ok, I did search similar threads and I have seen a lot of comments that linux is not made for digital sound etc etc and u r an illiterate if u didnt know this etc...

For those like me wanting to get out of the Win stranglehold, I cant believe this is the only thing keeping us from making this the defacto HTPC standard.

you cant expect everyone to tinker with some parameters or code when they are sitting on their sofa and wanting to watch a movie !

Long story short I was wondering if there was an easy way around this (hate tinkering with code in Linux...BAD things may happen)

If the question is "how do i got sound via hdmi", you usually have to edit your .asoundrc
Be aware that the device's number can be 3 or 5, so you have to setup carefully.
Many threads around.

Over on http://murga-linux.com/puppy/ administrator Flash has posted info on his experiences setting up HDMI on his PC.
You might want to check there and leave him a message.

I'm aware this reply is irrelevant but if anyone should find it.. this is my story. I disable hd audio in bios, and hdmi audio worked. using only hdmi cable, no additional jacks. it works in windows xp 64 bit and 32 bit as well as slackware 32 bit current ( as of november 9 2011 ). I did not edit any .asoundrc files. didnt edit anything. it just worked by disabling hdaudio in bios. board is asus m4a78lt-m card=hda ati hdmi chip=ati rs690/780 hdmi. it did not work in puppy 413 or zenwalk 7

best free linux studio stuff out there i'm aware of is
pup studio 3.3
ubuntu studio
ArtistX Linux

very easy to do in Racy,Wary, most other versions menu>setup>multi-sound card wizard click HDMI.

AVLinux a debian based live cd / usb stick for Audio and Video work, I think it should be considered, Very good.
http://www.bandshed.net/AVLinux.html support many sound configuration alternatives with external usb, firewire, adat or standard analog or digital sound cards.

Bosse