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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 1.49 2005/03/06 12:27:59 swift 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">
8	<mail link="zu@pandora.be">Vincent Verleye</mail>	8	<mail link="zu@pandora.be">Vincent Verleye</mail>
9	</author>	9	</author>
10	<author title="Author">	10	<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>
21	</author>	24	</author>
22	<author title="Editor">	25	<author title="Editor">
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>1.5.11</version>
38	<date>November 23, 2003</date>	44	<date>2005-03-06</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. Additionally,
		91	make sure you disable <e>Open Sound System</e> in your kernel configuration.
		92	If you don't, your system may try to use these drivers rather than the alsa
		93	ones. If you see a message about 'sound card not detected' and you are sure
		94	you have the correct driver, this is probably the reason.
153	<p>	95	</p>
154	First we'll make sure that our kernel configuration is ready for use with ALSA.	96
155	All you need in your kernel configuration is having Sound Card Support set to	97	<warn>
156	be built as a module (M). This will build <path>soundcore.o</path>.	98	If you use a 2.6 kernel, you may use the drivers provided in the kernel, but
		99	we still recommend that you use media-sound/alsa-driver as they are more up
		100	to date than what is provided in the kernel tree. If you still wish to use
		101	the drivers provided with your kernel, you can skip the rest of this section
		102	and continue with <uri link="#alsa-utils">Installing the ALSA Utils</uri>.
		103	</warn>
		104
157	</p>	105	<p>
158		106	The first step in installing your sound drivers is figuring out what sound
159	<note>	107	card you have. If you don't already know, an easy trick is to search
160	Possibly, this will also work when you built Sound Card Support in the kernel	108	for "audio" in the output of the <c>lspci</c> command. You can install
161	(Y) instead of building it as a module (M). However, the official ALSA	109	this tool with <c>emerge pciutils</c>.
162	documentation suggests building it as a module, since ALSA will try loading it.
163	</note>
164
165	<p>	110	</p>
166	If you already have a working kernel configuration, make sure you remove all	111
167	sound drivers (except for Sound Card Support). If you wish to do this without	112	<pre caption="Finding out the soundcard type">
168	having to reboot, you could do like this:	113	# <i>lspci \| grep -i audio</i>
		114	Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 64).
		115	</pre>
		116
169	</p>	117	<p>
170		118	Now go to the <uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc">ALSA Soundcard
171	<pre caption="Kernel configuration">	119	Matrix</uri> and search for your soundcard. In the above example you should go
172	# <i>cd /usr/src/linux</i>	120	to the "VIA" manufacturer. You will receive a table with the known chipsets of
173	# <i>cp .config ~/</i>	121	that vendor. The chipset in the above example is "via82c686"; the "Details" link
174	# <i>make mrproper</i>	122	then informs me that the driver is called <path>via82xx</path>. This is all the
175	# <i>cp ~/.config .</i>	123	information you need, so you can safely discard the rest of that document.
176	# <i>make menuconfig</i>
177	</pre>
178
179	<p>	124	</p>
180	Now select <e>Sound Card Support</e> as Module (M) and deselect all other sound	125
181	drivers. Exit and say Y to save your kernel configuration. After that, build
182	the modules:
183	</p>	126	<p>
184		127	Based on this information we can now install the <c>alsa-driver</c> for our
185	<pre caption="Kernel compilation">	128	soundcard. First edit <path>/etc/make.conf</path> and <e>add</e> a new option
186	# <i>make dep clean</i>	129	called ALSA_CARDS to it. Inside this variable you declare the soundcard driver
187	# <i>make modules modules_install</i>	130	you want to use:
188	</pre>
189
190	<p>	131	</p>
191	Before installing your new modules, this last line will delete all your previous	132
192	modules, even the ones from a previous ALSA installation.	133	<pre caption="Editing /etc/make.conf for ALSA_CARDS">
		134	ALSA_CARDS="via82xx"
		135	</pre>
		136
		137	<warn>
		138	If you have multiple sound cards in your system, separate them with a comma
		139	in the ALSA_CARDS variable. Ex: ALSA_CARDS="via82xx,emu10k1"
		140	</warn>
		141
193	</p>	142	<p>
		143	If you want OSS compatibility (highly recommended), you should add 'oss' to
		144	your USE flags in <path>/etc/make.conf</path>. After that, you are ready to
		145	install <c>alsa-driver</c>:
		146	</p>
		147
		148	<pre caption="Installing ALSA Drivers">
		149	# <i>emerge alsa-driver</i>
		150	</pre>
194		151
195	<impo>	152	<impo>
196	This means, whenever you recompile your kernel later on, you MUST recompile	153	Whenever you (re)compile your kernel sources, chances are that the ALSA drivers
197	<c>alsa-driver</c>.	154	will be deleted. It is therefore adviseable to rerun <c>emerge alsa-driver</c>
		155	every time you (re)compile your kernel. Note that this will compile the
		156	drivers for the kernel in /usr/src/linux, NOT the running kernel.
