Problems using the sound card on My Thinkpad

[David]

On Mon, Dec 26, 2005 at 11:27:07PM -0600, David Strauss wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-12-26 at 23:21 -0400, Ryan Thompson wrote:
> > I have been using Ubuntu Linux for all of 3 and a half hours when I
> > posted this.  I am trying to listen to some CD's but the system is
> > telling me that It can't find my sound card.  This makes no sense to me
> > because at the login screen I get the Startup sound.  Can anyone point
> > me in the right direction?
> 
> There are different sound systems in Linux, namely OSS, ALSA, ARTS, and
> ESD. GNOME in Ubuntu uses ESD by default. Try running your program with
> ESD (easiest option) or configuring ALSA (better option). There are
> guides to configuring ESD and ALSA together on the forums.
> 


which guide do you suggest? I'm having serious trouble with sound and everything 
I've tried so far has ended in hisssssss :(

David