  The Linux Sound HOWTO
  Jeff Tranter, jeff_tranter@mitel.com
  v1.11, 23 August 1995

  This document describes sound support for Linux. It lists the sup-
  ported sound hardware, describes how to configure the kernel drivers,
  and answers frequently asked questions. The intent is to bring new
  users up to speed more quickly and reduce the amount of traffic in the
  usenet news groups.

  1.  Introduction


  This is the Linux Sound HOWTO document. It is intended as a quick
  reference covering everything you need to know to install and
  configure sound support under Linux. Frequently asked questions about
  sound under Linux are answered, and references are given to some other
  sources of information on a variety of topics related to computer
  generated sound and music.

  The scope is limited to the aspects of sound cards pertaining to
  Linux. See the other documents listed in the References section for
  more general information on sound cards and computer sound and music
  generation.


  1.1.  Acknowledgments


  Much of this information came from the Readme files provided with the
  sound driver source code, by Hannu Savolainen (hannu@voxware.pp.fi).
  Thanks go to Hannu and the many other people who developed the Linux
  kernel sound drivers and utilities.

  Thanks to the Linuxdoc-SGML package, this HOWTO is available in
  several formats, all generated from a common source file.


  1.2.  Revision History




     Version 1.1
        first version; posted to SOUND channel of Linux activists
        mailing list only


     Version 1.2
        minor updates; first version available on archive sites


     Version 1.3
        converted to SGML; now available in several formats using Matt
        Welsh's Linuxdoc-SGML tools; appearance changed due to new
        format, only minor changes to content


     Version 1.4
        minor tweaking of SGML; added answer on PAS16 and Adaptec1542A
        SCSI adaptor incompatibilities


     Version 1.5
        2.5a sound driver is now in 1.1 kernel distribution; note on
        GUS-MAX support; other minor updates
     Version 1.6
        added info on "no space on device" error; added note that
        Hacker's Guide is in a "hidden" directory; added question on
        bidirectional mode; info on "device busy" errors; other minor
        changes


     Version 1.7
        added info on ASP and AWE32; VoxWare 2.9 is available; answer to
        question on using IRQ2; references to Sound and SCSI HOWTOs


     Version 1.8
        added question on errors under DOS; many minor things updated to
        match the version 2.90 sound driver; info on DOOM; answer on
        reducing noise


     Version 1.9
        questions on recording and clone cards


     Version 1.10
        mentioned that HOWTO is available on WWW, as printed copies, and
        translations; info on DMA conflict with QIC tape driver; info on
        Sound Galaxy NX Pro and Logitech BusMouse


     Version 1.11
        A long overdue update (I've been busy); document placed under
        GPL; brought up to date with version 3.0 sound driver; info on
        many new supported sound card drivers; more info on
        configuration and troubleshooting; lots of HTML links added;
        brought in line with format of CD-ROM HOWTO.



  1.3.  New versions of this document


  New versions of this document will be periodically posted to the
  comp.os.linux.announce newsgroup. They will also be uploaded to
  various anonymous ftp sites that archive such information including
  <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/>.

  Hypertext versions of this and other Linux HOWTOs are available on
  many World-Wide-Web sites, including
  <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/mdw.html>. Most Linux CD-ROM distributions
  include the HOWTOs, and you can also buy printed copies from several
  vendors.

  A French translation of this document is available at
  <ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub2/linux/french/docs/HOWTO/>.

  A Japanese translation is available is available from
  <http://yebisu.ics.es.osaka-u.ac.jp/linux/>.


  1.4.  Feedback


  I rely on you, the users, to make this HOWTO useful. If you have any
  suggestions, corrections, or comments, please send them to me,
  jeff_tranter@mitel.com, and I will try to incorporate them in the next
  revision.

  I am also willing to answer general questions on sound cards and
  Linux, as best I can. Before doing so, please read all of the
  information in this HOWTO, and send me detailed information about the
  problem.

  If you publish this document on a CD-ROM or in hardcopy form, a
  complimentary copy would be appreciated. Mail me for my postal
  address.


  1.5.  Distribution Policy


  Copyright (C) 1995 Jeff Tranter.

  This HOWTO is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or
  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
  published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
  License, or (at your option) any later version.

  This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
  without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of
  merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.  See the GNU
  General Public License for more details.

  You can obtain a copy of the GNU General Public License by writing to
  the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139,
  USA.


  2.  Sound Card Technology


  This section gives a very cursory overview of computer audio
  technology, in order to help you understand the concepts used later in
  the document. You should consult a book on digital audio or digital
  signal processing in order to learn more.

  Sound is an analog property; it can take on any value over a
  continuous range. Computers are digital; they like to work with
  discrete values. Sound cards use a device known as an Analog to
  Digital Converter (A/D or ADC) to convert voltages corresponding to
  analog sound waves into digital or numeric values which can be stored
  in memory. Similarly, a Digital to Analog Converter (D/A or DAC)
  converts numeric values back to an analog voltage which can in turn
  drive a loudspeaker, producing sound.

  The process of analog to digital conversion, known as sampling,
  introduces some error. Two factors are key in determining how well the
  sampled signal represents the original. Sampling rate is the number of
  samples made per unit of time (usually expresses as samples per second
  or Hertz). A low sampling rate will provide a less accurate
  representation of the analog signal. Sample size is the range of
  values used to represent each sample, usually expressed in bits. The
  larger the sample size, the more accurate the digitized signal will
  be.

  Sound cards commonly use 8 or 16 bit samples at sampling rates from
  about 4000 to 44,000 samples per second. The samples may also be
  contain one channel (mono) or two (stereo).

  FM Synthesis is an older technique for producing sound. It is based on
  combining different waveforms (e.g. sine, triangle, square).  FM
  synthesis is simpler to implement in hardware that D/A conversion, but
  is more difficult to program and less flexible. Many sound cards
  provide FM synthesis for backward compatibility with older cards and
  software. Several independent sound generators or voices are usually
  provided.

