Configuring Your Sound Card

In most cases, your sound card was detected and configured during installation. It may have been tested, as well, during installation. If you are unsure whether your sound card was properly detected and configured, you can test it using the configuration procedures for your distribution, usually found on the main menu.

• Fedora: select System Settings->Soundcard Detection. Fedora probes for your sound card and displays a screen showing which sound card it detected. The window includes a Play test sound button.

• Mandrake: select Configure your computer->Hardware->Hardware. The HardDrake application probes for hardware and opens a window showing all the detected hardware in the left pane. The sound card detected is listed under Sound card. Click the entry for a sound card to see details in the right pane.

• SuSE: select System->YaST. Click Hardware in the left pane andSound in the right pane to detect and configure the sound card. Mandrake probes for a sound card, then opens a window listing the detected sound card. Buttons are available to add a sound card and to configure options.

If your sound card is not listed, you may need to locate and install a driver for your sound card. Or your sound card may not be supported. Check the Web site for your Linux distribution to see whether the sound card is supported. Perhaps you just need to download a driver. Also check the manufacturer's Web site for information.

Most distributions provide a mixer application that allows you to configure the sound. In Fedora, open the main menu and select Sound & Video->Volume Control. The window in Figure 16-1 opens.

Figure 16-1. Fedora volume control.

In Mandrake, open the main menu and select Multimedia->Sound->Kmix. In SuSE, in the open sound window, click Volume.