198	</impo>	157	</impo>
199		158
200	</body>	159	</body>
201	</section>	160	</section>
202	<section>	161	<section id="alsa-utils">
203	<title>ALSA modules</title>	162	<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>	163	<body>
271	</section>
272	<section>
273	<title>Configuration of ALSA</title>
274	<body>
275		164
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>	165	<p>
280		166	If the in-kernel OSS compatibility is not sufficient for your needs, you will
		167	want to install <c>alsa-oss</c>. This will provide you with the 'aoss'
		168	executable which can be used as demonstrated:
281	<p>	169	</p>
282	First, install <c>alsa-utils</c> on your system:	170
		171	<pre caption="More OSS compatibility layer">
		172	# <i>emerge alsa-oss</i>
		173	# <i>aoss mpg123 music.mp3</i>
		174	</pre>
		175
283	</p>	176	<p>
		177	Now install the ALSA Utils on your system (this is mandatory):
		178	</p>
284		179
285	<pre caption = "Emerging alsa-utils">	180	<pre caption="Installing ALSA Utils">
286	# <i>emerge alsa-utils</i>	181	# <i>emerge alsa-utils</i>
287	</pre>	182	</pre>
288		183
289	<p>	184	<p>
290	Hereafter, we need to edit <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>.	185	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>	186	</p>
299	Check the ALSA portion <e>at the bottom of the file</e>. By tweaking this line	187
300	you can specify the max number of soundcards you have (generally, just one).	188	</body>
		189	</section>
		190	</chapter>
		191	<chapter>
		192	<title>Configuring ALSA</title>
		193	<section>
		194	<title>Automatically Loading the Kernel Modules</title>
		195	<body>
		196
301	</p>	197	<p>
302		198	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">	199	edit <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> so that it activates the necessary
304	<comment>Set this to the correct number of cards.</comment>	200	modules at boot time. For the soundcard in our example:
305	options snd cards_limit=1
306	</pre>
307
308	<p>	201	</p>
309	Now we'll specify the sounddriver(s) ALSA should use. In the same file, edit
310	like this:
311	</p>
312		202
313	<pre caption="In /etc/modules.d/alsa">	203	<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	204	alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
321	## alias snd-card-2 snd-ens1370	205	<comment># The following is only needed when you want OSS compatibility</comment>
322	## OSS/Free portion
323	## alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0	206	alias sound-slot-0 snd-via82xx
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	207	alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
345	alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss	208	alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
346	alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss	209	alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss
347	</pre>	210	</pre>
348		211
349	<p>	212	<p>
350	Now double-check the file <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> and when you're sure	213	Now run <c>modules-update</c> to save the changes you made to the
351	everyting is ok, run <c>modules-update</c>.	214	<path>alsa</path> file into <path>/etc/modules.conf</path>:
352	</p>	215	</p>
353		216
354	<pre caption="Running modules-update">	217	<pre caption="Running modules-update">
355	# <i>modules-update</i>	218	# <i>modules-update</i>
356	</pre>	219	</pre>
357		220
358	<note>	221	</body>
359	Running <c>modules-update</c> here will insert the data from	222	</section>
360	<path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> into <path>/etc/modules.conf</path>	223	<section>
361	</note>	224	<title>Verifying the Device Files</title>
		225	<body>
362		226
363	<p>	227	<p>
364	You should also verify that <path>/etc/devfsd.conf</path> has the alsa devices	228	This should be done automatically for you on recent installs, but if you run
365	and permissions correctly registered.	229	into problems, check that your ALSA devices and permissions are set correctly
		230	by your /dev manager. If you use DevFS, check <path>/etc/devfsd.conf</path>
366	</p>	231	</p>
367		232
368	<pre caption="/etc/devfsd.conf">	233	<pre caption="/etc/devfsd.conf">
