Rev. Ferret wrote:
It seems that my card is recognized. Everything looks normal except for the output of my /dev/sndstat. I can use apps to control tracks of audio cd's and things like that. I just can't use any mixer apps or play any audio except for cd audio. I can't figure out what's wrong. Using redhat and mandrake I was able to just do sndconfig and pick soundblaster and everything worked. I only seem to be having this problem with debian. The results of cat /proc/interrupts has the following entry: 7: 4 soundblaster The output of /proc/ioports has this entry: 0220-022f : soundblaster lsmod contains these entries: sb,uart401,sound,soundlow,soundcore cat /dev/sndstat lists the following: OSS/Free:3.8s2++-971130 Load type: Driver loaded as a module Kernel: Linux neuro 2.2.18pre21 #1 Sat Nov 18 18:47:15 EST 2000 i686 Config options: 0 Installed Drivers: Card config: Audio devices: 0: ESS ES1879 AudioDrive (rev 11) (3.01) Synth devices: Midi devices: 0: ESS ES1688 Timers: 0: System clock Mixers: 0: Sound Blaster
Looks good from what I can tell. The difference with your /dev/sndstat file are just because you have a different card than mine.
Someone else replied (I've already deleted the message, so can't give proper credit; sorry) and suggested it was a permissions problem. Make sure you're in the audio group (as the user, type "groups"); if not, add yourself (as root, type "adduser [yourUserName] audio"). Then logout and log back in and test.
You might also try a simpler testing scheme for now; from a terminal, run something like "play [someWAVfile]"; you can do this as root and as a normal user to test permissions issues.
I think you're probably getting close. And yes, other distros such as Redhat and Mandrake tend to help you get a system up easier in many cases, but Debian makes maintaining a system much easier than those other distros do. There are also many other advantages to Debian (see the recent "Why choose Debian" thread for more info), so don't get too disappointed with Debian yet; in the long run you'll really be glad you went Debian.