[Tfug] sound on linux

[Bill M.]

Nathan,

> Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:09:37 -0700 From: Nathan England <nathan at paysonlinux.org> Subject: Re: [Tfug] sound on linux To: Tucson Free Unix Group <tfug at tfug.org> Message-ID: <200908280109.37203.nathan at paysonlinux.org> Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="iso-8859-1" On Thursday 27 August 2009 01:46:13 pm christopher floess wrote:
>> > Hi everyone, I'm on archlinux, and I've recently zapped my rc.conf and
>> > I've since had no sound.
>> > 
>> > Does anyone know the best way to troubleshoot this? I've gone through
>> > the archwiki for alsa http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ALSA, but
>> > that still has left me without sound.
>> > 
>> > For the life of me, I can't figure out where I went wrong when I configured it.
>> > 
>> > For what it's worth, I have a thinkpad t61, and I've taken all of the
>> > thinkpad specific instructions into account. Maybe I missed something.
>> > 
>> > Thanks in advance for any help ~ Chris
> 
> You can run hwdetect --load-modules
> hwdetect --show-sound if you want to see what needs to be loaded...
> 
> Here is mine if you want to copy...
> 
[snip]

I'm running Ubuntu 8.10 on a older Dell Inspiron 5150 where my sound
card (w/ 3.5mm jack) got zapped when I plugged it into my home stereo
amplifier. I've been using a USB-based Turtle Beach AudioAdvantage sound
card (resolves as a CMedia Inc. USB device) with great results ever
since. The above command (hwdetect) was not recognized on my system.
Searching "apropos hardware" produced an equivalent with a GUI: hwtest-gtk

My issue is that I have to run the following every time to get Ubuntu to
recognize and enable the USB sound card:

sudo alsa force-reload

Sometimes, I have to run this multiple times, check the "Open Volume
Control" from the speaker icon in the toolbar then run "Sound" from the
System->Preferences to make sure the USB is selected and tests OK. The
above hwtest-gtk only recognized the build-in Intel sound card chipset
before hot-plugging the Turtle Beach device which hwtest-gtk recognized
and played its test sound after I configured the USB.

Any thoughts on getting the USB sound card to auto-configure when I
hotplug it?

-*-Bill