source: multimedia/libdriv/alsa-driver.xml@ 5cd0959d

<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
 
  <!ENTITY alsa-driver-download-http "&alsa-download-http;/driver/alsa-driver-&alsa-driver-version;.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY alsa-driver-download-ftp  "&alsa-download-ftp;/driver/alsa-driver-&alsa-driver-version;.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY alsa-driver-size          "1.7 MB">
  <!ENTITY alsa-driver-buildsize     "32 MB (for all drivers)">
  <!ENTITY alsa-driver-time          "1.26 SBU (for all drivers)">
]>

<sect1 id="alsa-driver" xreflabel="ALSA Driver-&alsa-driver-version;">
<sect1info>
<othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
<date>$Date$</date>
</sect1info>
<?dbhtml filename="alsa-driver.html"?>
<title>ALSA Driver-&alsa-driver-version;</title>

<sect2>
<title>Introduction to <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application>
</title>

<para>The <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application> package 
contains the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound drivers. These are
the next generation of sound drivers for Linux.</para>

<sect3><title>Package information</title>
<itemizedlist spacing='compact'>
<listitem><para>Download (HTTP): <ulink url="&alsa-driver-download-http;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download (FTP): <ulink url="&alsa-driver-download-ftp;"/></para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Download size: &alsa-driver-size;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated Disk space required: &alsa-driver-buildsize;</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Estimated build time: &alsa-driver-time;</para></listitem></itemizedlist>
</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Installation of <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application></title>

<para>Before installing the <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym></application> 
drivers, note that in your 
kernel configuration you should have <userinput>Sound Card Support
(CONFIG_SOUND)</userinput> enabled but <emphasis>nothing</emphasis> else in
the Sound menu (with the possible exception of TV Card Mixer support.)  In
particular, you should <emphasis>not</emphasis> have <userinput>OSS Sound
Modules</userinput> enabled as this will cause problems when loading the
<application><acronym>ALSA</acronym></application> driver modules.</para>

<note><para>Because <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym></application> drivers 
are kernel modules, they must be compiled with the same compiler used to 
compile the kernel.</para></note>

<para>Install <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application> using 
the following commands:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>CC=/opt/gcc-2.95.3/bin/gcc ./configure \
    --with-moddir=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/sound \
    --with-kernel=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build \
    --with-sequencer=yes \
    --with-oss=yes \
    --with-isapnp=no \
    --with-cards=all &amp;&amp;
make &amp;&amp;
make install</command></userinput></screen>

<para>If this is the first time you have installed the
<application><acronym>ALSA</acronym></application> drivers, you
will need to create the <filename class="directory">/dev</filename> entries
using the script provided in the
<application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application> source
tree:</para>
<screen><userinput><command>./snddevices</command></userinput></screen>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Command explanations</title>

<para><parameter>--with-sequencer=yes</parameter>: This tells the <application>
<acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application> package to build the sequencer 
modules. Most people want 
them so you will usually want to leave it set to yes.</para>

<para><parameter>--with-oss=yes</parameter>: This tells the package to
build the <acronym>OSS</acronym>/Free emulation modules. Again, most people 
want this so it's probably best to stick with yes.</para>

<para><parameter>--with-isapnp=no</parameter>: Most sound cards these days
are <acronym>PCI</acronym> and <acronym>ISA</acronym> Plug and Play 
support isn't needed. If you are using an <acronym>ISA</acronym> PnP sound card, 
it's best to say yes here. If your card is <acronym>ISA</acronym>, but
not PnP, it is safer to stay with 'no'.</para>

<para><parameter>--with-cards=all</parameter>: You can tell the script just
to build the drivers for your particular sound card here. For full information
on which drivers are available, see <command>./configure
--help</command>. If you aren't sure which chipset your sound card uses,
look at the file <filename>CARDS-STATUS</filename> in the
<application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application> source
tree. The default specified here will build all drivers.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Configuring <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application></title>

<sect3><title>Config files</title>

<para><filename>/etc/modules.conf</filename></para>

</sect3>

<sect3><title>Configuration Information</title>

<para>To configure the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> drivers, you need to add some 
lines to <filename>/etc/modules.conf</filename>:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>cat &gt;&gt; /etc/modules.conf &lt;&lt; "EOF"
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias char-major-116 snd

alias snd-card-0 snd-<replaceable>[soundcard-name]</replaceable>

alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

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-service-0-8 snd-seq-midi
EOF</command></userinput></screen>

<para><replaceable>[soundcard-name]</replaceable> needs to be replaced with the 
driver relevant to your sound card.  If you have more than one sound card, you 
can add additional sections by repeating the above, changing the first 0 to 
1 and so on.</para>

<para>After editing <filename>/etc/modules.conf</filename> you need to run
<command>depmod</command>.  If the drivers you have compiled are for the
version of the kernel you are currently running, simply run:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>depmod</command></userinput></screen>  

<para>If you are compiling  drivers for a different kernel version than those 
you are running, you will need to use a line similar to:</para>

<screen><userinput><command>depmod -a 2.4.22 -F /boot/System.map-2.4.22</command></userinput></screen>

</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Contents</title>

<para>The <application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Driver</application> package 
contains the <acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound card drivers and include files.
</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Description</title>

<sect3><title><acronym>ALSA</acronym> sound card drivers</title>
<para>These are kernel modules which provide audio and <acronym>MIDI</acronym> 
functionality to the operating system.</para></sect3>

<sect3><title>include files</title>
<para>These are installed in <filename class="directory">/usr/include/sound
</filename> and are required to compile certain packages such as
<application><acronym>ALSA</acronym> Libraries</application>.
</para></sect3>

</sect2>

</sect1>