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2 | <!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml,v 1.67 2006/05/27 13:59:35 neysx Exp $ --> |
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2 | <!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd"> |
4 | <!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd"> |
3 | |
5 | |
4 | <guide link = "/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml"> |
6 | <guide link="/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml"> |
5 | <title>Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide</title> |
7 | <title>Gentoo Linux ALSA Guide</title> |
6 | <author title="Author"><mail link="zu@pandora.be"> |
8 | |
7 | Vincent Verleye</mail> |
9 | <author title="Author"> |
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10 | <mail link="fox2mike@gentoo.org">Shyam Mani</mail> |
8 | </author> |
11 | </author> |
9 | <author title="Author"><mail link="g2boojum@gentoo.org"> |
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10 | Grant Goodyear</mail> |
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11 | </author> |
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12 | <author title="Author"><mail link="agenkin@gentoo.org"> |
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13 | Arcady Genkin</mail> |
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14 | </author> |
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15 | <author title="Editor"><mail link="zhen@gentoo.org"> |
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16 | John P. Davis</mail> |
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17 | </author> |
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18 | |
12 | |
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13 | <abstract> |
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14 | This document helps a user setup ALSA on Gentoo Linux. |
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15 | </abstract> |
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16 | |
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17 | <!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license --> |
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18 | <!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 --> |
19 | <license/> |
19 | <license/> |
20 | |
20 | |
21 | <abstract> |
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22 | This guide will show you how to set up the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) on Gentoo Linux. |
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23 | In addition to the Gentoo Linux Desktop Configuration Guide, this guide is supposed to give you more information on this subject. </abstract> |
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24 | |
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25 | <version>1.2</version> |
21 | <version>2.13</version> |
26 | <date>5 June 2003</date> |
22 | <date>2006-05-27</date> |
27 | |
23 | |
28 | <chapter> |
24 | <chapter> |
29 | <title>Introduction</title> |
25 | <title>Introduction</title> |
30 | <section> |
26 | <section> |
31 | <title>What is ALSA?</title> |
27 | <title>What is ALSA?</title> |
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28 | <body> |
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29 | |
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30 | <p> |
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31 | ALSA, which stands for <e>Advanced Linux Sound Architecture</e>, provides |
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32 | audio and MIDI (<e>Musical Instrument Digital Interface</e>) functionality to |
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33 | the Linux operating system. ALSA is the default sound subsystem in the 2.6 |
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34 | kernel thereby replacing OSS (<e>Open Sound System</e>), which was used in the |
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35 | 2.4 kernels. |
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36 | </p> |
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37 | |
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38 | <p> |
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39 | ALSA's main features include efficient support for all types of audio |
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40 | interfaces ranging from consumer sound cards to professional sound |
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41 | equipment, fully modularized drivers, SMP and thread safety, backward |
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42 | compatibility with OSS and a user-space library <c>alsa-lib</c> to make |
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43 | application development a breeze. |
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44 | </p> |
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45 | |
32 | <body> |
46 | </body> |
33 | <p> |
47 | </section> |
34 | The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) is a project to improve the Linux sound subsystem by rewriting |
48 | <section> |
35 | large chunks of it. |
49 | <title>ALSA on Gentoo</title> |
36 | It is anticipated that ALSA will make it into Linux kernel 2.6.x (or 3.x.x -- whichever comes first) as it becomes ready. |
50 | <body> |
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51 | |
37 | </p> |
52 | <p> |
38 | |
53 | One of Gentoo's main strengths lies in giving the user maximum control over |
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54 | how a system is installed/configured. ALSA on Gentoo follows the same |
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55 | principle. There are two ways you can get ALSA support up and running on your |
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56 | system. We shall look at them in detail in the next chapter. |
39 | <p> |
57 | </p> |
40 | ALSA provides audio and MIDI functionality for Linux. |
58 | |
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59 | </body> |
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60 | </section> |
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61 | </chapter> |
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62 | |
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63 | <chapter> |
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64 | <title>Installing ALSA</title> |
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65 | <section> |
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66 | <title>Options</title> |
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67 | <body> |
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68 | |
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69 | <warn> |
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70 | The methods shown below are mutually exclusive. You cannot have ALSA compiled |
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71 | in your kernel and use <c>media-sound/alsa-driver</c>. It <e>will</e> fail. |
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72 | </warn> |
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73 | |
41 | </p> |
74 | <p> |
42 | |
75 | The two options are : |
43 | <p> |
76 | </p> |
44 | Quoted from <uri>http://www.alsa-project.org</uri>, ALSA has the following features: |
77 | |
45 | <ul><li> Efficient support for all types of audio interfaces, from consumer soundcards to professional multichannel audio interfaces.</li> |
78 | <ol> |
46 | <li> Fully modularized sound drivers.</li> |
79 | <li> |
47 | <li> SMP and thread-safe design.</li> |
80 | Use ALSA provided by your kernel. This is the preferred/recommended |
48 | <li> User space library (alsa-lib) to simplify application programming and provide higher level functionality.</li> |
81 | method. |
49 | <li> Support for the older OSS API, providing binary compatibility for most OSS programs.</li> |
82 | </li> |
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83 | <li> |
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84 | Use Gentoo's <c>media-sound/alsa-driver</c> package. |
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85 | </li> |
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86 | </ol> |
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87 | |
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88 | <p> |
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89 | We shall take a peek into both before finally deciding on one. |
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90 | </p> |
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91 | |
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92 | <p> |
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93 | If you were to use ALSA provided by the kernel, the following are the pros and |
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94 | cons : |
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95 | </p> |
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96 | |
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97 | <table> |
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98 | <tr> |
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99 | <th>Kernel ALSA</th> |
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100 | <th>Pros and Cons</th> |
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101 | </tr> |
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102 | <tr> |
