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Cannot find multimedia device

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  Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-15 12:31 -0400
    Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-15 16:52 +0000
      Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-16 14:33 -0400
        Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-16 20:26 +0000
          Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-17 06:54 -0400
            Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-17 12:48 +0000
              Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-17 12:57 +0000
              Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-17 14:01 -0400
                Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-17 20:11 +0000
                  Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-18 15:38 -0400
                    Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-18 20:50 +0000
                      Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-19 16:30 -0400
                        Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-19 22:21 +0000
                          Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-20 10:34 -0400
                            Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-20 15:05 +0000
                Re: Cannot find multimedia device Clemens Ladisch <clemens@ladisch.de> - 2012-03-17 21:15 +0100
                  Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-17 20:58 +0000
                    Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-30 08:31 -0400
                      Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-30 13:35 +0000
                        Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-30 18:35 -0400
                          Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-31 09:18 +0000
                            Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-31 08:32 -0400
                          Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-03-31 16:46 +0000
                            Re: Cannot find multimedia device Haines Brown <haines@HistoricalMaterialism.info> - 2012-03-31 18:08 -0400
                              Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-04-01 10:30 +0000
                              Re: Cannot find multimedia device J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> - 2012-04-01 13:06 +0000

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#1110 — Cannot find multimedia device

I'm running debian squeeze with a Creative Labs X-Fi sound card and a
Koss CS-100 headset. I have the headset mike plugged into the sound card
optical/mike input jack rather than line-in and the sound card output
goes to some speakers.

In alsamixer gnome display, the Creative Labs card is selected. In
Playback, microphone, the level is up. However, in Recording, Master
Capture and Microphone Capture, while levels are also up, the mike is
muted (the mike icon is crossed out). In the command line alsamixer,
there is no muting option for the mike in Recording. How does one
un-mute the mike?

In spite of this, I have Audigy installed, and it displays the input
sound levels coming from the mike. So apparently the system is seeing
the mike and levels are set properly.

I installed NaturallySpeaking 10 with wine 1.2.3. Installation seemed to
go well, but NaturallySpeaking fails to start because it "Cannot find
multimedia device."

Haines Brown

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#1111

On Thursday, March 15th, 2012 12:31:41 -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

> I'm running debian squeeze with a Creative Labs X-Fi sound card
...
> In spite of this, I have Audigy installed

I am confused by your statements.

Do you have either a Creative X-Fi sound card or a Creative Audigy sound
card or both installed in your PC?

Please run the command lspci and report back the output.

Also please run the command lsmod | egrep snd and report back the output.

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#1112

J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> writes:

> On Thursday, March 15th, 2012 12:31:41 -0400, Haines Brown wrote:
>
>> I'm running debian squeeze with a Creative Labs X-Fi sound card
> ...
>> In spite of this, I have Audigy installed
>
> I am confused by your statements.

My bad. I have Creative Labs X-Fi on the machine of concern, but on the
machine from which I happen to be writing, it is Audigy.

> Please run the command lspci and report back the output.
>
> Also please run the command lsmod | egrep snd and report back the output.

snd_emu10k1_synth       4024  0
snd_emux_synth         21906  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_seq_virmidi         2955  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_seq_midi_emul       3554  1 snd_emux_synth
snd_emu10k1           105152  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
snd_seq_midi            3576  0
snd_seq_midi_event      3684  2 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            12513  3 snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq_midi
snd_ac97_codec         79152  1 snd_emu10k1
ac97_bus                 710  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_util_mem            1548  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
snd_hda_codec_realtek   163378  1
snd_hda_intel          16907  0
snd_hda_codec          46002  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               4054  3 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_hda_codec
snd_ctxfi              59888  5
snd_pcm                47386  6 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_ctxfi
snd_seq                35463  5 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              12270  3 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          3673  5 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd                    34415  23 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_ctxfi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore               3450  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          5113  4 snd_emu10k1,snd_hda_intel,snd_ctxfi,snd_pcm

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 92)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801IB (ICH9) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801IB (ICH9) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G86 [GeForce 8500 GT] (rev a1)
03:00.0 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB368 IDE controller
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01)
05:00.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB X-Fi
05:02.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset (rev 01)

Haines

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#1113

On Friday, March 16th, 2012, at 14:33:32h -0400, Haines Brown explained:

> I have Creative Labs X-Fi on the machine of concern

Okay that is what we need to know.

dmesg confirms this

> 05:00.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB X-Fi

> snd_emu10k1_synth       4024  0
> snd_emux_synth         21906  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
> snd_seq_virmidi         2955  1 snd_emux_synth
> snd_seq_midi_emul       3554  1 snd_emux_synth
> snd_emu10k1           105152  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
...
> snd_util_mem            1548  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
> snd_hda_codec_realtek   163378  1
> snd_hda_intel          16907  0
> snd_hda_codec          46002  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
> snd_hwdep               4054  3 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_hda_codec
...

Hmmmmm.   snd_hda_intel????

Oh look you have TWO audio devices in this machine

> 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)

That could complicate matters especially when running stuff through Wine.
I do not know anything really about sound devices through Wine, but I doubt
whether an application run through Wine will go through ALSA library or
which device it will try to access if there is more than one.

So in order to overcome that problem you will need to disable the onboard
audio whilst trying to use your application with Wine to use the SB Xfi card.

Now the thing I just DO NOT understand is that you have lots of
snd_emu10k1 module names appearing in the output of lsmod

> snd_pcm                47386  6 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_ctxfi
> snd_seq                35463  5 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
> snd_timer              12270  3 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm,snd_seq
> snd_seq_device          3673  5 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq


emu10k1 is the module for Sound Blaster Live cards.

