter>	67	</chapter>
126
127	<chapter>	68	<chapter>
128	<title>Installation</title>	69	<title>Installing ALSA</title>
129	<section>
130	<title>Gentoo USE flags</title>
131	<body>
132
133	<p>
134	To compile programs with ALSA-support, be sure to add <e>alsa</e> to
135	your USE-variable. However, several tools don't support alsa yet, and
136	require OSS. ALSA provides OSS-emulation if you define <e>oss</e> in your
137	USE-variable before you start.
138	</p>
139
140	</body>
141	</section>	70	<section>
		71	<title>USE Flags</title>
		72	<body>
		73
		74	<p>
		75	Gentoo provides an <c>alsa</c> USE flag which you should set in
		76	<path>/etc/make.conf</path> to allow our available packages to compile with
		77	ALSA support. If you have <c>oss</c> in your USE variable as well, ALSA will
		78	compile with OSS backward compatibility.
		79	</p>
		80
		81	</body>
142	<section>	82	</section>
		83	<section>
143	<title>Kernel modules</title>	84	<title>Kernel Modules</title>
144	<body>	85	<body>
145		86
146	<p>
147	Since we're still using 2.4.x kernel sources, we'll have to compile kernel
148	modules and ALSA modules separately. People who are using a 2.5.x kernel can
149	do this from within their kernel configuration, since the ALSA modules are
150	included in the kernel sources and should be built there.
151	</p>	87	<p>
152		88	First of all, before continuing, make sure your kernel has <e>Sound Card
		89	Support</e> enabled. If you used <c>genkernel</c> to build your kernel, then
		90	this is automatically true. Otherwise reconfigure your kernel.
153	<p>	91	</p>
154	First we'll make sure that our kernel configuration is ready for use with ALSA.	92
155	All you need in your kernel configuration is having Sound Card Support set to
156	be built as a module (M). This will build <path>soundcore.o</path>.
157	</p>	93	<p>
158		94	If you use a 2.6 kernel you can skip the rest of this section and continue with
159	<note>	95	<uri link="#alsa-utils">Installing the ALSA Utils</uri> as 2.6 already has the
160	Possibly, this will also work when you built Sound Card Support in the kernel	96	necessary ALSA drivers in it. Of course, don't forget to enable support for the
161	(Y) instead of building it as a module (M). However, the official ALSA	97	sound card you have when configuring your kernel.
162	documentation suggests building it as a module, since ALSA will try loading it.
163	</note>
164
165	<p>	98	</p>
166	If you already have a working kernel configuration, make sure you remove all	99
167	sound drivers (except for Sound Card Support). If you wish to do this without
168	having to reboot, you could do like this:
169	</p>	100	<p>
170		101	Users of 2.4 kernel sources will have to install the necessary ALSA drivers for
171	<pre caption="Kernel configuration">	102	their soundcard. First find out what soundcard you have. An easy trick is to
172	# <i>cd /usr/src/linux</i>	103	search for "audio" in <path>/proc/pci</path>:
173	# <i>cp .config ~/</i>
174	# <i>make mrproper</i>
175	# <i>cp ~/.config .</i>
176	# <i>make menuconfig</i>
177	</pre>
178
179	<p>	104	</p>
180	Now select <e>Sound Card Support</e> as Module (M) and deselect all other sound	105
181	drivers. Exit and say Y to save your kernel configuration. After that, build	106	<pre caption="Finding out the soundcard type">
182	the modules:	107	# <i>grep -i audio /proc/pci</i>
		108	Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio
		109	Controller (rev 64).
		110	</pre>
		111
183	</p>	112	<p>
184		113	Now go to the <uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc">ALSA Soundcard
185	<pre caption="Kernel compilation">	114	Matrix</uri> and search for your soundcard. In the above example you should go
186	# <i>make dep clean</i>	115	to the "VIA" manufacturer. You will receive a table with the known chipsets of
187	# <i>make modules modules_install</i>	116	that vendor. The chipset in the above example is "via82c686"; the "Details" link
188	</pre>	117	then informs me that the driver is called <path>via82xx</path>.
189
190	<p>	118	</p>
191	Before installing your new modules, this last line will delete all your previous	119
192	modules, even the ones from a previous ALSA installation.
