Ubuntu Studio installation Successful / Edmund -> sound issues

[Edmund Laugasson]

I mentioned your letter a lot earlier but, you know - christmas time and family needs some attention 
:) I made a couple of wonderful videos while my kids sledging today :) Then I needed to share them ...

> Thanks a million Edmund. I have saved your instructions like gold.

I'm touched :) Great, that you succeeded!

Some more reading about Ubuntu Studio:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuStudio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Studio

> I am facing one problem : No sound!!

May I know, what sound card you have? I know, that it might be a complicated question but without 
knowing that, the problem cannot be solved.

Some reading about sound card - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_card

1) We must understand, is the sound card integrated with motherboard or installed separately.

Here is integrated sound card - there are audio jacks together with other motherboard connectors:
http://bucarotechelp.com/computers/images/backpanel.jpg
But if you see your audio jacks separately like 56K modem connectors are in this picture - then 
sound card is not integrated.

2) Then we must know the exact manufacturer and model. E.g. if you open Kmix in KDE, then it shows 
also the name of sound card in bottom right corner:
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/wiki/upimages/wallp/quickstart-kmix.png

Some more howtos:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Sound
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DebuggingSoundProblemsMisc

You can find much more reading if you go the address https://help.ubuntu.com/ and type sound card 
into search field

I ran into problems with ALC861 soundcard in Kubuntu 8.04.1 LTS:
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-943791.html
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/192382
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24/+bug/241379
http://kkubasik.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/sound-problems-in-ubuntu-hardy/

http://people.ubuntu.com/~ogasawara/hardy-buglist.html - look also here about fixed bugs

Unfortunately I didn't found solution yet :( Microphone does not work even if I compiled with 
module-assistant new modules, tried several options in ALSA conf file, etc.

So, perhaps are these links helpful and gives some glue, how to find information about your sound card.

ALT+F2 and then type kinfocenter - it opens KDE Information Center and there are also all hardware 
information graphically written down.

Certainly - if you have motherboard manual or invoice, when you bought your computer - usually also 
there are all PC configuration written down.

If soundcard is integrated, then there is needed to know motherboard manufacturer and model. If it 
is not integrated, then motherboard is not important.

ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture - one of the most used sound server in Linux. Pulse tries 
also to get used but still doesn't work for me in Hardy. Perhaps in 8.10 but my 8.04.1 LTS works 
fine now and I don't like to blow up working system. I think I will upgrade when next LTS is out. I 
can give a try under VirtualBox for new versions but without testing not my main production PC.


Sometimes it helps if to reset ALSA settings:
sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils reset

To save ALSA settings (including sound levels):
sudo alsactl store


To stop ALSA:
sudo alsa force-unload

To start appropriate sound modules, here the HDA Intel/nVidia ones:
sudo modprobe snd-hda-intel


alsamixer is command line utility to change settings.


You may give a try:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install module-assistant
sudo m-a update
sudo m-a prepare
sudo m-a a-i alsa

or

sudo apt-get update
sudo m-a -f get alsa-source
sudo m-a prepare,update alsa
sudo m-a build,install alsa

or

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install module-assistant
sudo module-assistant a-i alsa-source

Some more reading:
http://www.infopackets.com/news/hardware/2005/20050816_integrated_onboard_sound_versus_dedicated_soundcard.htm


> So I just ran Hardware Testing and sent report to Launchpad.

That's great! Community appreciates your effort!