  Wavetable Synthesis combines the flexibility of D/A conversion with
  the multiple channel capability of FM synthesis. With this scheme
  digitized voices can be downloaded into dedicated memory, and then
  played, combined, and modified with little CPU overhead. State of the
  art sound cards all support wavetable synthesis.

  Most sound cards provide the capability of mixing, combining signals
  from different input sources and controlling gain levels.

  MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and is a
  standard hardware and software protocol for allowing musical
  instruments to communicate with each other. The events sent over a
  MIDI bus can also be stored as MIDI files for later editing and
  playback. Many sound cards provide a MIDI interface. Those that do not
  can still play MIDI files using the on-board capabilities of the sound
  card.

  MOD files are a common format for computer generated songs.  As well
  as information about the musical notes to be played, the files contain
  digitized samples for the instruments (or voices).  MOD files
  originated on the Amiga computer, but can be played on other systems,
  including Linux, with suitable software.


  3.  Supported Hardware


  This section lists the sound cards and interfaces that are currently
  supported under Linux. The information here is based on the latest
  Linux kernels, at time of writing.

  The sound driver has its own version numbering.  The latest stable
  Linux kernel release was version 1.2.13, using sound driver version
  2.90-2. The latest development kernel was version 1.3.20 and provided
  the version 3.0.1-950812 sound driver.

  The author of the sound driver, Hannu Savolainen, typically also makes
  available newer beta releases of the sound driver as kernel patches
  before they are included as part of the standard Linux kernel
  distribution.

  This information is only valid for Linux on the Intel platform.  Some
  information may be applicable to other processor architectures, but I
  have no first hand experience or information.


  3.1.  Sound Cards


  The following sound cards are supported by the Linux kernel sound
  driver:


  o  ATI Stereo F/X

  o  AdLib

  o  Audio Excell DSP16

  o  Cardinal DSP16

  o  Ensoniq SoundScape (and compatibles made by Reveal and Spea)

  o  Gravis Ultrasound

  o  Gravis Ultrasound ACE

  o  Gravis Ultrasound Max

  o  Gravis Ultrasound with 16 bit option

  o  Logitech Sound Man 16

  o  Logitech SoundMan Games

  o  Logitech SoundMan Wave

  o  MAD16 Pro (OPTi 82C929)

  o  Media Vision Jazz16

  o  MediaTriX AudioTriX Pro

  o  Microsoft Windows Sound System (MSS/WSS)

  o  Mozart (OAK OTI-601)

  o  Orchid SW32

  o  Personal Sound System (PSS)

  o  Pro Audio Spectrum 16

  o  Pro Audio Studio 16

  o  Pro Sonic 16

  o  Roland MPU-401 MIDI interface

  o  Sound Blaster 1.0

  o  Sound Blaster 16

  o  Sound Blaster 16ASP

  o  Sound Blaster 2.0

  o  Sound Blaster AWE32

  o  Sound Blaster Pro

  o  TI TM4000M notebook

  o  ThunderBoard

  o  Turtle Beach Tropez

  o  Yamaha FM synthesizers (OPL2, OPL3 and OPL4)

  o  6850 UART MIDI Interface

  The following cards are not supported, either because they are
  obsolete or because the vendor will not release the programming
  information needed to write a driver:


  o  Pro Audio Spectrum (original)


  o  Pro Audio Spectrum+

  o  older (Sierra Aria based) soundcards made by Diamond

  Other sound cards that are claimed to be compatible with one of the
  supported sound cards may work if they are hardware (i.e. register
  level) compatible. Some cards described as "100% SoundBlaster
  compatible" are not register compatible. Some hints for getting
  compatible cards to work are given later in this document. If you have
  a card that works and is not listed here, let me know and I will add
  it to the list.

  The Linux kernel supports the SCSI port provided on some sound cards
  (e.g. ProAudioSpectrum 16) and the proprietary interface for some CD-
  ROM drives (e.g. Soundblaster Pro). See the Linux SCSI HOWTO and CDROM
  HOWTO documents for more information.

  A loadable kernel module to support joystick ports, including those
  provided on some sound cards, is also available.

  Note that the kernel SCSI, CD-ROM, joystick, and sound drivers are
  completely independent of each other.


  3.2.  Alternate Sound Drivers


  There are some "unofficial" sound drivers available, not included in
  the standard Linux kernel distribution, and used in place of the
  VoxWare driver.

  Markus Mummert (mum@mmk.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de) has written a driver
  package for the Turtle Beach MultiSound (classic), Tahiti, and
  Monterey soundcards. The documentation states:


       "It is designed for high quality hard disk record-
       ing/playback without losing sync even on a busy system.
       Other features such as wave synthesis, MIDI and digital sig-
       nal processor (DSP) cannot be used. Also, recording and
       playback at the same time is not possible. It currently
       replaces VoxWare and was tested on several kernel versions
       ranging from 1.0.9 to 1.2.1. Also, it is installable on UN*X
       SysV386R3.2 systems."


  It can be found at  <http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~mccreary/tbeach>.

  Kim Burgaard (burgaard@daimi.aau.dk) has written a device driver and
  utilities for the Roland MPU-401 MIDI interface. The Linux software
  map entry gives this description:


       "A device driver for true Roland MPU-401 compatible MIDI
       interfaces (including Roland SCC-1 and RAP-10/ATW-10). Comes
       with a useful collection of utilities including a Standard
       MIDI File replayer and recorder.



       Numerous improvements have been made since version 0.11a.
       Among other things, the driver now features IRQ sharing pol-
       icy and complies with the new kernel module interface.
       Metronome functionality, possibility for synchronizing e.g.
       graphics on a per beat basis without losing precision,
       advanced replay/record/overdub interface and much, much
  more."


  It can be found at
  <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/sound/mpu401-0.2.tar.gz>.


  3.3.  PC Speaker


  An alternate sound driver is available that requires no additional
  sound hardware; it uses the internal PC speaker. It is mostly software
  compatible with the sound card driver, but, as might be expected,
  provides much lower quality output and has much more CPU overhead. The
  results seem to vary, being dependent on the characteristics of the
  individual loudspeaker. For more information, see the documentation
  provided with the release.