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103 | <th>+</th> |
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104 | <ti>Pretty stable as drivers are integrated into kernel.</ti> |
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105 | </tr> |
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106 | <tr> |
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107 | <th>+</th> |
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108 | <ti>One shot solution, no repeating emerges.</ti> |
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109 | </tr> |
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110 | <tr> |
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111 | <th>-</th> |
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112 | <ti>Might be a slightly older version than <c>alsa-driver</c>.</ti> |
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113 | </tr> |
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114 | </table> |
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115 | |
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116 | <p> |
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117 | And, if you were to use alsa-driver, |
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118 | </p> |
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119 | |
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120 | <table> |
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121 | <tr> |
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122 | <th>alsa-driver</th> |
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123 | <th>Pros and Cons</th> |
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124 | </tr> |
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125 | <tr> |
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126 | <th>+</th> |
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127 | <ti>Latest drivers from the ALSA Project.</ti> |
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128 | </tr> |
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129 | <tr> |
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130 | <th>-</th> |
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131 | <ti>Every kernel recompile requires a re-emerge of <c>alsa-driver</c>.</ti> |
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132 | </tr> |
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133 | <tr> |
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134 | <th>-</th> |
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135 | <ti>Needs certain kernel config options disabled to work correctly.</ti> |
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136 | </tr> |
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137 | </table> |
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138 | |
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139 | </body> |
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140 | </section> |
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141 | <section> |
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142 | <title>So...</title> |
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143 | <body> |
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144 | |
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145 | <p> |
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146 | The main difference between using <c>alsa-driver</c> and ALSA that comes with |
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147 | the kernel is that <c>alsa-driver</c> is generally more up to date than the |
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148 | version in the kernel. Since this does not make any huge difference as |
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149 | such, you are encouraged to use the ALSA provided by the kernel for ease of use. |
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150 | Before reporting any sound related issues to <uri |
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151 | link="https://bugs.gentoo.org">Gentoo Bugzilla</uri>, please try to reproduce |
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152 | them using <c>alsa-driver</c> and file the bug report no matter what the |
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153 | result. |
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154 | </p> |
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155 | |
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156 | </body> |
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157 | </section> |
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158 | <section id="lspci"> |
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159 | <title>Before you proceed</title> |
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160 | <body> |
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161 | |
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162 | <p> |
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163 | Whichever method of install you choose, you need to know what drivers your |
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164 | sound card uses. In most cases, sound cards (onboard and otherwise) are PCI |
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165 | based and <c>lspci</c> will help you in digging out the required information. |
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166 | Please <c>emerge sys-apps/pciutils</c> to get <c>lspci</c>, if you don't have it |
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167 | installed already. In case you have a USB sound card, <c>lsusb</c> from |
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168 | <c>sys-apps/usbutils</c> <e>might</e> be of help. For ISA cards, try using |
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169 | <c>sys-apps/isapnptools</c>. Also, the following pages <e>may</e> help users |
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170 | with ISA based sound cards. |
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171 | </p> |
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172 | |
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173 | <ul> |
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174 | <li> |
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175 | <uri link="http://www.roestock.demon.co.uk/isapnptools/">The ISAPNPTOOLS |
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176 | Page</uri> |
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177 | </li> |
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178 | <li> |
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179 | <uri link="http://www2.linuxjournal.com/article/3269">LinuxJournal PnP |
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180 | Article</uri> |
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181 | </li> |
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182 | <li> |
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183 | <uri link="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Sound-HOWTO/x320.html">TLDP Sound |
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184 | HowTo</uri> |
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185 | </li> |
50 | </ul> |
186 | </ul> |
51 | There's lots more to ALSA however, like support for Full Duplex playback and recording, multiple soundcard support, |
187 | |
52 | hardware mixing of streams, extensive mixer capabilities (to support advanced features of new soundcards), ... |
188 | <note> |
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189 | For ease of use/explanation, we assume the user has a PCI based sound card for |
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190 | the remainder of this guide. |
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191 | </note> |
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192 | |
53 | </p> |
193 | <p> |
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194 | We now proceed to find out details about the sound card. |
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195 | </p> |
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196 | |
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197 | <pre caption="Soundcard Details"> |
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198 | # <i>lspci -v | grep -i audio</i> |
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199 | 0000:00:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 06) |
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200 | </pre> |
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201 | |
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202 | <p> |
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203 | We now know that the sound card on the machine is a Sound Blaster Live! and |
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204 | the card manufacturer is Creative Labs. Head over to the |
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205 | <uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/"> ALSA Soundcard Matrix</uri> |
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206 | page and select Creative Labs from the drop down menu. You will be taken to |
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207 | the Creative Labs matrix page where you can see that the SB Live! uses the |
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208 | <c>emu10k1</c> module. That is the information we need for now. If you are |
