Bug#506838: Apparently fixed in lenny

Rather than just trying to update the Alsa software on my Averatec laptop, I upgraded the whole operating system from etch to lenny. Sound output (e.g. from Rhythembox) now works fine, actually better than with earlier releases: with many versions of Debian and Ubuntu, there was a problem with the

Bug#506838: Hardware works with Knoppix, DSL, and Puppy Linux

When I boot with the following live CDs, sound works right away: Knoppix 5.1.1 DSL (Damn Small Linux) 4.4.6 Puppy Linux 4.00 In each case, once I mount the HD volume with sound files, I am able to play them with each distro's version of xmms. In addition, when I reboot from (at least) Knoppix