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author | rgrimes <rgrimes@FreeBSD.org> | 1993-06-12 14:49:13 +0000 |
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committer | rgrimes <rgrimes@FreeBSD.org> | 1993-06-12 14:49:13 +0000 |
commit | f078b88a160c467761b3f3641f05dfd0aa3f7753 (patch) | |
tree | 1f058a53dd274694716ec00c288d27223606ee45 /share/man/man4/spkr.4 | |
download | FreeBSD-src-f078b88a160c467761b3f3641f05dfd0aa3f7753.zip FreeBSD-src-f078b88a160c467761b3f3641f05dfd0aa3f7753.tar.gz |
Initial import, 0.1 + pk 0.2.4-B1
Diffstat (limited to 'share/man/man4/spkr.4')
-rw-r--r-- | share/man/man4/spkr.4 | 117 |
1 files changed, 117 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/share/man/man4/spkr.4 b/share/man/man4/spkr.4 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b211674 --- /dev/null +++ b/share/man/man4/spkr.4 @@ -0,0 +1,117 @@ +.TH SPKR 4 +.SH NAME +spkr \- console speaker device driver +.SH DESCRIPTION +The speaker device driver allows applications to control the PC console +speaker on an IBM-PC-compatible machine running UNIX. +.PP +Only one process may have this device open at any given time; open() and +close() are used to lock and relinquish it. An attempt to open() when +another process has the device locked will return -1 with an EBUSY error +indication. Writes to the device are interpreted as 'play strings' in a +simple ASCII melody notation. An ioctl() for tone generation at arbitrary +frequencies is also supported. +.PP +Sound-generation does \fInot\fR monopolize the processor; in fact, the driver +spends most of its time sleeping while the PC hardware is emitting +tones. Other processes may emit beeps while the driver is running. +.PP +Applications may call ioctl() on a speaker file descriptor to control the +speaker driver directly; definitions for the ioctl() interface are in +sys/spkr.h. The tone_t structure used in these calls has two fields, +specifying a frequency (in hz) and a duration (in 1/100ths of a second). +A frequency of zero is interpreted as a rest. +.PP +At present there are two such ioctls. SPKRTONE accepts a pointer to a +single tone structure as third argument and plays it. SPKRTUNE accepts a +pointer to the first of an array of tone structures and plays them in +continuous sequence; this array must be terminated by a final member with +a zero duration. +.PP +The play-string language is modelled on the PLAY statement conventions of +IBM BASIC 2.0. The MB, MF and X primitives of PLAY are not useful in a UNIX +environment and are omitted. The `octave-tracking' feature is also new. +.PP +There are 84 accessible notes numbered 1-83 in 7 octaves, each running from +C to B, numbered 0-6; the scale is equal-tempered A440 and octave 3 starts +with middle C. By default, the play function emits half-second notes with the +last 1/16th second being `rest time'. +.PP +Play strings are interpreted left to right as a series of play command groups; +letter case is ignored. Play command groups are as follows: +.PP +CDEFGAB -- letters A through G cause the corresponding note to be played in the +current octave. A note letter may optionally be followed by an \fIaccidental +sign\fR, one of # + or -; the first two of these cause it to be sharped one +half-tone, the last causes it to be flatted one half-tone. It may also be +followed by a time value number and by sustain dots (see below). Time values +are interpreted as for the L command below;. +.PP +O <n> -- if <n> is numeric, this sets the current octave. <n> may also be one +of 'L' or 'N' to enable or disable octave-tracking (it is disabled by default). +When octave-tracking is on, interpretation of a pair of letter notes will +change octaves if necessary in order to make the smallest possible jump between +notes. Thus "olbc" will be played as "olb>c", and "olcb" as "olc<b". Octave +locking is disabled for one letter note following by >, < and O[0123456]. +.PP +> -- bump the current octave up one. +.PP +< -- drop the current octave down one. +.PP +N <n> -- play note n, n being 1 to 84 or 0 for a rest of current time value. +May be followedv by sustain dots. +.PP +L <n> -- sets the current time value for notes. The default is L4, quarter +notes. The lowest possible value is 1; values up to 64 are accepted. L1 sets +whole notes, L2 sets half notes, L4 sets quarter notes, etc.. +.PP +P <n> -- pause (rest), with <n> interpreted as for L. May be followed by +sustain dots. May also be written '~'. +.PP +T <n> -- Sets the number of quarter notes per minute; default is 120. Musical +names for common tempi are: + +.TS +a a a. + Tempo Beats Per Minute +very slow Larghissimo + Largo 40-60 + Larghetto 60-66 + Grave + Lento + Adagio 66-76 +slow Adagietto + Andante 76-108 +medium Andantino + Moderato 108-120 +fast Allegretto + Allegro 120-168 + Vivace + Veloce + Presto 168-208 +very fast Prestissimo +.TE +.PP +M[LNS] -- set articulation. MN (N for normal) is the default; the last 1/8th of +the note's value is rest time. You can set ML for legato (no rest space) or +MS (staccato) 1/4 rest space. +.PP +Notes (that is, CDEFGAB or N command character groups) may be followed by +sustain dots. Each dot causes the note's value to be lengthened by one-half +for each one. Thus, a note dotted once is held for 3/2 of its undotted value; +dotted twice, it is held 9/4, and three times would give 27/8. +.PP +Whitespace in play strings is simply skipped and may be used to separate +melody sections. +.SH BUGS +Due to roundoff in the pitch tables and slop in the tone-generation and timer +hardware (neither of which was designed for precision), neither pitch accuracy +nor timings will be mathematically exact. There is no volume control. +.PP +In play strings which are very long (longer than your system's physical I/O +blocks) note suffixes or numbers may occasionally be parsed incorrectly due +to crossing a block boundary. +.SH FILES +/dev/speaker -- speaker device file +.SH AUTHOR +Eric S. Raymond (esr@snark.thyrsus.com) Feb 1990 |