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209 | interested in detailed information, you can click on the link next to the |
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210 | "Details" and that will take you to the <c>emu10k1</c> specific page. |
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211 | </p> |
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212 | |
54 | </body> |
213 | </body> |
55 | </section> |
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56 | <section> |
214 | </section> |
57 | <title>Why use ALSA?</title> |
215 | <section id="kernel"> |
58 | <body> |
216 | <title>Using ALSA provided by your Kernel</title> |
59 | <p> |
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60 | If your soundcard is supported by the Linux kernel sound system or the commercial OSS/4Front sound driver system, |
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61 | which can be found in all 2.4.x Linux kernels, you could just aswell build <e>those modules</e> for use with your soundcard. |
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62 | If you want this, just read through the <uri link="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Sound-HOWTO/index.html">Linux Sound HOWTO</uri>. |
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63 | </p> |
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64 | <p> |
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65 | However, those OSS/4Front drivers have some limitations -- being commercial is one. |
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66 | ALSA is an attempt to go beyond these limitations and to do so in an open source fashion. |
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67 | ALSA is a fully GPL and LGPL'ed sound driver system, that provides a professional quality system for recording, playback, |
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68 | and MIDI sequencing. |
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69 | </p> |
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70 | </body> |
217 | <body> |
71 | </section> |
218 | |
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219 | <p> |
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220 | If you're a person who likes to keep things simple like I do, then this is |
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221 | the way to go. |
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222 | </p> |
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223 | |
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224 | <note> |
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225 | Since the 2005.0 release, Gentoo Linux uses 2.6 as the default kernel. Unless |
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226 | you are specifically using the 2.4 profile, <c>gentoo-sources</c> will be a |
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227 | 2.6 kernel on <e>most</e> architectures. Please check that your kernel is a |
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228 | 2.6 series kernel. This method will <e>not</e> work on a 2.4 kernel. |
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229 | </note> |
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230 | |
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231 | <p> |
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232 | Let us now configure the kernel to enable ALSA. |
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233 | </p> |
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234 | |
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235 | <impo> |
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236 | <c>genkernel</c> users should now run <c>genkernel --menuconfig all</c> and |
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237 | then follow the instructions in <uri link="#doc_chap2_pre3">Kernel Options for |
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238 | ALSA</uri>. |
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239 | </impo> |
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240 | |
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241 | <pre caption="Heading over to the source"> |
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242 | # <i>cd /usr/src/linux</i> |
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243 | # <i>make menuconfig</i> |
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244 | </pre> |
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245 | |
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246 | <note> |
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247 | The above example assumes that <path>/usr/src/linux</path> symlink points to |
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248 | the kernel sources you want to use. Please ensure the same before proceeding. |
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249 | </note> |
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250 | |
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251 | <p> |
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252 | Now we will look at some of the options we will have to enable in the 2.6 |
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253 | kernel to ensure proper ALSA support for our sound card. |
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254 | </p> |
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255 | |
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256 | <p> |
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257 | Please note that for the sake of ease, all examples show ALSA built as modules. |
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258 | It is advisable to follow the same as it then allows the use of <c>alsaconf</c> |
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259 | which is a boon when you want to configure your card. Please do <e>not</e> skip |
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260 | the <uri link="#alsa-config">Configuration</uri> section of this document. If |
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261 | you still like to have options built-in, ensure that you make changes to your |
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262 | config accordingly. |
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263 | </p> |
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264 | |
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265 | <pre caption="Kernel Options for ALSA"> |
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266 | Device Drivers ---> |
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267 | Sound ---> |
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268 | |
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269 | <comment>(This needs to be enabled)</comment> |
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270 | <M> Sound card support |
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271 | |
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272 | <comment>(Make sure OSS is disabled)</comment> |
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273 | Open Sound System ---> |
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274 | < > Open Sound System (DEPRECATED) |
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275 | |
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276 | <comment>(Move one step back and enter ALSA)</comment> |
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277 | Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ---> |
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278 | <M> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture |
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279 | <comment>(Select this if you want MIDI sequencing and routing)</comment> |
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280 | <M> Sequencer support |
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281 | <comment>(Old style /dev/mixer* and /dev/dsp* support. Recommended.)</comment> |
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282 | <M> OSS Mixer API |
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283 | <M> OSS PCM (digital audio) API |
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284 | |
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285 | <comment>(You now have a choice of devices to enable support for. Generally, |
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286 | you will have one type of device and not more. If you have more than one |
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287 | sound card, please enable them all here.)</comment> |
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288 | |
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289 | <comment>(Mostly for testing and development purposes, not needed for normal |
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290 | users unless you know what you are doing.)</comment> |
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291 | Generic devices ---> |
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292 | |
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293 | <comment>(For ISA Sound cards)</comment> |
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294 | ISA devices ---> |
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295 | <comment>(IF you had the Gravis, you would select this option)</comment> |