193	</p>	120	<p>
		121	Based on this information we can now install the <c>alsa-driver</c> for our
		122	soundcard. First edit <path>/etc/make.conf</path> and <e>add</e> a new option
		123	called ALSA_CARDS to it. Inside this variable you declare the soundcard driver
		124	you want to use:
		125	</p>
		126
		127	<pre caption="Editing /etc/make.conf for ALSA_CARDS">
		128	ALSA_CARDS="via82xx"
		129	</pre>
		130
		131	<p>
		132	Now install <c>alsa-driver</c>:
		133	</p>
		134
		135	<pre caption="Installing ALSA Drivers">
		136	# <i>emerge alsa-driver</i>
		137	</pre>
194		138
195	<impo>	139	<impo>
196	This means, whenever you recompile your kernel later on, you MUST recompile	140	Whenever you (re)compile your kernel sources, chances are that the ALSA drivers
197	<c>alsa-driver</c>.	141	will be overwritten. It is therefore adviseable to rerun <c>emerge
		142	alsa-driver</c> every time you (re)compile your kernel <e>after</e> having
		143	rebooted into the new kernel.
198	</impo>	144	</impo>
199		145
200	</body>	146	</body>
201	</section>	147	</section>
202	<section>	148	<section id="alsa-utils">
203	<title>ALSA modules</title>	149	<title>Installing the ALSA Utils</title>
204	<body>
205
206	<p>
207	Now it's time to install the ALSA drivers for your soundcard(s). If your
208	soundcard is PCI, you can find out the name and type of your soundcard by
209	looking at the output of <path>/proc/pci</path>.
210	</p>
211
212	<pre caption="Search for soundcard information">
213	# <i>grep audio /proc/pci</i>
214	</pre>
215
216	<warn>
217	If you had a previous sound setup and there are still non-ALSA sound modules
218	loaded, unload them <e>now</e>. Check with <c>lsmod</c> and use <c>rmmod</c>
219	to unload all sound-related modules on your system.
220	</warn>
221
222	<p>
223	We could simply do an <c>emerge alsa-driver</c> now, this would compile and
224	install <e>all</e> ALSA sound drivers.
225	</p>
226
227	<p>
228	However, to save some time, lookup the <e>Module Name</e> of your soundcard(s)
229	on the <uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc">ALSA Soundcard
230	Matrix</uri> by following the <e>Details</e> link in the <e>Driver and Docs</e>
231	column in the row of the chipset of your soundcard. Mine is <c>snd-emu10k1</c>,
232	since I have an SBlive! soundcard, with the <e>EMU10K1</e> chipset. We'll set
233	ALSA_CARDS environment to the value of the module name before emerging (but
234	without the snd prefix), so emerge will only compile the drivers we need.
235	</p>
236
237	<pre caption="Compile correct modules">
238	# <i>env ALSA_CARDS='emu10k1' emerge alsa-driver</i>
239	</pre>
240
241	<note>
242	You can also add this value in <path>/etc/make.conf</path>, so when you have
243	to emerge the alsa-driver later on you can just run <c>emerge alsa-driver</c>.
244	For example, like this: <c>echo 'ALSA_CARDS="emu10k1"' >> /etc/make.conf</c>
245	</note>
246
247	<note>
248	When you want to install ALSA drivers for more than one soundcard, you could
249	set ALSA_CARDS to a space-separated list of drivers; like this: <c>env
250	ALSA_CARDS='emu10k1 intel8x0 ens1370' emerge alsa-driver</c>
251	</note>
252
253	<note>
254	If you want to have OSS compatibility, make sure to emerge <i>alsa-oss</i>, it
255	is the ALSA/OSS compatibility wrapper.
256	</note>
257
258	<note>
259	If you plan on recompiling your kernels numerous times, it might
260	be adviseable to emerge <c>alsa-driver</c> with <c>--buildpkg</c>. This
261	will create a binary package for it. Later, after recompiling your kernel,
262	you can just do <c>emerge --usepkg alsa-driver</c> which will install the
263	binary package instead of recompiling it completely.
264	</note>
265
266	<p>
267	After this, the ALSA modules should be installed on your system.
268	</p>
269
270	</body>	150	<body>
271	</section>
272	<section>
273	<title>Configuration of ALSA</title>
274	<body>
275		151
276	<p>
277	Let's start configuring now to get ALSA working properly. We'll need to edit
278	some files, to let our system know about the freshly installed ALSA modules.
