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Release notes for the Linux Sound Driver 2.5
--------------------------------------------
There is also a version called 2.5-beta floating around the net. This
version contains some fixes after it. Mainly to the SB and GUS code.
CAUTION! The SVR4.2 port has not been tested much. Backup your system
carefully before trying it.
This is mainly a bug fix release. There are couple of new things such as
linear volume mode for GUS and MIDI recording for SB 2.0 and SB Pro.
Also this version supports the mixer of GUS v3.7. (Support for GUS MAX and
the 16-bit daughtercard is coming sooner or later).
NOTE! The sound driver is a part of the Linux kernel distribution also.
Check that your kernel doesn't have more recent version than this
when installing a separately distributed sound driver. The
version number of this driver is defined in the makefile.
This version contains a driver for the SB16 also.
The SB16 driver requires separate DMA channels for the 8 and 16 bit
modes. There should be a way to share the 8 bit DMA channels between
these modes but this feature is not supported yet.
The SB16 DSP support is by Joerg Schubert (jsb@sth.ruhr-uni-bochum.de).
The SB16 driver has also the Midi input capability even at the same
time with the /dev/dsp. Also the WaveBlaster daughter board is supported.
No support for the ASP chip yet (the ASP chip can be installed but it's
not used by the driver).
You will need the snd-util-2.5.tar.gz and snd-data-0.1.tar.Z
packages to use this driver. They should be in the same
ftp site or BBS from where you got this driver. For
example at nic.funet.fi:pub/OS/Linux/*.
If you are looking for the installation instructions, please
look at $OS/Readme.
This version supports the following soundcards:
GUS, SoundBlaster, SB Pro, SB16, Pro Audio Spectrum 16 and AdLib.
In addition there is rather limited support for MPU-401.
(and compatible) midi cards. Also the OPL-3 synthesizer
Most of the features of the /dev/sequencer device file are
available just for GUS owners.
NOTE! There are separate driver for CD-ROMS supported by
some soundcards. The driver for CDU31A (Fusion 16) is
called cdu31a-0.6.diff.z. It will be contained in the
Linux version 0.99.12. The driver for the CD-ROM of SB Pro
is sbpcd0.4.tar.gz (these were the latest versions when I wrote
this). These files should be at least at sunsite.unc.edu.
Also the SCSI interface of the PAS16 should be supported by
Linux 0.99.13k and later.
There is also a driver for joystick. Look for file joystick-0.5.tar.gz
(sunsite).
Compatibility with the earlier versions
---------------------------------------
In this version the ultrasound.h no longer includes the sys/soundcard.h
You have to change the gmod.c of the snd-util-2.0 package and to add an
include for it.
IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This version is not binary or source compatible with the version 1.0c.
The ioctl() interface has changed completely since version 1.0c. All
programs using this driver must be at least recompiled.
The snd-util-2.0 package contains some utilities for this version.
The version 1.0c and earlier used a 'nonportable' ioctl calling scheme
where the input argument was passed by value and the output value was
returned as the functional return. For example setting the speed of
/dev/dsp were done as the following:
int actual_speed;
actual_speed = ioctl(fd, SOUND_PCM_WRITE_RATE, 44100);
After version 1.99.0 this must be done as the following:
int actual_speed = 44100;
ioctl(fd, SOUND_PCM_WRITE_RATE, &actual_speed);
If you have an application written for the version 1.0, you should search
for the strings SNDCTL_ and SOUND_ and to check the parameters.
The following ioctl calls have changed:
SNDCTL_SEQ_GETOUTCOUNT
SNDCTL_SEQ_GETINCOUNT
SNDCTL_SEQ_TESTMIDI
SNDCTL_DSP_SPEED
SNDCTL_DSP_STEREO
SNDCTL_DSP_GETBLKSIZE
SNDCTL_DSP_SAMPLESIZE
SOUND_PCM_WRITE_CHANNELS
SOUND_PCM_WRITE_FILTER
SOUND_PCM_READ_RATE
SOUND_PCM_READ_CHANNELS
SOUND_PCM_READ_BITS
SOUND_PCM_READ_FILTER
SOUND_PCM_WRITE_BITS
SOUND_PCM_WRITE_RATE
SOUND_MIXER_READ_* (several ones)
SOUND_MIXER_WRITE_* (several ones)
Since the this version will support more than one synthesizer devices
at the same time, the ioctl(SNDCTL_FM_LOAD_INSTR) is obsolete. In addition
there is some new fields which must be initialized. Look at the sbiset.c in
the snd-util-2.0 package for further info.
This version is almost 100% compatible with the alpha test version (1.99.9). The
difference is in the installation procedure.
Using this driver with other operating systems than Linux
---------------------------------------------------------
This package contains just the Linux version. The version 2.3
for SCO is available at nic.funet.fi:pub/OS/Linux/ALPHA/sound.
The version 2.3 doesn't work well with xxxxxBSD. Use the version
2.3 for them.
