Friday, April 10, 2009

[ Tutorial ] How to make Ubuntu sound better

I am using Ubuntu 8.10 when writing this tutorial.

The default sound driver on ubuntu 8.10 and other major linux distribution is ALSA(Advanced Sound Linux Architecture). ALSA has a standard sound quality and has embedded generic sound driver.If you need high quality sound for multimedia computing such gaming,HTPC(Home Theater PC),Sound Editing,or listening music with more detailed sound, you should replace the ALSA driver with OSS(Opensound System) which provide a better sound for multimedia computing

What is OSS(it's Opensound System so don't mispronounced it with OSS opensource sofware ) ? OSS is a digital audio solution that provide a better sound in Unix varian that developed by 4front technologies, and thanks to them my experience in listening music is become enjoyable. If you ever experienced that the output of your sound in Ubuntu is small and weak you should try this amazing audio replacement.

Well, that's enough for the chit chat now let's get to the tutorial how to install it.
You need to disable your ALSA before you can install OSS,here is the steps:
Type this following text on terminal:
sudo chmod 776 /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo cat /lib/linux-sound-base/noALSA.modprobe.conf >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

This following text is one command so make sure you type it correctly ! :
sudo echo "blacklist snd_hda_intel
blacklist snd_mixer_oss
blacklist snd_pcm
blacklist snd_timer
blacklist snd_page_alloc
blacklist snd_hwdep
blacklist snd
blacklist soundcore" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

if you done now you can download the OSS from here and choose the debian package file .deb
and then you can install it by simply double click that package file or from terminal type :
sudo dpkg -i theOSSfileyoudownload.deb
There is alot of people who have a mute Ubuntu system after installating the OSS, this problem occur simply because they are not running this following command to test their output sound:
osstest

Note: The login and logoff jingle will never be exist anymore after you installing OSS.If you use ubuntu 8.04 or older you can install ESD(Enligtment Sound Daemon) to get back the jingle sound.In terminal you type(must be connected to internet):
sudo apt-get install -y esound esound-clients esound-common libesd0

Unfortunately when i am writting this post for Ubuntu 8.10 and newer you must wait for it's compatibily to use ESD.

That's all for now,i hope you are enjoying your new multimedia sound experience.
See you in the next tutor.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

ROMINUX LAUNCHING !

Finally,after delayed for about 1 year this blog finally finished,Still not perfect yet since the design are still on progress.On top of it I will write everything I know about OSS (Open source Software),so keep your eyes on this blog guys..