# /dev/dsp or /dev/snd ?

## blob2004

I'm trying to get skype working and much mention is made of /dev/dsp,  yet I don't have one!

$ ls /dev/dsp

ls: /dev/dsp: No such file or directory

Should I have /dev/dsp?

I do have /dev/snd:

$ ls /dev/snd

controlC0  pcmC0D0c  pcmC0D0p  pcmC0D1c  seq  timer

Help!  I'm a little lost here!!

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## NeddySeagoon

blob2004,

/dev/dsp is the OSS sound device. On gentoo it will be a symbolic link to /dev/sound/dsp/

/dev/snd contains your native ALSA device special files

/dev/sound contains your OSS device files. ALSA can provide emulation, since you may not have ALSA and real OSS installed together.

If your /dev/sound is empty or missing, you don't have ALSAs OSS emulation installed. How you go about that depends 

on where you got ALSA from. The kernel or alsa-drivers ?

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## blob2004

Found it.  I am using in-kernel drivers but didn't check the OSS options in Alsa.  All is good now!

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## Coume

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> blob2004,
> 
> /dev/dsp is the OSS sound device. On gentoo it will be a symbolic link to /dev/sound/dsp/
> 
> /dev/snd contains your native ALSA device special files
> ...

 

I have the same problem using the alsa from kernel.

I upgraded my kernel from 2.6.8 to 2.6.15 which required me to install udev and now, /dev/dsp is gone.

and I can't seem to find a way to solve that :/

I don't down if this could help:

 *Quote:*   

> erebos ~ # /etc/init.d/alsasound restart
> 
>  * Unloading ALSA ...
> 
>  * Storing ALSA Mixer Levels
> ...

 

Ludo

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## NeddySeagoon

Coume,

There are reports of some versions of udev not creating sound devices.

Try 

```
udevstart
```

if that doesn't help, look for an update to udev.

----------

## Coume

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> Coume,
> 
> There are reports of some versions of udev not creating sound devices.
> 
> Try 
> ...

 

Hello,

I use latest gentoo-sources and udev. I also tried udevstart with no luck...

 *Quote:*   

> erebos ~ # emerge -vp udev
> 
> These are the packages that I would merge, in order:
> 
> Calculating dependencies ...done!
> ...

 

any other idea?

thxs for trying to help!

Ludo

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## NeddySeagoon

Coume,

Any sound related errors in dmesg ?

If not, post your lsmod output.

----------

## Coume

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> Coume,
> 
> Any sound related errors in dmesg ?
> 
> If not, post your lsmod output.

 

here is all I can find in my dmesg related to sound:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.10rc3 (Mon Nov 07 13:30:21 2005 UTC).
> 
> ALSA device list:
> ...

 

this is weird because I'm able to output sound with amarok which use the xine engine and not the /dev/dsp etc.

something else about sound in dmesg

 *Quote:*   

> intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 58546 usecs
> 
> intel8x0: clocking to 48000

 

and here is my lsmod

 *Quote:*   

> # lsmod
> 
> Module                  Size  Used by
> 
> snd_intel8x0           29852  2 
> ...

 

what do u think?

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Coume,

These modules

```
snd_intel8x0 29852 2

snd_ac97_codec 91296 1 snd_intel8x0

snd_ac97_bus 3072 1 snd_ac97_codec

snd_pcm 79748 3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec

snd_page_alloc 9608 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm 
```

provide ALSA sound. So I expect you have a populated /dev/snd,

please check.

To get OSS sound devices you need the ALSA OSS emulation modules.

What does

```
/sbin/modprobe -l -t oss
```

show you ?

```
/lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/kernel/sound/core/seq/oss/snd-seq-oss.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-pcm-oss.ko

/lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-mixer-oss.ko
```

The full path name is not important, just the files at the end. If you have them, modprobe them and look in /dev/sound

If not, you need to get the ALSA OSS emulation modues the same way as you installed ALSA.

----------

## Coume

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> Coume,
> 
> These modules
> 
> ```
> ...

 

I do have a populated /dev/snd/

 *Quote:*   

> erebos ~ # ls /dev/snd/
> 
> controlC0  pcmC0D0c   pcmC0D0p   pcmC0D1c   pcmC0D2c   pcmC0D3c   pcmC0D4p   seq        timer

 

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> 
> 
> To get OSS sound devices you need the ALSA OSS emulation modules.
> 
> What does
> ...

 

it gives me almost like you with the seq missing:

 *Quote:*   

> erebos ~ # /sbin/modprobe -l -t oss
> 
> /lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-pcm-oss.ko
> 
> /lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-mixer-oss.ko

 

but I can't modprobe them, it gives me an error:

 *Quote:*   

> erebos ~ # modprobe /lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-pcm-oss.ko
> 
> FATAL: Module /lib/modules/2.6.15_gentoo_r1/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd_pcm_oss.ko not found.
> 
> erebos ~ # modprobe /lib/modules/2.6.15-gentoo-r1/kernel/sound/core/oss/snd-mixer-oss.ko
> ...

 

when you look the 2 FATAL lines, there is a very weird thing... the hyphens became underscores could the problem come from there????

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Coume,

The underscore and hypen are interchangeable to modprobe.

modprobe does not expect a full pathname.

Try 

```
modprobe snd-pcm-oss
```

I think that pulls in snd-mixer-oss, if not modprobe that too.

----------

## Coume

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> Coume,
> 
> The underscore and hypen are interchangeable to modprobe.
> 
> modprobe does not expect a full pathname.
> ...

 

Thxs NeddySeagoon!

It worked. I added snd-pcm-oss to my autoloaded modules and it is now working...

Cheers,

Ludo

----------

