No Sound antiX11 on SBAWE64

kitsuncle · posted: 2011-08-22 03:19

I have a story, maybe not very interesting. I have an oldish pentium III (1GHz, 384 MB ram). I was ramping up with UBUNTU until 10.04 failed to function for me. I figured 'its too big and I'm too small'. I loaded Mepis 8.0, then 8.5 and started learning KDE. Very stable, very good OS. However, No sound. I managed to download and install Mepis11 (external DVD drive and Unetbootn). Aha! Sound. Alas! Crash. From pain comes knowledge. Again, I concluded 'big OS in a small bag'. I courtesy-look antiX. 'Based on Mepis11, small OS in a big bag'. Sound has to work. Not so.

I did: DMESG | grep -i -C 5 isapnp only to discover MEPIS11 and MEPIS8.5 recognize my ISA sound card (Creative AWE64) while antiX11 does not. In fact antiX does not explore ISA PNP. The one clue in the newbie forum post suggests that ISA sound cards are archaic. I did: modprobe -l | grep -i snd-sd and found MEPIS11 had the useful module (driver in linux-speak) 'snd-SBAWE64' while MEPIS 8.5 and antiX11 do not. I suppose there is a library update somewhere that a package-manager can download that will help Mepis8.5. But what is the solution for antiX11?

My system:

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root@antiX1:/home/demo# inxi -F
System:    Host antiX1 Kernel 2.6.36-1-mepis i686 (32 bit) Distro antiX-M11-486 Jayaben Desai 01 May 2011
CPU:       Single core Pentium III (Coppermine) (-UP-) cache 256 KB flags (sse) bmips 2004.6 clocked at 1002.301 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: nVidia NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440] bus-ID: 01:00.0 X.org 1.9.5 Res: 98x35 Gfx Data: N/A for root 
Audio:     Card Failed to Detect Sound Card!
Network:   Card Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ driver 8139too v: 0.9.28 port e800 bus-ID: 00:0d.0
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 162.0GB (13.9% used) 1: /dev/sda WDC_WD1600AAJB 160.0GB 
           2: USB /dev/sdb USB_SD_Reader 2.0GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 16M used: 105K (1%) fs: rootfs ID:swap-1 size: 0.50GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Info:      Processes 101 Uptime 1:57 Memory 121.5/375.0MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell inxi 1.4.95

and:

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root@antiX1:/lib/modules/2.6.36-1-mepis# pwd
            /lib/modules/2.6.36-1-mepis

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root@antiX1:/lib/modules/2.6.36-1-mepis# modprobe -l | grep -i snd-sb > /mnt/sdb1/AntiX11_stuff/modprobe.txt
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb16-dsp.ko
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb-common.ko

and:

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root@antiX1:/home/demo# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C693A/694x [Apollo PRO133x] (rev c2)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 22)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 10)
00:07.4 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 30)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 62)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 62)
00:0b.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 65)
00:0b.3 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306/7/8 [Fire II(M)] IEEE 1394 OHCI Controller (rev 46)
00:0d.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440] (rev a3)

From MEPIS11:

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[root@proteus 2.6.36-1-mepis-smp]# pwd
/lib/modules/2.6.36-1-mepis-smp
[root@proteus 2.6.36-1-mepis-smp]# modprobe -l | grep snd-sb > /media/disk/mepis11_stuff/modprobe.txt
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb8-dsp.ko
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb8.ko
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb16-csp.ko
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb16.ko
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb16-dsp.ko
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sbawe.ko
kernel/sound/isa/sb/snd-sb-common.ko

Finally, allow me to observe you people are amazing. Awake past midnite, ON SUNDAY, and tending to the ignorundi. Don't look it up. Its us. I am also gratified to see all the really old systems kept alive by antiX and linux in general.

Edited by rokytnji __{{emoticon}}__ to be easier to read.

rokytnji · posted: 2011-08-22 08:57

MEPIS11 had the useful module

Ok. Can you post the output of inxi -F while running Mepis 11 Live, (I am assuming sound works in Mepis 11 while running live). So we can see exactly what is going on with your sound chip in Mepis 11.