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296 | <M> Gravis UltraSound Extreme |
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297 | |
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298 | <comment>(Move one level back and into PCI devices. Most sound cards today are |
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299 | PCI devices)</comment> |
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300 | PCI devices ---> |
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301 | <comment>(We now select the emu10k1 driver for our card)</comment> |
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302 | <M> Emu10k1 (SB Live!, Audigy, E-mu APS) |
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303 | <comment>(Or an Intel card would be)</comment> |
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304 | <M> Intel/SiS/nVidia/AMD/ALi AC97 Controller |
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305 | <comment>(Or if you have a VIA Card)</comment> |
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306 | <M> VIA 82C686A/B, 8233/8235 AC97 Controller |
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307 | |
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308 | <comment>(Move one level back and select in case you have an USB sound card)</comment> |
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309 | USB Devices ---> |
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310 | </pre> |
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311 | |
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312 | <p> |
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313 | Now that your options are set, you can (re)compile the kernel and ALSA support |
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314 | for your card should be functional once you reboot into the new kernel. Don't |
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315 | forget to update your GRUB configuration to use the newly built kernel. |
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316 | You can now proceed to <uri link="#alsa-utilities">ALSA Utilities</uri> and |
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317 | see if everything is working as it should. |
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318 | </p> |
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319 | |
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320 | </body> |
72 | <section> |
321 | </section> |
73 | <title>What cards does ALSA support?</title> |
322 | <section id="alsa-driver"> |
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323 | <title>Using the ALSA Driver package</title> |
74 | <body> |
324 | <body> |
75 | <p> |
325 | |
76 | ALSA tries to support as many (new) cards as possible by providing open-source drivers. |
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77 | However, some vendors may provide binary-only packages. |
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78 | </p> |
326 | <p> |
79 | <p>To know if your card is supported, you can find a Soundcard Matrix of supported and not-supported cards here: |
327 | So you've decided to go the <c>alsa-driver</c> way. Let's get started then. |
80 | <uri>http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/</uri>. |
328 | There are a few minor things to be done to ensure only the drivers for your |
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329 | sound card are compiled. Although this is not really necessary, it cuts down |
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330 | on the unnecessary drivers that will be compiled otherwise. |
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331 | </p> |
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332 | |
81 | </p> |
333 | <p> |
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334 | If you don't have an idea of what drivers your sound card might need, please |
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335 | take a look at the <uri link="#lspci">lspci</uri> section of this guide. Once |
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336 | you have your driver name (<c>emu10k1</c> in our example), edit |
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337 | <path>/etc/make.conf</path> and add a variable, <c>ALSA_CARDS</c>. |
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338 | </p> |
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339 | |
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340 | <pre caption="Adding ALSA_CARDS to make.conf"> |
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341 | <comment>(For one sound card)</comment> |
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342 | ALSA_CARDS="emu10k1" |
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343 | <comment>(For more than one, separate names with spaces)</comment> |
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344 | ALSA_CARDS="emu10k1 via82xx" |
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345 | </pre> |
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346 | |
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347 | <p> |
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348 | If you have compiled your kernel and want to use <c>alsa-driver</c>, please |
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349 | ensure the following before proceeding, else <c>alsa-driver</c> is likely to |
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350 | fail. The next code listing gives you one way of performing the checks. |
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351 | </p> |
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352 | |
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353 | <note> |
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354 | <c>genkernel</c> users can proceed with <uri link="#doc_chap2_pre6">Installing |
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355 | alsa-driver</uri> as their configuration is in sync with the one shown below by |
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356 | default. |
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357 | </note> |
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358 | |
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359 | <ol> |
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360 | <li> |
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361 | <c>CONFIG_SOUND</c> is set. (Basic Sound support enabled) |
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362 | </li> |
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363 | <li> |
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364 | <c>CONFIG_SOUND_PRIME</c> is not set. (In-built OSS support disabled) |
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365 | </li> |
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366 | <li> |
|
|
367 | <c>CONFIG_SND</c> is not set. (In-built ALSA support disabled) |
|
|
368 | </li> |
|
|
369 | <li> |
|
|
370 | <path>/usr/src/linux</path> points to the kernel you want ALSA working on. |
|
|
371 | </li> |
|
|
372 | </ol> |
|
|
373 | |
|
|
374 | <pre caption=".config checks"> |
|
|
375 | <comment>(Assuming the linux symlink points to the correct kernel)</comment> |
|
|
376 | # <i>cd /usr/src/linux</i> |
|
|
377 | # <i>grep SOUND .config</i> |
|
|
378 | <comment>(1. is true)</comment> |
|
|
379 | CONFIG_SOUND=y |
|
|
380 | <comment>(2. is true)</comment> |
|
|
381 | CONFIG_SOUND_PRIME is not set |
|
|
382 | # <i>grep SND .config</i> |
|
|
383 | <comment>(and 3. is true)</comment> |
|
|
384 | CONFIG_SND is not set |
|
|
385 | </pre> |
|
|
386 | |
|
|
387 | <p> |
|
|
388 | Now all you have to do is type the magic words... and no, it's not abracadabra. |
|
|
389 | </p> |
|
|
390 | |
|
|
391 | <pre caption="Installing alsa-driver"> |
|
|
392 | # <i>emerge alsa-driver</i> |
|
|
393 | </pre> |
|
|
394 | |
|
|
395 | <impo> |
|
|
396 | Please note that you will have to run <c>emerge alsa-driver</c> after every |
|
|
397 | kernel (re)compile, as the earlier drivers are deleted. |
|
|
398 | </impo> |
|
|
399 | |
82 | </body> |
400 | </body> |
83 | </section> |
401 | </section> |
84 | </chapter> |
402 | </chapter> |
85 | |
403 | |
86 | <chapter> |
404 | <chapter> |
87 | <title>Installation</title> |
405 | <title>Configuring/Testing ALSA</title> |
88 | <section> |
406 | <section id="alsa-utilities"> |
89 | <title>Kernel modules</title> |
407 | <title>ALSA Utilities</title> |
90 | <body> |
408 | <body> |
91 | <p> |
409 | |
92 | Since we're still using 2.4.x kernel sources, we'll have to compile kernel modules and ALSA modules separately. People who are using a 2.5.x kernel can do this from within their kernel configuration, since the ALSA modules are included in the kernel sources and should be built there. |
|
|
93 | </p> |
410 | <p> |
|
|
411 | <c>alsa-utils</c> forms an integral part of ALSA as it has a truckload of |
|
|
412 | programs that are highly useful, including the ALSA Initscripts. Hence we |
|
|
413 | strongly recommend that you install <c>alsa-utils</c> |
94 | <p> |
414 | </p> |
95 | First we'll make sure that our kernel configuration is ready for use with ALSA. |
415 | |
96 | All you need in your kernel configuration is having Sound Card Support set to be built as a module (M). |
416 | <pre caption="Install alsa-utils"> |
97 | This will build <c>soundcore.o</c>. |
