167 lines
8.3 KiB
HTML
167 lines
8.3 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<HEAD>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9">
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<TITLE>Alsa-sound-mini-HOWTO: Before you start</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="Alsa-sound-4.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="Alsa-sound-2.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="Alsa-sound.html#toc3" REL=contents>
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</HEAD>
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<BODY>
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<A HREF="Alsa-sound-4.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="Alsa-sound-2.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="Alsa-sound.html#toc3">Contents</A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s3">3. Before you start</A></H2>
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<P>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.1">3.1 Introduction</A>
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</H2>
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<P>This document tries to help you install and use the ALSA sound drivers
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in your Linux system. The reference system is a Slackware 4.0 distribution
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of Linux on an AMD/K6 computer (x86 compatible), but it should work with
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any other Linux distribution. I do not know if the ALSA drivers work on
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other platforms, according to the documentation, Alpha has been tested and proven to work.
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I have only x86 PC's here, so any additional information you may have would be appreciated.
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<P>It might be handy to read the Linux
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Sound HOWTO (see section Other HOWTO's), but that HOWTO focuses on the built-in kernel drivers.
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.2">3.2 General information about the ALSA drivers</A>
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</H2>
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<P>The ALSA sound driver was originally written as a replacement for the Linux
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kernel sound for Gravis UltraSound (GUS) cards. As this GUS replacement proved to be a success,
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the author started the ALSA project for a generic
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driver for several sound chips, with fully modularized design.
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<P>It is compatible with the OSS/Free and OSS/Linux sound drivers (the drivers in the kernel),
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but has its own interface that is even better than the OSS drivers. A list
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of features can be found at
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<A HREF="http://www.alsa-project.org/intro.html">http://www.alsa-project.org/intro.html</A><P>Please note that the ALSA drivers are still under development. Things may change over time, and some programs that
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rely on ALSA only work under specific versions of it. Apart from that: I think they're great. I use ALSA for 10 months now and
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will never go back to the dark ages of closed source sound drivers - hint ;)
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<P>The main page of the ALSA project is
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<A HREF="http://www.alsa-project.org/">http://www.alsa-project.org/</A><P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.3">3.3 Supported hardware</A>
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</H2>
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<P>The ALSA drivers support only a subset of all sound cards available.
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As the
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time of writing, the following cards are supported.
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<UL>
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<LI>Cards with a Trident 4D Wave DX/NX chipset, thanks to Trident Microsystems who
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offered ALSA ``first cut'' GPL'd drivers (MIXER and PCM devices only) and documentation for
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their 4D Wave PCI audio chipsets.
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See http://www.tridentmicro.com/HTML/products%20folder/audio.htm for more information.
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Cards using this chipset include: Best Union Miss Melody 4DWave PCI, HIS 4DWave PCI,
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Warpspeed ONSpeed 4DWave PCI, AzTech PCI 64-Q3D, Addonics SV 750, CHIC True Sound 4Dwave,
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Shark Predator4D-PCI and Jaton SonicWave 4D.
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</LI>
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<LI>Gravis Ultrasound (GUS): ``PnP'', Extreme, Classic/ACE, MAX</LI>
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<LI>Cards with a GUS chipset: Dynasonic 3-D, STB Sound Rage 32, UltraSound
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32-Pro (STB), ExpertColor MED3201 and others with AMD InterWave™ chip, notably some STB cards by Compaq</LI>
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<LI>Soundblaster: 1.0, 2.0, Pro, 16, AWE32/64, PCI64</LI>
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<LI>ESS AudioDrive ESx688</LI>
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<LI>ESS ES968 chip based cards (PnP only).
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</LI>
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<LI>ESS ES18xx (chipsets). Please note that I personally experienced a lot of
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trouble with the ESS1888. The developer of the driver for this card did his best, but to no avail.</LI>
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<LI>ESS Solo-1 ES1938 and ES1946. Only one of the two channels works, which means that recording is not possible. The
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author of the ES1938 code ``is aware of the problem and is currently investigating it''.</LI>
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<LI>Yamaha: OPL3-SA2, OPL3-SA3 (chipsets)</LI>
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<LI>OAK Mozart</LI>
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<LI>Schubert 32 PCI (PINE, S3 SonicVibes PCI chipset)</LI>
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<LI>Ensoniq AudioPCI ES1370/1371 PCI soundcards (Soundblaster PCI64)</LI>
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<LI>SonicVibes PCI soundcards (PINE Schubert 32 PCI)</LI>
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<LI>ForteMedia FM801 based cards (in 0.3.2)</LI>
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<LI>OPTi 82C9xx chipset based soundcards</LI>
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<LI>AD1847, AD1848 and CS4248 chipset based cards</LI>
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<LI>AZT2320 chip based soundcards (PnP only).</LI>
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<LI>Advance Logic ALS100/ALS120 based cards</LI>
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<LI>C-Media CMI8330 based cards</LI>
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</UL>
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Then a whole lot of Crystal Semiconductors-based sound boards are supported.