279	</p>	152	<p>
280		153	If you want backwards compatibility with OSS, you need to install
		154	<c>alsa-oss</c>:
281	<p>	155	</p>
282	First, install <c>alsa-utils</c> on your system:	156
		157	<pre caption="Installing the ALSA OSS compatibility layer">
		158	# <i>emerge alsa-oss</i>
		159	</pre>
		160
283	</p>	161	<p>
		162	Now install the ALSA Utils on your system (this is mandatory):
		163	</p>
284		164
285	<pre caption = "Emerging alsa-utils">	165	<pre caption="Installing ALSA Utils">
286	# <i>emerge alsa-utils</i>	166	# <i>emerge alsa-utils</i>
287	</pre>	167	</pre>
288		168
289	<p>	169	<p>
290	Hereafter, we need to edit <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>.	170	Now that the utils are installed, it is time to configure ALSA...
291	</p>
292
293	<warn>
294	There is no need to edit <path>/etc/modules.conf</path>. Instead, always edit
295	files in <path>/etc/modules.d</path>.
296	</warn>
297
298	<p>	171	</p>
299	Check the ALSA portion <e>at the bottom of the file</e>. By tweaking this line	172
300	you can specify the max number of soundcards you have (generally, just one).	173	</body>
		174	</section>
		175	</chapter>
		176	<chapter>
		177	<title>Configuring ALSA</title>
		178	<section>
		179	<title>Automatically Loading the Kernel Modules</title>
		180	<body>
		181
301	</p>	182	<p>
302		183	If you use a modular kernel (such as when using <c>genkernel</c>) you have to
303	<pre caption="At the bottom of /etc/modules.d/alsa">	184	edit <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> so that it activates the necesary modules
304	<comment>Set this to the correct number of cards.</comment>	185	at boot time. For the soundcard in our example:
305	options snd cards_limit=1
306	</pre>
307
308	<p>	186	</p>
309	Now we'll specify the sounddriver(s) ALSA should use. In the same file, edit
310	like this:
311	</p>
312		187
313	<pre caption="In /etc/modules.d/alsa">	188	<pre caption="/etc/modules.d/alsa">
314	## and then run `modules-update' command.
315	## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.
316	##
317	## ALSA portion
318	alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1
319	<comment>## If you have more than one, add:</comment>
320	## alias snd-card-1 snd-intel8x0	189	alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
321	## alias snd-card-2 snd-ens1370	190	<comment># The following is only needed when you want OSS compatibility</comment>
322	## OSS/Free portion
323	## alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0	191	alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
324	## alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
325	##
326	</pre>
327
328	<note>
329	If you have more than one soundcard, adjust the <c>cards_limit</c> value and add
330	more snd-card aliases to the file. I don't have experience with this, but you
331	can find examples for configurations with two or more soundcards in <uri
332	link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-howto/c1660.htm">Chapter 6</uri>
333	of the <uri
334	link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-howto/alsa-howto.html">ALSA
335	Howto</uri>.
336	</note>
337
338	<p>
339	Last thing to do in this file, almost at the end, check if these lines are there
340	and uncommented:
341	</p>
342
343	<pre caption="Near the end of /etc/modules.d/alsa">
344	alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss	192	alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
345	alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss	193	alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
346	alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss	194	alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss
347	</pre>	195	</pre>
348		196
349	<p>	197	<p>
350	Now double-check the file <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> and when you're sure	198	Now run <c>modules-update</c> to save the changes you made to the
351	everyting is ok, run <c>modules-update</c>.	199	<path>alsa</path> file into <path>/etc/modules.conf</path>:
352	</p>	200	</p>
353		201
354	<pre caption="Running modules-update">	202	<pre caption="Running modules-update">
355	# <i>modules-update</i>	203	# <i>modules-update</i>
356	</pre>	204	</pre>
357		205
358	<note>	206	</body>
359	Running <c>modules-update</c> here will insert the data from	207	</section>
360	<path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> into <path>/etc/modules.conf</path>	208	<section>
361	</note>	209	<title>Verifying the Device Files</title>
		210	<body>
362		211
363	<p>	212	<p>
364	You should also verify that <path>/etc/devfsd.conf</path> has the alsa devices	213	If you use DevFS (which is the default for Gentoo installations) make sure that
365	and permissions correctly registered.	214	<path>/etc/devfsd.conf</path> has the ALSA devices and permissions correctly
		215	registered:
366	</p>	216	</p>
367		217
368	<pre caption="/etc/devfsd.conf">	218	<pre caption="/etc/devfsd.conf">
369	# ALSA/OSS stuff	219	# ALSA/OSS stuff
370	# Comment/change these if you want to change the permissions on	220	# Comment/change these if you want to change the permissions on
…		…
375	LOOKUP midi MODLOAD	225	LOOKUP midi MODLOAD
376	REGISTER sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660	226	REGISTER sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660
377	REGISTER snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660	227	REGISTER snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660
378	</pre>	228	</pre>
379		229
380	<note>
381	Notice that devfsd.conf sets <path>/dev/sound</path> permissions to be
382	root.audio. Thus, for non-root users to use audio they will have to be part of
383	the audio group.
