Please Help: ALSA fullduplex not working after HDINSTALL

[soapee01]

Sorry, but this will be a bit long winded.

Background
I'm are trying to get gnomemeeting working. My motherboard is an ECS k7s5a Pro with built in sound (C-Media CMI9738/4CH AC'97 CODEC). When running gnomemeeting after knx-hdinstall and following the howto upgrade to unstable, I'm getting an error during setup that said something like "cannot write to /dev/dsp" Figured out this has something to do with fullduplex not being enabled. Note: I did not use the "knoppix alsa" cheatcode when I booted before the knx-hdinstall, but I did run /etc/init.d/alsa-autoconfig as suggested (http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2173#10717). I don't know if this makes a difference, I'll be reinstalling later today since I borked my system. Regardless, I'd like to know what?s going on. Please note, the microphone is working and I'm able to play mp3s/waves without enabling ALSA, and after running alsa-autoconfig, so it just seems to be this fullduplex thing.

What I've noticed
If you put in the knoppix cd (v3.2 may 3, 2003) and run with the "knoppix alsa" cheatcode, gnomemeeting runs perfectly. If you run off the cdrom w/o the cheatcode, I get the same error as from hard drive. First I checked "ls -la /dev/dsp" to make sure the write permissions were set up properly. The results were the same for all cases (cdrom with alsa, cdrom w/o alsa, and hard drive), so I have to assume that the permissions are fine. Next I decided to do an lsmod on all the cases and see what was different. Here's the results.

CDROM with ALSA
---------------------
Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-pcm-oss 37060 0 (autoclean)
autofs4 8724 1 (autoclean)
af_packet 13448 0 (autoclean)
nls_iso8859-1 2876 0 (autoclean)
nls_cp437 4380 0 (autoclean)
snd-mixer-oss 11224 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-intel8x0 16516 0 (autoclean)
snd-pcm 56256 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-intel8x0]
snd-timer 14792 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec 30688 0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-page-alloc 3936 0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm]
snd-mpu401-uart 2992 0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi 12224 0 (autoclean) [snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 3716 0 (autoclean) [snd-rawmidi]
snd 27012 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device]
soundcore 3364 3 (autoclean) [snd]
agpgart 34720 0 (unused)
8139too 17128 0
mii 2128 0 [8139too]
sis900 12428 1
serial 51876 0 (autoclean)
usb-ohci 18120 0 (unused)
usb-uhci 21836 0 (unused)
usbcore 57088 1 [usb-ohci usb-uhci]
apm 9612 1
rtc 6908 0 (autoclean)
cloop 5168 1

CDROM without ALSA
------------------------
Module Size Used by Not tainted
autofs4 8724 1 (autoclean)
af_packet 13448 0 (autoclean)
nls_iso8859-1 2876 0 (autoclean)
nls_cp437 4380 0 (autoclean)
agpgart 34720 0 (unused)
i810_audio 23112 0
ac97_codec 9992 0 [i810_audio]
soundcore 3364 2 [i810_audio]
8139too 17128 0
mii 2128 0 [8139too]
sis900 12428 1
serial 51876 0 (autoclean)
usb-ohci 18120 0 (unused)
usb-uhci 21836 0 (unused)
usbcore 57088 1 [usb-ohci usb-uhci]
apm 9612 1
rtc 6908 0 (autoclean)
cloop 5168 1

HDINSTALL after running /etc/init.d/alsa-autoconfig
-----------------------------------------------------------
Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-seq-oss 24000 0 (autoclean)
snd-seq-midi-event 2824 0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq 38960 2 (autoclean) [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-timer 14792 0 (autoclean) [snd-seq]
snd-seq-device 3700 0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-oss snd-seq]
snd 27012 0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi-event sn
d-seq snd-timer snd-seq-device]
parport_pc 24776 1 (autoclean)
lp 7492 0 (autoclean)
parport 22496 1 (autoclean) [parport_pc lp]
autofs4 8724 1
af_packet 13448 0
nls_iso8859-1 2844 1
nls_cp437 4348 1
agpgart 34720 0 (unused)
i810_audio 23112 0
ac97_codec 9992 0 [i810_audio]
soundcore 3364 4 [snd i810_audio]
8139too 17096 0 (unused)
mii 2112 0 [8139too]
sis900 12396 1
serial 51844 0
usb-ohci 18088 0 (unused)
usb-uhci 21804 0 (unused)
usbcore 57088 0 [usb-ohci usb-uhci]
apm 9612 1
rtc 6876 0
ext3 62688 1
jbd 45300 1 [ext3]


As you can see, the lsmods are very similar between the HDINSTALL and the CDROM without ALSA (regarding the sound modules). I'm leary of just rmmod-ing the modules I think shouldn't be there, and insmod-ing the ones I think should be there, but I'm very open to suggestion.

