Sound

1999-04-30: SUSE 6.1 Started by looking at YaST. Nothing there directly for sound installation. But I found a package called OSS (Open Sound System), a free-for-personal-use sound system. The /usr/doc/packages/oss documentation for installation looked easy enough. The trick was actually finding the install code. Finally I ran xrpm, looked at the file list, and found there were supposed to be some in /tmp/osslinux-3.8.1z. Found them and ran oss-install. It is pretty hands-off. I told it to load into /usr/local/lib/oss.

According to /proc/interrupts, it uses IRQ 5. According to /proc/devices, it is device type 14. I hope it didn't screw up anything else. It claimed there was an IRQ conflict on IRQ 9 (not dealing with sound).

I was able to run the CD Player. Haven't tried any of the midi or wav stuff. In theory, once it is deemed stable, we put it in the boot process.

...Came back to the issue, to get away from OSS. The work is done as root.

  cd /etc
  cp isapnp.conf isapnp.conf.YYMMDD
  pnpdump -c > /etc/isapnp.conf

Try it out, to see what the setting are:

  /sbin/isapnp /etc/isapnp.conf

If not already set, this will set the ports for the ISA cards, and report results. Use those data, or scan the actual isapnp.conf for the data. There are lots of comments in the .conf file, so scan it for actual meat with egrep:

 egrep -v "^#" isapnp.conf

(READPORT 0x0213)
(ISOLATE PRESERVE)
(IDENTIFY *)
(VERBOSITY 2)
(CONFLICT (IO FATAL)(IRQ FATAL)(DMA FATAL)(MEM FATAL)) # or WARNING

(CONFIGURE CTL00c7/459676288 (LD 0
  (INT 0 (IRQ 7 (MODE +E)))
  (DMA 0 (CHANNEL 0))
  (DMA 1 (CHANNEL 5))
  (IO 0 (SIZE 16) (BASE 0x0240))
  (IO 1 (SIZE 2) (BASE 0x0300))
 (NAME "CTL00c7/459676288[0]{Audio               }")
  (ACT Y)
))

(CONFIGURE CTL00c7/459676288 (LD 1
  (IO 0 (SIZE 8) (BASE 0x0200))
 (NAME "CTL00c7/459676288[1]{Game                }")
  (ACT Y)
))

(CONFIGURE CTL00c7/459676288 (LD 2
  (IO 0 (SIZE 4) (BASE 0x0640))
 (NAME "CTL00c7/459676288[2]{WaveTable           }")
  (ACT Y)
))

(CONFIGURE USR2070/1179010630 (LD 0
  (IO 0 (SIZE 8) (BASE 0x02f8))
  (INT 0 (IRQ 3 (MODE +E)))
 (NAME "USR2070/1179010630[0]{U.S.Robotics Inc. Sportster 56000 Voice Internal }
")
  (ACT Y)
))

(WAITFORKEY)

Modules:

1999-06-091: SUSE 6.1 Edit /etc/conf.modules:

  (find the OSS section and comment out its lines)
  #alias char-major-14 off
  #alias sound off
  #alias midi off  
  ...
  (find the SoundBlaster section , uncomment, and fill in data)    
  alias char-major-14 sb
  post-install sb /sbin/modprobe "-k" "opl3"
  options sb io=0x240 irq=7 dma=0 dma16=5 mpu_io=0x300
  options opl3 io=0x640

1999-12-19: SUSE 6.3 The file is now /etc/modules.conf, but the changes are the same (comment out OSS, and insert the correct sb settings).

Also, for what it's worth:

  cd /dev
  rm dsp
  ln -s /dev/dsp0 /dev/dsp

Then run depmod and then reboot to assure settings take effect. Check:

  hgg9140@wilma:~/SETUP > cat /dev/sndstat
  OSS/Free:3.8s2++-971130
  Load type: Driver loaded as a module
  Kernel: Linux wilma 2.2.7 #17 Fri Apr 30 20:00:18 MEST 1999 i686
  Config options: 0
  
  Installed drivers: 
  
  Card config: 
  
  Audio devices:
  0: Sound Blaster 16 (4.16) (DUPLEX)
  
  Synth devices:
  0: Yamaha OPL3
  
  Midi devices:
  0: Sound Blaster 16
  
  Timers:
  0: System clock
  
  Mixers:
  0: Sound Blaster

Now try some samples:

  cat /usr/share/sounds/au/swedish.au > /dev/audio

  cat /usr/share/sounds/wav/applause.wav > /dev/dsp  
  (it makes a noise but doesn't sound like applause to me;
   more like distant waves crashing on a beach)

  tracker /usr/share/sounds/mod/rebels.mod

Then try it for real apps, using kmix, kscd, and kmidi. Also, try out wvdial, to make sure resetting the isapmp modem didn't kill it....Ok. Can still do wvdial, and have cd's and midi playing.

Creator: Harry George
Updated/Created: 2001-01-07

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Sound