417 | # <i>emerge alsa-utils</i> |
98 | </p> |
418 | </pre> |
99 | <p> |
419 | |
100 | <note> |
420 | <note> |
101 | Possibly, this will also work when you built Sound Card Support in the kernel (Y) instead of building it as a module (M). |
421 | If you activated ALSA in your <uri link="#kernel">kernel</uri> <e>and</e> did |
102 | However, the official ALSA documentation suggests building it as a module, since ALSA will try loading it. |
422 | not compile ALSA as modules, please proceed to the |
|
|
423 | <uri link="#initscript">ALSA Initscript</uri> section. The rest of you need |
|
|
424 | to configure ALSA. This is made very easy by the existence of the |
|
|
425 | <c>alsaconf</c> tool provided by <c>alsa-utils</c>. |
103 | </note> |
426 | </note> |
|
|
427 | |
|
|
428 | </body> |
|
|
429 | </section> |
|
|
430 | <section id="alsa-config"> |
|
|
431 | <title>Configuration</title> |
|
|
432 | <body> |
|
|
433 | |
|
|
434 | <note> |
|
|
435 | Please shut down any programs that <e>might</e> access the sound card while |
|
|
436 | running <c>alsaconf</c>. |
|
|
437 | </note> |
|
|
438 | |
104 | </p> |
439 | <p> |
105 | <p>If you already have a working kernel configuration, make sure you remove all sound drivers (except for Sound Card Support). |
440 | The easiest way to configure your sound card is to run <c>alsaconf</c>. Just |
106 | If you wish to do this without having to reboot, you could do like this: |
441 | type <c>alsaconf</c> in a shell as root. |
107 | </p> |
442 | </p> |
|
|
443 | |
|
|
444 | <pre caption="Invoking alsaconf"> |
|
|
445 | # <i>alsaconf</i> |
108 | <pre> |
446 | </pre> |
109 | # <c>cd /usr/src/linux</c> |
447 | |
110 | # <c>cp .config ~/</c> |
|
|
111 | # <c>make mrproper</c> |
|
|
112 | # <c>cp ~/.config .</c> |
|
|
113 | # <c>make menuconfig</c> |
|
|
114 | </pre> |
|
|
115 | <p> |
|
|
116 | Now select <e>Sound Card Support</e> as Module (M) and deselect all other sound drivers. |
|
|
117 | Exit and say Y to save your kernel configuration. |
|
|
118 | After that, build the modules: |
|
|
119 | </p> |
448 | <p> |
|
|
449 | You will now see a neat menu guided interface that will automatically probe |
|
|
450 | your devices and try to find out your sound card. You will be asked to pick |
|
|
451 | your sound card from a list. Once that's done, it will ask you permission to |
|
|
452 | automatically make required changes to <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>. |
|
|
453 | It will then adjust your volume settings to optimum levels, run |
|
|
454 | <c>modules-update</c> and start the <path>/etc/init.d/alsasound</path> service. |
|
|
455 | Once <c>alsaconf</c> exits, you can proceed with setting up the ALSA |
|
|
456 | initscript. |
|
|
457 | </p> |
|
|
458 | |
|
|
459 | </body> |
|
|
460 | </section> |
|
|
461 | <section id="initscript"> |
|
|
462 | <title>ALSA Initscript</title> |
|
|
463 | <body> |
|
|
464 | |
|
|
465 | <p> |
|
|
466 | We're now almost all setup. Whichever method you chose to install ALSA, you'll |
|
|
467 | need to have something load your modules or initialize ALSA and restore your |
|
|
468 | volume settings when your system comes up. The ALSA Initscript handles all of |
|
|
469 | this for you and is called <c>alsasound</c>. Add it to the boot runlevel. |
|
|
470 | </p> |
|
|
471 | |
|
|
472 | <pre caption="Adding ALSA to the boot runlevel"> |
|
|
473 | # <i>rc-update add alsasound boot</i> |
|
|
474 | * alsasound added to runlevel boot |
|
|
475 | * rc-update complete. |
120 | <pre> |
476 | </pre> |
121 | # <c>make dep clean</c> |
477 | |
122 | # <c>make modules modules_install</c> |
|
|
123 | </pre> |
|
|
124 | <p> |
|
|
125 | Before installing your new modules, this last line will delete all your previous modules, |
|
|
126 | even the ones from a previous ALSA installation. |
|
|
127 | </p> |
478 | <p> |
|
|
479 | Next, just check the <path>/etc/conf.d/alsasound</path> file and ensure that |
|
|
480 | SAVE_ON_STOP variable is set to yes. This saves your sound settings when you |
|
|
481 | shutdown your system. |
128 | <p> |
482 | </p> |
|
|
483 | |
|
|
484 | </body> |
|
|
485 | </section> |
|
|
486 | <section> |
|
|
487 | <title>Audio Group</title> |
|
|
488 | <body> |
|
|
489 | |
|
|
490 | <p> |
|
|
491 | Before we move on to testing, there's one last <e>important</e> thing that needs |
|
|
492 | to be setup. Rule of thumb in a *nix OS : Do not run as root unless needed. |
|
|
493 | This applies here as well ;) How? Well, most of the times you should be logged |
|
|
494 | in as a user and would like to listen to music or access your soundcard. For |
|
|
495 | that to happen, you need to be in the "audio" group. At this point, we'll add |
|
|
496 | users to the audio group, so that they won't have any issues when they want to |
|
|
497 | access sound devices. We'll use <c>gpasswd</c> here and you need to be logged in |
|
|
498 | as root for this to work. |
|
|
499 | </p> |
|
|
500 | |
|
|
501 | <pre caption="Adding users to the audio group"> |
|
|
502 | <comment>(Substitute <username> with your user)</comment> |
|
|
503 | # <i>gpasswd -a <username> audio </i> |
|
|
504 | Adding user <username> to group audio |
|
|
505 | </pre> |
|
|
506 | |
|
|
507 | </body> |
|
|
508 | </section> |
|
|
509 | <section> |
|
|
510 | <title>Volume Check!</title> |
|
|
511 | <body> |
|
|
512 | |
|
|
513 | <p> |
|
|
514 | We've completed all the setups and pre-requisites, so let's fire up ALSA. If |
|
|
515 | you ran <c>alsaconf</c>, you can skip this step, since <c>alsaconf</c> already |
|
|
516 | does this for you. |
|
|
517 | </p> |
|
|
518 | |
|
|
519 | <pre caption="Start the service"> |
|
|
520 | <comment>(ALSA as modules)</comment> |
|
|
521 | # <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i> |
|
|
522 | * Loading ALSA modules ... |
|
|
523 | * Loading: snd-card-0 ... [ ok ] |
|
|
524 | * Loading: snd-pcm-oss ... [ ok ] |
|
|
525 | * Loading: snd-seq ... [ ok ] |
|
|
526 | * Loading: snd-emu10k1-synth ... [ ok ] |
|
|
527 | * Loading: snd-seq-midi ... [ ok ] |
|
|
528 | * Restoring Mixer Levels ... [ ok ] |
|
|
529 | <comment>(ALSA compiled in)</comment> |
|
|
530 | # <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i> |
|
|
531 | * Loading ALSA modules ... |
|
|
532 | * Restoring Mixer Levels ... [ ok ] |
|
|
533 | </pre> |
|
|
534 | |
|
|
535 | <p> |
|
|
536 | Now that the required things have been taken care of, we need to check up on |
|
|
537 | the volume as in certain cases, it is muted. We use <c>alsamixer</c> for this |
|
|
538 | purpose. |
|
|
539 | </p> |
|
|
540 | |
|
|
541 | <pre caption="Starting alsamixer"> |
|
|
542 | <comment>(Opens up a console program. Only required settings are shown)</comment> |
|
|
543 | # <i>alsamixer</i> |
|
|
544 | </pre> |
|
|
545 | |
129 | <impo> |
546 | <impo> |
130 | This means, whenever you recompile your kernel later on, you MUST recompile <c>alsa-driver</c>. |
547 | If you have issues starting up <c>alsamixer</c> and get errors such as |
|
|
548 | alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory, |
|
|
549 | this is usually an issue with udev setting up the devices. Run <c>killall |
|
|
550 | udevd; udevstart</c> to reload <path>/dev</path> entries and fire up |
|
|
551 | <c>alsamixer</c>. It should solve the issue. |
131 | </impo> |
552 | </impo> |
|
|
553 | |
132 | </p> |
554 | <p> |
|
|
555 | This is how the ALSA Mixer <e>might</e> look the first time you open it. Pay |
|
|
556 | attention to the Master and PCM channels which both have an MM below them. |
|
|
557 | That means they are muted. If you try to play anything with <c>alsamixer</c> |
|
|
558 | in this state, you will not hear anything on your speakers. |
133 | <p> |
559 | </p> |
134 | <note>However, there's no need to reinstall <c>nvidia-kernel</c>, the Nvidia drivers are in a separate directory |
560 | |
135 | in <path>/lib/modules/*/video</path> and won't get deleted by a <c>make modules modules_install</c> |
561 | <figure link="/images/docs/alsa-mixermuted.png" short="AlsaMixer Muted" caption="The Alsa Mixer Main Window, Muted"/> |
|
|
562 | |
|
|
563 | <p> |
|
|
564 | Now, we shall unmute the channels, and set volume levels as needed. |
|
|
565 | </p> |
|
|
566 | |
|
|
567 | <warn> |
|
|
568 | Both Master <e>and</e> PCM need to be unmuted and set to audible volume levels |
|
|
569 | if you want to hear some output on your speakers. |
|
|
570 | </warn> |
|
|
571 | |
|
|
572 | <ul> |
|
|
573 | <li> |
|
|
574 | To move between channels, use your left and right arrow keys. (<- |
|
|
575 | & ->) |
|
|
576 | </li> |
|
|
577 | <li> |
|
|
578 | To toggle mute, move to the specific channel, for example Master and press |
|
|
579 | the <e>m</e> key on the keyboard. |
|
|
580 | </li> |
|
|
581 | <li> |
|
|
582 | To increase and decrease the volume levels, use the up and down arrow keys |
|
|
583 | respectively. |
|
|
584 | </li> |
|
|
585 | </ul> |
|
|
586 | |
|
|
587 | <note> |
|
|
588 | Be careful when setting your Bass and Treble values. 50 is usually a good |
|
|
589 | number for both. Extremely high values of Bass may cause <e>jarring</e> |
|
|
590 | on speakers that are not designed to handle them. |
136 | </note> |
591 | </note> |
|
|
592 | |
137 | </p> |
593 | <p> |
138 | </body> |
594 | After you're all done, your ALSA Mixer should look similar to the one below. |
139 | </section> |
595 | Note the 00 instead of the MM and also the volume levels for some optimum |
