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I want to run Linux program that require a soundcard, on a server, which has no soundcard. Is it possible to create a dummy soundcard? I am totally unaware of Linux sound system internals. Please point me in right direction.

I have followed this example: http://alsa.opensrc.org/.asoundrc but it didn't work out.

PS: There is similar question: How to create a virtual sound device in Linux?. But this is totally different in the context that the user is creating an alias to already available soundcard.

Edit:
I want a dummy device to be created in /dev/.. so that any application that needs a sound device will find it.
I am completely unware, how alsa works. So I simply followed the example. I created /etc/asound.conf with:

pcm.card0 {
    type hw
    card 0
}
ctl.card0 {
    type hw
    card 0
}

And aplay -L gives me:

null
    Discard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)
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Yes, there is such a thing as "dummy" sound device in Alsa. But you need to elaborate about what exactly "didn't work out" for you. Error message, not detected by the software, etc. Also, does the target "linux program" use ALSA at all? Because if it doesn't, messing with ALSA config files won't give you much. – haimg Oct 10 '11 at 4:52
I want a virtual sound device to be created in /dev/... – ssapkota Oct 10 '11 at 5:57
See the edit for more. – ssapkota Oct 10 '11 at 6:08
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1 Answer

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You need to load a dummy sound driver. Please see the Alsa Wiki for detailed info, but here are the basics:

  1. Load the driver:

    modprobe snd-dummy ; modprobe snd-pcm-oss ; modprobe snd-mixer-oss ; modprobe snd-seq-oss

  2. Have proper .asoundrc file (you have it covered)

  3. Configure autoloading of the drivers. Add this to /etc/modules.conf:

    # OSS/Free portion - card #1
    alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
    alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
    alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
    alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
    alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
    alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

There are actually quite a few things involved, I suggest you visit the Wiki page above for more detailed explanation.

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