384	</note>
385
386	</body>	230	</body>
387	</section>
388	</chapter>
389
390	<chapter>
391	<title>Starting ALSA</title>
392	<section>	231	</section>
393	<title>Adding alsasound to a runlevel</title>	232	<section>
		233	<title>Having ALSA Activated at Boot</title>
394	<body>	234	<body>
395		235
396	<p>
397	First thing to do now, is to make ALSA startup at boottime. Like this:
398	</p>	236	<p>
		237	To activate ALSA support at boot, add the <c>alsasound</c> init script to the
		238	boot runlevel:
		239	</p>
399		240
400	<pre caption="Add ALSA to the default runlevel">	241	<pre caption="Adding alsasound to the boot runlevel">
401	# <i>rc-update add alsasound boot</i>	242	# <i>rc-update add alsasound boot</i>
402	</pre>
403
404	<warn>
405	Note that the alsasound script should be added to the "boot" runlevel, not the
406	"default" runlevel.
407	</warn>
408
409	</body>
410	</section>
411	<section>
412	<title>Running and unmuting</title>
413	<body>
414
415	<p>
416	Since we're Linux users, we don't want to reboot. So we'll start the alsasound
417	script manually.
418	</p>
419
420	<pre caption="Starting ALSA">
421	# <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i>	243	# <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i>
422	</pre>	244	</pre>
423		245
424	<p>	246	</body>
425	ALSA is running now. If everything is ok, you should be able to see the ALSA	247	</section>
426	modules loaded when running <c>lsmod</c>. However, sound won't work yet,	248	<section>
427	because the channels are still muted. We need <c>amixer</c> for this.	249	<title>Unmute the Channels</title>
		250	<body>
		251
428	</p>	252	<p>
		253	By default, all sound channels are muted. To fix this, run <c>amixer</c>:
		254	</p>
429		255
430	<pre caption = "Running amixer">	256	<pre caption="Running amixer">
431	# <i>amixer</i>	257	# <i>amixer</i>
432	</pre>	258	</pre>
433		259
434	<warn>
435	You shouldn't get this, but <e>if</e> you get an error about "amixer: Mixer
436	attach default error: No such file or directory", you should manually modprobe
437	<c>snd-mixer-oss</c> and <c>snd-pcm-oss</c> once. After that run amixer again.
438	</warn>
439
440	<pre caption="Only if you get an error when running amixer">
441	# <i>modprobe snd-mixer-oss</i>
442	# <i>modprobe snd-pcm-oss</i>
443	# <i>amixer</i>
444	</pre>
445
446	<p>
447	If you got this far, now unmute Master and PCM channels. Some hardware
448	even requires you to unmute the center channel or even the surround
449	channel.
450	</p>	260	<p>
		261	If <c>amixer</c> produces lots of output then you're ready to unmute the
		262	channels. If you receive an error, doublecheck that your soundcard module is
		263	started.
		264	</p>
451		265
		266	<p>
		267	Now unmute the <e>Master</e> and <e>PCM</e> channels. If this isn't sufficient,
		268	also unmute the <e>Center</e> and <e>Surround</e> channels.