369	# ALSA/OSS stuff	234	# ALSA/OSS stuff
370	# Comment/change these if you want to change the permissions on	235	# Comment/change these if you want to change the permissions on
…		…
375	LOOKUP midi MODLOAD	240	LOOKUP midi MODLOAD
376	REGISTER sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660	241	REGISTER sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660
377	REGISTER snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660	242	REGISTER snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660
378	</pre>	243	</pre>
379		244
380	<note>	245	</body>
381	Notice that devfsd.conf sets <path>/dev/sound</path> permissions to be	246	</section>
382	root.audio. Thus, for non-root users to use audio they will have to be part of	247	<section>
383	the audio group.	248	<title>Having ALSA Activated at Boot</title>
384	</note>	249	<body>
		250
		251	<p>
		252	To activate ALSA support at boot, add the <c>alsasound</c> init script to the
		253	boot runlevel:
		254	</p>
		255
		256	<pre caption="Adding alsasound to the boot runlevel">
		257	# <i>rc-update add alsasound boot</i>
		258	# <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i>
		259	</pre>
		260
		261	</body>
		262	</section>
		263	<section>
		264	<title>Unmute the Channels</title>
		265	<body>
		266
		267	<p>
		268	By default, all sound channels are muted. To fix this, run <c>amixer</c>:
		269	</p>
		270
		271	<pre caption="Running amixer">
		272	# <i>amixer</i>
		273	</pre>
		274
		275	<p>
		276	If <c>amixer</c> produces lots of output then you're ready to unmute the
		277	channels. If you receive an error, doublecheck that your soundcard module is
		278	started.
		279	</p>
		280
		281	<p>
		282	Now unmute the <e>Master</e> and <e>PCM</e> channels. If this isn't sufficient,
		283	also unmute the <e>Center</e> and <e>Surround</e> channels.
		284	</p>
		285
		286	<pre caption="Unmuting the sound channels">
		287	<comment>(If you prefer an ncurses method:)</comment>
		288
		289	# <i>alsamixer</i>
		290
		291	<comment>(or)</comment>
		292
		293	# <i>amixer set Master 100% unmute</i>
		294	# <i>amixer set PCM 100% unmute</i>
		295	<comment>(Only if the above isn't sufficient:)</comment>
		296	# <i>amixer set Center 100% unmute</i>
		297	# <i>amixer set Surround 100% unmute</i>
		298	# <i>amixer set Headphone 100% unmute</i>
		299	</pre>
		300
		301
		302	<p>
		303	To check if your sound works, play a wave file (using <c>aplay</c>), mp3 (using
		304	<c>mpg123</c> or even <c>mplayer</c>) or any other sound file for that matter.
		305	</p>
385		306
386	</body>	307	</body>
387	</section>	308	</section>
388	</chapter>	309	</chapter>
389
390	<chapter>	310	<chapter>
391	<title>Starting ALSA</title>	311	<title>Activating MIDI Support</title>
392	<section>
393	<title>Adding alsasound to a runlevel</title>
394	<body>
395
396	<p>
397	First thing to do now, is to make ALSA startup at boottime. Like this:
398	</p>
399
400	<pre caption="Add ALSA to the default runlevel">
401	# <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>	312	<section>
		313	<title>Installing the Necessary Packages</title>
		314	<body>
		315
		316	<p>
		317	Some soundcards come with onboard MIDI synthesizers. To use them, you must first
		318	install the <c>awesfx</c> package:
		319	</p>
		320
		321	<pre caption="Installing the awesfx package">
		322	# <i>emerge awesfx</i>
		323	</pre>
		324
		325	<p>
		326	If you have a collection of sound fonts somewhere, place them in
		327	<path>/usr/share/sfbank</path>. For instance, the SBLive has a sound font file
		328	called <path>8MBGMSFX.SF2</path> or <path>CT4GMSFX.SF2</path>.
		329	</p>
		330
		331	<p>
		332	After copying over the sound font, select them using <c>asfxload</c>:
		333	</p>
		334
		335	<pre caption="Loading the sound font">
		336	# <i>asfxload /usr/share/sfbank/8MBGMSFX.SF2</i>
		337	</pre>
		338
		339	<p>
		340	You must have this command run every time you boot, so it is adviseable to add
		341	it to <path>/etc/conf.d/local.start</path> as well.
		342	</p>
		343
		344	<p>
		345	If you can't find soundfonts on your driver CD you can download some online from
		346	<uri>http://www.parabola.demon.co.uk/alsa/awe64.html</uri>.
