Specifications

1. Introduction
This is the Linux Sound HOWTO. It is intended as a quick reference covering everything you need to know
to install and configure sound support under Linux. Frequently asked questions about sound under Linux are
answered, and references are given to some other sources of information on a variety of topics related to
computer generated sound and music.
The scope is limited to the aspects of sound cards pertaining to Linux. See the other documents listed in the
References section for more general information on sound cards and computer sound and music generation.
1.1. Acknowledgments
Much of this information came from the documentation provided with the sound driver source code, by
Hannu Savolainen ([e-mail]). Thanks go to Hannu, Alan Cox, and the many other people
who developed the Linux kernel sound drivers and utilities.
Thanks to the DocBook tools, this HOWTO is available in several formats, all generated from a common
source file.
1.2. New versions of this document
New versions of this document will be periodically posted to the comp.os.linux.answers newsgroup.
Hypertext versions of this and other Linux HOWTOs are available on many world−wide web sites, including
http://www.linuxdoc.org. Most Linux CD−ROM distributions include the HOWTOs, often under the
/usr/doc directory, and you can also buy printed copies from several vendors. Sometimes the HOWTOs
available from CD−ROM vendors, ftp sites, and printed format are out of date. If the date on this HOWTO is
more than six months in the past, then a newer copy is probably available on the Internet.
Please note that, due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, all web and ftp links listed in this document are
subject to change.
Translations of this document are available in several languages:
Chinese: http://www.linux.org.tw/CLDP/Sound−HOWTO.html
French: http://www.freenix.org/unix/linux/HOWTO/
Italian: http://www.pluto.linux.it/ildp/HOWTO/index.html
Japanese: http://yebisu.ics.es.osaka−u.ac.jp/linux/
Korean: http://kldp.org/HOWTO/html/Sound/Sound−HOWTO.html
Russian: http://www.phtd.tpu.edu.ru/~ott/russian/linux/howto−rus/Sound−HOWTO.html
Spanish: ftp://ftp.insflug.org/es
1. Introduction 1