[kde-linux] No sound with non-kde application

[James Richard Tyrer]

Lisa Reynolds wrote:
>> Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:59:59 -0700 From: James Richard Tyrer
>> <tyrerj at acm.org> Subject: Re: [kde-linux] No sound with non-kde
>> application To: For people using KDE on Linux with related
>> questions/problems <kde-linux at kde.org> Message-ID:
>> <478BBF3F.90805 at acm.org> Content-Type: text/plain;
>> charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>> 
>> Lisa Reynolds wrote:
>> 
>>> I'm running OpenSuse 10.2 (X86_64) and KDE 3.5.5 release 45 I
>>> have an ac97 soundcard as part of the motherboard (K8N4-E). And
>>> I'm new to Linux too.
>>> 
>>> I have a high-end 3D animation application that I can't get any
>>> sound out of, neither warning sounds nor audio files.  I have set
>>> KDE to auto-suspend the sound system if it is idle for more than
>>> 2 seconds and I have made sure that the sound card is configured
>>> as card 0. Setting the sound card to auto-detect or ALSA had no
>>> impact on the application.
>>> 
>>> What else can I check to see why this happens? It was suggested
>>> that other programs like Firefox might grab the sound system, but
>>> I've tried it with no other apps running and still have the same
>>> results. I'll be communicating with the app's manufacturer about
>>> this, what questions should I be asking them about how their
>>> application handles sound?
>>> 
>> 
>> I really hate it when this happens -- and I mean it, similar stuff 
>> happens to me.
>> 
>> The first thing to do is see if you can get sound from a KDE 
>> application, or go to the Control Center: Sound System and click
>> the "Test Sound" button.
>> 
> James,
> 
> Thanks for responding. I am able to get sound out of KDE, realplayer,
>  vlc, firefox, just about everything except this one application. Any
>  other thoughts what I can look into?
>
(Please don't top post)

The first possibility that I can think of is that this application 
doesn't support ALSA and your OSS emulation isn't working.

This leads to a complicated question.  Is ALSA built into your Kernel or 
installed as modules?  If installed it is modules, they should be in:

	/lib/modules/<version>/kernel/sound/

and subdirectories.

If modules check for the directory:

	/lib/modules/2.6.23n/kernel/sound/core/oss/

which should contain a few files (mine has 2).

If installed as modules, you must have the correct configuration 
information in /etc/modules.conf.  Presuming that you have only one 
sound card, this should be:

	alias char-major-14 soundcore
	alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

If ALSA is built into the Kernal, the most likely problem would be that 
something was missing from the Kernal.

-- 
JRT