I’m trying to find a card that will work great in Linux. I have an Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro (lost the Ext hub). Great in WinXP-64 and Oblivion, but under Linux the internal AUX port does not work. Apparently, it’s an alsa bug with this particular card. AUX port works fine in Windows.
System is:
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe w/ Athlon X2 4200 @ 2.6GHz
4GB DDR RAM (4x1GB) @ 480
Primary OS = openSUSE 11.0 32-bit/KDE 4.1
Second OS = Windows XP 64-bit
I’d like to find a great card for Linux, more than Windows, but needs the 64-bit compat. in Windows. AUX ports are important under Linux. I’d like to stay away from Creative if possible. The ASUS Xonar DX looks promising, but how’s the linux alsa driver?
Ah, should mention too…
Speakers are 5.1 Analog connection (the three 1/8 jacks)
Soundcards I have available
said Audigy2 ZS Plat. Pro
Turtle Beach Catalina (VIA Envy24HT-S) - In Media Center
on-board sound (Realtek/nForce4-SLI ALC850)
SBLive 5.1
Eventually, the Audigy will goto the MCE (Vista32). The SBLive has no good 64-bit drivers (as far as I’ve tried, but would do the job under linux). I also want a Digital Sound Processor(DSP) soundcard, which put’s off the Realtek and Catalina (unless either would be a REALLY good choice, but I think not) Also, only have either a PCI or a PCIEx1 slot available after removing the Audigy2 ZS.
The entire Audigy series (from the classic Audigy up to and including the Audigy 4 Pro) are well supported by Linux and XP/Vista64, which isn’t true of a lot of soundcards with DSPs (the X-Fi is well-supported by 64-bit Windows, but not supported by Linux really, even in the 32-bit flavor; the beta X-Fi driver has major issues with Linux).
I have both an X-Fi and a Classic Audigy in my triple-boot box (Vista 32-bit, openSuSE 11, and OS X) and use the X-Fi for Vista and the Audigy for openSuSE.
When did you last try alsa? According to this: User:ClemensLadisch - AlsaProject
support was introduced starting in 1.0.16 and updated further in 1.0.17RC1 and 1.0.18RC1 of alsa.
There are also cutting rpms for the most recent alsa builds here: Alsa-update - openSUSE
When using those cutting edge rpms, one typically has to send 6 zypper commands. Three associated with the nominal (but latest cutting edge) alsa supporting apps, and three associated with the latest cutting edge alsa driver, that are applicable to specific kernel versions.
Sorry, it’s been a bit, but have been quite busy. I have researched this issue and I am thinking Audigy, but it’s a question of which one…
(For the rest of this, the AUX port I refer to is the AUX port on the card inside the case)
I have half an Audigy 2 ZS Plat. Pro (No Ext box, no remote.) The problem with it is the AUX on the card does not seem to work in Linux, but does in Windows. Please, I’ve exhausted trying to get this to work, but it appears that for this particular model, it does not work, and I don’t want to discuss it further.
What I am interested in is if getting the ext box is worth it? does it work? Does getting audio input plugged into the ext box work? Does it work as a separate amp from the PC (like plug my MP3 into it with the PC off)
What about another Audigy 2 ZS model? One that has an AUX port working?