For Audigy cards, the module is emu10k2 and for XFi cards it is emu20k1 and emu20k2

See the table at  <http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Creative_Labs>

So either you have run the lsmod command on the wrong machine, or you
are loading the wrong modules via possibly modprobe.conf.d ALSA conf
file on your machine which would explain why the mixer settings are
completely messed up and it is any wonder that you get any sound at all
from the SB XFi card.

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#1114

J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> writes:

>> snd_emu10k1_synth       4024  0
>> snd_emux_synth         21906  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
>> snd_seq_virmidi         2955  1 snd_emux_synth
>> snd_seq_midi_emul       3554  1 snd_emux_synth
>> snd_emu10k1           105152  1 snd_emu10k1_synth
> ...
>> snd_util_mem            1548  2 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1
>> snd_hda_codec_realtek   163378  1
>> snd_hda_intel          16907  0
>> snd_hda_codec          46002  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
>> snd_hwdep               4054  3 snd_emux_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_hda_codec
> ...
>
> Hmmmmm.   snd_hda_intel????
>
> Oh look you have TWO audio devices in this machine

Yes, both the sound card and the onboard chip. Best I can make out the
snd_hda_intel is the kernel module that supports the onboard (Gigabyte)
Intel 38201I chip.

> That could complicate matters especially when running stuff through Wine.

It seems that I simply need to disable audio support in BIOS. Can I do
that without disabling sound card audio as well?

> Now the thing I just DO NOT understand is that you have lots of
> snd_emu10k1 module names appearing in the output of lsmod
>
>> snd_pcm                47386  6 snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_ctxfi
>> snd_seq                35463  5 snd_emux_synth,snd_seq_virmidi,snd_seq_midi_emul,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
>> snd_timer              12270  3 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm,snd_seq
>> snd_seq_device          3673  5 snd_emu10k1_synth,snd_emu10k1,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq

Perhaps the reason is that in this box I originally had a Sound Blaster
Live card, and simply switched cards prior to reinstalling debian. What
is best way to get the right modules (emu20k1 and emu20k2) loaded
instead of the emu10k1? In /proc/modules, it is the emu10k1 that is
listed. 

How would I correct this?
    
    # modprobe -r emu10k1
    # modprobe emu20k1
    # modprobe emu20k2

I assume I need to restart the audio system. With alsa-utils?

    # /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart

But these are not permanent. To get emu20k* to load at boot time, do I
add it to /etc/modules? If so, how do I keep the emu10k1 from not
automatically loading?

> So either you have run the lsmod command on the wrong machine, or you
> are loading the wrong modules via possibly modprobe.conf.d ALSA conf
> file on your machine which would explain why the mixer settings are
> completely messed up and it is any wonder that you get any sound at
> all from the SB XFi card.

/etc/modeprobe.d/alsa-base.conf seems to be a place in which modules are
added and subtracted. I'm not sure if this file can be edited, and
there's no man page for the syntax. In this file is the line:

  install snd-emu10k1 ...

Can I just replace this line with two lines like this:

  install snd-emu20k1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu20k1 && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-emu20k1-synth ; : ; }
  install snd-emu20k2 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu20k2 && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-emu20k2-synth ; : ; }

and add to prevent emu10k1 from loading:
      
  options snd-emu10k1 index=-2

I suspect not because the lines in this file repond to sound card capabilities.

Haines
  

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#1115

On Saturday, March 17th, 2012, at 06:54:51h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

> It seems that I simply need to disable audio support in BIOS. 

That disables the onboard sound only.  You will only need to
disable that whilst getting the sound system properly set up
and possibly when trying to use sound via Wine to get it
directed at the XFi card.  But on that point I do not know
for sure, and it maybe that once things are properly configured
you do not need to keep the onboard sound disabled and will
be able to use either card for sounds.

> Perhaps the reason is that in this box I originally had a Sound Blaster
> Live card

Of course it is -- as I said the SB Live card uses the emu10k1 modules.

> and simply switched cards prior to reinstalling debian.

But when you reinstalled Debian did you do a clean reinstallation
and ensure that all the configuration in /etc was obliterated?

It would seem not.

 What
> is best way to get the right modules (emu20k1 and emu20k2) loaded
> instead of the emu10k1? In /proc/modules, it is the emu10k1 that is
> listed. 
> 

> To get emu20k* to load at boot time, do I add it to /etc/modules?

/etc/modules is a file of last resort to force modules to be loaded
which are not loaded by auto-detection or some other automated
sub-system eg modprobe.conf files.

> If so, how do I keep the emu10k1 from not automatically loading?

It is only loading because either you have for some reason put
it in /etc/modules or you have a messed up version of

/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf 

>   install snd-emu20k1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu20k1 && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-emu20k1-synth ; : ; }
>   install snd-emu20k2 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu20k2 && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-emu20k2-synth ; : ; }

No do not change those lines.  That only installs the snd-emu10k1-synth
if the snd-emu10k1 module already loaded.

> and add to prevent emu10k1 from loading:
>       
>   options snd-emu10k1 index=-2

That will not hurt as such, but what do you have
for options with index=0 which is the all important entry?

On this machine currently I have an SB Awe card, so my options
look like this in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf

options snd-sbawe               index=0
#
options snd-pcsp                index=1
#
options snd-bt87x               index=2
#
options snd-usb-audio           index=3         pid=0x0329 vid=0x0471


So as you can see, if the hardware for the SBAWE card is found,
it is loaded as card #0.  If the hardware for the internal
loudspeaker is found, then it is loaded as card #1.  If the hardware
for the WinTV card is found, it is loaded as card #2.  If I plug
in the USB device whose product and vendor ids match with the above,
then that is loaded as card #3.

