Paul, That was the crucial information. I'm not sure which was the problem, but my /etc/modules had 'char-major-14 soundcore' and I had no mixer installed. Normally I just use the tools KDE supplies but I don't have X installed on this machine so I'm really roughing it. So I fixed '/etc/modules' and I installed 'rexima' -- which is a nice ncurses mixer -- and voila', sound.
As for the sound quality, well I don't intend to use the internal speakers anyway. Thanks. Tom