		347	</p>
		348
		349	</body>
411	<section>	350	</section>
412	<title>Running and unmuting</title>	351	<section>
		352	<title>Timidity++ Virtual Synthesizer</title>
		353	<body>
		354
		355	<p>
		356	If your sound card does not come with a hardware synthesizer (or you don't want
		357	to use it), you can use <c>timidity++</c> to provide you with a virtual
		358	synthesizer. Start by emerging this package:
		359	</p>
		360
		361	<pre caption="Installing Timidity++">
		362	# <i>emerge timidity++</i>
		363	</pre>
		364
		365	<p>
		366	For timidity to play sounds, it needs a soundfont. If you do not have any,
		367	install <c>timidity-eawpatches</c> or <c>timidity-shompatches</c> which will
		368	give you some soundfonts. You can have multiple soundfont configurations
		369	installed, and you can place your own in <path>/usr/share/timidity/</path>.
		370	To switch between different timidity configurations, you should use the
		371	<e>timidity-update</e> tool provided in the timidity++ package.
		372	</p>
		373
		374	<pre caption="Installing soundfonts">
		375	# <i>emerge timidity-eawpatches</i>
		376	# <i>timidity-update -g -s eawpatches</i>
		377
		378	<comment>(or)</comment>
		379
		380	# <i>emerge timidity-shompatches</i>
		381	# <i>timidity-update -g -s shompatches</i>
		382	</pre>
		383
		384	<p>
		385	Don't forget to add <c>timidity</c> to the default runlevel.
		386	</p>
		387
		388	<pre caption="Adding timidity to the default runlevel">
		389	# <i>rc-update add timidity default</i>
		390	# <i>/etc/init.d/timidity start</i>
		391	</pre>
		392
413	<body>	393	</body>
		394	</section>
		395	<section>
		396	<title>Testing MIDI Support</title>
		397	<body>
414		398
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>	399	<p>
419		400	You can use <c>aplaymidi</c> from the ALSA Utils to test your MIDI
420	<pre caption="Starting ALSA">	401	configuration.
421	# <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i>
422	</pre>
423
424	<p>	402	</p>
425	ALSA is running now. If everything is ok, you should be able to see the ALSA	403
426	modules loaded when running <c>lsmod</c>. However, sound won't work yet,
427	because the channels are still muted. We need <c>amixer</c> for this.
428	</p>	404	<p>
429		405	To see what MIDI output ports are available on your system, use the <c>-l</c>
430	<pre caption = "Running amixer">	406	option:
431	# <i>amixer</i>
432	</pre>
433
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>	407	</p>
447	If you got this far, now unmute Master and PCM channels. Some hardware	408
448	even requires you to unmute the center channel or even the surround	409	<pre caption="Viewing the MIDI output ports">
449	channel.	410	# <i>aplaymidi -l</i>
		411	</pre>
		412
450	</p>	413	<p>
451		414	If all looks fine, try playing a MIDI file to make sure everything works. With
452	<pre caption = "Unmuting channels">	415	the <c>-p</c> option you define what MIDI port you want to use.
453	# <i>amixer set Master 100 unmute</i>
454	# <i>amixer set PCM 100 unmute</i>
455	<comment>Only if the above doesn't succeed on its own:</comment>
456	# <i>amixer set Center 100 unmute</i>
457	# <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>
461
462	<p>	416	</p>
463	We check to see if sound is working by using the aplay (alsa play) command. If	417
464	you hear a pop, then sound is indeed working. Then, adjust the volume settings	418	<pre caption="Playing a MIDI file">
465	to your liking; the ncurses-based <c>alsamixer</c> is a great way to get them	419	# <i>aplaymidi -p 65:0 "Final Fantasy 7 - Aerith' Theme.mid"</i>
466	"just so".