I can then adjust the settings on each card with

      alsamixer -D hw:0    for the first card, #0

or

      alsamixer -D hw:2    for the third card (usb device), #2
      

etc.  Obviously if the card supports playback then using the
card device number with eg aplay will send the audio to the
appropriate card.


I still have entries  in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf

install snd-emu10k1     /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu10k1     && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist snd-emu10k1-synth   ; : ; }
#
install saa7134         /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install saa7134         && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet --use-blacklist saa7134-alsa        ; : ; }

but because neither snd-emu10k1 nor saa7134 are ever loaded
(no corresponding hardware) these are never executed and so
snd-emu10k1-synth is never loaded.


I think the simplest way to deal with this is for you to post your
complete alsa.conf file.

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#1116

On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 12:48:20 +0000, J G Miller wrote:

> I think the simplest way to deal with this is for you to post your
> complete alsa.conf file.

And just to be certain,   /etc/modules   as well please.

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#1117

J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> writes:

> On Saturday, March 17th, 2012, at 06:54:51h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:
> But when you reinstalled Debian did you do a clean reinstallation
> and ensure that all the configuration in /etc was obliterated?
>
> It would seem not.

Agreed, it would be impossible to have the relic if I had reformatted
the partitions. That is my practice, but in this case it appears I
overlooked clicking the format option.

> That will not hurt as such, but what do you have
> for options with index=0 which is the all important entry?

Unclear. The only reference to card 0 is 

    install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-0

  and /sbin/modeprobe is a binary.

I found a problem in /etc/modules, which force loaded the emu10k1
module, confirming I had failed to format the /etc partition during
installation. I has originally inserted the line because that module had
failed to load. So I commented the line and rebooted, disabling the
"Azalia codec" in BIOS as I did so. However, I still can't unmute the
mike in alsamixer playback. Apparently loading the emu10k1 module for
the X-Fi card was sufficient to allow the mike to work with Audigy,
etc. 

Now $ lsmod | grep snd does not show a snd module loaded for the X-Fi
car (the emu20k1 and emu20k2 modules). I do:

        # modprobe snd_emu20k1
      
and the module not found. The kernel (2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) is kinda old,
but I get the impression the card was supported in ca. 2007. It seems I
have to locate and install the module. Easier might be to install a
different sound card.

> I think the simplest way to deal with this is for you to post your
> complete alsa.conf file.

Here's the entire file. Note that it is from before removal of the line in
/etc/modules and rebooting. 

#
#  ALSA library configuration file
#

# pre-load the configuration files

@hooks [
        {
                func load
                files [
                        "/etc/asound.conf"
                        "~/.asoundrc"
                ]
                errors false
        }
]

# load card-specific configuration files (on request)

cards.@hooks [
        {
                func load
                files [
                        {
                                @func concat
                                strings [
                                        { @func datadir }
                                        "/cards/aliases.conf"
                                ]
                        }
                ]
        }
        {
                func load_for_all_cards
                files [
                        {
                                @func concat
                                strings [
                                        { @func datadir }
                                        "/cards/"
                                        { @func private_string }
                                        ".conf"
                                ]
                        }
                ]
                errors false
        }
]

#
# defaults
#

# show all name hints also for definitions without hint {} section
defaults.namehint.showall off
# show just basic name hints
defaults.namehint.basic on
# show extended name hints
defaults.namehint.extended off
#
defaults.ctl.card 0
defaults.pcm.card 0
defaults.pcm.device 0
defaults.pcm.subdevice -1
defaults.pcm.nonblock 1
defaults.pcm.ipc_key 5678293
defaults.pcm.ipc_gid audio
defaults.pcm.ipc_perm 0660
defaults.pcm.dmix.max_periods 0
defaults.pcm.dmix.rate 48000
defaults.pcm.dmix.format "unchanged"
defaults.pcm.dmix.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.dmix.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.dsnoop.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.dsnoop.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.front.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.front.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.rear.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.rear.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.center_lfe.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.center_lfe.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.side.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.side.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround40.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround40.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround41.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround41.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround50.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround50.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround51.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround51.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.surround71.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.surround71.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.iec958.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.iec958.device defaults.pcm.device
defaults.pcm.modem.card defaults.pcm.card
defaults.pcm.modem.device defaults.pcm.device
# truncate files via file or tee PCM
defaults.pcm.file_format        "raw"
defaults.pcm.file_truncate      true
defaults.rawmidi.card 0
defaults.rawmidi.device 0
defaults.rawmidi.subdevice -1
defaults.hwdep.card 0
defaults.hwdep.device 0
defaults.timer.class 2
defaults.timer.sclass 0
defaults.timer.card 0
defaults.timer.device 0
defaults.timer.subdevice 0

#
#  PCM interface
#

# redirect to load-on-demand extended pcm definitions
pcm.cards cards.pcm

pcm.default cards.pcm.default
pcm.front cards.pcm.front
pcm.rear cards.pcm.rear
pcm.center_lfe cards.pcm.center_lfe
pcm.side cards.pcm.side
pcm.surround40 cards.pcm.surround40
pcm.surround41 cards.pcm.surround41
pcm.surround50 cards.pcm.surround50
pcm.surround51 cards.pcm.surround51
pcm.surround71 cards.pcm.surround71
pcm.iec958 cards.pcm.iec958
pcm.spdif iec958
pcm.hdmi cards.pcm.hdmi
pcm.dmix cards.pcm.dmix
pcm.dsnoop cards.pcm.dsnoop
pcm.modem cards.pcm.modem
pcm.phoneline cards.pcm.phoneline

