| Advanced Linux Sound Architecture - Driver |
| ========================================== |
| FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions |
| |
| Q: My card is not detected at all and is ISA based - non Plug & Play. |
| Can I try something? |
| A: If you have compiled driver with the ISA PnP support, you must force |
| the detection of non-PnP version of your card with some drivers (use |
| snd_isapnp=0 parameter - check the INSTALL file). This problem may |
| occur mostly in portable computers where vendors suppressed the ISA PnP |
| extension of sound chips. |
| |
| Q: When I play something and I try to play something other the second attempt |
| will not fail but instead it hangs waiting for the completion of the first |
| sound. |
| A: This is definitely the standard behaviour as described in many official |
| documents that now ALSA follows. There is no reasons to complain about that |
| for the following reasons: |
| - it's the right (standard) way |
| - the application that want a different behaviour can open the device in |
| O_NONBLOCK mode |
| - all modern OSS drivers in mainstream kernel (cmpci, es1370, es1371, |
| esssolo1, maestro, sonicvibes, vwsnd) works in the same ways and the |
| others have to be intended buggy |
| - we want you ask to broken applications author to fix them ;-) |
| |
| Q: The driver is installed and successfully loaded in the runtime kernel, |
| but it does not produce any sound. What's wrong? |
| A: You should raise the volume for mixer channels and/or unmute mixer channels. |
| Look for the alsa-utils package at http://www.alsa-project.org. There are |
| native mixers. |
| |
| Q: How can I store and restore mixer settings? |
| A: Use the native alsactl program (strongly preferred) or an another ALSA mixer |
| program. |
| |
| Q: The driver is loaded, but OSS programs say: Can't open /dev/mixer. |
| What is wrong? |
| A: The OSS compatible mixer emulation comes as an add-on module which is not |
| loaded by default. If you have got modified /etc/conf.module as suggested |
| in the INSTALL file, it should be loaded with kerneld or kmod. Check it - |
| if this method for some reason doesn't work - you need to insert |
| the 'snd-mixer-oss' module manually. |
| |
| Q: The driver is loaded, but OSS programs say: Can't open /dev/dsp. |
| What is wrong? |
| A: The OSS compatible PCM (digital audio) emulation comes as an add-on module |
| which is not loaded by default. If you have got modified /etc/conf.module |
| as suggested in the INSTALL file, it should be loaded with kerneld or kmod. |
| Check it - if this method for some reason doesn't work - you need to insert |
| the 'snd-pcm-oss' module manually. |
| |
| Q: Can I specify which DMA channel will be used for a specific direction with |
| Sound Blaster 16/AWE soundcards? |
| A: Yes, you may change the default settings (which is auto) through alsactl |
| utility. Look for "DMA 16-bit" switch in the alsactl.conf file. |
| |
| Q: Noises in X-win? |
| A: Try comment out line in your XF86Config file: |
| #Option "pci_retry" # faster, but problematic for ISA/PCI soundcards |
| More information: http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.3.1/S39.html |
