Audigy issues...

[raid517]

Hi, I am trying to get my Audigy card to work under Mandrake Linux 9.0. It does have support for this card in the kernel under unnoficial third party drivers emu10k1 and is installed as a module... However when I run ismod emu10k1 I get a whole bunch of errors... (See attached file) To be honest I can't figure out if its working or not, as i have no facility to decode analogue sound, I only have a digital cable that leads to an external dobly digital decoder that is some distance away from my computer. Trailing several anologue cables from the rear of my PC all the way around my room is not an option). What I need to know is how to test my Audigy card is working, set it up to pass all the sound from my soundcard to my digital out so that my digital decoder can decode the signal - and make sure its set up to produce true multi channel 5.1 sound... So far I haven't been able to figure out how to do any of this... The attached file might be informative for some, it contains all the tests I have learned to do over the last week, although I'm sure there are quite a few I still don't know...
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Q

[mdwatts]

You could try the Audigy drivers from http://opensource.creative.com as they may include support for the digital cable and decoder.

[raid517]

Yes thanks for that, but I think we might be at cross purposes here I have already installed the latest drivers - and did as avised in previous threads and read the doccumentation and went to /usr/local/etc/audigy-script and made all the required adjustments to emu10k1.conf but when I attempted to run ./emu-script I get a message /dev/mixer: No such device.

I did find an obscure hint of what I might need to do on a web site featuring a sinppet from and old (out of date year 2000) Linux user manual (it was incomplete so I couldn't read it all). It said:

Q: It quits with 'xmixer: Can't open /dev/mixer: No such
file or directory'

A: You can use this program only if you have a soundcard.
Check if the file exists. If not, check the sound-faq
on how to create the device entry.

Now its odd that it should mention Xmixer because on a previous attempt to install this driver It did start asking for this, even though it is no longer being developed/maintained - I think the last version was a couple of years ago... But more significant than this is the indication that I might have to create a device entry. I have no clue how to do this. This error stating /dev/mixer: No such file or directory is the most persistant I have encountered, its almost like its saying my soundcard and the driver has not been physically detected. (Although I'm not sure if that's what it means). I tried inserting the new driver as a module and it spewed out the following:

Using /lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol ac97_read_proc_Rbae4da72
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol unregister_sound_mixer_R7afc9d8a
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol register_sound_midi_Rbf6f8682
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol ac97_probe_codec_R84601c2b
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol register_sound_mixer_Rf2837cd4
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol register_sound_dsp_Rc2942e01
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol unregister_sound_dsp_Rcd083b10
/lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdkcustom/kernel/drivers/sound/emu10k1/emu10k1.o: unresolved symbol unregister_sound_midi_Rfdab6de3

So it looks like its looking in a default location for the driver and the driver isn't there. (Clearly so, since the advice when installing the new driver was to disable audigy support in the kernel). (I do still have sound support enabled though, I only disabled 'audigy support' nothing else).

I have stuck with this very hard over the last 4 weeks - and have learned a very great deal about Linux in that short time. But despite this I am no further along towards my goal of hearing good quality sound or seeing good quality 3D accelearation (another issue) on my linux set-up. Achieving these two goals would, I had convinced myself, pursuade me to move to Linux permanantly. While I am not quite ready to quit yet, I am comming close to the point where going on would be all but pointless. It seems almost impossible to get good sound and graphics working on a Linux machine.

No one can accuse me of not trying, or of not reading enough information. I have searched for weeks to try to resolve these issues, I have asked countless people on countless forums, I have trawled through possibly thousands of web pages - I even asked the guy who deals with open source at Creative.com - but he said he didn't know either. So please if you or anyone knows how to do this can you just lay it out for me for once and for all? The driver doccumentation says its possible, several people I have spoken to say it is possible, but so far no one has described how it is possible.

I did though manage to install the commercial version of the OSS drivers (several Mandrake installs ago) and got them working. (So at least I know there's nothing physically wrong with my set up). But they were terrible. Only two speaker support and they sounded like someone on a very old scratched record was speaking into a tin can. Not good for drivers you are expected to pay $20 for.

If the general consensus suggests that I should abandon this quest, this is what I will do. I am no quitter, but after this I fail to see how I can possibly proceed.

Q

[mdwatts]

Most likely "/dev/mixer: No such file or directory" is due to incorrect permissions.

As root

chmod 660 /dev/mixer

and see if that fixes the problem.

[raid517]

Originally posted by mdwatts
Most likely "/dev/mixer: No such file or directory" is due to incorrect permissions.

As root

chmod 660 /dev/mixer

and see if that fixes the problem.

As root I typed:

chmod 660 /dev/mixer

Then I went to /usr/local/etc

Then I ran ./emu-script (as per the included instructions) which is the Audigy configuration script.

The result?

/dev/mixer: No such file or directory

Now I really am lost... :confused: :confused: :confused:

From what i wrote above is it clear on not whether the system is looking in the correct location for the driver? (Not that I even know where the new driver is installed to).

BTW what is that chmod command, what is it supposed to do?

Thanks. :)

Q

[shrink]

im also interested in if you got your audigy to work with digital output via optical cables (or coaxial??)

i am planning on doing the same thing -- setup my audigy digital output to a poineer 811vsx receiver with dolby 6.1


anyone else know of a sound card that works 100% digital output (i prefer optical cable) in linux?