Admittedly, it is only now that Linux and multimedia are starting to play wonderful music together (it was not so 10 years ago!). However, this does not prevent the occasional glitches that one experiences with an audio card that is not supported by whatever driver is shipped with your favorite distribution. For most, it is the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture, or ALSA, that is bundled making you one lucky person… but it is not perfect. :) So for the rare times that there is a problem, you need a way to troubleshoot it… but how?
linux journal's Dave Phillips wrote a blog entry detailing the steps in troubleshooting audio on Linux. The first of a three-series article, he writes about configuring and analyzing your system audio setup. I wish this article was available when I was having a difficult time getting audio to work on an old 486 computer! :)