I find it a little strange that it works in Mepis 11 and not AntiX 11 as my understanding is that both use kernel 2.6.36-1-mepis-smp . So same modules should be enabled at boot. Anti may enlighten us better on that though.

Did you do a md5sum on the downloaded AntiX 11 iso before you burned a cd image. It is pretty much old habit/step for me as a step that rules out corrupted downloaded iso image. Another habit is I burn at 4x speeds or lower when possible burning a cd.

Lastly, Howdy and Welcome from the deserts of West Texas and Happy Trails, Rok __{{emoticon}}__

kitsuncle · posted: 2011-08-22 14:03

Hah! Trick question. 'inxi' is not a Mepis command. ("bash: inxi: command not found"). I rather think that the results in Mepis would be the same since the system is the same, except for the OS ID and the missing sound card. Perhaps this bit of the dmesg log from Mepis will help:

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[root@proteus kitsuncle]# dmesg | grep isapnp -i -C 4
[    1.445943] vesafb: Truecolor: size=0:5:6:5, shift=0:11:5:0
[    1.472595] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 100x37
[    1.498365] fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device
[    1.498548] ERST: Table is not found!
[    1.498581] isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
[    1.622026] pnp 01:01.00: increased option port range from 0x388-0x388 to 0x388-0x3f8
[    1.622035] pnp 01:01.00: increased option port range from 0x388-0x388 to 0x388-0x3f8
[    1.622044] pnp 01:01.00: increased option port range from 0x388-0x388 to 0x388-0x3f8
[    1.622158] pnp 01:01.02: added ioport region 0xe20-0xe20 to set 0
[    1.622166] pnp 01:01.02: added ioport region 0xa20-0xa20 to set 0
[    1.622174] pnp 01:01.02: added ioport region 0xe20-0xe80 to set 1
[    1.622182] pnp 01:01.02: added ioport region 0xa20-0xa80 to set 1
[    1.622246]  01:01: card 'Creative SB AWE64 PnP'
[    1.622253] isapnp: 1 Plug & Play card detected total
[    1.622830] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[    1.623139] agpgart: Detected VIA Apollo Pro 133 chipset
[    1.627365] agpgart-via 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xe0000000
[    1.627432] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled

Mepis8.5 has a similar segment while antiX11 does not.

I have both Mepis11 and Mepis8.5 installed on harddrive partitions. A working antiX11 will replace one of them.

I always check MD5sum. I believe I grabbed the distros from the ibiblio mirror.

You know, I have the nagging suspicion that I should be using antiX11-686 instead of -486. Suppose that could be the issue?

Been to Texas, sort of. I was impressed by how friendly everyone was. Up here in the northwest, we don't much have any desert, just sand traps. Tee time is ten. Thanks again.

rokytnji · posted: 2011-08-23 00:13

Help! I thought inxi was in Mepis 11. __{{emoticon}}__ (I knew there was some reasons, that I forgot, on why I would not run Mepis as far as command line tools went. Kde4 was another reason.)

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/"
linktext was:"http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/"
====================================

Try the above link in AntiX11 and Mepis 11 and post back results links so I can see what the heck Mepis 11 is doing that AntiX11 is not doing.

For installing inxi in Mepis.

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Inxi"
linktext was:"http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Inxi"
====================================

I am lost on interpreting your

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dmesg | grep isapnp -i -C 4

command readout. Maybe one of the other forum readers is a better interpreter than I.

kitsuncle · posted: 2011-08-23 05:51

inxi--Mepis11:

