How To Install ALSA(RPMs Can Found In www.freshrpms.net)

nownow

Install both "alsa-driver" and "alsa-kernel" packages (see above).
Install "alsa-lib" package and eventually "alsa-lib-devel" if you intend to recompile some applications that can support ALSA natively.
Install "alsa-utils" which contains useful tools like the "alsamixer".
Edit your /etc/modules.conf file accordingly to the instructions found on The ALSA Soundcard Matrix for your sound card/chip.
Remove your current sound module (if any, and closing all applications accessing sound before, including "esd" or "arts"), e.g. "modprobe -r maestro3".
Insert the new ALSA modules, e.g. "modprobe snd-maestro3; modprobe snd-pcm-oss; modprobe snd-mixer-oss; modprobe snd-seq-oss", there should be no output (see the "Install" section about your sound card/chip in The ALSA Soundcard Matrix for your exact module names).
Run "alsamixer" or the regular "aumix" to unmute the devices and set the desired volume.
The alsactl init script (from the alsa-utils package) takes care of saving your mixer settings upon shutdown and reboot, but in order to have them restored at startup, you need to add this to /etc/modules.conf :

post-install snd-card-0 /usr/sbin/alsactl restore >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove snd-card-0 /usr/sbin/alsactl store >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
Everything should then be configured properly to have you use ALSA natively and also through it's OSS compatibility layer! Normally, all existing applications should still work with no modifications, they just won't take advantage of the nice features ALSA has to offer. The default Red Hat Linux esound daemon works fine with ALSA.

Testing suggestions :

Install "alsa-xmms" and select it as XMMS's output plugin.
Install an ALSA enabled version of Ogle and play a DVD.
Install an ALSA enabled version of Xine and run "xine -A alsa09".
Install an ALSA enabled version of MPlayer and run "gmplayer -ao alsa9".


If you have any corrections or suggestions about improvements to this document, please contact me.
For general information about ALSA, and the benefits you can have from using it, please refer to the ALSA Project website