A few different issues with this system, but for devel and debugging I have 3 laptops of the exact same hardware. Asus k50AB laptops with the VIA VT1708S sound card. I am documenting as best as I can on this ubuntu bug ticket:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/595606

Currently the issues are: 1. Front mic does not work. No audio with any tests, even arecord test. 2. headphone jack does not work. When headphones are plugged in, the sound continues to come out of the speakers, and no sound out of the headphones.

I am able to test patches easily. I have just installed from source 1.0.23 release.