should calling mixer load soundcard drivers?

[Auke Kok]

Jason Keltz wrote:

> Should calling xfce4-mixer cause my Linux system to load the soundcard 
> drivers?

never

the kernel/module loading system may however load modules based on 
devices that are being accessed. the famous 'alias' configuration lines 
in /etc/modules.conf (or modprobe.conf depending on your distro) are for 
this. They will instruct your kernel to automatically load a certain 
module if a certain device is being accessed:

alias sound-slot-0 snd-intel8x0

the module loading is however not in any way a part of xfce4.

>
> Case in point...
>
> Before I start xfce4-mixer, the following modules are loaded:
> snd-mixer-oss          16184   0 (autoclean) (unused)
> snd                    47812   0 (autoclean) [snd-mixer-oss]
> soundcore               7076   0 (autoclean) [snd]
>
> If I start xfce4-mixer at this point, I can't adjust any of the 
> settings.  There are no options.  On the other hand, if I manually 
> load "alsamixer" and then exit, the required sound modules are loaded...
>
> snd-intel8x0           24936   0 (autoclean)
> snd-ac97-codec         59676   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
> snd-pcm                88160   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
> snd-page-alloc          9108   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm]
> snd-timer              20676   0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm]
> gameport                3524   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
> snd-mpu401-uart         5664   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0]
> snd-rawmidi            18944   0 (autoclean) [snd-mpu401-uart]
> snd-seq-device          6028   0 (autoclean) [snd-rawmidi]
> snd-mixer-oss          16184   0 (autoclean) (unused)
> snd                    47812   0 (autoclean) [snd-intel8x0 
> snd-ac97-codec snd-pcm snd-timer snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi 
> snd-seq-device snd-mixer-oss]
> soundcore               7076   1 (autoclean) [snd]
>
> If I try xfce4-mixer at this point, it works perfectly fine.
>
> Should xfce4-mixer cause the sound card modules to load like with 
> alsamixer?
>
> jas.


alsa shuold provide you with an appropriate init.d script that does this 
automatically. Alternatively, do `alsactl restore`.

sofar