pcm.hw {
        @args [ CARD DEV SUBDEV ]
        @args.CARD {
                type string
                default {
                        @func getenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_PCM_CARD
                                ALSA_CARD
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.pcm.card
                        }
                }
        }
        @args.DEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func igetenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_PCM_DEVICE
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.pcm.device
                        }
                }
        }
        @args.SUBDEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.pcm.subdevice
                }
        }
        type hw
        card $CARD
        device $DEV
        subdevice $SUBDEV
        hint {
                show {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.namehint.extended
                }
                description "Direct hardware device without any conversions"
        }
}

pcm.plughw {
        @args [ CARD DEV SUBDEV ]
        @args.CARD {
                type string
                default {
                        @func getenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_PCM_CARD
                                ALSA_CARD
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.pcm.card
                        }
                }
        }
        @args.DEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func igetenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_PCM_DEVICE
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.pcm.device
                        }
                }
        }
        @args.SUBDEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.pcm.subdevice
                }
        }
        type plug
        slave.pcm {
                type hw
                card $CARD
                device $DEV
                subdevice $SUBDEV
        }
        hint {
                show {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.namehint.extended
                }
                description "Hardware device with all software conversions"
        }
}

pcm.plug {
        @args [ SLAVE ]
        @args.SLAVE {
                type string
        }
        type plug
        slave.pcm $SLAVE
}

pcm.shm {
        @args [ SOCKET PCM ]
        @args.SOCKET {
                type string
        }
        @args.PCM {
                type string
        }
        type shm
        server $SOCKET
        pcm $PCM
}

pcm.tee {
        @args [ SLAVE FILE FORMAT ]
        @args.SLAVE {
                type string
        }
        @args.FILE {
                type string
        }
        @args.FORMAT {
                type string
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.pcm.file_format
                }
        }
        type file
        slave.pcm $SLAVE
        file $FILE
        format $FORMAT
        truncate {
                @func refer
                name defaults.pcm.file_truncate
        }
}

pcm.file {
        @args [ FILE FORMAT ]
        @args.FILE {
                type string
        }
        @args.FORMAT {
                type string
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.pcm.file_format
                }
        }
        type file
        slave.pcm null
        file $FILE
        format $FORMAT
        truncate {
                @func refer
                name defaults.pcm.file_truncate
        }
}

pcm.null {
        type null
        hint {
                show {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.namehint.basic
                }
                description "Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)"
        }
}

#
#  Control interface
#

ctl.default {
        type hw
        card {
                @func getenv
                vars [
                        ALSA_CTL_CARD
                        ALSA_CARD
                ]
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.ctl.card
                }
        }
}

ctl.hw {
        @args [ CARD ]
        @args.CARD {
                type string
                default {
                        @func getenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_CTL_CARD
                                ALSA_CARD
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.ctl.card
                        }
                }
        }
        type hw
        card $CARD
}

ctl.shm {
        @args [ SOCKET CTL ]
        @args.SOCKET {
                type string
        }
        @args.CTL {
                type string
        }
        type shm
        server $SOCKET
        ctl $CTL
}

#
#  RawMidi interface
#

rawmidi.default {
        type hw
        card {
                @func getenv
                vars [
                        ALSA_RAWMIDI_CARD
                        ALSA_CARD
                ]
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.rawmidi.card
                }
        }
        device {
                @func igetenv
                vars [
                        ALSA_RAWMIDI_DEVICE
                ]
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.rawmidi.device
                }
        }
}

rawmidi.hw {
        @args [ CARD DEV SUBDEV ]
        @args.CARD {
                type string
                default {
                        @func getenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_RAWMIDI_CARD
                                ALSA_CARD
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.rawmidi.card
                        }
                }
        }
        @args.DEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func igetenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_RAWMIDI_DEVICE
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.rawmidi.device
                        }
                }
        }
        @args.SUBDEV {
                type integer
                default -1
        }
        type hw
        card $CARD
        device $DEV
        subdevice $SUBDEV
        hint {
                description "Direct rawmidi driver device"
                device $DEV
        }
}

rawmidi.virtual {
        @args [ MERGE ]
        @args.MERGE {
                type string
                default 1
        }
        type virtual
        merge $MERGE
}

#
#  Sequencer interface
#

seq.default {
        type hw
}

seq.hw {
        type hw
}

#
#  HwDep interface
#

hwdep.default {
        type hw
        card {
                @func getenv
                vars [
                        ALSA_HWDEP_CARD
                        ALSA_CARD
                ]
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.hwdep.card
                }
        }
        device {
                @func igetenv
                vars [
                        ALSA_HWDEP_DEVICE
                ]
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.hwdep.device
                }
        }
}

hwdep.hw {
        @args [ CARD DEV ]
        @args.CARD {
                type string
                default {
                        @func getenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_HWDEP_CARD
                                ALSA_CARD
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.hwdep.card
                        }
                }
        }
        @args.DEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func igetenv
                        vars [
                                ALSA_HWDEP_DEVICE
                        ]
                        default {
                                @func refer
                                name defaults.hwdep.device
                        }
                }
        }
        type hw
        card $CARD
        device $DEV
}

#
#  Timer interface
#

timer_query.default {
        type hw
}

timer_query.hw {
        type hw
}

timer.default {
        type hw
        class {
                @func refer
                name defaults.timer.class
        }
        sclass {
                @func refer
                name defaults.timer.sclass
        }
        card {
                @func refer
                name defaults.timer.card
        }
        device {
                @func refer
                name defaults.timer.device
        }
        subdevice {
                @func refer
                name defaults.timer.subdevice
        }
        hint.description "Default direct hardware timer device"
}

timer.hw {
        @args [ CLASS SCLASS CARD DEV SUBDEV ]
        @args.CLASS {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.timer.class
                }
        }
        @args.SCLASS {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.timer.sclass
                }
        }
        @args.CARD {
                type string
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.timer.card
                }
        }
        @args.DEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.timer.device
                }
        }
        @args.SUBDEV {
                type integer
                default {
                        @func refer
                        name defaults.timer.subdevice
                }
        }
        type hw
        class $CLASS
        sclass $SCLASS
        card $CARD
        device $DEV
        subdevice $SUBDEV
}

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#1118

On Saturday, March 17th, 2012 at 14:01:40h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

> Unclear. The only reference to card 0 is 

No it is not unclear.  Either you have an entry for

    option  {sound_module}  index=0

or you do not.  If there is no line with index=0 then
there is no entry and that is clear enough.