467	</p>	420	</pre>
468
469	<p>
470	You may want to emerge <c>alsa-xmms</c> as that will provide ALSA support for
471	XMMS.
472	</p>
473
474	<p>
475	When you reboot your system, the <c>alsasound</c> init script will properly saveand restore your volume settings.
476	</p>
477		421
478	</body>	422	</body>
479	</section>	423	</section>
480	</chapter>	424	</chapter>
481
482	<chapter>	425	<chapter>
483	<title>Final Notes</title>	426	<title>Final Remarks</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>	427	<section>
505	<section>	428	<title>Tools and Firmware</title>
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>	429	<body>
521	</section>
522	<section>
523	<title>Known bugs</title>
524	<body>
525		430
526	<note>	431	<p>
527	This guide lags behind on the alsa-development. Chances are these bugs	432	Some specific sound cards can benefit from certain tools provided by the
528	are already fixed when you read this.	433	<c>alsa-tools</c> and <c>alsa-firmware</c> packages. If you need
529	</note>	434	<c>alsa-tools</c>, be sure to define the ALSA_TOOLS variable in
		435	<path>/etc/make.conf</path> with the tools you require. For instance:
		436	</p>
530		437
531	<ul>	438	<pre caption="Selecting ALSA Tools in /etc/make.conf">
532	<li>	439	ALSA_TOOLS="as10k1 ac3dec"
533	If you have <b>lots of noise</b> when using <b>oss</b> emulation, add	440	</pre>
534	<e>options snd-pcm-oss dsp_map=1</e> to <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>	441
535	</li>	442	<p>
536	</ul>	443	Then install the <c>alsa-tools</c> (and/or <c>alsa-firmware</c>) package(s):
		444	</p>
		445
		446	<pre caption="Installing ALSA Tools">
		447	# <i>emerge alsa-tools</i>
		448	</pre>
537		449
538	</body>	450	</body>
539	</section>	451	</section>
540	<section>	452	<section>
541	<title>Activating Joystick Support</title>	453	<title>Activating Joystick Support</title>
…		…
543		455
544	<p>	456	<p>
545	If your soundcard has a joystick plug, you might be interested in activating	457	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	458	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>	459	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	460	against your kernel module. For instance, for the <c>snd-via82xx</c>:
549	<c>snd-via82xx</c>:
550	</p>	461	</p>
551		462
552	<pre caption="Running modinfo">	463	<pre caption="Running modinfo">
553	# <i>modinfo snd-via82xx</i>	464	# <i>modinfo snd-via82xx</i>
554	filename: /lib/modules/2.4.22-ck2/snd-via82xx.o	465	filename: /lib/modules/2.4.22-ck2/snd-via82xx.o
555	description: "VIA VT82xx audio"	466	description: "VIA VT82xx audio"
556	author: "Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>"	467	author: "Jaroslav Kysela <perex@suse.cz>"
557	license: "GPL"	468	license: "GPL"
558	parm: index int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Index value for VIA 82xx bridge."	469	parm: index int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Index value for
		470	VIA 82xx bridge."
559	parm: id string array (min = 1, max = 8), description "ID string for VIA 82xx bridge."	471	parm: id string array (min = 1, max = 8), description "ID string for VIA
		472	82xx bridge."
560	parm: enable int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable audio part of VIA 82xx bridge."	473	parm: enable int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable audio part
		474	of VIA 82xx bridge."
561	parm: mpu_port long array (min = 1, max = 8), description "MPU-401 port. (VT82C686x only)"	475	parm: mpu_port long array (min = 1, max = 8), description "MPU-401 port.
		476	(VT82C686x only)"
562	<i>parm: joystick int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable joystick. (VT82C686x only)"</i>	477	<i>parm: joystick int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Enable
		478	joystick. (VT82C686x only)"</i>
563	parm: ac97_clock int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "AC'97 codec clock (default 48000Hz)."	479	parm: ac97_clock int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "AC'97 codec
		480	clock (default 48000Hz)."
564	parm: dxs_support int array (min = 1, max = 8), description "Support for DXS channels	481	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)"	482	DXS channels (0 = auto, 1 = enable, 2 = disable, 3 = 48k only, 4 =
		483	no VRA)
566	</pre>	484	</pre>
567		485
568	<p>	486	<p>
569	If it has the <c>joystick</c> parameter, then append <c>joystick=1</c> to your	487	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	488	<c>options</c> line in <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>. For instance:
571	<c>snd-via82xx</c>:
572	</p>	489	</p>
573		490
574	<pre caption="Adding the joystick parameter">	491	<pre caption="Adding the joystick parameter">
575	alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx	492	alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
576	options snd-via82xx joystick=1	493	options snd-via82xx joystick=1
577	</pre>	494	</pre>
578		495
579	</body>	496	</body>
580	</section>	497	</section>
581	<section>	498	<section>
582	<title>More links..</title>	499	<title>Resources</title>
583	<body>	500	<body>
584
585	<p>
586	You could check these for additional info:
587	</p>
588		501
589	<ul>	502	<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>	503	<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>	504	<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>	505	<li><uri link="http://linux-sound.org">Linux Sound/MIDI Software</uri></li>
610	</li>
611	</ul>	506	</ul>
612		507
613	</body>	508	</body>
614	</section>	509	</section>
615	</chapter>	510	</chapter>

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