stopthecar wrote:"aplay -l" results:
aplay: device_list:204: no soundcards found...
Same here. Puppy is great but this sound thing is driving me nuts.
It isn't totally Puppy's fault, but it is Linux in general. Linux has terrible sound support. Much of it just doesn't work.
I have tried four devices and thusfar only the Sound Blaster Live MOSTLY works in all the Linux distributions I tried.
The Sound Blaster X-Fi can be "forced" to work in Ubuntu Hardy (it works in Gutsy too), and I had pretty good results there.
As of now I have an Echo Mona sound device. This sound device is SUPPOSED to be supported by Linux. However, Puppy recognizes the card, but no sound. Ubuntu doesn't even recognize the card.
I tried to follow four different guides to get this sound card to work in my Linux distributions to no avail.
I am speaking to the developer of the ALSA driver for my Mona device, but things are SLOW going.
What I am getting at is to prepare you for a very rough road trying to get sound working in Linux.
There are a handful of cards that are known to work without major setup headaches, but I have not tried them as of yet, with the exception of the Soundblaster Live.
Of course my application of using Linux for a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), is very sound in/out intensive, so a regular SB Live will not do. I have heard that the M-Audio Delta line is automatically recognized by most Linux distributions. I don't consider M-Audio very high end (for use in a serious pro DAW application), but then again, then next rung up that is recognized automatically are the cards made by RME. However, these cards are VERY expensive. Both M-Audio and RME support their products via a Linux driver, so that is a big help. Again, I have not tried these cards as of yet, but there have been many success stories.
With onboard computer sound, I have had luck with SoundMAX. All of the Dell machines I have at my job use SoundMAX and these on-board sound devices are automagically detected by Linux and I have had no problems using them.
On-Board sound issues are another matter to deal with. Fortunately most of my machines I can pull the sound card out of and replace it. If you have a desktop machine and your on-board sound doesn't work, you can turn it off and install an SB Live instead.
All in all, I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but I am 4 months using 3 different Linux distributions now (Ubuntu Studio, Puppy, Dynebolic), and I have yet to find a "studio based" sound device that works.
I consider myself to have an above average understanding of computer operation and I was able to handle most issues with Linux through the associated distributions on-line forum support, but I will say that while other issues were solved in a couple of messages, my sound problems are on-going.
Sound is probably the worst issue you will face when dealing with Linux.
As of now I am still using Windows XP for my DAW (sound intensive) applications as well as certain games. However, I am using mostly Ubuntu and Puppy for regular tasks such as emailing/internet surfing and any game that I want to play that I don't require sound.
So, I am not going to sugarcoat it. Be prepared to have a very silent world in Linux for a very long time.
Geo