>     install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-0

That is fine and sets up the default sound card slot.

>   and /sbin/modeprobe is a binary.

Of course.

> I found a problem in /etc/modules, which force loaded the emu10k1
> module

As was suspected.

> confirming I had failed to format the /etc partition during
> installation.

So it is highly likely that you have lots of other misaligned
configuration files in /etc as well.

> I has originally inserted the line because that module had
> failed to load. 

Failed to load for which sound card though?

> However, I still can't unmute the mike in alsamixer playback.

Which is hardly surprising if the appopriate kernel module
for the X Fi card is not being loaded.

> Apparently loading the emu10k1 module for the X-Fi card was
> sufficient to allow the mike to work with Audigy,

This statement again makes no sense and only confuses the situation.

> 
>         # modprobe snd_emu20k1
>       
> and the module not found. The kernel (2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) is kinda old

So if that version of the kernel does not have the appropriate
sound car modules snd_emu20k1, then the sound card is not
going to work properly.

> but I get the impression the card was supported in ca. 2007.

No it was not.  Support for X Fi cards is quite recent
because Creative would not release any details.

> It seems I have to locate and install the module.

Of course ;)

> Easier might be to install a different sound card.

Since you have a Sound Blaster Live card which is well
supported with that version of the kernel that will
probably be the best thing to do unless you update
to a more recent version of the kernel.

And incidentally, I would strongly suggest you do a proper
fresh installation of Debian with /etc wiped otherwise you
are going to be posting about some other configuration problem
in the future.

> Here's the entire file.

No that is not the alsa.conf file from /etc/modprobe.d as requested.

What you have posted is /etc/asound.conf or perhaps
${HOME}/.asoundrc

It really is important not to confuse similar sounding name
files.

So to repeat, I strongly urge you to make a backup of all of your
personal data files and perhaps /etc for possible reference,
remove the X FI card and replace it with either the SB Live
or an Audigy 2 (the version is important) and then do a CLEAN
installation of Debian again, either Debian stable or if you
want something more up to date and are prepared to do regular
upgrades, Linux Mint Debian Edition (basically Debian testing).

I am running Linux Mint Debian Edition with the latest available
kernel for that and looking in

/lib/modules/3.2.0-2-686-pae/kernel/sound/pci/

I do not see the emu20k1 module there.

So quite simply support for the X Fi card is not yet in
the Debian distributed kernel, so it just will not work,
unless you download the latest ALSA source, compile that
for all the appropriate kernel modules, and perhaps have
to compile the latest ALSA library as well which may mean
that your installed ALSA binaries will not work, so you
would have to compile all of those as well.

So, the simpler solution is to use a sound card that is well
supported with the available kernel version.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#1121

I cleared the situation up a bit by removing the line in the
/etc/modules file that was loading the emu10k1 for the SoundBlaster Live
card no longer in the system. I unloaded the snd_emu10k1 with
modprobe. I loaded the snd_ctxfi module required by my Creative Labs
X-Fi card and restarted the ALSA system.

A sound output test works. The Audacity application reports mike input
level with the playback and recording device specified as "Creative
X-Fi: Front/WaveIn (hw:0,0), but the application does not work if they
are specified as "default". Does NaturallySpeaking look for the default
mike. Any way to set my card to be the default?

NaturallySpeaking error also says it may not start because my sound card
lacks a wave-in component. I searched for a long time to find out what
"wave-in component" means, and as best I can make out it is Nuance
NaturallySpeaking jargon. I'll have to give them a call tomorrrow.

In alsamixer everything is un-muted and level set high. And the Gnome
gui configuration for sound displays the Capture devices as muted and
can't be un-muted. What is the explanation for this inconsistency, for
the gui application says it uses alsamixer? This might also hint that my
problem is not with NaturallySpeaking, but with my sound system set up.

>> Here's the entire file.
>
> No that is not the alsa.conf file from /etc/modprobe.d as requested.

I apologize for the inefficiency. 

There is no /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf, but rather
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf. Here it is:

  # autoloader aliases
  install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-0
  install sound-slot-1 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-1
  install sound-slot-2 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-2
  install sound-slot-3 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-3
  install sound-slot-4 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-4
  install sound-slot-5 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-5
  install sound-slot-6 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-6
  install sound-slot-7 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-7
  # Cause optional modules to be loaded above generic modules
  install snd /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd && { /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd$
  install snd-rawmidi /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-rawmidi && { /sbin/modp$
  install snd-emu10k1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu10k1 && { /sbin/modp$

  # Prevent abnormal drivers from grabbing index 0
  options bt87x index=-2
  options cx88_alsa index=-2
  options snd-atiixp-modem index=-2
  options snd-intel8x0m index=-2
  options snd-via82xx-modem index=-2
  # Keep snd-pcsp from beeing loaded as first soundcard
  options snd-pcsp index=-2
  # Keep snd-usb-audio from beeing loaded as first soundcard
  options snd-usb-audio index=-2

Ouch. Although I removed the line from /etc/modules re emu10k1, and
rebooted, and lsmod says the snd_ctfi was automatically loaded, this
file shows that the module emu10k1 remains loaded as optional
module. No idea how that happens.