  The current version is 0.9b, and can be found at
  <ftp://ftp.informatik.hu-berlin.de/pub/os/linux/hu-sound/>


  3.4.  Parallel Port


  Another option is to build a digital to analog converter using a
  parallel printer port and some additional components. This provides
  better sound quality than the PC speaker but still has a lot of CPU
  overhead. The PC sound driver package mentioned above supports this,
  and includes instructions for building the necessary hardware.


  4.  Installation


  Configuring Linux to support sound involves the following steps:


  1. Installing the sound card.

  2. Configuring and building the kernel for sound support.

  3. Creating the device files.

  4. Booting the Linux kernel and testing the installation.

  The next sections will cover each of these steps in detail.


  4.1.  Installing the Sound Card


  Follow the manufacturer's instructions for installing the hardware or
  have your dealer perform the installation.

  Older sound cards usually have switch or jumper settings for IRQ, DMA
  channel, etc; note down the values used. If you are unsure, use the
  factory defaults. Try to avoid conflicts with other devices (e.g.
  ethernet cards, SCSI host adaptors, serial and parallel ports) if
  possible.


  4.2.  Configuring the Kernel



  When initially installing Linux you likely used a precompiled kernel.
  These kernels usually do not provide sound support. It is best to
  recompile the kernel yourself with the drivers you need. You may also
  want to recompile the kernel in order to upgrade to a newer version or
  to free up memory resources by minimizing the size of the kernel.

  The Linux Kernel HOWTO <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/Kernel-
  HOWTO.html> should be consulted for the details of building a kernel.
  I will just mention here some issues that are specific to sound cards.

  If you have never configured the kernel for sound support before it is
  a good idea to read all of the Readme files included with the kernel
  sound drivers, particularly information specific to your card type.
  The following documentation files can be found in the kernel sound
  driver directory, usually installed in
  </usr/src/linux/drivers/sound>:


  CHANGELOG         - description of changes in each release
  COPYING           - copying and copyright restrictions
  Readme            - latest and most important news
  Readme.aedsp16    - information about Audio Excel DSP 16 sound card
  Readme.cards      - notes on configuring specific cards
  Readme.linux      - notes on installing separately release sound drivers
  Readme.modules    - how to build driver as a loadable kernel module
  Readme.v30        - new features in version 3.0 sound driver
  experimental.txt  - notes on experimental features



  Follow the usual procedure for building the kernel. When you run make
  config, enable sound support by answering "yes" to the question



       Sound card support?




  At the end of the configuration questions a sound configuration
  program will be compiled, run, and will then ask you what sound card
  options you want. Be careful when answering these questions since
  answering a question incorrectly may prevent some later ones from
  being asked. For example, don't answer "yes" to the first question
  (PAS16) if you don't really have a PAS16. Don't enable more cards than
  you really need, since they just consume memory. Also some drivers
  (like MPU401) may conflict with your SCSI controller and prevent the
  kernel from booting.

  I list here a brief description of each of the configuration dialog
  options. Answer "y" (yes) or "n" (no) to each question. The default
  answer is shown so that "(y/n)" means "y" by default and "(n/y)" means
  the default is "n". To use the default value, just hit Enter, but
  remember that the default value isn't necessarily correct.

  Note also that all questions may not be asked. The configuration
  program may disable some questions depending on the earlier choices.
  It may also select some options automatically as well.



     ProAudioSpectrum 16 support?
        Answer "y" only if you have a Pro Audio Spectrum 16, ProAudio
        Studio 16 or Logitech SoundMan 16.  Don't answer 'y' if you have
        some other card made by Media Vision or Logitech since they are
        not PAS16 compatible.


     SoundBlaster support?
        Answer "y" if you have an original SoundBlaster card made by
        Creative Labs or a 100% hardware compatible clone (like the
        Thunderboard or SM Games). If your card was in the list of
        supported cards look at the card specific instructions in the
        Readme.cards file before answering this question. For an unknown
        card you may answer "y'"if the card claims to be SoundBlaster
        compatible.


     Generic OPL2/OPL3 FM synthesizer support?
        Answer "y" if your card has a FM chip made by Yamaha
        (OPL2/OPL3/OPL4).  Answering "y" is usually a safe and
        recommended choice, however some cards may have software (TSR)
        FM emulation. Enabling FM support with these cards may cause
        trouble (I don't currently know of any such cards, however).


     Gravis Ultrasound support?
        Answer "y" if you have a GUS or GUS MAX. Answer "n" if you don't
        have a GUS since the driver consumes a lot of memory.


     MPU-401 support (NOT for SB16)?
        Be careful with this question. The MPU401 interface is supported
        by almost all soundcards. However, some natively supported cards
        have their own driver for MPU401. Enabling the MPU401 option
        with these cards will cause a conflict. Also enabling MPU401 on
        a system that doesn't really have a MPU401 could cause some
        trouble. If your card was in the list of supported cards, look
        at the card specific instructions in the Readme.cards file. It's
        safe to answer "y" if you have a true MPU401 MIDI interface
        card.


     6850 UART Midi support?
        It's safe to answer "n" to this question in all cases. The 6850
        UART interface is very rarely used.


     PSS (ECHO-ADI2111) support?
        Answer "y" only if you have Orchid SW32, Cardinal DSP16 or some
        other card based on the PSS chipset (AD1848 codec + ADSP-2115
        DSP chip + Echo ESC614 ASIC CHIP).


     16 bit sampling option of GUS (not GUS MAX)?
        Answer "y" if you have installed the 16 bit sampling
        daughtercard on your GUS. Answer "n" if you have a GUS MAX.
        Enabling this option disables GUS MAX support.


     GUS MAX support?
        Answer "y" only if you have a GUS MAX.


     Microsoft Sound System support?
        Again think carefully before answering "y" to this question.
        It's safe to answer "y" if you have the original Windows Sound
        System card made by Microsoft or Aztech SG 16 Pro (or NX16 Pro).
        Also you may answer "y" in case your card was not listed earlier
        in this file. For cards having native support in VoxWare,
        consult the card specific instructions in Readme.cards. Some
        drivers have their own MSS support and enabling this option will
        cause a conflict.


