Frequently Asked Questions for FreeBSD 6.X, 7.X and 8.X
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4.7 Sound Devices

4.7.1. Which sound cards are supported by FreeBSD?
4.7.2. Workarounds for no sound from my pcm(4) sound card?

4.7.1. Which sound cards are supported by FreeBSD?

FreeBSD supports various sound cards (for more details, see FreeBSD Release Information and the snd(4) manual page). There is also limited support for MPU-401 and compatible MIDI cards. Cards conforming to the Microsoft® Sound System specification are also supported.

Note: This is only for sound! This driver does not support CD-ROMs, SCSI or joysticks on these cards, except for the SoundBlaster®. The SoundBlaster SCSI interface and some non-SCSI CD-ROMs are supported, but you cannot boot off this device.

4.7.2. Workarounds for no sound from my pcm(4) sound card?

Some sound cards set their output volume to 0 at every boot. Run the following command every time the machine boots:

# mixer pcm 100 vol 100 cd 100
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