ACLink sound - which driver?

From: NicK (nospam_at_emirates.net.ae)
Date: 12/25/03 

Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 10:27:03 +1400

Hi all!

I think I ought to narrate my amusing tale before I get down to my
questions. It all start with me buying a Compaq Presario 1800EA for
university. The Presario 1800 was just perfect for Linux, except for the
requirement of having to run at 1600x1400 for X to remain stable. I
didnt really mind because EVERYTHING on that laptop worked, even the
Lucent winmodem.

I once took the Presario 1800 to the Jumbo service center, which is the
authorized service center for Compaq, Dell, HP and Toshiba. All I wanted
was for them to tighten up the bolts that was holding the screen
together so it wouldnt move if someone accidentally tapped at it. Well,
I then went on a vacation and about a month later, I got back to working
with the Presario 1800 again. It was fine for a week but then the screen
hinges were jammed. I couldnt blame the service center because it was
over a month since the repair and so I took it in to the insurance. The
fellows at the insurance were stupefied at the sight of the repair
quote. Just imagine $3,000 for the screen hinges, simply because the
hinges are only available along with a new screen. The laptop as a whole
costed me $4,000 just a year before I went in for this quote. If you
thought that was expensive, wait till you need a battery change!

I sent the old faithful Presario 1800EA in to the insurance company and
I got myself a Compaq Presario 2132EA; I was waiting on the insurance
company to pay me and I really wanted that quick replacement and so I
got this one as it was reasonably priced. My old Presario 1800EA was
priced at $4,000 but this little beauty was for only $2,000. I didnt
really like the feel of it when I got it because one of the LEDs
intermittently worked but I didnt bother to go to the service center for
a little thing like that.

What came as a shock was the fact that I had to buy the Conexant driver
for Linux because Conexant licensed its driver technology to Linuxant
and Linuxant had to cover its costs (which were more than the price of a
brand new PCMCIA modea), but either way, I have an external serial ISDN
dialup in my room so I didn't dump Linux for Windows.... I've got this
far so might as well see how much farther I can go.

RedHat Linux 7.1 didnt really like the video adapter - it is an ATI
Mobility Radeon with 64MB Shared Memory. I really wanted a display that
could do 1800x1600 but then the model with that screen was again about
$4,000 and I was waiting on the insurance to pay me for old reliable,
remember? Well, the tale went on after installing Mandrake Linux 9.1. I
wasn't really a fan of Mandrake and so I really really really wanted
RedHat Linux 9. After I got it, I was more than a bit disappointed with
what they had to offer. The first thing I noticed was that my new
Presario 2132EA didnt have APM support and the RedHat kernel didnt
provide ACPI. I then installed the kernel source packages off the RedHat
CDs and that brought me to my custom-made kernel that can do just about
anything but play sound.

Now, onto the real issue. My sound adapter seems to be some kind of
combo with the Conexant modem. Windows identifies it as a Conexant AC
Link audio device. When I look into /proc/pci, it is identified as an
Acer AC Link audio device. After booting with my custom kernel, it
identifies as a Trident AC Link audio device. It worked with the
original kernel but Im baffled by the fact that it doesnt work now... I
even compiled into the kernel the driver that was the closest match.
Does anyone have any ideas on what I could pick for sound when Im in
"make xconfig"?

Let me also point out that the sound DID work with the kernel that came
with RedHat Linux 9 - its just the ACPI that didnt work. Now its reversed!

Thanks to everyone out here for providing such a wonderful Linux community.

Regards,
Mr.Soundcard-doesnt-work
(Somehow, I really find those superficial descriptions of problems amusing)

PS:
Google doesnt give me even one match for "Presario 2132 Linux". Doesnt
ANYONE have one of these things?

Relevant Pages

  • Re: ACLink sound - which driver?
    ... The Presario 1800 was just perfect for Linux, ... > over a month since the repair and so I took it in to the insurance. ... > for Linux because Conexant licensed its driver technology to Linuxant ... I then installed the kernel source packages off the RedHat ...
    (comp.os.linux)
  • ACLink sound - which driver?
    ... The Presario 1800 was just perfect for Linux, ... didnt really mind because EVERYTHING on that laptop worked, ... for Linux because Conexant licensed its driver technology to Linuxant ... I then installed the kernel source packages off the RedHat ...
    (alt.linux)
  • Re: ACLink sound - which driver?
    ... The Presario 1800 was just perfect for Linux, ... > over a month since the repair and so I took it in to the insurance. ... > for Linux because Conexant licensed its driver technology to Linuxant ... I then installed the kernel source packages off the RedHat ...
    (alt.linux)
  • ACLink sound - which driver?
    ... The Presario 1800 was just perfect for Linux, ... didnt really mind because EVERYTHING on that laptop worked, ... for Linux because Conexant licensed its driver technology to Linuxant ... I then installed the kernel source packages off the RedHat ...
    (alt.os.linux)
  • Re: ACLink sound - which driver?
    ... The Presario 1800 was just perfect for Linux, ... > over a month since the repair and so I took it in to the insurance. ... > for Linux because Conexant licensed its driver technology to Linuxant ... I then installed the kernel source packages off the RedHat ...
    (alt.os.linux)