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I have been scratching my head for weeks trying to figure out how to listen to pandora on my linux box at work. It is a Gateway e4000 desktop loaded with Ubuntu 7.10 Server (Gutsy).

Browsing the web, I uncovered the general process for installing hardware in a linux machine:

• Use lspci to probe the system for the device. It will output over a screenfull so clever use of the grep command is useful. I issued lspci | grep Audio to get information about the sound card.
• Search for the kernel module(s) to use to get the sound card working. The only thing that I could come up with here was to hit google with the output of lspci.
• Use modprobe to insert the module into the kernel. **modprobe modulename ** and **modprobe -r modulename ** are handy for toggling these modules on and off.
• Test with sudo alsamixer. If alsamixer can manipulate the mixer for the sound card then programs will be able to use it. Important: alsamixer requires sudo privileges You need to be a member of the group which owns the sound device (/dev/dsp). In my case the group name is audio.
• Verify with mpg123. I used mpg123 http://shout2a.gnax.net:5112.

In my case it took about an hour when I really buckled down to the task.

lspci | grep Audio

username$ lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)

Google search, ALSA website

username$ modprobe snd-hda-intel
username$ modprobe snd-pcm-oss
username$ modprobe snd-mixer-oss
username$ modprobe snd-seq-oss

via

username$ modprobe snd-hda-intel

via

Here it was key to load all of these modules. I tried several times to load snd-intel8x0, snd-intel8x0m, and snd-hda-intel one at a time and had no luck. Really the keystone was heading over to the Alsa project website and using their guide to setup alsa on my system. Unfortunately Alsa's wiki doesn't seem to show up on google.

alsamixer

sudo alsamixer

Unmute all channels and turn up the volume up to about half (some may be hidden off screen). From what I gather the default config is to have all the channels muted by default. About half of mine were muted.

mpg123

mpg123 http://shout2a.gnax.net:5112

If it loads, the music will play! Hooray!

/etc/modules

In order to make it so I don't have to run these commands every time I reboot the system, I added the following lines to /etc/modules file:

snd-hda-intel
snd-pcm-oss
snd-mixer-oss
snd-seq-oss

That's it! She sings now! Now to tackle getting pandora to play....

In putting together the X axis of my repstrap machine, I encountered some hurdles. Take a look at a picture of the design I am following. In this picture you can see the X axis has just been bolted down to the frame.

In building my repstrap machine I am hoping to achieve the greatest possible amount of accuracy in all three axis of movement in order to provide the most functionality to the final machine. My approach to this is, in Computer Science terms, a "greedy algorithm." In other words, If I do my absolute best at making each and every part as accurate as possible...I am hoping that the overall machine will turn out more accurate.

On the other hand I am trying to build my repstrap machine on a tight budget. You might say that I am trying to find the sweet spot between accuracy and cost: a tightrope balancing act.

My first challenge was to overcome spending $30 each on aluminum U-Channel for the axial slides. Sure, its nice and smooth, but its ridiculous to spend $30 for six feet of the stuff. At my local hardware store the shelving hardware is on the same isle but opposite the metal stock and so I noticed the polished steel shelving brackets and I think that they are going to be a workable alternative. They cost 84% less for a six foot section than the plain aluminum channel and come with holes pre-drilled at two inch intervals.

I bought one and figured that I'd use it to make the X axis slides with it as a test before buying enough to make all of my axial slides.   [Continued »»]