> So to repeat, I strongly urge you to make a backup of all of your
> personal data files and perhaps /etc for possible reference, remove
> the X FI card and replace it with either the SB Live or an Audigy 2
> (the version is important) and then do a CLEAN installation of Debian
> again, either Debian stable or if you want something more up to date
> and are prepared to do regular upgrades, Linux Mint Debian Edition
> (basically Debian testing).

I have to use a PCI-e 1x interface, so it limits the cards in hand that
I can use. I have a Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium, and it seems that my
Debian Squeeze supports it. Reinstalling Debian makes sense, but it is
hard to take a day off from work that is very pressing all my time. So
I'll initially just swap the cards to see how it goes.

Incidentally, I find that folks have exprienced trouble unmuting the
mike because the ALSA sound server is provided by pulse audio by
default. So it is necessary to set ALSA Sound System explicitly in gnome
sound settings. Another thing to do is set Log level for Pulse Audio in
/etc/pulse/daemon.conf:

        -log-level = normal
        +log-level = stderr

I don't understand this. In gnome Settings, Sound, the Creative X-Fi
card is the only device I can select.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#1122

On Sunday, March 18th, 2012, at 15:38:14h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

> I cleared the situation up a bit by removing the line in the
> /etc/modules file that was loading the emu10k1 for the SoundBlaster Live
> card no longer in the system.

Well there should never have been an entry to load snd-emu10k1
in /etc/modules.  I hope that now you have no snd related modules
listed in /etc/modules!  The only time you need to put entries
in there is when auto-detection does not work eg for ISA cards
or special cases eg loop, parallel printer port etc.

> A sound output test works. The Audacity application reports mike input
> level with the playback and recording device specified as "Creative
> X-Fi: Front/WaveIn (hw:0,0)

This is great news!  Well done!

> but the application does not work if they are specified as "default".
> Does NaturallySpeaking look for the default mike.

I have absolutely no idea because I have never used Naturally Speaking
either natively or the more difficult approach under Wine.

> There is no /etc/modprobe.d/alsa.conf, but rather
> /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf.

Thanks my fault that time!

That all looks fine.

> Although I removed the line from /etc/modules re emu10k1

Ahem, I did tell you in the previousl message that there was no
need to remove them because they are in by default and only get
executed if the snd-emu10k1 gets loaded because an SB Live card
is present.

What you might like to add to your file though is

options snd-ctxfi  index=0

to ensure that the XFi card is always handled as the first card
(card #0).  Obviously if you change the XFi card to and Audigy
or SB Live you will have to remember to change the line for the
appropriate sound module otherwise the changed card will not show
up as the first card (which will be missing) but as card #1.

> this file shows that the module emu10k1 remains loaded as optional
> module. No idea how that happens.

No not at all.  Those two lines tell modprobe to load some additional
emu10k1 modules if the emu10k1 is first loaded (due to autodetection).

> I have a Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium, and it seems that my
> Debian Squeeze supports it. 

Indeed it does.

> Reinstalling Debian makes sense, but it is hard to take a day off from work
> that is very pressing all my time.

Yes but how much time has been lost due to the bad configuration being
used from the old installation and how much time in future could be
lost from the same cause?

> Incidentally, I find that folks have exprienced trouble unmuting the
> mike because the ALSA sound server is provided by pulse audio by
> default.

YEs that is the next issue to worry about, AFTER dealing with the
lower level ALSA settings.  It is not that the ALSA sound server
is provided by pulse audio, but that PulseAudio runs on top of
ALSA and by default uses the first sound card (#0).

It could be that PulseAudio is preventing your Dragon Naturally Speaking
from getting access to the sound resources it needs.  In order to
learn whether or not this is the case, the only option is to remove
pulse audio or change the configuration file for pulse audio not to
start and ensured that it is killed, or if it still keeps starting up,
purge it temporarily or possibly permanently from the system.

> So it is necessary to set ALSA Sound System explicitly in gnome
> sound settings.

No, the GNOME sound settings all work with PulseAudio if it is present
and running.

> In gnome Settings, Sound, the Creative X-Fi card is the only device
> I can select.

That is because it is pointing at the hardware source.

Run pavucontrol to see the different underlying "devices"
of which pulseaudio has taken control.

The Gnome Control Center interface is a simplified cut down version.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#1123

J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> writes:

> On Sunday, March 18th, 2012, at 15:38:14h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

>> A sound output test works. The Audacity application reports mike input
>> level with the playback and recording device specified as "Creative
>> X-Fi: Front/WaveIn (hw:0,0)
>
> This is great news!  Well done!
>
>> but the application does not work if they are specified as "default".
>> Does NaturallySpeaking look for the default mike.
>
> I have absolutely no idea because I have never used Naturally Speaking
> either natively or the more difficult approach under Wine.

I'm going backwards. I replaced the pseudo-X-Fi card with a Audigy 1,
and now get no sound out. The card is set as default device. The module
loads fine. Alsa mixer is set where it should be. Aplay of a test file
runs OK. Signals at the miniplug sound in speakers. 

This seems a loosing proposition. I may have an Audigy2 PCI card
somewhere and I have a second Audigy 1. I am spending so much time on
this that I'd best take your advice and reinstall, this time remembers
to wipe the partitions clean. But can't do it now. 

Incidentally, people often mention that the onboard sound chips are
greatly improved. I wonder, if you think it produces sound quality
comparable to these older cards.

 

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#1124

On Monday, March 19th, 2012, at 16:30:06h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

> I'm going backwards. I replaced the pseudo-X-Fi card with a Audigy 1,
> and now get no sound out.

