[gobolinux-users] bemoaning the lack of sound

[Isaac Dupree]

Jonas Karlsson wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:15:39 +0100, Isaac Dupree <isaacdupree at charter.net> wrote:
> 
>> and now testing the effect of headphones:
>>
>> when they're plugged in, no sound comes out of either the laptop's
>> built-in speakers nor the headphones.  Is there somewhere I need to set
>> plugged-in-speakers volume separately, or does it just not work yet? (or
>> something else)
>>
> I have no macbook but an intel sound card and the speakers and headphone
> jack is two different channels here. Use alsamixer (or kmix if you have
> kde) to see all channels and their levels.

what are "channels"?  Are they the Front, Surround, Center, LFE, and 
Side that I can see in alsamixer/kmix?

any idea if there's someplace the theoretical Linux sound model is 
described on the Web?  It seems slightly complicated but there must be a 
reason for that, one that would make sense once I saw the bigger 
picture.  (including multiple output hardware (e.g. built-in speakers 
and headphones jack), and maybe input too)

Isaac