Ubuntu Linux Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Driver Installation How To
May 21st, 2009 | Published in Guide, How To, Linux, Ubuntu | 13 Comments
There is a way to get your Creative X-Fi Card working in Ubuntu Linux using the proprietary drivers provided by Creative as of 2008/2009. As of Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) they work fine; however, they do take a little bit of know-how to install. Soon there will be no need for any of this as the ALSA team and kernel team are working hard on integrating them into the core Linux system. Watch out for this in Karmic Koala (see bottom of post)!
So, let’s get going.
Go to Creative’s web site and download the X-Fi driver for your card for “Linux.” It will come in a .tar.gz file.
After downloading the file from Creative’s web site you need to double click on the file. Click on “Extract” in the upper menu. You can choose the location. Your Desktop is perfectly fine as well as any other location, such as your ~/ (home) directory. Just remember where you place your downloaded file.
It will indeed take going to the terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) as of now. Then going to the directory where you extracted the file to.
To do this type:
cd /directory/path
If it is your desktop that would be:
cd Desktop
or:
cd ~/Desktop
If it is just your home folder your are already there.
Then go to the Creative driver folder using “cd” as well.
cd XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00
or just type:
cd XFi<TAB>
<TAB> will auto-complete for you. Press Enter.Once there:
Type:
make
Then type:
sudo make install
Enter in YOUR password (you will not be able to see it).
This will most likely will require a restart. HOWEVER, before you restart go to System > Administration > Hardware Driver. Ensure the X-Fi Restricted Driver (that you just installed) is enabled).
You can then go to:
System > Preferences > Sound
And look at your main mixer on the bottom. Make sure ALSA X-Fi is selected. Test the above channels to make sure everything is working properly.
Now everything should work fine.
This is the only way to get it to work and you must do this again with any NEW kernel installs or upgrades. This until the new ALSA release that will support this model sound card. This bug has been ongoing in the community of Ubuntu and you can read about it, and subscribe to it, here. It will pushed out in Karmic with ALSA along with the newer version of the kernel (we hope!).
If you have any questions there is always #ubuntu on freenode IRC and Launchpad Answers. And, of course, you can always fire away in comments.
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