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Ubuntu and X-Fi audio

M

Met-AL

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Apr 9, 2002
Messages
7,890
How does one go about getting a CL X-Fi card to work with Ubuntu?

I have tried following the steps to using OSS with no fix.

I think that there is some confusion going around about this, some people post that their X-Fi works but in fact they are using the Xtreme Audio which isn't a real X-Fi.
 
yes you are right. Creative are annoying and use the X-Fi more as a brand now (and some cards that come under the X-Fi label have a cheap - software driven snd-chip)

Oss4 is your best bet for true X-Fi support. Oss4 is actually really good (note the OSS4, not OSS3, which is what the in-kernel stuff is called)

http://4front-tech.com/


There are quite a few howto's of what todo with Ubuntu. But basically
1) remove all sound stuff (it should all be kernel modules for ubuntu, so blacklist all alsa and oss stuff)
2) apt-get to install the oss4 deb file
3) run "soundon"

oss4 will then auto detect yr sound card and you don't have todo anything
 
Got it working!

I went back and re-tried this guide: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4874981&postcount=2

I tried it before I posted here and it didn't work. I tried it again just tonight and no go. So I uninstalled Ubuntu and reinstalled it and followed the guide again, and got it to work. Strange.

..and then a thunderstorm comes along and knocks out my cable internet. Ubuntu doesn't seem to work with my Windows Mobile phone, so back to Windows tonight so I can use my cellular connection and ICS.
 
Sorry for threadjacking, but I thought it might be best to keep similar information together.

I have the same issue with OpenSUSE and XFi Xtreme Audio. Creative's supplied beta driver gives me an error saying the device doesn't exist in my machine when I run the ./installer in terminal (in su mode).

Would your OSS4 suggestion work in OpenSUSE also?
 
I am not sure, I am a Linux newb and just followed the step by step instructions.

The X-Fi Xtreme Audio doesn't have an X-Fi chip though, I think it is listed as a SB 7.1 or something along those lines. I have read that the XtremeAudio should work out of the box with no hassles.
 
Huh, thats interesting. My X-Fi didn't work out of the box, but a driver did get installed for it. I cannot remember what it is (I'm at work at the moment). Here's a bunch of information I found on all X-Fi cards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_X-Fi

Says the Xtreme Audio are rebadged Audigy SE chips. I'll have to try Audigy drivers tonight then and see what happens.
 
Good luck, hopefully someone that is in the know sees this and gives ya a straight answer.

If the Audigy SE drivers don't work, look for SB 7.1 drivers, I saw those mentioned during my reading on this.
 
Azhar said:
Huh, thats interesting. My X-Fi didn't work out of the box, but a driver did get installed for it. I cannot remember what it is (I'm at work at the moment). Here's a bunch of information I found on all X-Fi cards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_X-Fi

Says the Xtreme Audio are rebadged Audigy SE chips. I'll have to try Audigy drivers tonight then and see what happens.
Click to expand...

Ahh yer Creative and their "X-Fi" liberal usage. the low-end cards are just software-driven snd-card.

Alsa will work fine with it. But so will OSS4
 
Spent a better part of last night trying to get my Xtreme Audio to work on OpenSUSE, trying other Creative drivers from online and those that came with the OS and gave up and installed Ubuntu. Ubuntu recognized it during installation. Weird.

Looking back, I think my OpenSUSE trouble was a result of kernel modules being disabled. If I remember correctly, back in my Gentoo days a few years ago, I had to enable a module in the kernel to get an Audigy to work.
 
So met-al how does it sound for you with OSS4?

Im currently using my platinum with oss4 and it sounds like ass, constant crackling and just very poor quality.

I cant wait for a proper driver from alsa or even an improved OSS driver.
 
Azhar said:
Spent a better part of last night trying to get my Xtreme Audio to work on OpenSUSE, trying other Creative drivers from online and those that came with the OS and gave up and installed Ubuntu. Ubuntu recognized it during installation. Weird.
Click to expand...

That is bizarre. My X-Fi Champion Edition didn't work at all in Ubuntu without all of the steps for using OSS.
 
pfunkman said:
So met-al how does it sound for you with OSS4?

Im currently using my platinum with oss4 and it sounds like ass, constant crackling and just very poor quality.

I cant wait for a proper driver from alsa or even an improved OSS driver.
Click to expand...

Not so great on my end either. No crackling but it lacks a lot of the punch that I get from audio in Windows.
 
My X-Fi doesn't sound the same on Ubuntu as in WinXP Pro either. Feels like theres too much bass in it even though my Logitech 2.1 speaker's bass box are turned all the way down.

I wonder if Ubuntu have anything that resembles equalizers or a more complete mixer so I can lower my low range sounds and bring up the higher frequencies.
 
pfunkman said:
So met-al how does it sound for you with OSS4?

