SoundBlaster 128 PCI troubles

[The Rock]

It seems that I (and about 1000 others) am having all kinds of troubles installing sound drivers for a SoundBlaster PCI 128. I'm only a Linux newbie, and I've searched high and low for a how-to or mini-FAQ, and can find no documentation on this particular card. I'm running (well, trying) Slackware 4.0, which seems to be great. Installation was no problem, X was no problem, but the SB128 IS a problem (for this poor newbie anyway). What am I missing?

The Rock

[LesPaul]

I have the same exact problem..Am also a newbie..If you ever find out, please post! thanks,
LesPaul

[The Rock]

Lespaul:

I finally got the mother working; apparently, it's been working for quite some time now. The problem was that most of the howto's for Linux aren't really well-written (well, they are, but not in this particular sound card's case). Some smart people need to write a decent mini-faq on PCI devices under Linux. Anyway, this is how I made my SB128 PCI work. First of all, I have ZERO conflicts under Windows98 with my system, so if you have IRQ conflicts, this may not work for you. I recompiled my kernel by running "make menuconfig". In the "Sound" menu, do NOT use the OSS drivers for Soundblaster compatibility; they won't work for the SB128. Instead, check off the "es1370" driver. Since Creative Labs bought Ensoniq, some of their cards (including the SB128) use Ensoniq chips. If you cursor down to the "es1370" driver and hit "H" for help, it tells you about this. After you select that driver, recompile the kernel as instructed in the kernel-howto. I just used the command "make bzdisk" to make the new kernel hop to a boot disk (I boot Linux from a floppy, so I don't know the procedure for replacing a kernel on the hard drive). When you reboot and this new kernel starts, you will NOT see anything like "Sound initialization started" or "Sound initialization completed". What you WILL see if you look quickly enough is a few lines like this:

"es1370: version v0.20 time date"
"es1370: found adapter at io 0xB000 irq 5"
"es1370: features: joystick on, line in, mic impedance 0"

Yours may vary (of course). Now, as for the documentations way to check your sound status, the sound howto says to use the command "cat /dev/sndstat". For some reason, when I tried this, it said "no such device". This threw me for 3 damn days (and it still does). IGNORE this. After trying 8 million different things, and using the "cat /dev/sndstat" command to check it, I finally said SCREW IT and I started up X just for fun. KDE started as usual, I popped in a Deftones CD, and to my complete and utter amazement, I heard NOISE!! I also found that I could play WAV's as well. If some kind Linux expert could tell me WHY the "cat /dev/sndstat" command says "no such device", but yet my audio works under XFree86 /w KDE, I would REALLY appreciate it. Hope this helps.

The Rock

[LesPaul]

I see all that when it boots, but I get nothing..

I'm confused..

-LesPaul

[LesPaul]

When I type make config, or make xconfig, or make menuconfig, I keep getting this error:

make: *** No rule to make target `xconfig'. Stop.

i'm very very new to this, please be patient..at least I got my modem working though..

-LesPaul

[The Rock]

LesPaul:

You should be typing "make menuconfig", not "make xconfig". Since I'm using a different version of Linux than you (I use Slackware 4), the commands may be different. On another note, you say your modem works?!?! HOW did you do that, genius? ;-) What model is your modem? I'm using a Creative Labs Modem Blaster Flash 56 PCI DI5630 and I can't make this mofo work for the life of me. Since no one else in this forum seems to wanna help, maybe we can help each other out. :-)

The Rock

[LesPaul]

The Rock-

You know what? I took the cheap way out. I bought the USR external. Didn't have to do anything to get it to work. I just set up the PPP, dialed in and after an hour it worked. It took me an hour to realize that I had copied the passowrd down wrong! So it actually took me like ten minutes.

Still can't get the soundcard working..I'm typing make menuconfig, that doesn't work either.

I'm trying to get a LAN setup. Know anything about that?

-LesPaul

[The Rock]

Well, I know a fair bit about networking, but unfortunately, I know nothing about LANs under Linux. Wish I could help ya. :-( I wonder why "make menuconfig" won't work for ya. OH DAMN!!! It just hit me; ya gotta be in the directory that contains the Linux source code for that to work. With Slackware, it's /usr/src/linux. That should fix ya right up.

The Rock

[LesPaul]

I don't know..I was in that directory..logged in as root and everything..really weird..it worked for me once and then it didn't...maybe I'm a moron..

-LesPaul

[The Rock]

It worked once and now it doesn't? That's a weird one. I'm afraid that's one for the Linux experts. You may want to try the slackware forum for help. This forum seems useless. Even if you don't use Slack, they're a pretty helpful (not to mention knowledgeable) bunch. http://www.slackware.com/forum

The Rock