Re: headphones and Linux compatibility

Anirudh S <[email protected]> writes:


> I've been thinking of getting headphones for my computer. Of course,
> I would like it to work on my GNU/Linux. Are there compatibility
> concerns regarding headphones? Is the support for headphones good?
> Which brand of headphones would you recommend(mainly with regard to
> compatibility)? Has any one had any previous experiences that might
> help?
>
> I run an Ubuntu (version 5.10) system with packages installed from
> Debian Sarge. I do not usually use the default GNOME desktop,
> instead using KDE which I installed from Sarge. I also have Zenwalk,
> which is a Slackware based distro. I might try SUSE some time
> later. btw, I do a dual(triple?) boot with M$ - Windows and 2 of the
> above mentioned distros.

What counts is whether your sound card is is supported. The sound card
converts the digital sound to analog audio, so any make / brand of
headphone / speaker /microphone will do. 


> I have attached the output of dmesg and lspci. Please do tell me if more 



> 0000:00:05.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce
> MultiMedia audio [Via VT82C686B] (rev a2)

Issue this command:-

lsmod | grep snd

You should get output similar to what is below, with variations for
your distro and hardware. 

snd_seq_dummy           3556  0
snd_seq_oss            28896  0
snd_seq_midi            8384  0
snd_seq_midi_event      6368  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                44432  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_via82xx            25688  0
gameport               13928  1 snd_via82xx
snd_ac97_codec         82464  1 snd_via82xx
snd_ac97_bus            2048  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss            45536  0
snd_mixer_oss          16448  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                77576  3 snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              21316  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          9928  2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart         6592  1 snd_via82xx
snd_rawmidi            22240  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device          7916  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd                    48420  11 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore      

You are very lucky to get a distro working with Nvidia video card - I
personally avoid nvidia cards since their drivers are *not* Free or
GPL'ed.

While Ubuntu supports proprietary drivers, debian does not; and I am
not sure how debian will work for you.

The default drivers coming with the vanilla kernel will work; but 3d
acceleration and some other graphics features may not be available;
but you have an assured stable display system. WIth the nividia
proprietary drivers (that is, kernel modules) from Nvidia's site will
give you all the features, but are not stable; and maintaining them
across kernel upgrades is a right-royal PITA. 

HTH. 

-- 
 Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.blogspot.com/
Free Software - it is free as in FREEDOM