To All:

Thanks for your help earlier (previous post on /etc/modules.conf).

A few more problems...

1.
I'm now being stuck with the microphone, i.e., the speakers
work fine, but the microphone does not work. According to
the topic,

Sticky: Linux sound FAQ

in this same forum, I need to be sure I have write permissions
for the dsp device. Originally I had

$ ls -la /etc/dsp
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 9 2004-08-09 17:39 dsp -> sound/dsp
$ ls -la /etc/sound/dsp
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 14, 3 1969-12-31 19:00 sound/dsp

I used su and log in as root, and used chmod so to change permissions.
The first file, /etc/dsp, can not be changed. The second file I gave
others rw permission, i.e., it's now

# ls -la /etc/sound/dsp
crw-rw-rw- 1 root audio 14, 3 1969-12-31 19:00 sound/dsp

I still can not get the microphone to work. What might be the problem?
Am I missing something?

[Btw, I also tried changing ownership using chown to my username, but
each time I reboot, the owner reverts back to root.]


2.
Everytime I pops up the alsamixer (after a reboot), the sound levels
default. I want to raise the sound levels PERMAMENTLY and not having
to change the level after each reboot. Also, some the sound levels, i
I can't even move (some are stuck at zeros). The worst problem is
that the mics level are always zeros (but I can raise the levels up).


3.
I'm alittle confused on what I need to install. Xandros
Network gives a list of alsa files, i.e.,

alsa-base 11.75KB
alsa-headers 53.06KB
alsa-modules-2.4.22-1-386 965.46KB
alsa-modules-2.4.22-1-586tsc 987.46KB
alsa-modules-2.4.22-1-686 1.01MB
alsa-modules-2.4.22-1-686-smp 1.04MB
alsa-modules-2.4.22-1-k6 974.45KB
alsa-modules-2.4.22-1-k7 1.01MB
alsa-modules-2.4.22-1-k7-smp 1.02MB
alsa-source 1.57MB
alsa-utils 110.06KB
alsaconf 38.14KB
alsamixergui 26.05KB (installed)
alsaplayer 1.00KB
alsaplayer-alsa 5.05KB
alsaplayer-common 138.43KB
alsaplayer-daemon 4.60KB
alsaplayer-esd 2.91KB
alsaplayer-gtk 79.66KB
alsaplayer-jack 6.26KB
alsaplayer-nas 4.22KB
alsaplayer-oss 2.94KB
alsaplayer-text 5.29KB
alsaplayer-xosd 5.05KB
gnome-alsamixer 24.96KB
libalsaplayer-dev 19.54KB
libalsaplayer0 25.34KB
libarts-alsa 612.59KB
libesd-alsa0 17.61KB
libkmid-alsa 121.95KB
libwine-alsa 723.35KB
snd-gtk-alsa 917.45KB
vic-alsa 5.46KB
xandros-alsa-modules-2.4.22-x1 1.15MB (installed)
xandros-alsa-modules-2.4.24-x1 1.20MB
xmp-alsa 4.34KB

I have a Mobile Intel® Celeron® CPU 2.00 GHz.

Fyi, Xandros Network is similiar to apt-get in Debian. Xandros
tries to make it real easy for dummies to install. My concern is
that I can't figure out what most of the above files do. So I
can't figure out what I might be missing, if anything. I installed

xandros-alsa-modules-2.4.22-x1 1.15MB

because it seems to be the complete package (my guess) and

alsamixergui 26.05KB

because I needed a mixer. Looking at the above files, do you think
I need to install anything else beside the two files I already install?

Thanks in advanced for any help.

Sheng-Chieh

I assume you meant /dev/dsp and not /etc/dsp? Have you properly selected your microphone channel as your output channel, turned it's volume up and (if necesary) enabled \"Mic Boost\"? Are you able to record sound from any other applications?



This happens when you use devfs (Device File System). The best way to do this would be to add your regular user to the \"audio\" group. You can do this by editing /etc/group by hand or by issuing the command:

Replace \"username\" with your username.



Yes that's a bit annoying; some distributions handle this in the system init scripts - see if you have one called "alsa" or "alsasound" in /etc/init.d - on Gentoo Linux it's /etc/init.d/alsasound. When this script is run with the "start" parameter, volume settings are loaded from file. If using the "stop" parameter, volumes are saved.

You can do this on your own if you want. The commands to save/load volume settings are:

Thank you for responding again. I'm confused on a part
of your responses.

1.
You wrote

Have you properly selected your microphone channel as your output
channel, turned it's volume up and (if necesary) enabled "Mic Boost"?

How do I select my microphone channel as output?

Exactly what is "Mic Boost"?

Any docs on these two items would be helpful.


2.
You wrote:

Yes that's a bit annoying; some distributions handle this in the system
init scripts - see if you have one called "alsa" or "alsasound" in
/etc/init.d - on Gentoo Linux it's /etc/init.d/alsasound. When this
script is run with the "start" parameter, volume settings are loaded
from file. If using the "stop" parameter, volumes are saved.

I don't have alsa or alsasound in /etc/int.d, however I do have aumix.
Is that the file I need to play with? Exactly what is aumix?

-----

Fyi, I already did

usermod -G audio username

My /etc/group already has

audio:x:29:<username 1>,<username 2>

as well as many other stuffs.

-----

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sheng-Chieh

You select the active input channel from any mixer (kmix etc). Mic Boost usually amplifies the mic input by around 20dB.



Hm not sure really; aumix is a standard console mixer program; it might have an option to save/restore volume leveles as well (not sure about ALSA support, haven't used aumix since back when I used OSS). Worth a shot though.

To All:

After fiddling around more I am convinced that I have a
microphone problem (in general). A few things I noted:

1.
A few days ago, I changed for me (my username) to be the
owner of /dev/dsp and /dev/sound/dsp. I.e.,

$ls -ls /dev/dsp
lr-xr-xr-x 1 shengchieh root <date> /dev/dsp -> sound/dsp
$ls -ls /dev/sound/dsp
crw-rw---- 1 shengchieh root <date> /dev/sound/dsp

The next morning after rebooting, the owner reverted back
to root. I.e.,

$ls -ls /dev/dsp
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root <date> /dev/dsp -> sound/dsp
$ls -ls /dev/sound/dsp
crw-rw---- 1 root root <date> /dev/sound/dsp

Is there a way to overcome this? [This permission problem
is not the only problem. Read 2 and 3.]

root has its own group while shengchieh and other users
are in the group, user. So it means I wouldn't have write
access to /dev/sound/dsp (shengchieh = other for root).

Btw, the same problem happens if I just leave as root, but
gives rw permission to others. [It keeps reverting back to
no rw permission for others.]


2.
I tried to use Skype logged as root. The microphone is
still not working. Since I'm root, the problem is not a
permission problem with /dev/dsp or /dev/sound/dsp.

I'm afraid I didn't install everything I need. See the long
list in my earlier post (this same topic). Again, I installed
just xandros-alsa-modules-2.4.22-x1 and alsamixergui. I have
no idea what various terms means, i.e., base, header, etc.
Looking at the list, you think I need something?


3.
I could not get the microphone in KRec to work. Again another
clue that it is a microphone problem.


-----
The rest are notes, not problems (but you might notice something).

Notes;

1.
In the control center -> ... -> Sound
I'm using alsa sound driver and emulation.

2.
I got the microphone "permamently" set at max. volume using kmix.

3.
I already did a search for "dsp", "microphone", and "alsa". No
clue about permission problem with /dev/dsp and/or /dev/sound/dsp.
-----

Again, thanks in advance for your help.

Sheng-Chieh