I just ran the command ‘hwinfo’ on my system. I beleive AC '97 on-board audio is disabled in the BIOS, as I wish to use my SB Audigy card. I also believe that detection of graphics capability is set to ‘auto’ (so that Linux uses my installed Matrox G200 card) rather than the only other alternative, which is ‘onboard’. However ‘hwinfo’ seems to ‘enumerate’ (if that is the right word) both the on-board audio and on-board video hardware - and appears to allocate resources to them.
Is this correct or am I mis-understanding what hwinfo is telling me?
As a subsidiary question, I would ask why hwinfo lists so many ‘items’ which deal with sound processing. Of the 100 or so items (devices ?) listed by hwinfo, 17 are associated with the SB Audigy card, 8 with my Logitech QuickCam Pro 3000 web-cam and 1 with the AC '97 Audio Controller - a total of 26 audio devices. Does this seem correct?