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[root@proteus bin]# inxi -F
System:    Host: proteus Kernel: 2.6.36-1-mepis-smp i686 (32 bit) Desktop KDE 4.5.3 Distro: MEPIS 11.0 squeeze
Machine:   System: VIA product: VT82C692BX                                                                               
           Mobo: <http://www.abit.com.tw> model: 694X-686A(VT6X4 VA6) Bios: Award version: 6.00 PG date: 08/10/2000      
CPU:       Single core Pentium III (Coppermine) (-UP-) cache: 256 KB flags: (sse) clocked at 1002.167 MHz                
Graphics:  Card: nVidia NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440]                                                                           
           X.org: 1.7.7 drivers: nv (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) tty size: 121x33 Advanced Data: N/A for root                  
Audio:     Card: Sound Blaster 16 driver: SB AWE Sound: ALSA ver: 1.0.23                                                 
Network:   Card: Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ driver: 8139too                                                           
           IF: eth0 state: down speed: 10 Mbps duplex: half mac: 00:40:f4:6e:3e:29                                       
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 162.0GB (3.4% used) 1: /dev/sda WDC_WD1600AAJB 160.0GB                                        
           2: USB /dev/sdb USB_SD_Reader 2.0GB                                                                           
Partition: ID: / size: 9.2G used: 3.8G (44%) fs: ext3 ID: swap-1 size: 0.50GB used: 0.14GB (28%) fs: swap                
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 145.5C mobo: 30.3C                                                                  
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 3857 fan-2: 0                                                                       
Info:      Processes: 148 Uptime: 36 min Memory: 269.8/374.2MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.7.23

The kmuto results are:

PCI ID Works? Vendor Device Driver Kernel
11060691 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C693A/694x [Apollo PRO133x] agpgart
11068598 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP] ignore
11060686 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] parport_pc v2.6.25-
11060571 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE pata_via v2.6.25-
11063057 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] via686a,i2c-viapro v2.6.25-
11063038 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller usb-uhci,uhci-hcd
11063038 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller usb-uhci,uhci-hcd
11063104 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 ehci-hcd
11063044 Yes VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6306/7/8 [Fire II(M)] IEEE 1394 OHCI Controller ohci1394
10ec8139 Yes Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ 8139cp,8139too v2.6.25-
10de0171 Yes nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440] nv

As you might guess the results are invariant between Mepis and antiX.
The kmuto site says ISA (among other devices) are not interpreted. I believe the ISA card is VT82C598/694x and is 'ignored'.

My ISA sound card is a"sound card" in the same way a winmodem is a"modem". Its a firmware emulation of a device, but not a device itself. At least thats how I think of it. Mepis explores my ISA card for"devices", whereas antioX (-486, at least) does not. I'm going to see if -686 acts any differently.

Film at 11.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2011-08-23 15:28

I think the ignored device is your AGP port. I'm guessing you are using integrated video (nvidia based). the drivers should be in the kernel, but I am interested in how your experiment with the x686 version works out.

you can also try running the alsa configuration routine, which will probe for legacy non-pnp ISA cards and PNP cards. You can run it from the Antix control center under hardware - configure sound system, or from the command line as root : alsaconf

kitsuncle · posted: 2011-08-24 14:53

I think this where I go"Doh!" The -686 version seems to have done all the right things. My new antiX partition:

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root@Proteus:/home/kitsuncle# inxi -F
System:    Host Proteus Kernel 2.6.36-1-mepis-smp i686 (32 bit) Distro antiX-M11-686 Jayaben Desai 01 May 2011
CPU:       Single core Pentium III (Coppermine) (-UP-) cache 256 KB flags (sse) bmips 2004.3 clocked at 1002.150 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: nVidia NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440] bus-ID: 01:00.0 X.org 1.9.5 Res: 126x24 Gfx Data: N/A for root 
Audio:     Card Sound Blaster 16 driver SB AWE
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.23
Network:   Card Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ driver 8139too v: 0.9.28 port e800 bus-ID: 00:0d.0
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 162.0GB (2.2% used) 1: /dev/sda WDC_WD1600AAJB 160.0GB 
           2: USB /dev/sdb USB_SD_Reader 2.0GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 9.2G used: 2.1G (24%) fs: ext3 ID:swap-1 size: 0.50GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Info:      Processes 98 Uptime 51 min Memory 95.9/374.2MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell inxi 1.4.95

Not sure why -486 doesn't behave the same, except that its not been designed to do so.

By the way, I went to the ALSA CONFIGURATOR as you suggested, but with -486, it did not have the appropriate modules. With -686, it found the 'sb16' module, but had trouble configuring it. Not me. I just rebooted.

Thanks for everything Rok. And now on to the next"Doh!"

anticapitalista · posted: 2011-08-24 15:05

Glad you got sound going and a welcome to antiX.

BTW: No need to run inxi as root and you can/should update it regularly with inxi -U (as root or user)