40. Configure Sound Settings

Your sound card should be identified and configured during the NLD installation. The audio functionality is provided by Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA), which is licensed under GNU.

Note

ALSA supports most sound cards. However, some new sound cards or even existing sound cards (from more obscure vendors) may not be supported. You can attempt to fine-tune the settings for an unsupported card and manually choose the driver for the card. In terms of supporting new hardware, sound cards included, it is important that you update your NLD system using Red Carpet whenever the Updates Available notification icon appears in the top panel of the desktop.

When you boot NLD, sound on your NLD system is initiated by the sound server. As a user, you can enable system sound events and select the sounds for specific events. Of course, you also have control over the sound volume and settings for specific devices such as a microphone, the CD drive, and video sound.

Note

Advanced sound settings related to adding or configuring a sound card can be accessed via the Administrator Settings (select Hardware and then Sound), but you need to know the root password to perform actions in YaST. Because the sound card is set up at installation, the use of YaST to configure the sound card will probably require little attention from you.

Before You Begin

23 Change Personal Settings

32 About Configuring Hardware and System Settings in NLD

Open Sound Preferences

From the Settings dialog (select System, Personal Settings), double-click the Sound icon in the System pane. The Sound Preferences dialog opens. By default the Enable Sound Server Startup and Sounds for Events options are enabled.

Set Sound Events

To set Sounds Events, select the Sound Events tab on the Sound Preferences dialog. To view (and listen to) a sound assigned to a current event, select an event in the Event list. If you want to listen to the sound file, select the Play button.

Tip

The sound files used by the NLD events are in the .wav format. You can search the Web and download any number of .wav files and assign them to events to personalize your NLD system. Your sound scheme can actually be matched to the desktop background and the theme that you assign to NLD.

To change the sound for an event or assign a sound to an event, select the event and then use the Browse button to locate the sound file.

Enable System Bell

To change the system bell settings, select the System Bell tab. The bell is enabled by default. If you also want to add visual feedback when the system bell sounds, select the Visual Feedback check box on the System Bell tab. After you have completed working in the Sound Preferences dialog, click Close.

Set Volume Level

To quickly set the volume level, select the Volume Control icon on the right side of the upper panel. Use the slider bar to set the general sound level.

Open Volume Control

To set individual volume controls, you need to open the Volume Control dialog box; right-click on the Volume Control icon and select Open Volume Control.

Set Volume Control

Use the slider bars and check boxes to control the volume and input/output for the sound devices on your system. When you have finished changing the settings, select Close to close the dialog box.

Note

The appearance of the Volume Control dialog box and the settings available depend on the capabilities of the sound card that you have installed on your PC.