Hi,
I've alsa configured (ran alsaconf, alsamixer, alsactl store) and I can play
sounds, but I can't change the volume, not even as root and I don't get any
error. I'm using the following sound modules (selected by alsaconf):

snd_pcm_oss 50216 0
snd_mixer_oss 17920 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_intel8x0 31660 1
snd_ac97_codec 67204 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm 86408 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0
snd_timer 21636 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9352 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 3840 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 6400 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 20516 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 6792 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 47972 11
snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_co dec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_
mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 7648 1 snd

I've an onboard sound card integrated with my ASRock GEPROM2
motherboard. I'm using kernel 2.6.7, with alsa drivers 1.0.4 and alsa utils
1.0.5 (Slackware default).
First I tried with artsd, but the problems seems to be in alsa, I think.
Any help?

--
chabral

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 10:46:54 -0300, chabral wrote:

> First I tried with artsd, but the problems seems to be in alsa, I think.
> Any help?

Drop alsa: for ordinary boards, it is more trouble than it is worth. The
OSS drivers, ancient and non-advanced as they may be, are likely to work
fine.

In uk.comp.os.linux J. Smith <jsmith@nowhere.net> wrote:
> Drop alsa: for ordinary boards, it is more trouble than it is worth. The
> OSS drivers, ancient and non-advanced as they may be, are likely to work
> fine.

Why's it considered to be the bee's knees then?
Chris

Last news:. I completely removed ALSA support from the kernel and enabled
OSS, but........ The same! I can't change the volume! Using the xmms' volume
control I obtaint 2 results: mute when moving to the left, or the same
volume (non mute) going to the right. Any tip?

--
chabral

"J. Smith" <jsmith@nowhere.net> escribió en el mensaje
newsan.2004.09.29.14.17.39.81763@nowhere.net...
> On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 10:46:54 -0300, chabral wrote:
>
> > First I tried with artsd, but the problems seems to be in alsa, I
think.
> > Any help?
>
> Drop alsa: for ordinary boards, it is more trouble than it is worth. The
> OSS drivers, ancient and non-advanced as they may be, are likely to work
> fine.
>
>

Here's more info, please give some advice:

About the motherboard:
Brand: ASRock
Model:GE PRO M2
North Bridge:SiS 533/333 chipset, FSB @ 533/400MHz;
South Bridge: SiS 962L chipset, supports USB 2.0, ATA 133
Audio: 5.1 channels AC'97 Audio
Audio Jack: Line Out/ Line In/ Microphone + Game port

lspci output:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 650/M650 Host (rev 80)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI
bridge (AGP)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS962 [MuTIOL Media
IO] (rev 25)
00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]: Unknown device 0016
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]
00:02.6 Modem: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Modem Controller (rev
a0)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound
Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller
(rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller
(rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI
Fast Ethernet (rev 90)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS]
65x/M650/740 PCI/AGP VGA Display Adapter

As I said, nor ALSA or OSS allows me to control the volume. Now, I've
loaded the oss module i810_audio.

--
chabral

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 10:01:22 -0300, chabral wrote:

It looks like you have all the correct modules loaded, so I don't think
that the problem lies there.

Where exactly are trying to adjust the volume, in xmms, in a KDE Volume
controller, in a Gnome Volume controller (as applications or panel
applets)?

I have just tried adjusting my volume, as this morning I could not hear
anything. The panel applet for the Gnome Volume Control Centre did
nothing, nor did the volume control in xmms.

When I open up the full the complete Gnome volume control centre (version
2.6.2) I found that that the only controls which did anything to the
volume level where the Headphone slider, needs to be up full and not
muted, and the the PCM slider, also needs to be up full and not muted. All
other sliders had no effect at all.

The obvious candidates such such the volume slider do not do anything. As
you have the pcm module loaded, perhaps you are experiencing a similar
situation.

--
Gareth Ansell
UNIX Team
Computing Services
Coventry University

chabral wrote:
> Brand: ASRock
> Model:GE PRO M2

This motherboard has an AC'97 codec made by C-Media (CMI97xx).
For some strange reason C-Media doesn't build a volume control into
these chips.

It is possible to emulate a volume control in software (like C-Media's
Windows driver does), but ALSA doesn't yet do this.


Regards,
Clemens

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:43:05 +0100, chris-usenet wrote:

> In uk.comp.os.linux J. Smith <jsmith@nowhere.net> wrote:
>> Drop alsa: for ordinary boards, it is more trouble than it is worth. The
>> OSS drivers, ancient and non-advanced as they may be, are likely to work
>> fine.
>
> Why's it considered to be the bee's knees then?

It seems to be better architected than OSS, exposing an API that makes
things easier for the application developer. As of today, from the point
of view of an end user, it has a number of problems. First, its
configuration seems to be a black art, for the initiated only. Second, it
forces you to load an absurdly large number of modules. Third, it does not
play well with many sound applications. Fourth, simple questions
formulated in the ALSA forums usually receive no answer, or when
they do, they tend to be requests from people having the same problem and
imploring you to help them. Fifth, and most damning, ALSA all too often
just doesn't work for many consumer-oriented boards.

Maybe ALSA is the only way to have expensive, sophisticated boards to
work under Linux. However, for the average user, interested in
relatively simple sound applications that do not involve such high-end
hardware, ALSA is a royal pain in the neck. The OSS drivers, however ugly,
unsophisticated, unpolished and just plain old that they may be, do the
job satisfactorily for such boards, most of the time, and with far less
problems than ALSA.

So... what should I do to have volume control? Does OSS support this?

"Clemens Ladisch" <clemens@ladisch.de> escribió en el mensaje
news:Pine.HPX.4.33n.0409301555200.19551-100000@studcom.urz.uni-halle.de...
> chabral wrote:
> > Brand: ASRock
> > Model:GE PRO M2
>
> This motherboard has an AC'97 codec made by C-Media (CMI97xx).
> For some strange reason C-Media doesn't build a volume control into
> these chips.
>
> It is possible to emulate a volume control in software (like C-Media's
> Windows driver does), but ALSA doesn't yet do this.
>
>
> Regards,
> Clemens
>

chabral wrote:
> So... what should I do to have volume control? Does OSS support this?

The commercial OSS drivers may support this.

I have heard rumors that C-Media wrote a patch for some driver, try
looking on their website.


HTH
Clemens