     Ensoniq Soundscape support?
        Answer "y" if you have a soundcard based on the Ensoniq
        SoundScape chipset. Such cards are being manufactured at least
        by Ensoniq, Spea and Reveal (Reveal makes other cards also).


     MediaTriX AudioTriX Pro support?
        Answer "y" if you have the AudioTriX Pro.


     Support for MAD16 and/or Mozart based cards?
        Answer "y" if your card has a Mozart (OAK OTI-601) or MAD16
        (OPTi 82C928 or 82C929) audio interface chip. These chips are
        currently quite common so it's possible that many no-name cards
        have one of them. In addition the MAD16 chip is used in some
        cards made by known manufacturers such as Turtle Beach (Tropez),
        Reveal (some models) and Diamond (latest ones).


     SoundBlaster Pro support?
        Enable this option if your card is a SoundBlaster Pro or
        SoundBlaster 16. Enable it also with any SoundBlaster Pro
        clones. Answering "n" saves some memory but "y" is the safe
        alternative.


     SoundBlaster 16 support?
        Enable if you have a SoundBlaster 16 (including the AWE32).


     Audio Excel DSP 16 initialization support?
        Enable this if you have an Audio Excel DSP16 card. See the file
        Readme.aedsp16 for more information.


  The configuration program then asks some questions about the higher
  level services. It's recommended to answer "y" to each of these
  questions. Answer "n" only if you know you will not need the option.



     /dev/dsp and /dev/audio support (usually required)?
        Answering "n" disables /dev/dsp and /dev/audio, the A/D and D/A
        converter devices. Answer "y".


     MIDI interface support?
        Answering "n" disables /dev/midixx devices and access to any
        MIDI ports using /dev/sequencer and /dev/music. This option also
        affects any MPU401 and/or General MIDI compatible devices.


     FM synthesizer (YM3812/OPL-3) support?
        Answer "y" here.


     /dev/sequencer support?
        Answering "n" disables /dev/sequencer and /dev/music


  After the above questions the configuration program prompts for the
  card specific configuration information. Usually just a set of I/O
  address, IRQ and DMA numbers are asked. With some cards the program
  asks for some files to be used during initialization of the card.
  These are used by cards which have a DSP chip or microprocessor which
  must be initialized by downloading a program (microcode) file to the
  card. In some cases this file is written to a .h file by the config
  program and then included to the driver during compile. Again, read
  the information in the file Readme.cards pertaining to your card type.

  If you are upgrading from an older sound driver, make sure that the
  files /usr/include/sys/soundcard.h and /usr/include/sys/ultrasound.h
  are symbolic links to the corresponding files in /usr/include/linux,
  or that they simply contain the lines #include <linux/soundcard.h> and
  #include <linux/ultrasound.h>, respectively.

  You are now ready to compile and install the new kernel.


  4.3.  Creating the Device Files


  The first time the kernel sound driver is configured you need to
  create the sound device files. The easiest way to do this is to cut
  the short shell script from the end of the file Readme.linux in the
  directory /usr/src/linux/drivers/sound, and run it as user root.

  If your device entries already exist, you might want to ensure they
  are correct. If they are not, or if you are in doubt, run the above
  script and it will replace any existing entries with correct ones.

  Some older Linux distributions provided install scripts which created
  incorrect sound device files. You may also have a /dev/MAKEDEV script
  for creating device files. Using the script included with the kernel
  sound driver is preferred since it should always be up to date with
  the latest supported sound devices.

  After running the script your sound device files should look something
  like this:


  lrwxrwxrwx   1 root        11 Aug 22 00:01 audio -> /dev/audio0
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,   4 Aug 22 00:01 audio0
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  20 Aug 22 00:01 audio1
  lrwxrwxrwx   1 root         9 Aug 22 00:01 dsp -> /dev/dsp0
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,   3 Aug 22 00:01 dsp0
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  19 Aug 22 00:01 dsp1
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,   2 Aug 22 00:01 midi00
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  18 Aug 22 00:01 midi01
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  34 Aug 22 00:01 midi02
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  50 Aug 22 00:01 midi03
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,   0 Aug 22 00:01 mixer
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  16 Aug 22 00:01 mixer1
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,   8 Aug 22 00:01 music
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  17 Aug 22 00:01 patmgr0
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,  33 Aug 22 00:01 patmgr1
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,   1 Aug 22 00:01 sequencer
  lrwxrwxrwx   1 root        10 Aug 22 00:01 sequencer2 -> /dev/music
  crw-rw-rw-   1 root   14,   6 Aug 22 00:01 sndstat



  If you are using the PC speaker sound driver, read the documentation
  that came with the package to determine what device files to create.

  Normally the configuration you used when building the kernel will be
  acceptable to the sound card driver. It is also possible to pass
  parameters on the kernel command line (e.g. from LILO) to configure
  the sound driver. These are defined in the file Readme.linux.  It
  should rarely be necessary to use these. They are mainly intended for
  developers of Linux boot disks to create a kernel that supports
  multiple types of sound cards.


  4.4.  Booting Linux and Testing the Installation


  You should now be ready to boot the new kernel and test the sound
  drivers. Follow your usual procedure for installing and rebooting the
  new kernel (keep the old kernel around in case of problems, of
  course).

  During booting, check for a message such as the following on powerup
  (if they scroll by too quickly to read, you may be able to retrieve
  them with the "dmesg" command):



       snd2 <SoundBlaster Pro 3.2> at 0x220 irq 5 drq 1
       snd1 <Yamaha OPL-3 FM> at 0x388 irq 0 drq 0




  This should match your sound card type and jumper settings (if any).

  The driver may also display some error messages and warnings during
  boot. Watch for these when booting the first time after configuring
  the sound driver.

