[ale] Dell Latitude CPt: Sound chip module not loading

[Dow Hurst]

I have a Dell Latitude CPt 333MHz notebook with the Neomagic 
256AV/ZX sound and video chip, specifically the NM2360. 
Under SuSE 7.1 it was supported perfectly using a kernel 
module nm256.o.  I don't think SuSE used ALSA at that time. 
  Now I am building up the system with SuSE 9.0 for a friend 
to use who normally would have preferred win98se.  I want 
this thing to work right, but the sound module under ALSA 
won't load.  If it is forced, then it will lock the machine. 
  I believe it is poor code in ALSA due to lack of hardware 
for the coders from what I've read, but I am not sure about 
that.  Anyway, I've looked at SuSE and their fix was to 
enable the sony_viao hack for the chip, which does not work 
in SUSE 8.2 or 9.0 at least.  I remember under 8.2 that the 
sound module locked the computer up during boot no matter 
what I tried.  I've seen a note on the ALSA site that 
loading AC97 code first will help but only allow loading 30% 
of the time.

Is it possible to get rid of ALSA and go back to whatever 
was used before?  Does anyone know what was used or what I 
should use as a replacement? OSS?  I don't mind fiddling 
with this today.  I have the machine, the SUSE 9.0 CDs, and 
a strong desire to fix this.  Back when this hardware was 
newish and just being coded for, I had found emails 
specifying addresses that could be fed to the driver to help 
the kernel know where the sound memory and video memory 
began and ended.  That is still an option under SUSE's 
advanced sound config in Yast2.  I don't know if that info 
will help but I just can't find the info anymore using 
Google.  Seems that the info I'm looking for isn't coming up 
under searches like Neomagic 256AV/ZX,  NM2360, or Linux 
Dell neomagic as examples.  Any advice would be appreciated! 
  Thanks,
Dow

-- 
__________________________________________________________
Dow Hurst                  Office: 770-499-3428            *
Systems Support Specialist    Fax: 770-423-6744            *
1000 Chastain Rd. Bldg. 12                                 *
Chemistry Department SC428  Email:   dhurst at kennesaw.edu   *
Kennesaw State University         Dow.Hurst at mindspring.com *
Kennesaw, GA 30144                                         *
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