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These chips can be found in a lot of hardware, in separate cards (some
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Philips PCA series) and on motherboards (e.g. IBM Aptiva, Dell computers). Boards
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based on the following chipsets are supported:
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<UL>
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<LI>4231</LI>
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<LI>4232</LI>
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<LI>4232A</LI>
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<LI>4235</LI>
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<LI>4236B</LI>
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<LI>4237B</LI>
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<LI>4238B</LI>
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<LI>4239</LI>
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<LI>4280</LI>
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<LI>4610</LI>
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<LI>4612</LI>
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<LI>4614</LI>
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<LI>4615</LI>
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<LI>4680</LI>
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</UL>
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The best thing is: ALSA now supports computers without a soundcard to produce video! This is done with a dummy
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driver, that tricks programs like Realplayer into thinking that there is a sound card available.
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<P>A more recent list may be found inside the driver package itself, that
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is in doc/SOUNDCARDS
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<H2><A NAME="ss3.4">3.4 Other HOWTO's</A>
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</H2>
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<P>This ALSA-sound-mini-HOWTO is just mini - although it seems to grow fast. Other HOWTO's may help you out in case
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this one is too terse. I will name a few things you may come across while trying to
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install the ALSA drivers. HOWTO's can generally, be found at mirrors of Metalab (the former Sunsite). So
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take a look at
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<A HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/mirrors.html">http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/mirrors.html</A>
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and pick out your closest mirror site. You can find HOWTO's in the directory LDP/HOWTO/.
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Please note: the links in this document will all be relative to /LDP/HOWTO/mini. If you
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look at this document from a reasonably good mirror site, you will find the HOWTO's.
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<P>Then a note for the 2.2.x kernel series. For the 2.2.x kernel series, sound support is like any other support: it works,
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but it is different from what you used to do. This HOWTO (like any other HOWTO) will from version 2.0pre1 concentrate
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on the 2.2 series kernel, although I'll try to point out the differences.
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<H3>Sound cards</H3>
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<P>Perhaps you bought a sound card already, or maybe it has been installed in your computer for ages. And
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now you are going to use it! Have a look at the
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<A HREF="../Sound-HOWTO.html">Sound-HOWTO</A>
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to see if this is all worth the trouble. (You might want to buy this new Mega-Rumble-Blaster first,
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then try the ALSA drivers.)
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<H3>Plug and Play cards</H3>
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<P>Most modern sound cards for the Intel platform are ISA PnP cards, which is an
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abbreviation for ''Plug and Play''. This means, that the card has to be
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configured by the operation system. This has to be done through an
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initialization routine at boot time. You probably need to configure your
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card with the PnP-utils-package. Every recent Linux distribution
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includes these tools. For usage have a look at the
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<A HREF="../Plug-and-Play-HOWTO.html">Plug-and-Play-HOWTO</A><P>The ALSA-drivers seem to have built in their own ISA-PnP-support for a couple of sound cards. Unfortunately,
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as I cannot find documentation about this, I cannot tell you how it works. If anyone out there wants to
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try ALSA sound support while deliberately not using the ISA-PnP-tools, please drop me a line.
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<H3>Loadable modules</H3>
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<P>The ALSA sound drivers are built as modules. You can find more information
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about modules in the
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<A HREF="../Kernel-HOWTO.html">Kernel-HOWTO</A>.
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There is also a module-HOWTO, but that is unmaintained at the moment; take a
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look at the umaintained section of the Howto-HOWTO. There is a
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<A HREF="Modules.html">Modules-mini-HOWTO</A> though that may be useful.
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<H3>Kerneld</H3>
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<P>Another HOWTO that will be useful for some, is the
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<A HREF="Kerneld.html">Kerneld-mini-HOWTO</A>.
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Kerneld is a daemon that installs and removes kernel modules as
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needed. (I have zero experience with it, so additional information on the
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topic is welcome. The ALSA driver documentation contains some information
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about configuration of the kerneld, this has been included in this mini-HOWTO.)
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<P>As the kernel module loader is included in kernel 2.2.x, things have changed. But as I am one of those guys that
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rather modprobes something than have some daemon handle it, I have no info on this.
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A HREF="Alsa-sound-4.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="Alsa-sound-2.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="Alsa-sound.html#toc3">Contents</A>
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</BODY>
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</HTML>
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