Configuring sound from the console

[Jim Cornette]

Mike Pedersen wrote:
> Hello all, I am running an up to date test 1 installation and am having some
> sound troubles.  Sound does not automatically get configured on my Dell
> notebook with an Intel chip set.  When I run alsamixer I get an error and am
> told to run a graphical sound configuration tool.  What I am wondering is:
> what is the new equivalent to the old sndconfig which allowed a user to
> configure sound from the command prompt?  I am blind so am not able to use
> Gnome until I get sound configured and the Gnome screen reader enabled which
> is why I need to do this in text mode.   
> Any useful information would be much appreciated.  
> regards
> Mike Pedersen 
> 
> 

It seems that there is no configuration tool for text mode.

I downloaded sndconfig from Fedora Core 1 and tried it out. It did not 
detect sound on my system. I did get a dialog box with the below message.

  You don't seem to be running a kernel with modular sound enabled. 
(soundcore.o was not found in the module search path). To use sndconfig, 
you must be running a kernel with modular sound, such as the kernel 
shipped with Red Hat Linux or a 2.2 or greater kernel.


I think 2.6 is greater than 2.2 - I think the kernel is modular.

  It makes good sense to include a configuration tool, for souncards, 
that runs in text mode. The GUI version has a few buttons and you just 
click on it to test the souncard. It does not sound like making it work 
in text mode, The tool is called system-config-soundcard. It seems 
currently broken with the alsa drivers. It worked fine for the OSS drivers.

If you happen to have an intel AC 97 soundcard, I have a configuration 
file setup for /etc/modprobe.conf - This is the file the modules for 
sound cards and other devices is located for the 2.6 kernel.

Try adding these lines to your /etc/modprobe.conf file and see if this 
is a lucky match. The entries are located at the bottom of the file, in 
my case.

The file excerpt begins:

alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-slot-0 snd-intel8x0
install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install sound-slot-0 && 
/bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :

the file excerpt ends:

Jim