|
|
596 | settings. |
|
|
597 | </p> |
140 | |
598 | |
|
|
599 | <figure link="/images/docs/alsa-mixerunmuted.png" short="AlsaMixer Unmuted" caption="Alsa Mixer ready to roll"/> |
|
|
600 | |
|
|
601 | </body> |
141 | <section> |
602 | </section> |
142 | <title>ALSA modules</title> |
603 | <section> |
|
|
604 | <title>Sound Check!</title> |
|
|
605 | <body> |
|
|
606 | |
|
|
607 | <p> |
|
|
608 | Finally. Some music. If everything above is perfect, you should now be able to |
|
|
609 | listen to some good music. A quick way to test is to use a command line tool |
|
|
610 | like <c>media-sound/madplay</c>. You could also use something more well known |
|
|
611 | like <c>mpg123</c> or <c>xmms</c>. If you are an ogg fan, you could use |
|
|
612 | <c>ogg123</c> provided by <c>media-sound/vorbis-tools</c>. Use any player you |
|
|
613 | are comfortable with. As always, <c>emerge</c> what you need. |
|
|
614 | </p> |
|
|
615 | |
|
|
616 | <pre caption="Getting the software"> |
|
|
617 | <comment>(Install the applications you want)</comment> |
|
|
618 | # <i>emerge madplay mpg123 xmms</i> |
|
|
619 | <comment>(To play .ogg files)</comment> |
|
|
620 | # <i>emerge vorbis-tools</i> |
|
|
621 | </pre> |
|
|
622 | |
|
|
623 | <p> |
|
|
624 | And then play your favorite sound track... |
|
|
625 | </p> |
|
|
626 | |
|
|
627 | <pre caption="Playing Music"> |
|
|
628 | # <i>madplay -v /mnt/shyam/Music/Paul\ Oakenfold\ -\ Dread\ Rock.mp3</i> |
|
|
629 | MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al. |
|
|
630 | Title: Dread Rock |
|
|
631 | Artist: Paul Oakenfold |
|
|
632 | Album: Matrix Reloaded |
|
|
633 | Year: 2003 |
|
|
634 | Genre: Soundtrack |
|
|
635 | Soundtrack |
|
|
636 | 00:04:19 Layer III, 160 kbps, 44100 Hz, joint stereo (MS), no CRC |
|
|
637 | |
|
|
638 | # <i>ogg123 Paul\ Oakenfold\ -\ Dread\ Rock.ogg</i> |
|
|
639 | Audio Device: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) output |
|
|
640 | |
|
|
641 | Playing: Paul Oakenfold - Dread Rock.ogg |
|
|
642 | Ogg Vorbis stream: 2 channel, 44100 Hz |
|
|
643 | Genre: Soundtrack |
|
|
644 | Transcoded: mp3;160 |
|
|
645 | Title: Dread Rock |
|
|
646 | Artist: Paul Oakenfold |
|
|
647 | Date: 2003 |
|
|
648 | Album: Matrix Reloaded |
|
|
649 | Time: 00:11.31 [04:28.75] of 04:40.06 (200.6 kbps) Output Buffer 96.9% |
|
|
650 | </pre> |
|
|
651 | |
143 | <body> |
652 | </body> |
|
|
653 | </section> |
|
|
654 | <section> |
|
|
655 | <title>ALSA and USE</title> |
|
|
656 | <body> |
144 | |
657 | |
145 | <p> |
|
|
146 | Now it's time to install the ALSA drivers for your soundcard(s). If your soundcard is PCI, you can find out the name |
|
|
147 | and type of your soundcard by looking at the output of /proc/pci |
|
|
148 | <pre># <c>grep audio /proc/pci</c></pre> |
|
|
149 | </p> |
658 | <p> |
150 | |
659 | You can now add the <c>alsa</c> use flag to <path>/etc/make.conf</path> to |
|
|
660 | ensure that your applications that support ALSA get built with it. Some |
|
|
661 | architectures like x86 and amd64 have the flag enabled by default. |
151 | <p> |
662 | </p> |
152 | <warn> |
663 | |
153 | If you had a previous sound setup and there are still non-ALSA sound modules loaded, unload them <e>now</e>. |
664 | </body> |
154 | Check with <c>lsmod</c> and use <c>rmmod</c> to unload all sound-related modules on your system. |
665 | </section> |
155 | </warn> |
666 | <section> |
|
|
667 | <title>Issues?</title> |
|
|
668 | <body> |
|
|
669 | |
156 | </p> |
670 | <p> |
157 | |
671 | If for some reason you're unable to hear sound, the first thing to do would |
|
|
672 | be to check your <uri link="#doc_chap3_pre6">alsamixer</uri> settings. 80% of |
|
|
673 | the issues lie with muted channels or low volume. Also check your Window |
|
|
674 | Manager's sound applet and verify that volumes are set to audible levels. |
158 | <p> |
675 | </p> |
159 | We could simply do an <c>emerge alsa-driver</c> now, this would compile and install <e>all</e> ALSA sound drivers. |
676 | |
160 | </p> |
677 | <p> |
|
|
678 | <path>/proc</path> is your friend. And in this case, <path>/proc/asound</path> |
|
|
679 | is your best friend. We shall just take a short look at how much info is made |
|
|
680 | available to us there. |
161 | <p> |
681 | </p> |
162 | However, to save some time, lookup the <e>Module Name</e> of your soundcard(s) on the |
|
|
163 | <uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc">ALSA Soundcard Matrix</uri> by following the <e>Details</e> link in the <e>Driver and Docs</e> column in the row of the chipset of your soundcard. |
|
|
164 | Mine is <c>snd-emu10k1</c>, since I have an SBlive! soundcard, with the <e>EMU10K1</e> chipset. |
|
|
165 | We'll set ALSA_CARDS environment to the value of the module name before emerging (but without the snd prefix), so emerge will only compile the drivers we need. |
|
|
166 | </p> |
|
|
167 | |
682 | |
168 | <p> |
683 | <pre caption="Fun with /proc/asound"> |
|
|
684 | <comment>(First and foremost, if /proc/asound/cards shows your card, ALSA has |
|
|
685 | picked up your sound card fine.)</comment> |
|
|
686 | # <i>cat /proc/asound/cards</i> |
|
|
687 | 0 [Live ]: EMU10K1 - Sound Blaster Live! |
|
|
688 | Sound Blaster Live! (rev.6, serial:0x80271102) at 0xb800, irq 11 |
|
|
689 | |
|
|
690 | <comment>(If you run ALSA off the kernel like I do and wonder how far behind |
|
|
691 | you are from alsa-driver, this displays current running ALSA version)</comment> |
|
|
692 | # <i>cat /proc/asound/version</i> |
|
|
693 | Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.8 (Thu Jan 13 09:39:32 2005 UTC). |
|
|
694 | |
|
|
695 | <comment>(ALSA OSS emulation details)</comment> |
|
|
696 | # <i>cat /proc/asound/oss/sndstat</i> |
|
|
697 | Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.8 emulation code) |
|
|
698 | Kernel: Linux airwolf.zion 2.6.11ac1 #2 Wed May 4 00:35:08 IST 2005 i686 |
|
|
699 | Config options: 0 |
|
|
700 | |
|
|
701 | Installed drivers: |
|
|
702 | Type 10: ALSA emulation |
|
|
703 | |
|
|
704 | Card config: |
|
|
705 | Sound Blaster Live! (rev.6, serial:0x80271102) at 0xb800, irq 11 |
|
|
706 | |
|
|
707 | Audio devices: |
|
|
708 | 0: EMU10K1 (DUPLEX) |
|
|
709 | |
|
|
710 | Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG |
|
|
711 | |
|
|
712 | Midi devices: |
|
|
713 | 0: EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART) |
|
|
714 | |
|
|
715 | Timers: |
|
|
716 | 7: system timer |
|
|
717 | |
|
|
718 | Mixers: |
|
|
719 | 0: SigmaTel STAC9721/23 |
169 | <pre> |
720 | </pre> |
170 | # <c>env ALSA_CARDS='emu10k1' emerge alsa-driver</c> |
721 | |
171 | </pre> |
|
|
172 | </p> |
722 | <p> |
|
|
723 | The other most common issue users face is the dreaded "Unknown symbol in module" |
|
|
724 | error. An example of the same is shown below. |
173 | <p> |
725 | </p> |
|
|
726 | |
|
|
727 | <pre caption="Unknown Symbol in module error"> |
|
|
728 | # <i>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</i> |
|
|
729 | * Loading ALSA modules ... |
|
|
730 | * Loading: snd-card-0 ... [ ok ] |
|
|
731 | * Loading: snd-pcm-oss ... |
|
|
732 | WARNING: Error inserting snd_mixer_oss |
|
|
733 | (/lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r6/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-mixer-oss.ko): Unknown |
|
|
734 | symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg) FATAL: Error inserting |
|
|
735 | snd_pcm_oss |
|
|
736 | (/lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r6/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-pcm-oss.ko): Unknown |
|
|
737 | symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg) |
|
|
738 | [ !! ] |
|
|
739 | * Loading: snd-mixer-oss ... |
|
|
740 | FATAL: Error inserting snd_mixer_oss |
|
|
741 | (/lib/modules/2.6.12-gentoo-r6/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-mixer-oss.ko): Unknown |
|
|
742 | symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg) |
|
|
743 | [ !! ] |
|
|
744 | * Loading: snd-seq ... [ ok ] |
|
|
745 | * Loading: snd-emu10k1-synth ... [ ok ] |
|
|
746 | * Loading: snd-seq-midi ... [ ok ] |
|
|
747 | * Restoring Mixer Levels ... [ ok ] |
|
|
748 | </pre> |
|
|
749 | |
|
|
750 | <p> |
|
|
751 | And when you take a look at <c>dmesg</c> as suggested, you're quite likely to |
|
|
752 | see: |
|
|
753 | </p> |
|
|
754 | |
|
|
755 | <pre caption="dmesg output"> |
|
|
756 | <comment>(Only relevant portions are shown below)</comment> |
|
|
757 | # <i>dmesg | less</i> |
|
|
758 | ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:06.0[A] -> Link [APC3] -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 209 |
|
|
759 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_unregister_oss_device |
|
|
760 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_register_oss_device |
|
|
761 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_mixer_oss_notify_callback |
|
|
762 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_oss_info_register |
|
|
763 | snd_pcm_oss: Unknown symbol snd_unregister_oss_device |
|
|
764 | snd_pcm_oss: Unknown symbol snd_register_oss_device |
|
|
765 | snd_pcm_oss: Unknown symbol snd_mixer_oss_ioctl_card |
|
|
766 | snd_pcm_oss: Unknown symbol snd_oss_info_register |
|
|
767 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_unregister_oss_device |
|
|
768 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_register_oss_device |
|
|
