Unpack the packages you've downloaded ./configure \ --with-moddir=/lib/modules/<kernel-version>/kernel/drivers/sound/ \ --with-kernel=<path-to-kernel-source-tree-to-build-for> \ --with-sequencer=yes --with-oss=yes \ --with-cards=<soundcards-to-compile> && make && make install Replace <path-to-kernel-source-tree-to-build-for> and <kernel-version> with which the path to the source tree of the kernel version you want to build the drivers for (most commonly your current version) and the kernel version number respectively. You also need to replace <soundcards-to-compile> with the card names you need drivers for (read the SOUNDCARDS section below); otherwise "./configure --help" gives you a list of drivers you can compile. There are two ways of setting up the modules. The easiest way is the "let the kernel module loader load them automatically"-way, the other one is to use the bootscript you'll find in the /utils-directory of the driver. For both ways, you need to add some lines to /etc/modules.conf: cat >> /etc/modules.conf << "EOF" alias char-major-116 snd options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1 alias snd-card-0 snd-card-<soundcard> alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0 alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss post-install snd-card-<soundcard> /usr/sbin/alsactl restore EOF Remember to replace <soundcard> with whatever is appropriate. Note that if you are going to use the LFS-style alsa script we give below, there is no need for the post-install line. If you want kmod to automatically load the modules, as long as you have the post-install line in modules.conf, you don't need a startup script. If on the other hand you want to use an LFS style startup script (because you want to perform other operations at startup/shutdown or for another reason), you can use this script here: cat > /etc/rc.d/init.d/alsa << "EOF" #!/bin/sh # Begin $rc_base/init.d/alsa # Based on sysklogd script from LFS-3.1 and earlier. # Rewritten by Gerard Beekmans - gerard@linuxfromscratch.org # ALSA specific parts by Mark Hymers - markh@linuxfromscratch.org source /etc/sysconfig/rc source $rc_functions if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/alsa ] then source /etc/sysconfig/alsa fi if [ -z "$CONF" ] then echo "Please create an /etc/sysconfig/alsa file containing" echo "a CONF value (usually /etc/asound.conf)" exit 1; fi case "$1" in start) echo -n "Starting alsa... Restoring volumes..." loadproc /usr/sbin/alsactl -f $CONF restore #echo -n " Loading MIDI font..." #loadproc sfxload $FONT ;; stop) echo -n "Stopping alsa... Saving volumes......" loadproc /usr/sbin/alsactl -f $CONF store #echo -n " Removing MIDI font.........." #loadproc sfxload -i ;; restart) $0 stop /usr/bin/sleep 1 $0 start ;; *) echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}" exit 1 ;; esac # End $rc_base/init.d/alsa EOF chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/init.d/alsa Note that the Loading and Removing MIDI font lines are commented out. This is because they are only needed for certain soundcards and also require an additional program (sfxload). An example of a soundcard which needs MIDI fonts loaded in order to play MIDI files is the Soundblaster Live! which is based on a emu10k1 chip. If you are using the above script, you will also need a /etc/sysconfig/alsa file. Create this using the following commands: cat > /etc/sysconfig/alsa << "EOF" # Begin /etc/sysconfig/alsa # CONF is where you want the system to store volume settings. # /etc/asound.conf is recommended CONF=/etc/asound.conf # FONT is where your midi font (if any) is stored. FONT=/usr/share/8mbgmsfx.sf2 # End /etc/sysconfig/alsa EOF Then create the appropriate symlinks: cd /etc/rc.d/init.d && ln -sf ../init.d/alsa ../rc0.d/K35alsa && ln -sf ../init.d/alsa ../rc1.d/K35alsa && ln -sf ../init.d/alsa ../rc2.d/S40alsa && ln -sf ../init.d/alsa ../rc3.d/S40alsa && ln -sf ../init.d/alsa ../rc4.d/S40alsa && ln -sf ../init.d/alsa ../rc5.d/S40alsa && ln -sf ../init.d/alsa ../rc6.d/K35alsa Beware. All channels of your soundcard are muted by default. You can use the alsamixer (in alsa-utils, requires alsa-lib) or any other OSS mixer program (like kmix, gmix, aumix) to unmute them. We recommend that you do this before running the script above because otherwise alsactl will complain that it cannot read the /etc/asound.conf file. You can do this by running alsamixer, setting the volumes and then running alsactl -f /etc/asound.conf store. This means that the first time you run the script, it will have a valid asound.conf file to use. If you get an error like alsamixer: failed to open mixer #0/#0: No such file or directory run the snddevices script in the alsa-driver directory. From the alsa-driver source directory run: ./snddevices From the alsa-lib source directory, run: ./configure && make install From the alsa-utils source directory, run: ./configure && make install ./configure && make install These commands are all you need to install alsa-oss-lib or alsa-tools. Remember oss-lib is only for future versions and the alsa-tools are only useful for the owners of very old or expensive cards (e.g multichannel cards), so most people don't need it.