		269	</p>
		270
452	<pre caption = "Unmuting channels">	271	<pre caption="Unmuting the sound channels">
453	# <i>amixer set Master 100 unmute</i>	272	# <i>amixer set Master 100 unmute</i>
454	# <i>amixer set PCM 100 unmute</i>	273	# <i>amixer set PCM 100 unmute</i>
455	<comment>Only if the above doesn't succeed on its own:</comment>	274	<comment>(Only if the above isn't sufficient:)</comment>
456	# <i>amixer set Center 100 unmute</i>	275	# <i>amixer set Center 100 unmute</i>
457	# <i>amixer set Surround 100 unmute</i>	276	# <i>amixer set Surround 100 unmute</i>
458	<comment>Test the sound:</comment>
459	# <i>aplay $KDEDIR/share/sounds/pop.wav</i> <codenote>(pop.wav is part of KDE)</codenote>
460	</pre>	277	</pre>
461		278
462	<p>
463	We check to see if sound is working by using the aplay (alsa play) command. If
464	you hear a pop, then sound is indeed working. Then, adjust the volume settings
465	to your liking; the ncurses-based <c>alsamixer</c> is a great way to get them
466	"just so".
467	</p>	279	<p>
468		280	To check if your sound works, play a wave file (using <c>aplay</c>), mp3 (using
		281	<c>mpg123</c> or even <c>mplayer</c>) or any other sound file for that matter.
469	<p>	282	</p>
470	You may want to emerge <c>alsa-xmms</c> as that will provide ALSA support for	283
471	XMMS.
472	</p>	284	<p>
473		285	To fine-tune the sound channel settings you can use the <c>alsamixer</c>
474	<p>	286	application.
475	When you reboot your system, the <c>alsasound</c> init script will properly saveand restore your volume settings.
476	</p>	287	</p>
477		288
478	</body>	289	</body>
479	</section>	290	</section>
480	</chapter>	291	</chapter>
481
482	<chapter>	292	<chapter>
483	<title>Final Notes</title>	293	<title>Activating MIDI Support</title>
484	<section>
485	<title>After kernel-upgrades..</title>
486	<body>
487
488	<p>
489	When you ever rebuild your kernel, or upgrade to another kernel, you'll have to
490	rebuild the ALSA modules.
491	</p>
492
493	<p>
494	Although you might have installed <c>alsa-driver</c>, <c>alsa-libs</c> and
495	<c>alsa-utils</c>, only the first will have to be installed again, since it will
496	put the alsa modules in <path>/lib/modules/*/kernel/sound/pci/</path>.
497	</p>
498
499	<pre caption="needed after each kernel compile">
500	# <i>emerge alsa-driver</i>
501	</pre>
502
503	</body>
504	</section>	294	<section>
		295	<title>Installing the Necessary Packages</title>
		296	<body>
		297
		298	<p>
		299	Some soundcards come with onboard MIDI synthesizers. To use them, you must first
		300	install the <c>awesfx</c> package:
		301	</p>
		302
		303	<pre caption="Installing the awesfx package">
		304	# <i>emerge awesfx</i>
		305	</pre>
		306
		307	<p>
		308	If you have a collection of sound fonts somewhere, place them in
		309	<path>/usr/share/sfbank</path>. For instance, the SBLive has a sound font file
		310	called <path>8MBGMSFX.SF2</path> or <path>CT4GMSFX.SF2</path>.
		311	</p>
		312
		313	<p>
		314	After copying over the sound font, select them using <c>sfxload</c>:
		315	</p>
		316
		317	<pre caption="Loading the sound font">
		318	# <i>sfxload /usr/share/sfbank/8MBGMSFX.SF2</i>
		319	</pre>
		320
		321	<p>
		322	You must have this command run every time you boot, so it is adviseable to add
		323	it to <path>/etc/conf.d/local.start</path> as well.
		324	</p>
		325
		326	<p>
		327	If you can't find soundfonts on your driver CD you can download some online from
		328	<uri>http://www.parabola.demon.co.uk/alsa/awe64.html</uri>.
		329	</p>
		330
		331	</body>
505	<section>	332	</section>
506	<title>/etc/modules.autoload</title>
507	<body>
508
509	<p>
510	You won't have to edit this file for use with ALSA. After our <c>rc-update add
511	alsasound boot</c>, our system will load the correct modules at startup.
