I assembled my new PC myself.
I installed Ubuntu 9.04
Here are the things I had to do to get things running:

1) Enable USB in Virtual Box (Ubuntu host, WindowsXP hosted)

[http://www.samlesher.com/ubuntu/virtualbox-with-usb-support-on-ubuntu]


Add yourself to the vboxusers group:
sudo gpasswd -a YOURUSERNAME vboxusers
Find the devgid for ‘vboxusers’:
grep vboxusers /etc/group
It will return something like:
vboxusers:x:125:username
Add this line to the bottom of /etc/fstab, replace the devgid number with your devgid:
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=125,devmode=664 0 0

I am not sure I really had to do this - as although windows said it had a USB controller working (under hardware) there aws a second USB item - in the yellow question marks: no driver installed. I told it to install the driver - and then it worked

2) Get DVD's to play

Set up the mediabuntu repositories (I am sure there was a more direct way of doing this in 8.10 - using add and remove programs - but I can't find it in 9.04)

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope":

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/jaunty.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Then, add the GPG Key:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

You may be asked to accept this package even though it cannot be authenticated. This is normal; typing "Yes" means you trust Medibuntu.

Playing Encrypted DVDs

To play encrypted DVDs, the libdvdcss2 package is essential.

If you have added the entire Medibuntu repository, you just need to install the package using APT:

sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

3. Getting 5.1 sound to work on ASUS M3N78-EM with Realtek ALC 1200 Ubunto 9.04

A. Put a 5.1 DVD in the DVD drive (ha! - I was using a DVD that had only stereo!)
B. make sure all the sliders are up to max - Master, PCM and all the 5.1 channels
C. Tell Ubuntu about the card

Proper fix for > Realtek ALC1200 Audio = no sound

---

Problem is that Ubuntu does not find the card. When it does it will appear in the volume control devices dropdown

Fix for Realtek ALC1200 thanks to DJAMU

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7279149#post7279149

Just create an option config file in /etc/modprobe.d/

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/hda_intel.conf

and paste this in it.

Code:

options snd-hda-intel model=auto probe_mask=1

save this
reboot ( or restart your services etc ... )

check your volume is up... (as it will quite often reset)

have fun...

Then go to volume control and select the options

Switches:
Headphone (turn OFF),
IEC958 (turn ON),
IEC958 Default PCM (turn ON). At one point there was the option to choos 6 or 8 speaker - but this has disappeared.

D. Now we must tell PulseAudio we have 6 speakers:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SurroundSound

In the terminal, type the following:

gksu gedit /etc/pulse/daemon.conf

This should open up the configuration file in gedit. Once open, scroll down to find the line ; default-sample-channels = 2. Remove the semicolon at the start of the line and change the line according to your surround sound configuration:

• For 2.0 channel sound: default-sample-channels = 2

• For 4.0 channel sound: default-sample-channels = 4

• For 5.0 channel sound: default-sample-channels = 5

• For 5.1 channel sound: default-sample-channels = 6

• For 7.1 channel sound: default-sample-channels = 8

and then test (For 5.1):

speaker-test -Dplug:surround51 -c6 -l1 -twav

E) Enable VLC to use all 6 speakers

Then there is the problem getting VLC to permit use of 5.1 - if you try to select it keeps on saying that the 5.1 resource is busy.

Audio output failed:
The audio device "surround51" is already in use.
Audio output failed:
VLC could not open the ALSA device "surround51" (Device or resource busy

So...

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1216622.html

"Here's the setup in VLC that now works for me (pretty straightforward, actually):

- First, select "All" in "Show Settings" in the options menu
- Under "Audio", I have "High Quality Audio Resampling" enabled (it is by default, I think)
- "Use S/PDIF when available" is disabled
- "Peak Protection" disabled, too

- The selected Audio output module is "ALSA audio output"
- In the sub-options of "Output modules", I selected "HDA Nvidia: ALC888 Analog (hw:0,0)" as my ALSA Device Name
- Under "OSS", I enabled "Try to work around buggy..."

Now I can select "5.1" from the Audio Device menu when playing back a DVD, and it works."


Phew!