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Configuring
Multimedia Applications We're all spoiled by the ability
to listen to our favorite CD, play our MP3s or assign various sounds to system
events. It's just part of the computing experience for many of us, even if it
only serves as the aural background to other tasks. While configuring sound in
Linux is easier than ever, it can still occasionally present problems for new
users. We're going to start a mini-series today on configuring and using
multimedia applications in Linux. The first crucial element of your
sound configuration is the sound card itself. Current distributions do quite
well, comparatively, at probing, detecting and configuring sound cards. That's
far from saying that the system is perfect or flawless. Many of the questions I
receive from readers center around the inability to configure working sound in
their Linux system. As always, different distributions take different
approaches, but the underlying process is really the same. One of the most common problems in
configuring a sound card is the existence of multiple cards. That's the case on
my machine. It has an on board card and a PCI card. Unsatisfied with the sound
from the Crystal Sound Fusion on board chip, I added a SoundBlaster Live! PCI
card. This has confused every Linux installation I've done since. In my RedHat
system, the command for configuring the correct sound card is as follows
(executed, of course, as root): /usr/sbin/sndconfig
This opens a text-based window that
walks the user through the configuration process. On my machine, the auto-probe
always results in the on board card being seen and configured as the default.
After probing and detecting the card, the system plays a sample sound (the
sound from today's GnomeTWEAK, in fact), then inquires as to whether you heard
the sound. I always choose "no". That throws the configuration back
into manual mode, allowing me to select the correct card. The SoundBlaster
Live! drivers are present in most current distros, so the process is very easy
from this point on. Select the card, listen for the sample sound, confirm that
you heard it, and exit. The system writes the configuration file behind the
scenes. Suse users can use YaST2 to
configure their sound card by choosing the Configure Sound Option. Mandrake
users can configure sound by using the HardDrake tool. Select the soundcards
option, then click on the Run Configuration button. Tomorrow, we'll look at some of the
common CD players in current distributions, how to use them and how to
customize them to suit your tastes. |
