I decided to give Linux another try, after a not so great encounter with Ubuntu a few years ago. I tried Puppy 4.3 and loved the speed and simplicity.
However, I am unable to get sound neither on my desktop computer (Intel AC97 built in s/c), nor on work Dell Latitude D630 laptop. I ran Alsaconfig a few times with no luck. Also, on work laptop, when I select "multiple sound cards" in utilities, it does show me a choice of an "Analog" and a "Digital" cards so I assume the system does think it finds a card...
Anyway, please let me know where to start... I'd love to stick with Puppy, so far it's the best distro I tried, both in terms of speed, simplicity, and the fact that it had no problems with detecting and easily configuring both my ancient Riva TNT2 desktop video card, and the wireless card on my laptop, both were a major problem in Ubuntu and other distros I tried.
No sound from Puppy 4.3
Amamba,
I am relatively new to Linux also, but was involved in troubleshooting an AC97 Puppy 4.20 sound issue a few threads down on a Gateway laptop....
Would you mind terribly much trying something for the folks who were involved in that discussion? It might solve your problem... or it might not. Your report will help some of us (other Noobs) learn something.
My understanding of the AC97 sound is that Puppy is **supposed to** pick it up by default, without running the Sound Wizard. I know that, on my buddy's Gateway laptop, merely selecting the sound wizard -- without even running it -- broke his sound. That means we need to start fresh.
Please boot Puppy from a Live CD but -- instead of just using your computer's boot option, I would like for you to first go into your computer's initial BIOS screen. Be careful, we don't want to muck anything up here or it might turn your computer into a brick. All we want you to do is just access the BIOS screen and -- without changing anything in it -- select the on-screen option to save and exit.
Now boot Puppy from the Live CD, using Puppy pfix=ram at the first Puppy screen. Do NOT touch your sound wizard! Set your volume levels and see if you have any sound.
Does your sound work now? What kind of a computer is it? Were you originally using a full installation? A frugal installation? Running from a USB stick?
The previous discussion about this is located here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45213
-Roy
I am relatively new to Linux also, but was involved in troubleshooting an AC97 Puppy 4.20 sound issue a few threads down on a Gateway laptop....
Would you mind terribly much trying something for the folks who were involved in that discussion? It might solve your problem... or it might not. Your report will help some of us (other Noobs) learn something.
My understanding of the AC97 sound is that Puppy is **supposed to** pick it up by default, without running the Sound Wizard. I know that, on my buddy's Gateway laptop, merely selecting the sound wizard -- without even running it -- broke his sound. That means we need to start fresh.
Please boot Puppy from a Live CD but -- instead of just using your computer's boot option, I would like for you to first go into your computer's initial BIOS screen. Be careful, we don't want to muck anything up here or it might turn your computer into a brick. All we want you to do is just access the BIOS screen and -- without changing anything in it -- select the on-screen option to save and exit.
Now boot Puppy from the Live CD, using Puppy pfix=ram at the first Puppy screen. Do NOT touch your sound wizard! Set your volume levels and see if you have any sound.
Does your sound work now? What kind of a computer is it? Were you originally using a full installation? A frugal installation? Running from a USB stick?
The previous discussion about this is located here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45213
-Roy
Tried that, got a "can't find kernel module pfix=ram" or some similar message...
It's deja vu all over again, unfortunately, same kind of misc unexplained hardware issues I was having with Ubuntu.
I also tried Slax. No sound on desktop, did get sound on Dell Laptop but wireless didn't connect even though it saw my network. At least Puppy connects without making me jump through hoops.
I am giving up, at this point, I will just use Puppy USB for inet browsing from the laptop, hell with sound, at least it's fast loading. I tried Knoppix and everything seems to be working but it loads kind of slow and for some reason the fonts look terrible.
I mainly need Linux to use as a resque disk if my Windows partition go south, or to do some personal stuff on my work laptop when I'm on business trip (loading personal soft is strictly verbotten). Would be nice to have sound...
It's deja vu all over again, unfortunately, same kind of misc unexplained hardware issues I was having with Ubuntu.
I also tried Slax. No sound on desktop, did get sound on Dell Laptop but wireless didn't connect even though it saw my network. At least Puppy connects without making me jump through hoops.
I am giving up, at this point, I will just use Puppy USB for inet browsing from the laptop, hell with sound, at least it's fast loading. I tried Knoppix and everything seems to be working but it loads kind of slow and for some reason the fonts look terrible.
I mainly need Linux to use as a resque disk if my Windows partition go south, or to do some personal stuff on my work laptop when I'm on business trip (loading personal soft is strictly verbotten). Would be nice to have sound...
.. Puppy may be loading a sound device other than your usual sound output (other may be a headset or jack or ..) as first device found, sometimes it'll do that. Try looking in BootManager and maybe blacklisting any module currently loaded that looks like it might be that unusual 1st choice. If your soundcard is correctly id'd in alsamixer, try selectively playing with the sliders and mutes (with a few of the most recent Pups, I find that muting just one in particular makes sound audible for me). hth
I think I've found the one that works...
Just downloaded & tried Fedora 11.
Right off the start, I get sound and WiFi on the laptop. Also I really like the display, somehow its nice and crisp.
One thing I don't like tho is the load speed... is there a Fedora-based lightweight distro ?
Right off the start, I get sound and WiFi on the laptop. Also I really like the display, somehow its nice and crisp.
One thing I don't like tho is the load speed... is there a Fedora-based lightweight distro ?
I will try, thanks.
In the meantime I've installed OpenSUSE 11.1 as a second boot option on my desktop and so far I am very impressed. Not as quick to boot as Puppy but this seems to be the easiest distro so far - got sound right off the bat, got to change Grub booting sequence at install, to put Windows 1st so wife doesn't freak out (wish every distro did that !). It works with my TNT2 based card - something Ubuntu failed at miserably; it identified my printer and even though it had no drivers for it - I was able to compile and install the driver in no time, even tho this is the first time I ever compiled anything in Linux; it even ID'd my Visioneer scanner, for which no drivers exist. So far this seems to be the most un-broken distro I've tried.
So, my plan is to dual-boot XP and Suse, and have Puppy on USB for laptop. Hope I'll sort out the sound issues with Puppy, so I'll be back.
Thanks all of you for help !
In the meantime I've installed OpenSUSE 11.1 as a second boot option on my desktop and so far I am very impressed. Not as quick to boot as Puppy but this seems to be the easiest distro so far - got sound right off the bat, got to change Grub booting sequence at install, to put Windows 1st so wife doesn't freak out (wish every distro did that !). It works with my TNT2 based card - something Ubuntu failed at miserably; it identified my printer and even though it had no drivers for it - I was able to compile and install the driver in no time, even tho this is the first time I ever compiled anything in Linux; it even ID'd my Visioneer scanner, for which no drivers exist. So far this seems to be the most un-broken distro I've tried.
So, my plan is to dual-boot XP and Suse, and have Puppy on USB for laptop. Hope I'll sort out the sound issues with Puppy, so I'll be back.
Thanks all of you for help !
BarryK wrote:booting from the live-cd, you need to type "puppy pfix=ram"Amamba wrote:Tried that, got a "can't find kernel module pfix=ram" or some similar message...
Go figure...I'll try this tomorrow - I'm too tired now ... Puppy looks like a perfect USB-based distro, so I'm here to stay
And the community support is amazing, thank you so much !!!