Fwd: Sound on amd64

[Kurt Buff]

On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 1:20 PM, Frank Shute <frank at shute.org.uk> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 07, 2008 at 01:41:34PM -0700, Kurt Buff wrote:
>>
>> First, my apologies - I sent my last missive to Conrad, and not to the
>> list. I'm replying to myself with an update. Details below.
>>
>> Kurt
>>
>> On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Kurt Buff <kurt.buff at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 2:24 PM, Conrad J. Sabatier <conrads at cox.net> wrote:
>> >> On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:25:58 +0200
>> >> Tore Lund <tl32 at next.online.no> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> Kurt Buff wrote:
>> >>> > On Sat, Jul 5, 2008 at 8:48 PM, Conrad J. Sabatier <conrads at cox.net>
>> >>> > wrote:
>> >>> >> On Sat, 5 Jul 2008 19:02:09 -0700
>> >>> >> "Kurt Buff" <kurt.buff at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> >> ...
>> >>> >> Do you have both the generic sound support (sound) as well as the
>> >>> >> specific hardware driver enabled in your kernel config?
>> >>> >
>> >>> > Sigh. Always something new to learn.
>> >>>
>> >>> Just wondering, why do people modify the kernel when kernel loadable
>> >>> modules can handle the sound card?  Is it necessary on some types of
>> >>> hardware?
>> >>
>> >> Well, probably the main reason most people do it is to strip away any
>> >> unneeded functionality.  The GENERIC kernel contains a whole slew of
>> >> drivers and options that most people don't need, but are intended to
>> >> support a wide range of hardware configurations "out of the box".  You
>> >> can greatly reduce the kernel's size by only including the features you
>> >> really need.
>> >
>> > I tried a new kernel, but that didn't work, for whatever reason, but
>> > editing loader.conf did, sort of. I tried adding
>> >
>> > sound_load="YES"
>> > snd_hda_load="YES"
>> > hint.pcm.0.config="gpio0 gpio1 gpio2 gpio3 gpio4 gpio5 gpio6 gpio7"
>> >
>> > but while the cd player now works, I'm not getting output from the
>> > built-in speakers - it just sounds like it's coming from a long way
>> > away - I can barely make it out. I suppose that means it's coming from
>> > the headphone setup, but I'm not sure of that.
>> >
>> > I've been googling, but haven't figured this out yet.
>> >
>> > Kurt
>>
>> More careful reading shows that the hint line goes in
>> /boot/device.hints, but placing it there does not improve the
>> situation, though the sound does seem to be emitting from the
>> speakers. It's just that it's very soft, and I can't get it any
>> louder, though using the slider control in gnome will silence it.
>>
>> This is a recent Thinkpad T61, and grepping dmesg reveals that the
>> sound system is detected as an Intel 82801H, and the codec used seems
>> to be the Analog Devices AD1984.
>>
>> I'm running 7-STABLE, updated on Saturday.
>>
>> Thoughts on how to improve this would be much appreciated.
>> Kurt
>
> Have you had a play with mixer(8)?
>
> E.g:
>
> $ mixer vol
> Mixer vol      is currently set to  75:75
> $ mixer vol 70:70
> Setting the mixer vol from 75:75 to 70:70.
>
> Obviously, you'd want to raise the volume rather than reduce it like I
> just did.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
>
>  Frank

Well, whaddya know? :)

vol was set to 75:75, pcm to 75:75 and speaker to 81:81.

Cranked it up to 100 across the board, and I'm now rockin'!

ZZTop's greatest hits are now playing just fine...


Thanks!

Now, on to the touchpad/trackstick - but I'll research it first before
asking questions...

Kurt