# gentoo-dev-sources + alsa?

## chiatello

ok well do  i need to get some other alsa libs or whatnot, with the 2.6.8 kernel ??

or do i just need a mixer?

thanks

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## tutaepaki

Nope! Drivers are in the kernel. You just need the alsa-utils. (provides the mixer)

Having just experianced much pain with alsa, some things to check...

if you're upgrading from a 2.4 kernel, make sure you remove alsa-driver, otherwise it'll cause you problems. (including trying to bring the 2.4 sources back all the time)

check your /var/cache/edb/virtuals file. It should contain an entry like

virtual/alsa sys-kernel/gentoo-dev-sources. If it doesn't, or the entry also includes alsa-driver, more problems.

tut.

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## lusken

Do I only need alsa-utils? What about alsa-lib and alsa-headers?

I use gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.8 and qpkg tells me this 

 *Quote:*   

> # qpkg -I -q alsa
> 
> media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.5-r3 *
> 
> DEPENDED ON BY:
> ...

 

Can I emerge -C all alsa but alsa-utils?

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## tutaepaki

alsa heafers and libs are dependancies of utils, so you shouldn't remove them. 

A emerge -duvta alsa-utils will tell you which are actually required.

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## GentOr

i made the kernel 2.6.7 r11 with sound car sport

but now it dosn't work 

when i boot,a red error shows:

can't load alsa driver,have you install it

what can i do

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## GentOr

then i try to emerge it,there are errors:

c

```
hecking for kernel version... 2.6.7-gentoo-r11

checking for GCC version... Kernel compiler: gcc 3.3.3 20040412 (Gentoo Linux 3. 3.3-r6, ssp-3.3.2-2, pie-8.7.6) Used compiler: gcc (GCC) 3.3.3 20040412 (Gentoo Linux 3.3.3-r6, ssp-3.3.2-2, pie-8.7.6)

checking for built-in ALSA... "yes"

configure: error: You have built-in ALSA in your kernel.

 

!!! ERROR: media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.5a failed.

!!! Function econf, Line 362, Exitcode 1

!!! econf failed
```

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## lusken

you migth also watch this thread 

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=227612&highlight=

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## cpdsaorg

i am having the same problem with this. everytime I do an update it asks to install:

```

# emerge -upv alsa-utils

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!

[ebuild  N    ] media-sound/alsa-headers-1.0.6a 

[ebuild  N    ] sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.4.26-r9  -build -doc 

[ebuild  N    ] media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.6a  -debug -oss 

[ebuild     U ] media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.6 [1.0.5-r3] -jack -static 

[ebuild     U ] media-sound/alsa-utils-1.0.6 [1.0.5] 

```

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## cmoad

 *Quote:*   

> i am having the same problem with this. everytime I do an update it asks to install:

 

ditto....

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## erikedin

Okay, so I had the same problem you all had... Tried installing alsa-utils, but alsa-driver complained that I had ALSA compiled into my 2.6.7 kernel...

So I did this:

```
emerge --nodeps alsa-lib dialog alsa-utils
```

which got everything but alsa-driver installed.

Sound works for me now...

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## zpet731

So let me get this straight. If you are merging from 2.4 to 2.6 what steps do you need to take with ALSA drivers in order not to have trouble with previously used drivers? Are the drivers the only things to remove?

Thanks,

Zoran

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## cmoad

Since alsa is built into the 2.6 kernel it only makes sense that you should remove the alsa-driver package.  You can still use it if you choose, but then you have to re-emerge the package everytime you update your kernel.

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## tutaepaki

yeah! If you upgrade from a 2.4 kernel, you need to emerge -C alsa-driver. Otherwise you'll get those errors coz the alsa support is built into the 2.6 kernel. And alsa-driver has the 2.4 kernel as a dependancy so it'll keep trying to bring that in too.

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## cpdsaorg

I think the dependancy chain is longer than just alsa-driver wantin linux 2.4 heaaders. anyone know the whole story? currently i have alsa-utils installed and it depends on alsa-lib that depends on alsa-driver that depends on alsa-headers and kernel 2.4. help

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## cpdsaorg

ok here is my solution. I emerged:

media-sound/alsa-headers-1.0.6a 

media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.6 

media-sound/alsa-utils-1.0.6 

utils seem to be dependant on headers and lib.

but now i get major static when playing back any audio from streams to mp3's to video...

help.

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## cmoad

Solutions usually imply no problems.  :Wink: 

I get major static/crackling when my mixer is turned to 100%.  I suggest running "alsamixer" and bringing master to 50-75%.  PCM can be 100% still, and so can everything else.  Hope this works.

- Charlie

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## cpdsaorg

I uninstalled alsa-headers, alsa-lib, alsa-utils and then emerged gnome-alsamixer hoping this would make a diffence. 

Gnome-alsamixer depends on alsa-headers, alsa-lib, and dev-util/desktop-file-utils

I also reduced my master to about 25% with no noticable reduction of the static/crackeling sound.

Then I started to really play around in the mixer and noticed that I can mute everything but the master and pcm and i will still get the crackeling noise. no playback of music but I get a nice crakle.

I tried replacing the new alsa-lib with the old by removing it and alsa-headers but i now get the same result  :Sad: 

then i added "options snd-via82xx index=0 dxs_support=3" to /etc/modules.d/alsa and restarted /etc/ini.d/alsasound and it complained about not having alsa-utils but the sound was perfect. 

reemerged alsa-utils and the crakling came back. someone mentioned that playback shold be set to 48Mhz somehow. is there a way to change that in xmms? currently it plays everything at 44Khz.

emerge -C alsa-utils took care of the static/crackeling problem. but now i get an error when alsasound starts...

help?

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## cpdsaorg

now don't this beat all!! 

I performed an "emerge sync" today and then did a "emerge -upvD world" to check what was new. Guess what? They masked the new version of alsa-lib 1.0.6 again!! they want us to go back to 1.0.5-r3 

```
# emerge -upvD world

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating world dependencies ...done!

[ebuild  N    ] sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.4.26-r9  -build -doc  0 kB

[ebuild  N    ] media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.6a  -debug -oss  0 kB

[ebuild     UD] media-libs/alsa-lib-1.0.5-r3 [1.0.6] -jack -static  0 kB
```

should I stick with version 1.0.6 or go back to 1.0.5-r3 and then try to emerge the old alsa-utils again to see if the static comes back?? (why not)

bug report #65347.

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