Linux Brain Dump

Here is how I added sound to my Fedora 7 install on my Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard, which has Realtek ALC888 onboard hi-def audio chip:

1. Download the drivers from the Realtek here. Use the “Others” link in the Unix(Linux) table, as the other three entries are pretty old by this point. Untar the file.
2. Open a root terminal window and add /sbin and /usr/sbin to the path, as you’re going to need the ‘alsaconf’ utility found in /usr/sbin. I’m not sure why these aren’t added to the root user’s path by default anyway!
   # export PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:$PATH
3. Change to the directory where you unpacked the driver. If you downloaded the file to your desktop and just untarred it there, the command would look something like:
   #cd ~yourusername/Desktop/realtek-linux-audiopack-4.06b
4. Run ‘./install.sh’
5. Select the default options when alsaconf runs. It adds an ’snd-hda-intel’ driver.
6. This still didn’t work for me and running the ‘aplay’ command explained it. That’s the problem with GUIs sometimes - error messages can get lost. When I tried to use the aplay command, all became clear:
   # aplay /usr/share/sounds/startup3.wav
ALSA lib pcm_direct.c:1590:(snd_pcm_direct_parse_open_conf) The field ipc_gid must be a valid group (create group audio)
aplay: main:545: audio open error: Invalid argument
   Tells me right away what to do - create the audio group. So the next step is:
   # groupadd audio
   Now playing sounds works fine.

The other hitch you might run into is that the mixer is messed up. For KDE, just run the kmix program and adjust sliders until you hear something.