First Post: About Sound in Kubuntu

For the class I’m in (IRLS 671 Applied Technology for the DigIn program at the University of Arizona) we have to download and play with Ubuntu. I’ve been using Ubuntu for 3 years. I run Kubuntu on my laptop, desktop at home and desktop at work. I run Ubuntu Server Edition on my home server as well as a server at work. I know a good bit about Ubuntu and its derivatives but there’s always room to learn more.

I had just upgraded my laptop at home with the latest release, 8.04. It seemed to be doing fine untill I realized I had no sound. Since part of our assignment was to cruise the message boards and find something that interests us so I went there looking for an answer to my problem.

After doing a lspci to find the model number of my sound card (82801G) I performed a search on the forums and I found a couple of posts that appeared related but mostly they were confusing. There are so many discussions going on it’s very hard to filter through, even searching for something as specific as an audio card model number. I was able to find that Ubuntu switched audio support from OSS (Open Sound System) to Pulse audio and that is apparently causing some problems. Going to my Systems Settings -> Audio and manual changing the audio device from “Auto Select” to OSS fixed the problem.

I don’t mind waiting until they solve the bugs with Pulse Audio drivers so long as I can use something else while they do. That (in my opinion) is what Open Source is all about: having choices.