  Next you should check the device file /dev/sndstat.  Reading the sound
  driver status device file should provide additional information on
  whether the sound card driver initialized properly. Sample output
  should look something like this:



       % cat /dev/sndstat
       VoxWare Sound Driver:3.0.1-950812 (Thu Aug 17 23:33:07 EDT 1995 root@fizzbin.ca)
       Config options: 312002

       Installed drivers:
       Type 1: OPL-2/OPL-3 FM
       Type 2: SoundBlaster

       Card config:
       SoundBlaster at 0x220 irq 5 drq 1
       OPL-2/OPL-3 FM at 0x388 irq 0 drq 0

       Audio devices:
       0: SoundBlaster Pro 3.2

       Synth devices:
       0: Yamaha OPL-3

       Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

       Timers:
       0: System Timer

       Mixers:
       0: SoundBlaster


  Now you should be ready to play a simple sound file. Get hold of a
  sound sample file, and send it to the sound device as a basic check of
  sound output, e.g.



       % cat endoftheworld >/dev/dsp
       % cat crash.au >/dev/audio




  (Make sure you don't omit the ">" in the commands above).

  Some sample sound files can be obtained from
  <ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/packages/sound/snd-data-0.1.tar.Z>

  Now you can verify sound recording. If you have sound input
  capability, you can do a quick test of this using commands such as the
  following:



       # record 4 seconds of audio from microphone
       % dd bs=8k count=4 </dev/audio >sample.au
       4+0 records in
       4+0 records out
       # play back sound
       % cat sample.au >/dev/audio




  If these tests pass, you can be reasonably confident that the sound
  D/A and A/D hardware and software are working. If you experience
  problems, refer to the next section of this document.


  4.5.  Troubleshooting


  If you still encounter problems after following the instructions in
  the HOWTO, here are some things to check. The checks are listed in
  increasing order of complexity. If a check fails, solve the problem
  before moving to the next stage.


  4.5.1.  Step 1: Make sure you are really running the kernel you com-
  piled.


  You can check the date stamp on the kernel to see if you are running
  the one that you compiled with sound support. You can do this with the
  uname command:



       % uname -a
       Linux fizzbin 1.3.20 #1 Fri Aug 18 22:12:36 EDT 1995 i386




  or by displaying the file /proc/version:


       % cat /proc/version
       Linux version 1.2.13 (root@fizzbin) (gcc version 2.6.3) #9 Sun Aug 6 11:56:47 EDT 1995




  If the date stamp doesn't seem to match when you compiled the kernel,
  then you are running an old kernel. Did you really reboot? If you use
  LILO, did you re-install it (typically by running /etc/lilo/install)?
  If booting from floppy, did you create a new boot floppy and use it
  when booting?


  4.5.2.  Step 2: Make sure the kernel sound drivers are compiled in.


  You can see what drivers are compiled in by looking at /proc/devices:



       % cat /proc/devices
       Character devices:
        1 mem
        4 tty
        5 cua
        6 lp
       14 sound
       15 Joystick

       Block devices:
        2 fd
        3 hd
       25 sbpcd




  What we are looking for here is character device 14, labeled "sound".
  If the sound device is not listed then something went wrong with the
  kernel configuration or build. Start the installation process again,
  beginning with configuration and building of the kernel.


  4.5.3.  Step 3: Did the kernel detect your sound card during booting?


  Make sure that the sound card was detected when the kernel booted. You
  should have seen a message on bootup. If the messages scrolled off the
  screen, you can usually recall them using the dmesg command:



       % dmesg




  or



       % tail /var/adm/messages




  If your sound card was not found then something is wrong. Make sure it
  really is installed. If the sound card works under DOS then you can be
  reasonably confident that the hardware is working, so it is likely a
  problem with the kernel configuration. Either you configured your
  sound card as the wrong type or wrong parameters, or your sound card
  is not compatible with any of the Linux kernel sound card drivers.

  One possibility is that your sound card is one of the "compatible"
  type that requires initialization by the DOS driver. Try booting DOS
  and loading the vendor supplied sound card driver. Then soft boot
  Linux using Control-Alt-Delete. Make sure that card I/O address, DMA,
  and IRQ settings for Linux are the same as used under DOS.  Read the
  Readme.cards file from the sound driver source distribution for hints
  on configuring your card type.

  If your sound card is not listed in this document, it is possible that
  the Linux drivers do not support it. You can check with some of the
  references listed at the end of this document for assistance.


  4.5.4.  Step 4: Can you read data from the dsp device?


  Try reading from the /dev/audio device using the dd command listed
  earlier in this document. The command should run without errors.

  If this does not work, then a possible cause is the device file. Make
  sure than the device files in the /dev directory has the correct major
  and minor numbers as listed previously. Check that the permissions on
  the device file allow reading and writing.

  A remote possibility is a hardware problem. Try testing the drive
  under DOS, if possible, to determine if this could be the case.


  4.5.5.  When All Else Fails


  If you still have problems, here are some final suggestions for things
  to try:


  o  carefully re-read this HOWTO document

  o  read the references listed at the end of this document, especially
     the relevant kernel source Readme files

  o  post a question to one of the comp.os.linux or other usenet
     newsgroups

  o  send a question to the Sound channel of the Linux mailing list

  o  try using the latest Linux kernel

  o  contact your computer dealer

  o  contact the sound card manufacturer

  o  send mail to the author of the sound driver

  o  send mail to the author of the Sound HOWTO

  o  fire up emacs and type Esc-x doctor



  5.  Applications Supporting Sound


  I give here a sample of the types of applications that you likely want
  if you have a sound card under Linux. You can check the Linux Software
  Map, Internet archive sites, and/or files on your Linux CD-ROM for
  more up to date information.

  As a minimum, you will likely want to obtain the following sound
  applications:


  o  audio file format conversion utility (e.g. Sox)

  o  mixer utility (e.g. aumix or xmix)

  o  digitized file player/recorder (e.g. play or wavplay)

  o  MOD file player (e.g. tracker)

  o  MIDI file player (e.g. mp)

  There are text-based as well as GUI-based versions of most of these
  tools. There are also some more esoteric applications (e.g. speech
  synthesis and recognition) that you may wish to try.


  6.  Answers To Frequently Asked Questions


  This section answers some of the questions that have been commonly
  asked on the Usenet news groups and mailing lists.