512	</p>
513
514	<p>
515	It's not necessary to add <c>snd-pcm-oss</c> or <c>snd-mixer-oss</c> in this
516	file. Check the <uri link="http://www.djcj.org/LAU/guide/alsbook/faq1.html">this
517	FAQ</uri> for more info.
518	</p>
519
520	</body>
521	</section>	333	<section>
		334	<title>Timidity++ Virtual Synthesizer</title>
		335	<body>
		336
		337	<p>
		338	If your sound card does not come with a hardware synthesizer (or you don't want
		339	to use it), you can use <c>timidity++</c> to provide you with a virtual
		340	synthesizer. Start by emerging this package:
		341	</p>
		342
		343	<pre caption="Installing Timidity++">
		344	# <i>emerge timidity++</i>
		345	</pre>
		346
		347	<p>
		348	A sample configuration file will be installed for you in
		349	<path>/usr/share/timidity/config/timidity.cfg</path>. If you don't have a
		350	timidity++ configuration setup yet, you can just use this one.
		351	</p>
		352
		353	<pre caption="Using the default Timidity++ configuration file">
		354	# <i>cp /usr/share/timidity/config/timidity.cfg /usr/share/timidity</i>
		355	</pre>
		356
		357	<p>
		358	For timidity to play sounds, it needs a soundfont. If you do not have any,
		359	install <c>timidity-eawpatches</c> which will give you some soundfonts.
		360	</p>
		361
		362	<pre caption="Installing timidity-eawpatches">
		363	# <i>emerge timidity-eawpatches</i>
		364	</pre>
		365
		366	<p>
		367	Don't forget to add <c>timidity</c> to the default runlevel.
		368	</p>
		369
		370	<pre caption="Adding timidity to the default runlevel">
		371	# <i>rc-update add timidity default</i>
		372	# <i>/etc/init.d/timidity start</i>
		373	</pre>
		374
		375	</body>
522	<section>	376	</section>
523	<title>Known bugs</title>	377	<section>
		378	<title>Testing MIDI Support</title>
		379	<body>
		380
		381	<p>
		382	You can use <c>pmidi</c> to test your MIDI configuration:
		383	</p>
		384
		385	<pre caption="Installing pmidi">
		386	# <i>emerge pmidi</i>
		387	</pre>
		388
		389	<p>
		390	To see what MIDI output ports are available on your system, use the <c>-l</c>
		391	option:
		392	</p>
		393
		394	<pre caption="Viewing the MIDI output ports">
		395	# <i>pmidi -l</i>
		396	</pre>
		397
		398	<p>
		399	If all looks fine, try playing a MIDI file to make sure everything works. With
		400	the <c>-p</c> option you define what MIDI port you want to use.
		401	</p>
		402
		403	<pre caption="Playing a MIDI file">
		404	# <i>pmidi -p 65:0 "Final Fantasy 7 - Aerith' Theme.mid"</i>
		405	</pre>
		406
524	<body>	407	</body>
		408	</section>
		409	</chapter>
		410	<chapter>
		411	<title>Final Remarks</title>
		412	<section>
		413	<title>Tools and Firmware</title>
		414	<body>
525		415
526	<note>	416	<p>
527	This guide lags behind on the alsa-development. Chances are these bugs	417	Some specific sound cards can benefit from certain tools provided by the
528	are already fixed when you read this.	418	<c>alsa-tools</c> and <c>alsa-firmware</c> packages. If you need
529	</note>	419	<c>alsa-tools</c>, be sure to define the ALSA_TOOLS variable in
		420	<path>/etc/make.conf</path> with the tools you require. For instance:
		421	</p>
530		422
531	<ul>	423	<pre caption="Selecting ALSA Tools in /etc/make.conf">
532	<li>	424	ALSA_TOOLS="as10k1 ac3dec"
533	If you have <b>lots of noise</b> when using <b>oss</b> emulation, add	425	</pre>
534	<e>options snd-pcm-oss dsp_map=1</e> to <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>	426
535	</li>	427	<p>
536	</ul>	428	Then install the <c>alsa-tools</c> (and/or <c>alsa-firmware</c>) package(s):
		429	</p>
		430
		431	<pre caption="Installing ALSA Tools">
		432	# <i>emerge alsa-tools</i>
		433	</pre>
537		434
538	</body>	435	</body>
539	</section>	436	</section>
540	<section>	437	<section>
541	<title>Activating Joystick Support</title>	438	<title>Activating Joystick Support</title>
…		…
543		440
544	<p>	441	<p>
545	If your soundcard has a joystick plug, you might be interested in activating	442	If your soundcard has a joystick plug, you might be interested in activating
546	joystick support for your soundcard. If so, start by verifying if your soundcard	443	joystick support for your soundcard. If so, start by verifying if your soundcard
547	driver has a joystick parameter. You can verify this by running <c>modinfo</c>	444	driver has a joystick parameter. You can verify this by running <c>modinfo</c>
548	against your <path>snd-<your chipset></path>. For instance, for the	445	against your kernel module. For instance, for the <c>snd-via82xx</c>:
549	<c>snd-via82xx</c>:
550	</p>	446	</p>
551		447
552	<pre caption="Running modinfo">	448	<pre caption="Running modinfo">
553	# <i>modinfo snd-via82xx</i>	449	# <i>modinfo snd-via82xx</i>
554	filename: /lib/modules/2.4.22-ck2/snd-via82xx.o	450	filename: /lib/modules/2.4.22-ck2/snd-via82xx.o
555	description: "VIA VT82xx audio"	451	description: "VIA VT82xx audio"
556	author: "Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>"	452	author: "Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>"
557	license: "GPL"	453	license: "GPL"
558	parm: index int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Index value for VIA 82xx bridge."	454	parm: index int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Index value for