No sound out of the loudspeakers?

> The card is set as default device. The module loads fine. Alsa mixer is set
> where it should be. Aplay of a test file runs OK. Signals at the miniplug sound in speakers.

But that sounds like everything is working?

What I suspect is that the PulseAudio, which runs on top of ALSA
is now in the muted position.

So what you need to do is fire up the pavucontrol and set the
sound level in PulseAudio and make sure that PulseAudio is
using the output of the Audigy 1 card.

Just to make things clear the way to proceed with sound cards
is

1) check lspci and dmesg that the hardware is found

2) check lsmod that the appropriate sound module is loaded

3) use alsamixer -D hw:0 to adjust the levels on the card
   at the ALSA "level" for applications which use ALSA directly

If PulseAudio is being used then it is also necessary to
check with just   alsamixer   that the default is going
to PulseAudio and set the output and input mixers appropriately
(but these are tied to pavucontrol so will change if you change
them there).

The fire up pavucontrol and check the output and input sinks
and adjust levels accordingly.

It is a nuisance having to do all this but you do get the
alleged benefit in the end of having the PulseAudio single
input/output level control and all sounds from the different
sources get mixed in to that and different competing
applications do not hang waiting to get use of the audio
hardware.

> Incidentally, people often mention that the onboard sound chips are
> greatly improved. I wonder, if you think it produces sound quality
> comparable to these older cards.

The Audigy and XFi cards are extremely good quality sound cards
and will do much more than the on board sound chip.  However,
the onboard sound chips are now of good quality so may be
"good enough" for what is required if not too demanding.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#1125

J G Miller <miller@yoyo.ORG> writes:

> On Monday, March 19th, 2012, at 16:30:06h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:
>
>> I'm going backwards. I replaced the pseudo-X-Fi card with a Audigy 1,
>> and now get no sound out.
>
> No sound out of the loudspeakers?

That is, no sound from soundcard to speakers, but a bit of voltage at
the speaker plug does make a sound. The card may not be seated properly;
the card may be shot; the plug or jack surfaces corroded, etc.

>> The card is set as default device. The module loads fine. Alsa mixer
>> is set where it should be. Aplay of a test file runs OK. Signals at
>> the miniplug sound in speakers.
>
> But that sounds like everything is working?

Yes, which is why I suspected one of the above problems. 

> What I suspect is that the PulseAudio, which runs on top of ALSA
> is now in the muted position.

PulseAudio is not automatically installed in debian stable yet. I could
install it but Audacity and to a lesser degree MPlayer are foundational
apps for the person that will use the box, and they are not cleanly
compatible with PulseAudio.

> It is a nuisance having to do all this but you do get the
> alleged benefit in the end of having the PulseAudio single
> input/output level control and all sounds from the different
> sources get mixed in to that and different competing
> applications do not hang waiting to get use of the audio
> hardware.

I see the virtue of PulseAudio, but because of the Audacity problem it
may be premature to head in that direction.

>> Incidentally, people often mention that the onboard sound chips are
>> greatly improved. I wonder, if you think it produces sound quality
>> comparable to these older cards.
>
> The Audigy and XFi cards are extremely good quality sound cards
> and will do much more than the on board sound chip.  However,
> the onboard sound chips are now of good quality so may be
> "good enough" for what is required if not too demanding.

Thanks for the advice. The person for whom I am preparing the box is a
musician, and while nothing fancy is required, it should be decent. The
Creative X-Fi card is a software simulation of X-Fi that does not work
in Debian. What I'm going to do is back up and reinstall debian with the
X-Fi card, and I suspect things will go better.

Haines

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#1126

On Tuesday, March 20th, 2012 10:34:00 -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

> That is, no sound from soundcard to speakers

Have you checked the cable and that it is fully inserted
into the audio out (often pale green) socket?

> The card may not be seated properly; the card may be shot

That is highly unlikely otherwise you would not be seeing
evidence from lspci or dmesg or the kernel module loading
or aplay working.

> PulseAudio is not automatically installed in debian stable yet.

Okay -- that is good news for your situation and removes
a level of complexity.  I wish you had stated that earlier.

So please do not install it  ;)

> I see the virtue of PulseAudio, but because of the Audacity problem it
> may be premature to head in that direction.

My comments were only in regard to *if* PulseAudio was installed
by default, *not* that you should install it.

> Thanks for the advice. The person for whom I am preparing the box is a
> musician, and while nothing fancy is required, it should be decent.

In that case they may be interested in jackd on top of ALSA.
(You can actually get PulseAudio and jackd to coexist but it
requires even more work.)

       <http://jackaudio.ORG/>

As a musician, PulseAudio would probably fight against the type
of things they wish to do.

Also they will probably be interested in this music software for
linux resource

       <http://linux-sound.ORG/>

But what does this all have to do with using Dragon Naturally Speaking
through Wine because that does not sound at first appearance
like an application useful to a musician?

> The Creative X-Fi card is a software simulation of X-Fi that
> does not work in Debian.

I do not understand what you mean by this at all.

> What I'm going to do is back up and reinstall debian with the
> X-Fi card, and I suspect things will go better.

That is best the approach and hope it all goes well.

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#1119

Haines Brown wrote:
>         # modprobe snd_emu20k1
>
> and the module not found. The kernel (2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) is kinda old,
> but I get the impression the card was supported in ca. 2007.

In 2007, Creative released a binary driver that did not actually work.
AFAIK no distribution was ever stupid enough to include it.

In 2009, they released an open-source driver that does not support all
hardware features and has not been updated, but which at least works;
it was merged into the kernel.  It's called snd-ctxfi.


