hey all, just wondering if Soundblaster 5.1 will work on opensuse 11.2,need it for 5.1 sound. Thanks.
In general Creative sound blaster works with Linux.
If you look here on the alsa website you will read it likely has the emu10k1 audio chipset where the link associated with the emu10k1 notes you will also need the alsa-firmware package which comes with openSUSE DVD, but may not come with the CD, and hence may not be installed by default. Hence you may need to install it from the OSS repository.
Note the comment from that link:
The first version of the driver for 1212m and 1820m is now out there in kernel 2.6.19 or alsa-driver 1.0.14. If one is adventurous, one can check out the HG repository and have improved features and support for the other PCI cards. These features will be out in kernel 2.6.23 or alsa-driver 1.0.15 [openSUSE-11.2 has kernel 2.6.31, well past 2.6.23]
Not all features are supported yet, but I would welcome some people testing the features it currently has. Please note, this driver has been written in my free time, with no financial support from E-MU except donation of the sound cards and a useful datasheet. I welcome constructive feedback.
What should work:
1.44.1kHz and 48kHz are currently supported.
2.Playback to ALSA devices at 16bit:
front
rear
center_lfe
side
surround40
surround51
surround71 3.That playback or ALSA devices arrives in DSP channels 0-7. One can then select with alsamixer which actual physical output one wished the sound to come from. It loads with mostly sensible defaults.
4.Stereo 16bit sound capture with the default device
5.8-channel 24bit (S32_LE) in-phase capture suitable for use with jackd/ardour.
6.8-channel 24bit (S32_LE) in-phase playback suitable for use with jackd/ardour. Note: This has not been tested yet, so might not work very well.
7.Switches to enable PADS (attenuation) to the inputs and outputs.
8.ADAT/SPDIF (need people to test this for me)
What is not yet supported:1.Any rate apart from 44.1 and 48kHz. (I know how to do it, I just need time to implement support for it. Fairly big task.)
2.A patchmix type application. (I really need help here)
3.sync card. (need people to test this for me)
4.Anything else not mentioned above.
So yes, it should mostly work. 5.1 surrournd sound can be a bit tricky to setup on Linux (and not just openSUSE).
thanks i’m going to install it now then, i’ll post results in around 10mins 
I need to do some recording also in Audacity,so heres hoping!
it works!, I had to configure it though, I didn’t hear the opensuse start up sound and got worried, In the mixer ( shows up as Dell sound Blaster Live! ), I had the enable front jack and surround mix, connected my headphones and my speakers, in Kmix on front and rear jack, I put both on " front output " and its all good.
How come VLC tells me this error…
Potential ALSA version problem:
VLC failed to initialize your sound output device (if any).
Please update alsa-lib to version 1.0.24 or higher to try to fix this issue.
But my song still plays, I clicked Hide future errors but it shows up everytime 
Besides that. all good, going to connect my studio condenser mic to the mic input and see if it works in Audacity.
EDIT : i’m not getting any sound anywhere else, other media players and youtube has no sound for me…
sorry for the tripple post I can’t edit my previous one…
In sound configuration, this is what it shows for me…
0 AC’97 Sound Controller
not configured SB Live! Value EMU10k1X
When I click edit to configure soundblaster, it just fails on me and doesn’t install…
The kernal module snd-emu10k1x for sound support could not be loaded. This can be caused by incorrect module parameters,including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
Then a box pops up saying removed sound devices,and KDE is saying soundblaster is ok to be removed. I just clicked no.
Strange thing is…in sound and video configuration, under Audio Output, I click test on soundblaster and sound plays. whats going on! lol , so confusing.