[kwlug disc.] ALSA help

[Damian Gerow]

So, I have a bit of a trivial issue I'm hoping someone can help me with.

I've got a laptop (IBM T43p) with a sound chip, and an external sound card.
Two weeks ago, the laptop was running XP, and both worked just peachy.  Last
week, the laptop was running FreeBSD, and only the USB sound card wasn't
working (no driver support).  This week, the laptop is running Linux, and I
can't coax even a peep out of either sound card.

The drivers are there: one's an Intel ICH6, and one's an M-Audio Audiophile.
The drivers load (automagically, even, which is nice).  I load up alsamixer,
and immediately become confused.

Are the channels unmuted?  Beats me.  I crank up the volume, get nothing.
Toggle what appears to be the mute status, get nothing.  Try opening
different devices, and fail.  Oh, and alsamixer claims that the Audiophile
doesn't have a mixer device, but I still get no audio.

Though I'm no stranger to computers, I've not dealt with ALSA since before
it was folded into the kernel.  Any Linux audio folks out there willing to
give me a hand?

  - Damian