Regards,
Clemens

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#1120

On Saturday, March 17th, 2012, at 21:15:00h +0100, Clemens Ladisch wrote:

> It's called snd-ctxfi.

OOPS!!!


Yes that is in the kernel here

/lib/modules/3.2.0-2-686-pae/kernel/sound/pci/ctxfi
/lib/modules/3.2.0-2-686-pae/kernel/sound/pci/ctxfi/snd-ctxfi.ko

It is in Debian stable as well

/lib/modules/2.6.32-5-kirkwood/kernel/sound/pci/ctxfi
/lib/modules/2.6.32-5-kirkwood/kernel/sound/pci/ctxfi/snd-ctxfi.ko


I was misreading the column heading -- it is chipset  NOT module name at

<http://www.alsa-project.ORG/main/index.php/Matrix:Vendor-Creative_Labs>


For the SB Live it just happens to be that the module name is
the same as the chipset name and I was incorrectly carrying that
over to the XFi card as well.


And here is the page that Haines needs to read --

        <http://wiki.debian.ORG/X-Fi>

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#1143

I've taken time off from work to reinstall the Debian squeeze properly
without inheriting old garbage. I've currently got a Audigy 1 card
installed, and a mike produces sound in makes a speaker. I reinstalled
wine-1.2.3 and Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10.

Following your second suggestion, I also disabled the Azalia codec
(onboad sound chip) in BIOS.

I still get the error message that NaturallySpeaking is unable to find
a mmedia device. Am I correct to assume this means that
NaturallySpeaking is not seeing the bus? 

Lspci reports seeing the Audigy. I assume this means that the card is on
the bus.

Audigy is the sole device for sound, and when alsamixer is
started, it displays the name of the card. I assume this means there
is no other sound device on the bus to compete.

lsmod now shows what is to be expected with the Audigy card. The
snd_emu10k1 module is used by snd_emu10k1_synth. This means that the
card has a driver loaded.

Initially if I happen to have a terminal open, I got the message when
starting NaturallySpeaking: "fixme: mountmgr: harddisk_ioctl unsupported
ioctl 560000". Pursuing that in Google only led to suggestions to
install vcrun5. I installed winetricks, but it only offers vc2005express
and vc2005trial, not a vcrun5, 6, or 8.  In any case, these two are for
Visual C++ and so I doubt they are relevant.  Also, the fixme message no
longer appears.

I also went to http://download.microsoft.com/.../vcredist_i86.exe and
installed it. This also seems to have installed a Visual C library,
which seems irrelevant and had no effect.

Haines Brown

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#1144

On Friday, March 30th, 2012, at 08:31:52h -0400, Haines Brown wrote:

> I've currently got a Audigy 1 card installed, and a mike produces
> sound in makes a speaker.

That is great news -- as I hope you can see, having and knowing that
the underlying sound system working is essential before trying to
do anything more complicated eg with wine and Dragon NS.

> Following your second suggestion, I also disabled the Azalia codec
> (onboad sound chip) in BIOS.

This may only need to be temporarily done, but is a good idea
to start with to insure that that the Audigy 1 is the only
sound device to be used.

> I still get the error message that NaturallySpeaking is unable to find
> a mmedia device.

I am not an expert in Wine nor have ever used Dragon NS.

I suggest you take a look at

<http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=15649>

which indicates that Dragon NS can be used under Wine but sometimes
it fails to find the device and mentions links to how to solve the
problem.

I presume you do not have pulseaudio installed, but if you do you
need to run the wrapper script

     padsp wine {path/}natspeak.exe

Notice that the "dictation box" is not reported to work.

Also are you using 32 bit or 64 bit Debian.  Some people report
problems getting the application to properly work on 64 bit systems.

If you do a web search then you will find numerous reports of
people successfully running Dragon NS under wine, so it is possible.

     <http://www.youtube.COM/watch?v=cyHcqDpb65k>

For specialist assistance, consider getting in contact with Susan Cragin

     <http://www.blu.ORG/cgi-bin/calendar/2010-apr>

When you do get it working, you may also want to take a look
at Platypus, 

 "an open source shim that will allow Dragon NaturallySpeaking
  running under wine to work with any linux x11 application",

especially if "dictation box" does not work.

     <http://thenerdshow.COM/platypus.html>

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#1145

I'm replying in relation to only part of your helpful message because it
pointed me in a fruitful direction. 

In following up one of your suggestions, I discovered the existence of $
winecfg. On one machine when I run it and select the Audio tab, I'm
given the choice of a great variety of sound drivers, with ALSA
default. It seems that I have no sound for Wine unless I enable it
by this means. When I enabled the ALSA driver on a different machine,
the test produced the sound.

On the machine with which I'm having so much of a problem, when I look
at the Audio tab in winecfg, only one driver is shown, and it is OSS.
Obviously, the test fails. I have alsa-base installed, which should 
bring at least the ALSA driver, but no idea why it is not in the list.

The terminal reports: "fixme:xrender:XRender_AlphaBlend not supported -
XRENDER headers were missing at compile time." This might imply that I
needed xlibxrender-dev when I compiled wine, but on the machine that
uses the ALSA driver, that package is not installed, and AlphaBlend
seems to be related to graphical display, not sound drivers.

For some reason, it seems winecfg is not seeing the drivers provided by
ALSA. The lsmode return for the working machine and the one I'm trying
to set up is essentially the same (it has Audigy 2 vs 1). The one
difference I can't account for is the absense of a snd_seq_dummy module,
but I don't think that's relevant.

It seems my problem is that despte the installation of alsa-base and
using AlSA for sound from mike via soundcard to speakers, wine is not
aware of it, and I've no ideal how to correct the problem.

Haines Brown

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