769 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_mixer_oss_notify_callback |
|
|
770 | snd_mixer_oss: Unknown symbol snd_oss_info_register |
|
|
771 | </pre> |
|
|
772 | |
|
|
773 | <p> |
|
|
774 | The above issue is caused when you switch from <c>alsa-driver</c> to in-kernel |
|
|
775 | ALSA because when you unmerge <c>alsa-driver</c> the module files are config |
|
|
776 | protected and hence get left behind. So, when you switch to in-kernel |
|
|
777 | drivers, running <c>modprobe</c> gives you a mix of <c>alsa-driver</c> and |
|
|
778 | in-kernel modules thus causing the above errors. |
|
|
779 | </p> |
|
|
780 | |
|
|
781 | <p> |
|
|
782 | The solution is quite easy. We just need to manually remove the problem causing |
|
|
783 | directory after you unmerge <c>alsa-driver</c>. Be sure to remove the correct |
|
|
784 | kernel version and not the current one! |
|
|
785 | </p> |
|
|
786 | |
|
|
787 | <pre caption="Removing the alsa-driver modules"> |
|
|
788 | <comment>(Replace KERNELVER with your kernel version)</comment> |
|
|
789 | # <i>rm -rf /lib/modules/KERNELVER/alsa-driver</i> |
|
|
790 | </pre> |
|
|
791 | |
|
|
792 | <p> |
|
|
793 | Another reason for error messages similar to the ones above could be a file in |
|
|
794 | <path>/etc/modules.d</path> supplying a <c>device_mode</c> parameter when it |
|
|
795 | isn't required. Confirm that this is indeed the issue and find out which file |
|
|
796 | is the culprit. |
|
|
797 | </p> |
|
|
798 | |
|
|
799 | <pre caption="Confirming and searching for device_mode"> |
|
|
800 | <comment>(Check dmesg to confirm)</comment> |
|
|
801 | # <i>dmesg | grep device_mode</i> |
|
|
802 | snd: Unknown parameter `device_mode' |
|
|
803 | <comment>(Now, to get to the source of the issue)</comment> |
|
|
804 | # <i>grep device_mode /etc/modules.d/*</i> |
|
|
805 | </pre> |
|
|
806 | |
|
|
807 | <p> |
|
|
808 | Usually it is a file called <path>alsa</path> with the line <c>options snd |
|
|
809 | device_mode=0666</c>. Remove this line and restart the alsasound service and |
|
|
810 | that should take care of this issue. |
|
|
811 | </p> |
|
|
812 | |
|
|
813 | </body> |
|
|
814 | </section> |
|
|
815 | </chapter> |
|
|
816 | |
|
|
817 | <chapter> |
|
|
818 | <title>Other things ALSA</title> |
|
|
819 | <section> |
|
|
820 | <title>Setting up MIDI support</title> |
|
|
821 | <body> |
|
|
822 | |
|
|
823 | <p> |
|
|
824 | If your sound card is one of those that come with on-board MIDI synthesizers |
|
|
825 | and you would like to listen to some .mid files, you have to install |
|
|
826 | <c>awesfx</c> which is basically a set of utilities for controlling the AWE32 |
|
|
827 | driver. We need to install it first. If you don't have a hardware synthesizer, |
|
|
828 | you can use a virtual one. Please see the section on |
|
|
829 | <uri link="#vsynth">Virtual Synthesizers</uri> for more information. |
|
|
830 | </p> |
|
|
831 | |
|
|
832 | <pre caption="Installing awesfx"> |
|
|
833 | # <i>emerge awesfx</i> |
|
|
834 | </pre> |
|
|
835 | |
174 | <note> |
836 | <note> |
175 | You can also add this value in <path>/etc/make.conf</path>, so when you have to emerge the alsa-driver later on you can just run <c>emerge alsa-driver</c>. |
837 | You will need to copy over SoundFont (SF2) files from your sound card's driver |
176 | For example, like this: <c>echo 'ALSA_CARDS="emu10k1"' >> /etc/make.conf</c> |
838 | CD or a Windows installation into <path>/usr/share/sounds/sf2/</path>. For |
|
|
839 | example a sound font file for the Creative SBLive! card would be 8MBGMSFX.SF2. |
177 | </note> |
840 | </note> |
178 | |
841 | |
|
|
842 | <p> |
|
|
843 | After copying over the Soundfont files, we can then play a midi file as shown. |
|
|
844 | You can also add the <c>asfxload</c> command to |
|
|
845 | <path>/etc/conf.d/local.start</path>, so that the sound font is loaded |
|
|
846 | every time the system starts up. |
|
|
847 | </p> |
|
|
848 | |
179 | <note> |
849 | <note> |
180 | When you want to install ALSA drivers for more than one soundcard, you could set ALSA_CARDS to a space-separated list |
850 | <path>/mnt</path> paths mentioned in the code listing(s) below will <e>not</e> |
181 | of drivers; like this: <c>env ALSA_CARDS='emu10k1 intel8x0 ens1370' emerge alsa-driver</c> |
851 | be the same in your machine. They are just an example. Please be careful to |
|
|
852 | change the path to suit your machine. |
182 | </note> |
853 | </note> |
183 | |
854 | |
184 | <note>If you want to have OSS compatibility, make sure to emerge <i>alsa-oss</i>, it is the ALSA/OSS compatibility |
855 | <pre caption="Loading Soundfonts"> |
185 | wrapper. </note> |
856 | <comment>(First, copy the Soundfont)</comment> |
|
|
857 | # <i>cp /mnt/win2k/Program\ Files/CreativeSBLive2k/SFBank/8MBGMSFX.SF2 /usr/share/sounds/sf2/</i> |
|
|
858 | <comment>(Or get it from your SoundBlaster CD)</comment> |
|
|
859 | # <i>cp /mnt/cdrom/AUDIO/ENGLISH/SFBANK/8MBGMSFX.SF2 /usr/share/sounds/sf2/</i> |
|
|
860 | <comment>(We load the specific Soundfont)</comment> |
|
|
861 | # <i>asfxload /usr/share/sounds/sf2/8MBGMSFX.SF2</i> |
|
|
862 | </pre> |
186 | |
863 | |
187 | </p> |
864 | <p> |
|
|
865 | You can now play midi files using a program like <c>aplaymidi</c>. Run |
|
|
866 | <c>aplaymidi -l</c> to get a list of available ports and then pick one |
|
|
867 | to play the file on. |
188 | <p> |
868 | </p> |
189 | After this, the ALSA modules should be installed on your system. |
869 | |
|
|
870 | <pre caption="Playing MIDI"> |
|
|
871 | <comment>(Check open ports)</comment> |
|
|
872 | # <i>aplaymidi -l</i> |
|
|
873 | Port Client name Port name |
|
|
874 | 64:0 EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART) EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART) |
|
|
875 | 65:0 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 0 |
|
|
876 | 65:1 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 1 |
|
|
877 | 65:2 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 2 |
|
|
878 | 65:3 Emu10k1 WaveTable Emu10k1 Port 3 |
|
|
879 | <comment>(Pick a port, and play a mid file)</comment> |
|
|
880 | # <i> aplaymidi --port=65:0 /mnt/shyam/music/midi/mi2.mid</i> |
190 | </p> |
881 | </pre> |
|
|
882 | |
191 | </body> |
883 | </body> |
192 | </section> |
|
|
193 | <section> |
884 | </section> |
194 | <title>Configuration of ALSA</title> |
885 | <section id="vsynth"> |
195 | <body> |
886 | <title>Virtual Synthesizers</title> |
196 | <p> |
|
|
197 | Let's start configuring now to get ALSA working properly. |
|
|
198 | We'll need to edit some files, to let our system know about the freshly installed ALSA modules. |
|
|
199 | </p> |
|
|
200 | <p> |
|
|
201 | First file to edit is <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path>. |
|
|
202 | </p> |
|
|
203 | <warn> |
|
|
204 | There is no need to edit <path>/etc/modules.conf</path>. Instead, always edit files in <path>/etc/modules.d</path>. |
|
|
205 | </warn> |
|
|
206 | <p> |
|
|
207 | Check the ALSA portion <e>at the bottom of the file</e>. |
|
|
208 | By tweaking this line you can specify the max number of soundcards you have (generally, just one). |
|
|
209 | </p> |
|
|
210 | <p> |
|
|
211 | <pre caption="At the bottom of /etc/modules.d/alsa"> |
|
|
212 | # Set this to the correct number of cards. |
|
|
213 | <c>options snd cards_limit=1</c> |
|
|
214 | </pre> |
|
|
215 | </p> |
|
|
216 | <p> |
|
|
217 | Now we'll specify the sounddriver(s) ALSA should use. In the same file, edit like this: |
|
|
218 | <pre caption="In /etc/modules.d/alsa"> |
|
|
219 | ## and then run `update-modules' command. |
|
|
220 | ## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info. |
|
|
221 | ## |
|
|
222 | ## ALSA portion |
|
|
223 | <c>alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1</c> |
|
|
224 | <c>## If you have more than one, add: |
|
|
225 | ## alias snd-card-1 snd-intel8x0 |
|
|
226 | ## alias snd-card-2 snd-ens1370</c> |
|
|
227 | ## OSS/Free portion |
|
|
228 | ## alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0 |
|
|
229 | ## alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1 |
|
|
230 | ## |
|
|
231 | </pre> |
|
|
232 | </p> |
|
|
233 | <p> |
|
|
234 | <note> |
|
|
235 | If you have more than one soundcard, adjust the <c>cards_limit</c> value and add more snd-card aliases to the file. |
|
|
236 | I don't have experience with this, but you can find examples for configurations with two or more soundcards in |
|
|
237 | <uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-howto/c1660.htm">Chapter 6</uri> |
|
|
238 | of the <uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/alsa-howto/alsa-howto.html">ALSA Howto</uri>. |
|
|
239 | </note> |
|
|
240 | </p> |
|
|
241 | <p> |
|
|
242 | Last thing to do in this file, almost at the end, check if these lines are there and uncommented: |
|
|
243 | <pre caption="Near the end of /etc/modules.d/alsa"> |
|
|
244 | alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss |
|
|
245 | alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss |
|
|
246 | alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss |
|
|
247 | </pre> |
|
|
248 | </p> |
|
|
249 | <p> |
|
|
250 | Now double-check the file <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> and when you're sure everyting is ok, run <c>update-modules</c>. |
|
|
251 | <pre> |
|
|
252 | # <c>update-modules</c> |
|
|
253 | </pre> |
|
|
254 | </p> |
|
|
255 | <note> |
|
|
