Linux newbie ...

[the_escapist]

I've been getting increasingly fed up with Windows lately, and so have been fiddling around with various Linux distros, namely Ubuntu and Mandriva. I soon discovered that my sound card was unsupported, and had basically resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be able to really use Linux on this computer. Yesterday, I thought I'd set up a dual boot with OpenSUSE 11.1 (w/ KDE 4.1.3) regardless, and mere hours later found a driver for my sound card.

Installation instructions read thusly:

In terminal,
1) Goto source directory
2) Execute make command as root
make
make install

I know enough to understand what it's telling me to do, but my problem is that I have no idea what to type into the terminal to actually do it. I've been researching commands ever since, but it's taking a while and right now I'd really just like to get my sound card working. Can anyone help me?

Comments

[baggyeyes]

What's your sound card? The manufacturer, the version?

[the_escapist]

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

[baggyeyes]

Is your system x86_64? 64 bit? If not, then the driver won't work on your system.

If so, then this forum may be of some use to you, both in aiding you through a step by step process, and any potential errors that may come up:
LinuxQuestions.org.

In terminal,
1) Goto source directory (since you would be initially 'Home', and I have no idea where you've placed the driver, let's say for instance the driver is in its own folder in the 'Home' directory.

$~username:cd driverfolder (hit enter)

$~username/driverfolder


2) Execute make command as root (Here, you can either type su at the prompt and hit enter, then your root password; or type su make and hit enter, and then your root password. Either will do the same thing, except, su make will start the make process right after you type your password.

If you've only typed su, then your password, then all you have to do is type
make (enter)

Let it go through its routine, watch for errors. When it's finished, type
make install (enter) again, watch for errors. You'll probably need to refer to Linux Questions for help and answers if something goes awry.

The developers of Alsa, open source sound drivers are working on the drivers for your card right now. They just received the documents for it, according to the website.

I hope this helps.

[the_escapist]

No, damn. But thanks for all the info - that'll come in handy later.

[qarukhel]

I don't mean to thread crap and I really, really hope no one takes it this way... However, I hate Creative Labs for the games they play with driver support.

Sorry! :(

[the_escapist]

I've not had to deal with it before. Seems strange, though, because I can't see what they'd get out of being difficult ... unless they want to lose customers.

[qarukhel]

I've never understood it either. They make some great cards, but then they either intentionally cripple support or unintentionally package them with drivers that have major flaws. I have to wonder if their hardware and developer divisions have some sort of internal conflict issue, to be honest.

No one would call me a guru...

[spydielives]

Which version of Ubunto did you try? I had 8.10 on my laptop and it worked fine with my laptop sound card. When I migrated to 9.04, I had to spend several hours banging my head against the keyboard trying to get the sound to work again. I did finally succeed.

I can search my history and dig out the page that did it for me, if that would help...

Re: No one would call me a guru...

[the_escapist]

I've tried 7.10, 8.10 and 9.04. It doesn't work on any of them, nor any other distros (though Mandriva and SUSE are the only one I've tested personally), because it's unsupported in the kernel. Which is a huge pain, as you can imagine. :\ But they're working on it, so hopefully it won't be long.

New driver you may want to try

[baggyeyes]

Found this - on Phoronix's blog

http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2009-May/017332.html

Or, you can wait until the Fall, when it will likely appear in the distributions.