  6.1.  What are the various sound device files?


  These are the most "standard" device file names, some Linux
  distributions may use slightly different names.


     /dev/audio
        Sun workstation compatible audio device (only a partial
        implementation, does not support Sun ioctl interface, just u-law
        encoding)

     /dev/dsp
        digital sampling device

     /dev/mixer
        sound mixer

     /dev/mixer1
        second sound mixer

     /dev/patmgr0
        Patch Manager (not implemented)

     /dev/patmgr1
        Patch Manager (not implemented)

     /dev/sequencer
        low level MIDI, FM, and GUS access

     /dev/sequencer2
        high level sequencer interface (partially implemented)
     /dev/midi00
        1st raw MIDI port

     /dev/midi01
        2nd raw MIDI port

     /dev/midi02
        3rd raw MIDI port

     /dev/midi03
        4th raw MIDI port

     /dev/sndstat
        displays sound driver status when read

     /dev/audio1
        for second sound card

     /dev/dsp1
        for second sound card

  The PC speaker driver provides the following devices:


     /dev/pcaudio
        equivalent to /dev/audio

     /dev/pcsp
        equivalent to /dev/dsp

     /dev/pcmixer
        equivalent to /dev/mixer


  6.2.  How can I play a sound sample?


  Sun workstation (.au) sound files can be played by sending them to the
  /dev/audio device. Raw samples can be sent to /dev/dsp. Using a
  program such as play is preferable, as it will recognize most file
  types and set the sound card to the correct sampling rate, etc.


  6.3.  How can I record a sample?


  Reading /dev/audio or /dev/dsp will return sampled data that can be
  redirected to a file. A program such as vrec makes it easier to
  control the sampling rate, duration, etc. You may also need a mixer
  program to select the appropriate input device.


  6.4.  Can I have more than one sound card?


  Up to two sound cards is supported. It's possible to install a Gravis
  UltraSound or MPU-401 with a SoundBlaster, SoundBlaster Pro,
  SoundBlaster16 or ProAudioSpectrum16. It's not possible to have a
  ProAudioSpectrum16 and SoundBlaster at the same time (the PAS16 has an
  SB emulator in it). It's also not possible to have more than one card
  of the same type at the same time -- for example, a GUS + GUS
  combination is not possible.

  You can change the sound card configuration parameters at boot time
  using command line options from a boot loader such as LILO. See the
  kernel sound driver file Readme.linux for details.
  6.5.  Error: No such file or directory for sound devices


  You need to create the sound driver device files. See the section on
  creating device files. If you do have the device files, ensure that
  they have the correct major and minor device numbers (some older CD-
  ROM distributions of Linux may not create the correct device files
  during installation).


  6.6.  Error: No such device for sound devices


  You have not booted with a kernel containing the sound driver or the
  I/O address configuration doesn't match your hardware. Check that you
  are running the newly compiled kernel and verify that the settings
  entered when configuring the sound driver match your hardware setup.


  6.7.  Error: No space left on device for sound devices


  This can happen if you tried to record data to /dev/audio or /dev/dsp
  without creating the necessary device file. The sound device is now a
  regular file, and has filled up your disk partition. You need to run
  the script described in the Creating the Device Files section of this
  document.


  6.8.  Error: device busy for sound devices


  Only one process can open a given sound device at one time. Most
  likely some other process is using the device in question. One way to
  determine this is to use the fuser command:



       % fuser -v /dev/dsp
       /dev/dsp:             USER       PID ACCESS COMMAND
                             tranter    265 f....  tracker




  In the above example, the fuser command showed that process 265 had
  the device open. Waiting for the process to complete or killing it
  will allow the sound device to be accessed once again.


  6.9.  I still get device busy errors!


  According to Brian Gough, for the SoundBlaster cards which use DMA
  channel 1 there is a potential conflict with the QIC-02 tape driver,
  which also uses DMA 1, causing "device busy" errors. If you are using
  FTAPE, you may have this driver enabled. According to the FTAPE-HOWTO
  the QIC-02 driver is not essential for the use of FTAPE; only the
  QIC-117 driver is required. Reconfiguring the kernel to use QIC-117
  but not QIC-02 allows FTAPE and the sound-driver to coexist.

  (the following explanation was supplied by Harald Albrecht
  albrecht@igpm.rwth-aachen.de)

  Some soundcards support using DMA channel 0. The sound driver
  configuration program allows this, and the kernel compiles properly,
  but accessing the sound device results in a "device busy" error
  message.

  The reason is that the Linux kernel reserves DMA channel 0 for DRAM
  refresh. This is no longer true for modern 386/486 boards which use
  their own refresh logic. You can correct it by changing this line in
  the file /usr/src/linux/kernel/dma.c:



       static volatile unsigned int dma_chan_busy[MAX_DMA_CHANNELS] = {
                       1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0
       };




  Replace the first 1 with a 0; this enables DMA channel 0. Don't do the
  same with DMA channel 4 as this is cascade and won't work! The code
  should now look like this:



       static volatile unsigned int dma_chan_busy[MAX_DMA_CHANNELS] = {
                       0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0
       };




  Recompile and reboot with the new kernel.


  6.10.  Partial playback of digitized sound file


  The symptom is usually that a sound sample plays for about a second
  and then stops completely or reports an error message about "missing
  IRQ" or "DMA timeout". Most likely you have incorrect IRQ or DMA
  channel settings. Verify that the kernel configuration matches the
  sound card jumper settings and that they do not conflict with some
  other card.

  Another symptom is sound samples that "loop". This is usually caused
  by an IRQ conflict.


  6.11.  There are pauses when playing MOD files


  Playing MOD files requires considerable CPU power. You may have too
  many processes running or your computer may be too slow to play in
  real time. Your options are to:


  o  try playing with a lower sampling rate or in mono mode

  o  eliminate other processes

  o  buy a faster computer

  o  buy a more powerful sound card (e.g. Gravis UltraSound)

  If you have a Gravis UltraSound card, you should use one of the mod
  file players written specifically for the GUS (e.g. gmod).

