Sound enabled on FC5

At last!  I have sound on my Fedora Core 5.  After all the attempts, music sounded so sweet.

With my Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 board, which came with the Realtek ALC883 chip, the ALSA package that came with Fedora Core 5 didn’t work.

So here’s how to get it working.

1. Make sure that your Azalia codec is enabled in your BIOS.
2. Install the Linux kernel’s header files.  You will need this to compile the latest version of ALSA.
3. Download the ALSA driver package, util package and the lib package.  At least version 1.0.13.
4. Set the CONFIG_SND_HDA_INTEL in your  /boot/config-<kernel version>.smp to “y”.  Not sure if this is really necessary, but someone mentioned to do this.
5. Compile the ALSA packages and install them.  If this part fails, read the instructions carefully again.  I shameless reused Realtek’s install script by modifying to suit the latest version of ALSA.  You can use it too if you like.  I’m assuming that you know your shell scripting.  I’m copying it below as WordPress.com doesn’t allow me to attach the file due to security reasons…
6. After installation, run the alsaconf program to identify your sound device.
7. After alsaconf, reboot your Linux.  I think there’s a way without resorting to rebooting, but I was in a reboot mood and it worked for me.

I was in the reboot mood because I had tried so many different ways to get the sound going.  In the end, it was the technician that didn’t connect the front audio jack correctly.  I managed to get the sound after connecting to the back audio jack.

I was slightly disappointed as none of the players that I tried could produce the sound quality that compliments my Sennheiser HD595 headphones.  So far, RealPlayer produced the clearest and tightest notes on the high end.  The bass was a bit weak.  I’m not sure if it’s the hardware, or the codecs used by the players.

Anyway, I hope that helps you in setting your sound device up.

===install script===

#!/bin/sh

######## VERSION 1.0 ########

KERNEL_VER=`uname -r`

#. ./version

#echo “…..Decompress Driver source v1.0.12-$ver”
#tar xvpfj alsa-driver-1.0.12-$ver.tar.bz2 > /dev/null 2>&1
#echo “…..Decompress ALSA Library source v1.0.9”
#tar xvpfj alsa-lib-1.0.9.tar.bz2 > /dev/null 2>&1
#echo “…..Decompress ALSA Utility v1.09a”
#tAr xvpfj alsa-utils-1.0.9a.tar.bz2 >/dev/null 2>&1
#echo “…..Decompress XRealMixer v0.5”
#tar xvpfj xrmix-0.5.tar.bz2 > /dev/null 2>&1
sync

echo “Remove old sound driver”
if [ -d /lib/modules/$KERNEL_VER/kernel/sound ]; then
rm -rf /lib/modules/$KERNEL_VER/kernel/sound/pci > /dev/null 2>&1
rm -rf /lib/modules/$KERNEL_VER/kernel/sound/acore > /dev/null 2>&1
rm -rf /lib/modules/$KERNEL_VER/kernel/sound/driver > /dev/null 2>&1
fi
## remove driver modules
if [ -f /etc/rc.d/init.d/alsasound ]; then
/etc/init.d/alsasound stop
rmmod snd-page-alloc > /dev/null 2>&1
rmmod soundcore > /dev/null 2>&1
fi

sleep 2

echo “Compile Driver……..”
cd alsa-driver-1.0.13
./configure
make
make install
./snddevices
cd ..

## for x86
echo “Remove old alsa library”
rm -rf /lib/libasound.* > /dev/null 2>&1
rm -rf /lib64/libasound.* > /dev/null 2>&1
rm -rf /usr/lib/libasound.* > /dev/null 2>&1
rm -rf /usr/lib64/libasound.* > /dev/null 2>&1

echo “Compile ALSA Library…..”
cd alsa-lib-1.0.13
./configure
make
make install
cd ..

echo “Compile ALSA Utility……”
cd alsa-utils-1.0.13
./configure
make
make install
cd ..

#echo “Comiple XrealMixer……”
#cd ./

## for x86_64
if [ -d /usr/lib64 ]; then
cp -lf /usr/lib/libasound.* /usr/lib64
cp -lf /usr/lib/pkgconfig/alsa.pc /usr/lib64/pkgconfig
ldconfig -n /usr/lib64
fi

sleep 1

## del audio stat file
if [ -f /etc/asound.state ]; then
rm -rf /etc/asound.state > /dev/null 2>&1
fi

## alsa driver sndstat file relink
rm -rf /dev/sndstat > /dev/null 2>&1
ln -s /proc/asound/oss/sndstat /dev/sndstat

## sample wave
if [ -d /usr/share/sounds/alsa ]; then
bzip2 -d test.wav.bz2
cp -f test.wav /usr/share/sounds/alsa
bzip2 test.wav
else
mkdir /usr/share/sounds/alsa
bzip2 -d test.wav.bz2
cp -f test.wav /usr/share/sounds/alsa
bzip2 test.wav
fi

#echo “Remove Folder…..”
#rm -rf alsa-driver-1.0.12-$ver > /dev/null
#rm -rf alsa-lib-1.0.9 > /dev/null
#rm -rf alsa-utils-1.0.9a > /dev/null
alsaconf
===end of script===