ALSA on packages.debian.org

[fguy64]

greetings.

I started with a bare bones Lenny install, and now I have the gnome-core up and running, but no sound as of yet, my computer is a Dell PIII with a pretty generic PCI64 SB clone audio card

On the pages for Lenny-stable at packages.debian.org, there is the following statement about alsa-base

For ALSA to work on a system with a given sound card, there must be an ALSA driver for that card in the kernel. Linux 2.6 as shipped in linux-image packages contains ALSA drivers for all supported sound cards in the form of loadable modules.

Now I can see in my Sound preferences applet that it appears as though an Ensoniq card is detected. There are also ALSA options in the various drop down lists on the devices tab. Synaptic package manager says alsa-base is not installed, and the little volume control on my top panel as a red & white x on it (meaning disabled I guess).

So do I conclude that I need to install drivers via the package alsa-base? I would have thought that the Linux kernel of Debian 5.0.4 would have included support for such a generic card

[GNU-Fan]

The red&small X may also simply mean muted.

Let's bypass GNOME for a moment and talk directly to ALSA. In a terminal, type alsamixer and see what you get.

[fguy64]

linux1:~# alsamixer
-bash: alsamixer: command not found
linux1:~#

[GNU-Fan]

Well, install the alsa-utils then