Sound Broken for ALC1200 Onboard Sound

[kschanaman]

Why did Puppy have to switch to Ubuntu, like so many other distros? There are numerous (thousands upon thousands) of complaints across the web about ALSA sound not working for those of us who have the ALC1200 Intel HDA sound onboard. This wipes out a large base of users, including myself, because computer manufacturers are putting that chip in many hundreds of models these days.

The Problem Is...

Audio levels are low, even with alsamixer turned up all the way. This has been a huge complaint by all Ubuntu (and derivative distro) users. Next...

Sound system noise is a huge problem with Ubuntu's implementation of ALSA. For example, when loading Audacity and then trying to record, the recording level bars show noise coming from the sound system. The top level bar is generally at 60% full, and the lower level bar is always showing an 80% noise level.

Many have mistakenly thought it was Pulseaudio that was the culprit, but it is the sound drivers for INTEL-HDA ALC-1200 that is the problem. The 1200 isn't even listed as an alias or an option within modprobe.conf

What is the solution to this huge problem so many are complaining about, even me?? Any ideas on how to fix this for Lucid Puppy? Please tell me there is one. I don't want to go back to Windows, not in the slightest!

Kurt