First the good news: since the CD does indeed have a Linux driver, it will be possible for you to run this thing under Linux.
The bad news: it's gonna be a loooong haul, so bear with me.
Kernel source code
You're going to need the kernel's source code first. Check to see if it's already been installed on your system, it will usually be located in /usr/src inside a folder that has the kernel version that you're using.Downloading a kernel
If it isn't there, you'll have to download the kernel source. An extra step, and more configuration necessary. Head to www.kernel.org and download the latest version (make sure you don't download the patch -- you need the full version, so click on the 'F' to download it).
You'll need to extract the tarball.
# cd /usr/src
# su
# tar xjf /home/iamthwee/linux-2.6...tar.bz2
Finally, you need to make a sym-link called "linux" (like a folder shortcut) that will point to the source code.
# ln -s linux-2.6... linux
Building the soundcard driver
Now you'll need to extract the soundcard tarball.
# cd /usr/src/linux/driver/sound
# tar xfz cmpci-xx.tar.gz
Next, configure the kernel.
# cd /usr/src/linux
# make menuconfig
If you manually installed the kernel like I showed above, it's going to be way harder than if your system came installed with the kernel. If you've manually installed it, you will need to follow these instructions (note: you don't actually need to compile it here, just follow the configuration guide): http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=7#doc_chap3
Last thing you need to do is make sure you enable support for this driver that you just worked so hard to get, so just do what it says here:
Please select Sound Card (CONFIG_SOUND=m) support and CMPCI
driver (CONFIG_SOUND_CMPCI=m) as modules. Resident mode not tested.
For driver option, please refer 'DRIVER PARAMETER'
Exit the menuconfig, making sure to save your changes. Now you can compile the modules (with root privalges) and install it.
# make modules_install
If you manually installed the kernel
Note that if you manually installed a new kernel, you'll have to do this instead:
# make && make modules_install
# cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6...
And now you need to edit your bootloader configuration. Systems have the config file located in different spots, so if it's grub, look for grub.conf , and if it's lilo, lilo.conf . Changing the file is relatively simple. Look for vmlinuz, kernel, or anything with version numbers. Change this to the name of the kernel that you just copied (kernel-2.6...).
If your bootloader is lilo, you'll need to update it like so:
# lilo
If it's grub, you usually don't need to update it (depending on your partition steup).
Reboot the system to test out your new kernel.Installing the driver
Create the module dependancy:
# depmod -a
Open up /etc/conf.modules , and add the following line:
alias sound cmpci
Reboot and enjoy. (I've probably missed something along the way, so let me know if something doesn't work.)