		455	VIA 82xx bridge."
559	parm: id string array (min = 1, max = 8), description "ID string for VIA 82xx bridge."	456	parm: id string array (min = 1, max = 8), description "ID string for VIA
		457	82xx bridge."
560	parm: enable int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable audio part of VIA 82xx bridge."	458	parm: enable int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable audio part
		459	of VIA 82xx bridge."
561	parm: mpu_port long array (min = 1, max = 8), description "MPU-401 port. (VT82C686x only)"	460	parm: mpu_port long array (min = 1, max = 8), description "MPU-401 port.
		461	(VT82C686x only)"
562	<i>parm: joystick int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable joystick. (VT82C686x only)"</i>	462	<i>parm: joystick int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable
		463	joystick. (VT82C686x only)"</i>
563	parm: ac97_clock int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "AC'97 codec clock (default 48000Hz)."	464	parm: ac97_clock int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "AC'97 codec
		465	clock (default 48000Hz)."
564	parm: dxs_support int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Support for DXS channels	466	parm: dxs_support int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Support for
565	(0 = auto, 1 = enable, 2 = disable, 3 = 48k only, 4 = no VRA)"	467	DXS channels (0 = auto, 1 = enable, 2 = disable, 3 = 48k only, 4 =
		468	no VRA)
566	</pre>	469	</pre>
567		470
568	<p>	471	<p>
569	If it has the <c>joystick</c> parameter, then append <c>joystick=1</c> to your	472	If it has the <c>joystick</c> parameter, append <c>joystick=1</c> to your
570	<c>options</c> line in <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>. For instance, for the	473	<c>options</c> line in <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>. For instance:
571	<c>snd-via82xx</c>:
572	</p>	474	</p>
573		475
574	<pre caption="Adding the joystick parameter">	476	<pre caption="Adding the joystick parameter">
575	alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx	477	alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
576	options snd-via82xx joystick=1	478	options snd-via82xx joystick=1
577	</pre>	479	</pre>
578		480
579	</body>	481	</body>
580	</section>	482	</section>
581	<section>	483	<section>
582	<title>More links..</title>	484	<title>Resources</title>
583	<body>	485	<body>
584
585	<p>
586	You could check these for additional info:
587	</p>
588		486
589	<ul>	487	<ul>
590	<li>
591	<uri link="http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/desktop.xml">The Gentoo Linux
592	Desktop Configuration Guide</uri>
593	</li>
594	<li>
595	<uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org">ALSA Project Homepage</uri>	488	<li><uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org">The ALSA Project</uri></li>
596	</li>
597	<li>
598	<uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/documentation.php3">ALSA Users
599	Documentation</uri>
600	</li>
601	<li>
602	<uri link="http://www.djcj.org">ALSA Howto's and FAQ's</uri>	489	<li><uri link="http://www.djcj.org">ALSA Howto's and FAQs</uri></li>
603	</li>
604	<li>
605	<uri link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Sound-HOWTO/index.html">Linux Sound
606	HOWTO</uri>
607	</li>
608	<li>
609	<uri link="http://linux-sound.org/">Sound and MIDI Software For Linux</uri>	490	<li><uri link="http://linux-sound.org">Linux Sound/MIDI Software</uri></li>
610	</li>
611	</ul>	491	</ul>
612		492
613	</body>	493	</body>
614	</section>	494	</section>
615	</chapter>	495	</chapter>

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