One Last Thing
Don't try this at home. I decided to try to install the alsa packages from debian (alsa-config, alsa-base, alsa-modules-2.4.20-1-k7...). Note that this also requires installation of a new kernel image, and removal of knx-alsa (who knows what's in here). I used kernel-image-2.4.20-1-k7. During the kernel-installation I received all kinds of warnings, I updated lilo.conf like it said (cross your fingers) and rebooted. Kernel Panic followed (guess I screwed up lilo or something), so I rebooted into the knoppix kernel and my usb mouse doesn't work anymore. I plan on reinstalling today.

If I'm doing something seriously wrong, please tell me. Any and all ideas are greatly appreciated.

soap

[soapee01]

Ok, I've tried reinstalling w/the knoppix alsa option loaded first, and then running the alsa-autoconfig script, and still no luck with the fullduplex stuff. I'm really lost here. Any replies are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

soap

[aay]

Soap,

Gnomemeeting worked for you before the install? From the CD? I have not been able to get Gnomemeeting to work even from the cd and I have tried using ALSA. I get the same /dev/dsp error on three different machines.

Whatever is causing this problem is somehow related to the most recent releases of Knoppix. Gnomemeeting used to work fine on just about any machine I used it on. Some time ago Klaus had problems with Gnome 2. As a consequence he had to move Gnomemeeting back to a much earlier version. When the Gnome 2 libs (or GTK2 libs) were fixed, Gnomemeeting was updated. I have been getting this error ever since Gnomeeting was updated. Like you my other audio apps work fine. Anyone else have any experience with this?

[soapee01]

Gnomemeeting worked for you before the install? From the CD?
Yes, works like a champ from cd (successfully connected to a netmeeting user and another gnomemeeting user - both w/o video). Note: I've only tested it using the v3.2 may 3, 2003 edition, and I have to enter "knoppix alsa" at boot.

Still wondering why it fails after knx-hdinstall.

soap

[Stephen]

When running gnomemeeting after knx-hdinstall and following the howto upgrade to unstable, I'm getting an error during setup that said something like "cannot write to /dev/dsp"

Have you tried chmod 666 /dev/dsp to make the device read-write for everyone.

[soapee01]

Have you tried chmod 666 /dev/dsp to make the device read-write for everyone.


First I checked "ls -la /dev/dsp" to make sure the write permissions were set up properly. The results were the same for all cases (cdrom with alsa, cdrom w/o alsa, and hard drive), so I have to assume that the permissions are fine.
Thanks anyhow Stephen, but that wasn't it...


The problem was I'm just stupid (ignore my second post, I did something wrong.... not sure what, but I did). I got it working finally, and here's how.

Put in the Knoppix CD (v3.2-2003-05-03-EN)
At the boot: prompt type "knoppix alsa" -- VERY IMPORTANT
run knx-hdinstall

Sound will not work because no modules for sound were loaded in the install.

from a command prompt type:
$su
#cd /etc/init.d
#./alsa-autoconfig

everything should load fine, and you see that all of the snd modules got loaded by typing lsmod.

Results: Gnomemeeting works great. As an added bonus, I installed half-life/counterstrike/day of defeat, and for the first time the microphone configuration utility ran and seemed to work properly. I didn't have time to run the game last night to check it, but since it was configured I assume it does.

I'm still wondering how to add alsa without typing "knoppix alsa" at boot, but I'm just happy it's working now.

soap

[aay]

Ok, thanks. I'll give gnomemeeting with alsa another chance. I must have been doing something wrong too.

[rickenbacherus]

I'm still wondering how to add alsa without typing "knoppix alsa" at boot, but I'm just happy it's working now.

soap

knx-hdinstall is unaware of alsa-autoconfig and that's why you need to pass that parameter or run it after installation.

[gooz]

I have the same problem after installing on HD of Knoppix 3.6:

Xine and other programs are working correctly.
GnomeMeeting however says when I select ALSA for the Audio plugin that "No device found" in the dropdown boxes.

I have tried nearly everything. Even apt-get alsa-oss but after that Xine did not work anymore so I removed alsa-oss.

Because I have spend a lot of time to tune and install other apps, I want to avoid to reinstall Knoppix 3.6 after starting with "knoppix alsa".

Has anyone ideas how to solve this?

PS GnomeMeeting was running perfectly on the same PC with Redhat 9.

[kelmo]

knoppix uses a 'hack' to get alsa working from the live-cd, it works invariably after installation.

[gooz]

Do you know what 'hack' Knoppix uses? Can it be ported to the HD installation?

[ewangr]

Running the autoconfig and then KMix seems to have done the trick. But will I need to do this everytime I reboot (HDInstall), or has that script permanently "fixed" the installation.

I know I could reboot and find out, but I'm rather tempted not to turn off the machine now that it's working... :-)

Thanks!

[ewangr]

Unfortunately, I can now answer this question... :(

After a reboot I had to do the modprobe and rerun the alsaconfig script again.

Anything I can do to automate this?

Thanks,
Ewan