/dev/sndstat
------------
The /dev/sndstat is now available in the SCO and BSD versions also.
This is a new devicefile for debugging purposes. A better place for
it is in the /proc -directory but I was just too lazy to implement it
properly. The /dev/sndstat (major 14, minor 6) is a file which returns
info about the current configuration (see the example below). If you
send me a error/problem report, please include a printout from this
device to your message (cat /dev/sndstat).
Note! This device file is currently present only in the Linux version
of this driver.
------ cut here --- cat /dev/sndstat example --------
Sound Driver:1.99.7 (Fri Jul 9 17:01:47 GMT 1993 root@lucifer.savolai.fi)
Config options: 0x00000d4b
HW config:
Type 4: Gravis Ultrasound at 0x210 irq 15 drq 6
Type 3: ProAudioSpectrum at 0x388 irq 10 drq 3
Type 2: SoundBlaster at 0x220 irq 7 drq 1
Type 1: AdLib at 0x388 irq 0 drq 0
PCM devices:
00: Gravis UltraSound
01: Pro Audio Spectrum
02: SoundBlaster 2.0
Synth devices:
00: Gravis UltraSound
01: Yamaha OPL-3
Midi devices:
00: Gravis UltraSound
01: Pro Audio Spectrum
Mixer(s) installed
------ cut here ---- End of Example -----------
Known bugs/limitations
----------------------
- High speed recording of long audio samples (>20 second) to disk
is not possible. Everything works until next sync() which delays the
recording process too much. A delay longer than 0.1 to 0.3 seconds is
too much.
- The SB16 driver sometimes swaps the left and right channels together.
- Midi input doesn't work with SB and SB Pro (SB16 works).
- It's not possible to open /dev/dsp (or /dev/audio) while the
/dev/sequencer is open for output and GUS is the only soundcard
installed. It's possible if /dev/dsp is opened before /dev/sequencer
but at this time the GUS is not available for access via /dev/sequencer.
This is a limitation of the driver.
- MPU-401 driver hangs the computer on boot if there is no MPU-401 installed.
It uses by default the I/O port 0x330 whic is used by Adaptec 1542 SCSI
adapter.
- There are some problems in midi input with MPU-401 and the SB16 midi
(MPU-401 emulation). This makes it impossible to read long sysex dumps
using these devices.
- The /dev/sequencer playback to GUS sounds sometimes rather weird. Hitting
^C and playing again should solve this problem. This is propably caused by
incompatibilities between GUS and certain VLB motherboards (like mine).
Try to avoid
switching between VTs while patches are being loaded to the GUS.
This problem disappears completely if you define GUS_PATCH_NO_DMA in the
local.h (after make config in linux). The drawback is that patch loading
without DMA takes several times longer than with DMA.
- There is a skeleton of the patch manager support. It don't work in
this version.
Future development
------------------
- Since this driver is no longer just the Linux Sound Driver, it's time
to give it a new name. I have planned to use name VoxWare.
- I'm writing a Hacker's guide to the VoxWare sound driver. Should
be ready within this(/next) year (alpha version).
- Completion of the ISC, SCO and BSD ports. Port to SVR4.2.
- I'm interested to implement/include support for new soundcards and
operating systems.
Hint for the soundcard and OS manufacturers:
I'm collecting soundcards (high end ones) and SDKs for them. In
addition I'm collecting PC operating systems. I will be happy if
somebody sends me such items. In addition such kind of donation
makes it easier to change the VoxWare driver to support your
soundcard or operating system. However, please contact me before
sending anything.
I will propably release some fix versions within this and next year. At
least when the non-Linux versions get ready. The next major release (3.0)
will be quite complete rewrite and released after about a year (end of 94 or
beginning of 95).
Contributors
------------
This driver contains code by several contributors. In addition several other
persons have given usefull suggestions. The following is a list of major
contributors. (I could have forgotten some names.)
Craig Metz 1/2 of the PAS16 Mixer and PCM support
Rob Hooft Volume computation algorithm for the FM synth.
Mika Liljeberg uLaw encoding and decoding routines
Greg Lee Volume computation algorithm for the GUS and
lot's of valuable suggestions.
Andy Warner Initial ISC port
Jim Lowe Initial FreeBSD port
Anders Baekgaard Bughunting and valuable suggestions.
Joerg Schubert SB16 DSP support.
Andrew Robinson Improvements to the GUS driver
Megens SA MIDI recording for SB and SB Pro.
Mikael Nordqvist Linear volume support for GUS.
Ian Hartas SVR4.2 port
Markus Aroharju and
Risto Kankkunen Major contributions to the mixer support
of GUS v3.7.
Hunyue Yau Sound Galaxy NX Pro mixer support.
Regards,
Hannu Savolainen
hannu@voxware.pp.fi, Hannu.Savolainen@Helsinki.fi
Snail mail: Hannu Savolainen
Pallaksentie 4 A 2
00970 Helsinki
Finland
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