Im currently using my platinum with oss4 and it sounds like ass, constant crackling and just very poor quality.

I cant wait for a proper driver from alsa or even an improved OSS driver.
Click to expand...

It sound's pretty bland.

Also, one of the main things I wanted to work was teamspeak2, but it doesn't work at all.
 
Azhar said:
My X-Fi doesn't sound the same on Ubuntu as in WinXP Pro either. Feels like theres too much bass in it even though my Logitech 2.1 speaker's bass box are turned all the way down.

I wonder if Ubuntu have anything that resembles equalizers or a more complete mixer so I can lower my low range sounds and bring up the higher frequencies.
Click to expand...

Weird, the opposite seems to be happening with me. Audio in my Ubuntu setup totally lacks bass and lower midrange. Yeah, next time I fire up Ubuntu I'm going to see if there is an EQ I can fiddle with. Audio via OSS is so flat in Ubuntu compared to in Vista, it is ridiculous.
 
I wasted a few hours with this mess of trying to get my X-Fi sound to work with alsa and ubuntu. I reinstalled vista on a new hard drive so I figured I'd have another go at dual-booting with ubuntu, which worked fine except for this garbage. I followed a step-by step guide which included recompiling a new kernal. This allowed me to finally install the drivers although still I had no working sound and I get random hard lock ups. After seeing comments here and other places about the sound quality I'm not even going to bother any more on this machine, partition deleted.

I still plan on installing ubuntu (which really is a breeze to set up) on another machine for testing, tinkering around with and coding, but I am convinced that at least until they get some better manufacturer support Linux has no chance of competing with the big boys.:(

/rant
 
whrswoldo said:
I wasted a few hours with this mess of trying to get my X-Fi sound to work with alsa and ubuntu. I reinstalled vista on a new hard drive so I figured I'd have another go at dual-booting with ubuntu, which worked fine except for this garbage. I followed a step-by step guide which included recompiling a new kernal. This allowed me to finally install the drivers although still I had no working sound and I get random hard lock ups. After seeing comments here and other places about the sound quality I'm not even going to bother any more on this machine, partition deleted.

I still plan on installing ubuntu (which really is a breeze to set up) on another machine for testing, tinkering around with and coding, but I am convinced that at least until they get some better manufacturer support Linux has no chance of competing with the big boys.:(

/rant
Click to expand...

Really its creative at fault 100% with that. They chose to pull these shenanigans with releasing busted piece of shit drivers years late.

Creative has seriously fucked up big time lately. Between the problems with the early vista xfi drivers and the more recent vista 64 driver issues on top of thier back and forth shoddy linux support they have lost alot of customers.

I have come to the conclusion that creative hires blind monkeys to write thier drivers. They also hire the driver teams cousins the angry shit throwing baboons to work in customer service for them.

Besides why where you trying to install the alsa drivers? From what i have read it has only worked for very very few people. The OSSv4 drivers would have taken you 5 minutes to set up.
 
pfunkman said:
Really its creative at fault 100% with that. They chose to pull these shenanigans with releasing busted piece of shit drivers years late.

Creative has seriously fucked up big time lately. Between the problems with the early vista xfi drivers and the more recent vista 64 driver issues on top of thier back and forth shoddy linux support they have lost alot of customers.

I have come to the conclusion that creative hires blind monkeys to write thier drivers. They also hire the driver teams cousins the angry shit throwing baboons to work in customer service for them.

Besides why where you trying to install the alsa drivers? From what i have read it has only worked for very very few people. The OSSv4 drivers would have taken you 5 minutes to set up.
Click to expand...

Do you have to configure individual applications to use the OSS drivers as opposed to the ALSA ones? I had looked at a guide for OSS driver install but it indicated that you would have to configure individual programs as in Ubuntu they default to ALSA.
 
eeyrjmr said:
and OSSv4 sound quility is lush, alot better then ALSA
Click to expand...

Not with the xfi. I had the alsa driver working for one day with the original linux 64 bit driver, alsa with the xfi sounded a hell of alot better.

whrswoldo said:
Do you have to configure individual applications to use the OSS drivers as opposed to the ALSA ones? I had looked at a guide for OSS driver install but it indicated that you would have to configure individual programs as in Ubuntu they default to ALSA.
Click to expand...

I dont remember, i switched back to onboard because it didnt sound as good as i wanted. I have the alc888 onboard chip which is a pretty damn good chip.

Use wubi and try it, no harm if you dont like it.
 
pfunkman said:
I dont remember, i switched back to onboard because it didnt sound as good as i wanted. I have the alc888 onboard chip which is a pretty damn good chip.

Use wubi and try it, no harm if you dont like it.
Click to expand...

Funny you say that, that's exactly what I'm doing until I get another box up and running. (I need another PSU as I cannibalized my old power supply for a mod on my kegerator... it's a noble job for a PSU, really ;))
 
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