256 | Running <c>update-modules</c> here will insert the data from <path>/etc/modules.d/alsa</path> into <path>/etc/modules.conf</path> |
|
|
257 | </note> |
|
|
258 | <p> |
|
|
259 | You should also verify that /etc/devfsd.conf has the alsa devices and permissions correctly registered. |
|
|
260 | </p> |
|
|
261 | <pre caption="/etc/devfsd.conf"> |
|
|
262 | # ALSA/OSS stuff |
|
|
263 | # Comment/change these if you want to change the permissions on |
|
|
264 | # the audio devices |
|
|
265 | LOOKUP snd MODLOAD ACTION snd |
|
|
266 | LOOKUP dsp MODLOAD |
|
|
267 | LOOKUP mixer MODLOAD |
|
|
268 | LOOKUP midi MODLOAD |
|
|
269 | REGISTER sound/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660 |
|
|
270 | REGISTER snd/.* PERMISSIONS root.audio 660 |
|
|
271 | </pre> |
|
|
272 | <note> |
|
|
273 | Notice that devfsd.conf sets /dev/sound permissions to be root.audio. Thus, for non-root users to use audio they will have to be part of the audio group. |
|
|
274 | </note> |
|
|
275 | </body> |
887 | <body> |
276 | </section> |
888 | |
277 | </chapter> |
889 | <p> |
278 | <chapter> |
890 | If your sound card lacks a hardware synthesizer, you could use a virtual one |
279 | <title>Starting ALSA</title> |
891 | like <c>timidity++</c>. Installation is a breeze. |
|
|
892 | </p> |
|
|
893 | |
|
|
894 | <pre caption="Installing timidity++"> |
|
|
895 | # <i>emerge timidity++</i> |
|
|
896 | </pre> |
|
|
897 | |
|
|
898 | <p> |
|
|
899 | For timidity to play sounds, it needs a sound font. If you do not have any, |
|
|
900 | install <c>timidity-eawpatches</c> or <c>timidity-shompatches</c> which will |
|
|
901 | give you some sound fonts. You can have multiple sound font configurations |
|
|
902 | installed, and you can place your own in <path>/usr/share/timidity/</path>. |
|
|
903 | To switch between different timidity configurations, you should use the |
|
|
904 | <c>timidity-update</c> tool provided in the timidity++ package. |
|
|
905 | </p> |
|
|
906 | |
|
|
907 | <pre caption="Installing sound fonts"> |
|
|
908 | # <i>emerge timidity-eawpatches</i> |
|
|
909 | # <i>timidity-update -g -s eawpatches</i> |
|
|
910 | |
|
|
911 | <comment>(or)</comment> |
|
|
912 | |
|
|
913 | # <i>emerge timidity-shompatches</i> |
|
|
914 | # <i>timidity-update -g -s shompatches</i> |
|
|
915 | </pre> |
|
|
916 | |
|
|
917 | <p> |
|
|
918 | Don't forget to add <c>timidity</c> to the default runlevel. |
|
|
919 | </p> |
|
|
920 | |
|
|
921 | <pre caption="Adding timidity to the default runlevel"> |
|
|
922 | # <i>rc-update add timidity default</i> |
|
|
923 | # <i>/etc/init.d/timidity start</i> |
|
|
924 | </pre> |
|
|
925 | |
|
|
926 | <p> |
|
|
927 | You can now try out <uri link="#doc_chap4_pre3">Playing MIDI</uri> files. |
|
|
928 | </p> |
|
|
929 | |
|
|
930 | </body> |
280 | <section> |
931 | </section> |
281 | <title>Adding alsasound to a runlevel</title> |
|
|
282 | <body> |
|
|
283 | <p> |
|
|
284 | First thing to do now, is to make ALSA startup at boottime. Like this: |
|
|
285 | <pre> |
|
|
286 | # <c>rc-update add alsasound boot</c> |
|
|
287 | </pre> |
|
|
288 | </p> |
|
|
289 | <p> |
|
|
290 | <warn>Note that the alsasound script should be added to the "boot" runlevel, not the "default" runlevel.</warn> |
|
|
291 | </p> |
|
|
292 | </body> |
|
|
293 | </section> |
932 | <section> |
|
|
933 | <title>Tools and Firmware</title> |
|
|
934 | <body> |
|
|
935 | |
|
|
936 | <p> |
|
|
937 | Some specific sound cards can benefit from certain tools provided by the |
|
|
938 | <c>alsa-tools</c> and <c>alsa-firmware</c> packages. If you need |
|
|
939 | <c>alsa-tools</c>, be sure to define the ALSA_TOOLS variable in |
|
|
940 | <path>/etc/make.conf</path> with the tools you require. For instance: |
|
|
941 | </p> |
|
|
942 | |
|
|
943 | <pre caption="Selecting ALSA Tools in /etc/make.conf"> |
|
|
944 | ALSA_TOOLS="as10k1 ac3dec" |
|
|
945 | </pre> |
|
|
946 | |
|
|
947 | <p> |
|
|
948 | If the ALSA_TOOLS variable is not set, all available tools will be built. |
|
|
949 | Now, install the <c>alsa-tools</c> (and/or <c>alsa-firmware</c>) package(s): |
|
|
950 | </p> |
|
|
951 | |
|
|
952 | <pre caption="Installing ALSA Tools"> |
|
|
953 | # <i>emerge alsa-tools</i> |
|
|
954 | </pre> |
|
|
955 | |
|
|
956 | </body> |
294 | <section> |
957 | </section> |
295 | <title>Running and unmuting</title> |
|
|
296 | <body> |
|
|
297 | <p> |
|
|
298 | Since we're Linux users, we don't want to reboot. So we'll start the alsasound script manually. |
|
|
299 | </p> |
|
|
300 | <pre> |
|
|
301 | # <c>/etc/init.d/alsasound start</c> |
|
|
302 | </pre> |
|
|
303 | <p> |
|
|
304 | ALSA is running now. If everything is ok, you should be able to see the ALSA modules loaded when running <c>lsmod</c>. |
|
|
305 | However, sound won't work yet, because the channels are still muted. We need <c>alsa-utils</c> for this. |
|
|
306 | </p> |
|
|
307 | <pre> |
|
|
308 | # <c>emerge alsa-utils</c> |
|
|
309 | # <c>amixer</c> |
|
|
310 | </pre> |
|
|
311 | <p> |
|
|
312 | <warn> |
|
|
313 | You shouldn't get this, but <e>if</e> you get an error about "amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such file or directory", you should manually insmod |
|
|
314 | <c>snd-mixer-oss</c> and <c>snd-pcm-oss</c> once. After that run amixer again. |
|
|
315 | </warn> |
|
|
316 | </p> |
|
|
317 | <pre caption="only if you get an error when running amixer"> |
|
|
318 | # <c>insmod snd-mixer-oss</c> |
|
|
319 | # <c>insmod snd-pcm-oss</c> |
|
|
320 | # <c>amixer</c> |
|
|
321 | </pre> |
|
|
322 | <p> |
|
|
323 | If you got this far, now unmute both Master and PCM channels. |
|
|
324 | </p> |
|
|
325 | <p> |
|
|
326 | <pre> |
|
|
327 | # <c>amixer set Master 100 unmute</c> |
|
|
328 | # <c>amixer set PCM 100 unmute</c> |
|
|
329 | # <c>aplay $KDEDIR/share/sounds/pop.wav</c> <codenote>(pop.wav is part of KDE)</codenote> |
|
|
330 | </pre> |
|
|
331 | </p> |
|
|
332 | We check to see if sound is working by using the aplay (alsa play) command. If you hear a pop, then sound is indeed working. |
|
|
333 | Then, adjust the volume settings to your liking; the ncurses-based <c>alsamixer</c> is a great way to get them "just so". |
|
|
334 | <p> |
|
|
335 | You may want to emerge <c>alsa-xmms</c> as that will provide ALSA support for XMMS. |
|
|
336 | </p> |
|
|
337 | When you reboot your system, the <e>alsasound</e> init script will properly save and restore your volume settings. |
|
|
338 | </body> |
|
|
339 | </section> |
958 | <section> |
340 | </chapter> |
959 | <title>A Big thank you to...</title> |
341 | <chapter> |
960 | <body> |
342 | <title>Final Notes</title> |
961 | |
|
|
962 | <p> |
|
|
963 | Everyone who contributed to the earlier version of the Gentoo ALSA Guide: |
|
|
964 | Vincent Verleye, Grant Goodyear, Arcady Genkin, Jeremy Huddleston, |
|
|
965 | John P. Davis, Sven Vermeulen, Benny Chuang, Tiemo Kieft and Erwin. |
|
|
966 | </p> |
|
|
967 | |
|
|
968 | </body> |
343 | <section> |
969 | </section> |
344 | <title>After kernel-upgrades..</title> |
|
|
345 | <body> |
|
|
346 | <p>When you ever rebuild your kernel, or upgrade to another kernel, you'll have to rebuild the ALSA modules.</p> |
|
|
347 | <p>Although you might have installed <c>alsa-driver</c>, <c>alsa-libs</c> and <c>alsa-utils</c>, only the first will |
|
|
348 | have to be installed again, since it will put the alsa modules in |
|
|
349 | <path>/lib/modules/*/kernel/sound/pci/</path>.</p> |
|
|
350 | <pre caption="needed after each kernel compile"> |
|
|
351 | # <c>emerge alsa-driver</c> |
|
|
352 | </pre> |
|
|
353 | </body> |
|
|
354 | </section> |
970 | <section> |
355 | <section> |
971 | <title>References</title> |
356 | <title>/etc/modules.autoload</title> |
|
|
357 | <body> |
|
|
358 | <p>You won't have to edit this file for use with ALSA. After our <c>rc-update add alsasound boot</c>, our system will |
|
|
359 | load the correct modules at startup.</p> |
|
|
360 | <p>It's not necessary to add <c>snd-pcm-oss</c> or <c>snd-mixer-oss</c> in this file. |
|
|
361 | Check the <uri link="http://www.djcj.org/LAU/guide/alsbook/faq1.html">this FAQ</uri> for more info.</p> |
|
|
362 | </body> |
972 | <body> |
363 | </section> |
973 | |
364 | <section> |
|
|
365 | <title>More links..</title> |
|
|
366 | <body> |
|
|
367 | <p> |
|
|
368 | You could check these for additional info: |
|
|
369 | </p> |
|
|
370 | <p> |
|
|
371 | <ul> |
974 | <ul> |
372 | <li><uri link="http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/desktop.xml">The Gentoo Linux Desktop Configuration Guide</uri></li> |
|
|
373 | <li><uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org">ALSA Project Homepage</uri></li> |
975 | <li><uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/">The ALSA Project</uri></li> |
374 | <li><uri link="http://www.alsa-project.org/documentation.php3">ALSA Users Documentation</uri></li> |
|
|
375 | <li><uri link="http://www.djcj.org">ALSA Howto's and FAQ's</uri></li> |
|
|
376 | <li><uri link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Sound-HOWTO/index.html">Linux Sound HOWTO</uri></li> |
|
|
377 | <li><uri link="http://linux-sound.org/">Sound and MIDI Software For Linux</uri></li> |
976 | <li><uri link="http://linux-sound.org">Linux Sound/MIDI Software</uri></li> |
378 | </ul> |
977 | </ul> |
379 | </p> |
978 | |
380 | </body> |
979 | </body> |
381 | </section> |
980 | </section> |
382 | </chapter> |
981 | </chapter> |
383 | </guide> |
982 | </guide> |