Introduction

-2.22 -2007-05-07 +3 +2007-06-27 Introduction @@ -51,19 +51,6 @@ -

-ALSA on Gentoo - - -

-One of Gentoo's main strengths lies in giving the user maximum control over -how a system is installed/configured. ALSA on Gentoo follows the same -principle. There are two ways you can get ALSA support up and running on your -system. We shall look at them in detail in the next chapter. -

- - -

@@ -72,99 +59,16 @@ Options - -The methods shown below are mutually exclusive. You cannot have ALSA compiled -in your kernel and use media-sound/alsa-driver. It will fail. - -

-The two options are: -

- -

- Use ALSA provided by your kernel. This is the preferred/recommended method. -
Use Gentoo's media-sound/alsa-driver package.

- -

-The in-kernel drivers and the alsa-driver package can vary a little; it's -possible that features and fixes found in one might not yet be incorporated into -the other. The upstream developers are aware of this, but the two drivers are -effectively separate branches of the ALSA project; they are not entirely -identical. You should be aware that they might function slightly differently, so -if one doesn't work for you, try the other! We shall take a peek into both -before finally deciding on one. -

- -

-If you were to use ALSA provided by the kernel, the following are the pros and -cons: -

- - - - - - - - - - No need to emerge yet another package; drivers are integrated into kernel. - - - - - One shot solution, no repeating emerges. - - - - Might be a slightly different version than alsa-driver. - -

Kernel ALSA	Pros and Cons
+
+
-

- -

-And, if you were to use alsa-driver, -

- - - - - - - - - Possibly the latest drivers from the ALSA Project. - - - - Useful if you intend to develop audio drivers. - - - - Every kernel recompile requires a re-emerge of alsa-driver. - - - - Needs certain kernel config options disabled to work correctly. - -

alsa-driver	Pros and Cons
+
+
-
-

- - - -

-So... - - -

-The differences between alsa-driver and the in-kernel ALSA drivers are -quite subtle, as mentioned earlier. Since there are not any huge differences, -you are encouraged to go through the process of using the ALSA provided by the -kernel first for ease of use. Before reporting any sound related issues -to Gentoo Bugzilla, please try to -reproduce them using alsa-driver and file the bug report no matter what -the result. +Gentoo has always been offering two ways to get ALSA up and running for its +users, the in-kernel method and the media-sound/alsa-driver +package. Having two packages essentially doing the same thing proved to be +pretty hard and time consuming. Therefore, in June 2006 it was decided to +discontinue support for the media-sound/alsa-driver package which was +added to the list of packages slotted for removal from the tree. If you still +require the alsa-driver package, please mail Gentoo ALSA maintainers with details about +why the in-kernel drivers don't work for you.

@@ -174,7 +78,7 @@

-Whichever method of install you choose, you need to know what drivers your +At first, you need to know what drivers your sound card uses. In most cases, sound cards (onboard and otherwise) are PCI based and lspci will help you in digging out the required information. Please emerge sys-apps/pciutils to get lspci, if you don't have it @@ -236,10 +140,6 @@ Using ALSA provided by your Kernel -

-If you're a person who likes to keep things simple, then this is the way to go. -

- Since the 2005.0 release, Gentoo Linux uses 2.6 as the default kernel. Please check that your kernel is a 2.6 series kernel. This method will not work @@ -338,11 +238,23 @@

+ Using the ALSA Driver package + +The alsa-driver package is not supported by Gentoo developers. If your +soundcard doesn't work with in-kernel drivers, it's a bug that should be fixed. +Please let the Gentoo ALSA maintainers +know about your issues. If you don't, this package will be removed from the tree +and sound will stop working for you. + +

-So you've decided to go the alsa-driver way. Let's get started then. There are a few minor things to be done to ensure only the drivers for your sound card are compiled. Although this is not really necessary, it cuts down on the unnecessary drivers that will be compiled otherwise. @@ -735,6 +647,9 @@ 0: SigmaTel STAC9721/23 + +

The other most common issue users face is the dreaded "Unknown symbol in module" error. An example of the same is shown below. @@ -825,6 +740,8 @@ that should take care of this issue.

+ +

@@ -969,8 +886,8 @@

You can have more than one sound card in your system simultaneously, provided -that you have built ALSA as modules in your kernel (or have installed -alsa-driver instead). You just need to specify which should be started +that you have built ALSA as modules in your kernel. You just need to specify +which should be started first in /etc/modules.d/alsa. Your cards are identified by their driver names inside this file. 0 is the first card, 1 is the second, and so on. Here's an example for a system with two sound cards.