  6.12.  Compile errors when compiling sound applications


  The version 1.0c and earlier sound driver used a different and
  incompatible ioctl() scheme. Obtain newer source code or make the
  necessary changes to adapt it to the new sound driver. See the sound
  driver Readme file for details.

  Also ensure that you have used the latest version of soundcard.h and
  ultrasound.h when compiling the application. See the installation
  instructions at beginning of this text.


  6.13.  SEGV when running sound binaries that worked previously


  This is probably the same problem described in the previous question.


  6.14.  What known bugs or limitations are there in the sound driver?


  See the Readme and CHANGELOG files included with the sound driver
  kernel source.


  6.15.  What do all the sound driver configuration options mean?


  During configuration of the sound driver, a configure program is
  compiled and executed. This program asks you some questions and then
  generates the header file local.h that defines the sound card
  configuration.

  The configuration file defines (or undefines) the following symbols:































  Symbol                  Meaning
  ======                  =======
  KERNEL_SOUNDCARD        enable/disable sound driver
  EXCLUDE_PAS             ProAudioSpectrum support
  EXCLUDE_SB              SoundBlaster support
  EXCLUDE_ADLIB           AdLib support
  EXCLUDE_GUS             Gravis UltraSound support
  EXCLUDE_MPU401          MPU-401 MIDI interface support
  EXCLUDE_UART6850        6850 MIDI UART support
  EXCLUDE_PSS             Professional Sound System support
  EXCLUDE_GUS16           Gravis UltraSound support
  EXCLUDE_GUSMAX          Gravis UltraSound Max support
  EXCLUDE_MSS             Microsoft Sound System support
  EXCLUDE_SBPRO           SoundBlaster Pro support
  EXCLUDE_SB16            SoundBlaster 16 support
  EXCLUDE_AUDIO           Digitized voice support
  EXCLUDE_MIDI            MIDI interface support
  EXCLUDE_YM3812          FM synthesizer (YM3812/OPL-3) support
  EXCLUDE_SEQUENCER       MIDI sequencer support
  EXCLUDE_PRO_MIDI        SoundBlaster Pro MIDI support
  EXCLUDE_CHIP_MIDI       MIDI on CHIP support
  SBC_BASE 0x220          SoundBlaster I/O base address
  SBC_IRQ                 SoundBlaster IRQ number
  SBC_DMA                 SoundBlaster DMA channel
  SB16_DMA                SoundBlaster 16 DMA channel
  SB16_MIDI_BASE          base address of SoundBlaster 16 MIDI port
  PAS_IRQ                 ProAudioSpectrum IRQ number
  PAS_DMA                 ProAudioSpectrum DMA channel
  GUS_IRQ                 Gravis UltraSound IRQ number
  GUS_DMA                 Gravis UltraSound DMA channel
  GUS_BASE                base address of Gravis UltraSound
  MPU_IRQ                 MPU-401 IRQ number
  MPU_BASE                base address of MPU-401 port
  DSP_BUFFSIZE            DMA buffer size



  Several other defines are also created, setting such things as the
  sound driver revision level and the time and date when configure was
  run.

  There are other parameters that are not set by the configure program.
  If you need to change these, edit the file sound_config.h.

  To disable the sound driver, run make config and answer "no" to the
  "Sound card support?" question.


  6.16.  Where are the sound driver ioctls() etc. documented?


  These are partially documented in the Hacker's Guide to VoxWare,
  currently available in draft form. The latest version is draft 2, and
  can be found on  <ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/OS/Linux/ALPHA/sound>. Note
  that this directory is "hidden" and will not appear in directory
  listings. If you "cd" to the directory and use the FTP "dir" command,
  the files are there.


  6.17.  What CPU resources are needed to play or record without pauses?


  There is no easy answer to this question, as it depends on:



  o  whether using PCM sampling or FM synthesis

  o  sampling rate and sample size

  o  which application is used to play or record

  o  Sound Card hardware

  o  disk I/O rate, CPU clock speed, cache size, etc.

  In general, any 386 machine should be able to play samples or FM
  synthesized music on an 8 bit soundcard with ease.

  Playing MOD files, however, requires considerable CPU resources. Some
  experimental measurements have shown that playing at 44kHz requires
  more than 40% of the speed of a 486/50 and a 386/25 can hardly play
  faster than 22 kHz (these are with an 8 bit card sound such as a
  SoundBlaster). A card such as the Gravis UltraSound card performs more
  functions in hardware, and will require less CPU resources.

  These statements assume the computer is not performing any other CPU
  intensive tasks.

  Converting sound files or adding effects using a utility such as Sox
  is also much faster if you have a math coprocessor. The kernel driver
  itself does not do any floating point calculations, though.


  6.18.  Problems with a PAS16 and an Adaptec 1542 SCSI host adaptor


  (the following explanation was supplied by seeker@indirect.com)

  Linux only recognizes the 1542 at address 330 (default) or 333, and
  the PAS only allows the MPU-401 emulation at 330.  Even when you
  disable the MPU-401 under software, something still wants to conflict
  with the 1542 if it's at its preferred default address.  Moving the
  1542 to 333 makes everyone happy.


  Additionally, both the 1542 and the PAS-16 do 16-bit DMA, so if you
  sample at 16-bit 44KHz stereo and save the file to a SCSI drive hung
  on the 1542, you're about to have trouble.  The DMAs overlap and there
  isn't enough time for RAM refresh, so you get the dread ``PARITY ERROR
  - SYSTEM HALTED'' message, with no clue to what caused it.  It's made
  worse because a few second-party vendors with QIC-117 tape drives
  recommend setting the bus on/off times such that the 1542 is on even
  longer than normal.  Get the SCSISEL.EXE program from Adaptec's BBS or
  several places on the internet, and reduce the BUS ON time or increase
  the BUS OFF time until the problem goes away, then move it one notch
  or more further.  SCSISEL changes the EEPROM settings, so it's more
  permanent than a patch to the DOS driver line in CONFIG.SYS, and will
  work if you boot right into Linux (unlike the DOS patch).  Next
  problem solved.


