Re: [tlug] Accessing microphone

[Dave M G <martin@example.com>]

Josh, Stephen, Shakthi,

Man, I am such an idiot.

You see, here's what I just went and did. First I read this part of what 
you said:
> That is unfortunate. Looking back through your amixer output, I don't
> see anything that looks like it controls gain. What kind of sound card
> do you have?
>   
So I was going to tell you that the sound card is integrated with my 
motherboard, a P5LD2-VM from Asus.

And that's when I remembered that I saw that there were Linux drivers on 
the CD that came with the motherboard.

You see, I thought, "Hey, maybe there's no gain control because I never 
installed the sound drivers, I just went with the default Ubuntu 
installation. Won't it be super cool if I install these drivers, get 
gain control and be able to post on TLUG that it's solved!" I thought 
this because I'm filled with a source of unbridled optimism that I 
should have surgically removed.

So I went ahead and installed the sound drivers on the CD-ROM.

The configure, make, and install process went fine. Seemed to do stuff, 
anyway. The last instruction said to edit /etc/modules.conf to look like 
an example modules.conf that was provided. Well, there was no 
modules.conf (or the alternately suggested conf.modules), so I didn't do 
anything.

I rebooted, and now I don't have any sound device at all!
dave@example.com:~$ amixer
amixer: Mixer attach default error: No such device
dave@example.com:~$ alsamixer -c 0
wrong -c argument '0'

And the little sound icon at the top right of my screen is greyed out. 
When I click it, it says:
No volume control GStreamer plugins and/or devices found.

Argh. Why do I do these things?

So, then I figured I'd copy the example modules.conf on the CD to 
/etc/modules.conf and see what happens after a reboot. As it turns out, 
nothing happens.

I've gone from almost having microphone input to having nothing.

So now I have to sheepishly ask how the heck do I undo the terrible 
mistake I've just made.

By the way, here are the instructions that came on the CD:

The source code copy from www.alsa-project.org.      ver:R3.1
Linux Source Code for ALC audio codec

Installation:
This Source Code is from www.alsa-project.org.
For driver installation, please follow below steps. 

Step 1. unzip source code
       tar xfvj azx-021705.tar.bz2

Step 2. Turn on sound support (soundcore module, default turn on)

Step 3. Complied source code
   a. ./configure
   b. make
   c. make install
   d. ./snddevices

Step 4. Edit your /etc/modules.conf or conf.modules depending on the 
distribution
    (Please refer to the attached modules.conf)

Step 5. reboot your machine

Note:     1. The most detail information, can refer the 
alsa-kernel/Documenttation/ALSA-Configuration.txt in the 
azx-021705.tar.bz2.
   2. Kernel Version must be 2.2.14 or later.
   3. All mixer channels are muted by default. You must use a native
       or OSS mixer program to unmute appropriate channels.
   4. If can not compile the source code, try to rename the 
/usr/src/linux-2.x -> /usr/src/linux.
   5. The driver added to support the SPDIF functoin.      
   6. Suggest use alsamixer to control mixer function. you can find it 
in the alsa-utils-0.9.4 (www.alsa-project.org).
   7. a. You can download the alsa-lib-1.0.8 and alsa-utils-1.0.8 form 
the www.alsa-project.org, then unzip and install them. 
      b. Used "alsaconf" can autodetect which drive you need to install 
(step 4).    


And here is the modules.conf file:

#alias sound-slot-0 via82cxxx_audio    //remark this line, this is 
default audio driver

#====== added those lines =============
alias char-major-116 snd
options snd major=116 cards_limit=1
# -- Azalia controller -----------------------------
alias snd-card-0 snd-azalia
options snd-azalia index=0 id="Azalia"
#--- Intel 8x0  , SiS 7012 and NVidia----------
#alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
#options snd-intel8x0 index=0 iAnd here is the modules.conf file:

#alias sound-slot-0 via82cxxx_audio    //remark this line, this is 
default audio driver

#====== added those lines =============
alias char-major-116 snd
options snd major=116 cards_limit=1
# -- Azalia controller -----------------------------
alias snd-card-0 snd-azalia
options snd-azalia index=0 id="Azalia"
#--- Intel 8x0  , SiS 7012 and NVidia----------
#alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0
#options snd-intel8x0 index=0 id="ICH"
#--- Via8233 Via686a  -------------------------------
#alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
#options snd-via82xx index=0 id="VIA"
#--- ATI  -------------------------------
#alias snd-card-0 snd-atiixp
#options snd-atiixp index=0 id="ATI"
//=================================
alias char-major-14 soundcore
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-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
#=================================
post-install sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L 
>/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S 
>/dev/null 2>&1 || :d="ICH"
#--- Via8233 Via686a  -------------------------------
#alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
#options snd-via82xx index=0 id="VIA"
#--- ATI  -------------------------------
#alias snd-card-0 snd-atiixp
#options snd-atiixp index=0 id="ATI"
//=================================
alias char-major-14 soundcore
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-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
#=================================
post-install sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L 
>/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S 
>/dev/null 2>&1 || :

--
Dave M G