Configure Ubuntu (linux) sound

Hi everyone,

I just installed Ubuntu June 2006 version on my x86 Pentium 4 PC. I have a HUGH problem configuring the sound / multimedia system.

I have a C-Media 9880 sound card manufactured in Taiwan. Currently the Volume Control can let me choose between:

a) C-Media CMI 9880 (OSS Mixer) or
b) HDA Intel (Alsa Mixer)

#1 Here is my lspci output:

john@john-desktop:~$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL Processor to I/O Controller (rev 04)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL PCI Express Root Port (rev 04)
0000:00:1b.0 0403: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
0000:00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d3)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FR (ICH6/ICH6R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FW (ICH6/ICH6W) SATA Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
0000:02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 19)
0000:04:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 5B60 [Radeon X300 (PCIE)]
0000:04:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 [Radeon X300SE]

#2 When I run gstreamer-properties at command prompt:
Audio Default plug in: autodetect
Default input plug in: ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
but when I press test button, NO SOUND output!!

#3 Aplay -l output:

john@john-desktop:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CMI9880 [CMI9880]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: CMI9880 Digital [CMI9880 Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

#4 Ubuntu forum suggested changes: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=44753

I don't how to change file permissions in /etc/esound/ such that I can overrwrite the existing esd.conf with

john@john-desktop:/etc/esound$ chmod u=rwx,g=rwx,o=rwx esd.conf
chmod: changing permissions of `esd.conf': Operation not permitted

john@john-desktop:/etc/esound$ ls -la *
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 198 2006-07-20 22:23 esd.conf

Desired changes according to Ubuntu forum:
==========================================
# Make /etc/esound/esd.conf look like this:
Code:

[esd]
auto_spawn=1
spawn_options=-terminate -nobeeps -as 2 -d default
spawn_wait_ms=100 # default options are used in spawned and non-spawned mode
default_options=

Q>> Can someone please help me to configure my sound card properly as I am a novice in Unix!!

Many thanks, and take care, John! (jcylo2000@yahoo.com)

Comments

Hi John,

You mentioned that you are a novice - please let me know if you need more details.

In Ubuntu, the preferred method for doing things which require root access is to use the 'sudo' command. This allows you to execute commands as another user. If you don't specify a user name, the sudo executes the command as root.

So, you need to do something along the following lines:
john@john-desktop:/etc/esound$ sudo gedit esd.conf

This should allow you to open the file as root, and therefore have permission to write to the file.

I hope this helps,
Adam