  Last problem - the older Symphony chipsets drastically reduced the
  timing of the I/O cycles to speed up bus accesses.  None of various
  boards I've played with had any problem with the reduced timing except
  for the PAS-16.  Media Vision's BBS has SYMPFIX.EXE that's supposed to
  cure the problem by twiddling a diagnostic bit in Symphony's bus
  controller, but it's not a hard guarantee.  You may need to:


  o  get the motherboard distributor to replace the older version bus
     chip,
  o  replace the motherboard, or

  o  buy a different brand of sound card.

  Young Microsystems will upgrade the boards they import for around $30
  (US); other vendors may be similar if you can figure out who made or
  imported the motherboard (good luck).  The problem is in ProAudio's
  bus interface chip as far as I'm concerned; nobody buys a $120 sound
  card and sticks it in a 6MHz AT.  Most of them wind up in 25-40MHz
  386/486 boxes, and should be able to handle at least 12MHz bus rates
  if the chips are designed right. Exit soapbox (stage left).


  The first problem depends on the chipset used on your motherboard,
  what bus speed and other BIOS settings, and the phase of the moon.
  The second problem depends on your refresh option setting (hidden or
  synchronous), the 1542 DMA rate and (possibly) the bus I/O rate.  The
  third can be determined by calling Media Vision and asking which
  flavor of Symphony chip is incompatible with their slow design.  Be
  warned, though - 3 of 4 techs I talked to were brain damaged.  I would
  be very leery of trusting anything they said about someone else's
  hardware, since they didn't even know their own very well.



  6.19.  Problems with the FM synthesizer on a SoundBlaster Pro 1


  The newer SB Pro has an OPL-3 FM chip, but the older version 1 used
  the OPL-2. The sound driver assumed the presence of an OPL-3. Version
  2.5 and later of the sound driver corrects this problem.


  6.20.  Is it possible to read and write samples simultaneously?


  Due to hardware limitations, this is not possible with most sound
  cards. The only supported card that can do this is the
  ProAudioSpectrum16. See the section on "bidirectional mode" in the
  Hacker's Guide to Voxware for more information.

  (Late breaking news: The 3.0.1 sound driver now supports the select()
  system call for /dev/dsp and /dev/audio. This could be useful for a
  bidirectional application. See the file CHANGELOG.)


  6.21.  My SB16 is set to IRQ 2, but configure does not allow this
  value.


  On '286 and later machines, the IRQ 2 interrupt is cascaded to the
  second interrupt controller. It is equivalent to IRQ 9.


  6.22.  Are the SoundBlaster AWE32 or SoundBlaster16 ASP supported?


  Creative Labs is not willing to release programming information for
  the ASP and Emu chips used in these cards. Unless they change their
  policy, there will be no support for this under Linux.

  The Gravis UltraSound card has capabilities similar to the AWE32, and
  is supported under Linux.  Cards based on other DSPs such as the
  Analog Devices ADSP-21xx may be supported in the future.


  6.23.  If I run Linux, then boot DOS, I get errors and/or sound appli-
  cations do not work properly.


  This happens after a soft reboot to DOS.  Sometimes the error message
  misleadingly refers to a bad CONFIG.SYS file.

  Most of the current sound cards have software programmable IRQ and DMA
  settings. If you use different settings between Linux and MS-
  DOS/Windows, this may cause problems. Some sound cards don't accept
  new parameters without a complete reset (i.e. cycle the power or use
  the hardware reset button).

  The quick solution to this problem it to perform a full reboot using
  the reset button or power cycle rather than a soft reboot (e.g. Ctrl-
  Alt-Del).

  The correct solution is to ensure that you use the same IRQ and DMA
  settings with MS-DOS and Linux (or not to use DOS :-).


  6.24.  Problems running DOOM under Linux


  Users of the port of ID software's game DOOM for Linux may be
  interested in these notes.

  For correct sound output you need version 2.90 or later of the sound
  driver; it has support for the new the real-time "DOOM mode".

  The sound samples are 16-bit. If you have an 8-bit sound card there is
  a program called sndcvt available that converts the data from 16 to 8
  bits on the fly. You also have to patch the DOOM sound server; the
  details are explained in the README file.

  If performance of DOOM is poor on your system, disabling sound (by
  renaming the file sndserver) may improve it.

  By default DOOM does not support music (as in the DOS version).  The
  program musserver will add support for music to DOOM under Linux. It
  can be found at  <ftp://pandora.st.hmc.edu/pub/linux/musserver.tgz>.


  6.25.  How can I reduce noise picked up by my soundcard?


  Using good quality shielded cables and trying the sound card in
  different slots may help reduce noise. If the sound card has a volume
  control, you can try different settings (maximum is probably best).

  Using a mixer program you can make sure that undesired inputs (e.g.
  microphone) are set to zero gain.

  Some sound cards are simply not designed with good shielding and
  grounding and are prone to noise pickup.

  Finally, on my system I found that the kernel command line option no-
  hlt reduces the noise level. This tells the kernel not to use the halt
  instruction when running the idle process loop. You can try this
  manually when booting, or set it up using the command append = "no-
  hlt" in your LILO configuration file.





  6.26.  I can play sounds, but not record.


  If you can play sound but not record, try these steps:


  o  use a mixer program to select the appropriate device (e.g.
     microphone)

  o  use the mixer to set the input gains to maximum

  o  If you can, try to test sound card recording under MS-DOS to
     determine if there is a hardware problem


  6.27.  My "compatible" sound card only works if I first initialize
  under MS-DOS.


  Some sound card clones are not 100% register compatible with the real
  thing; they sometimes contain extra circuitry such as mixers. You may
  be able to use these under Linux if you first initialize under MS-DOS,
  then soft boot Linux (i.e. Ctrl-Alt-Delete).

  One user also reported that he had better results if he used LOADLIN
  rather than LILO to boot Linux after initializing his sound card under
  MS-DOS (this was with a Diamond sound card).,

  They may or may not function reliably. The real solution is to find
  out from the manufacturer what the differences are and have the
  support added to the sound driver. This has been done, for example,
  for the Sound Galaxy NX Pro.


  6.28.  My 16-bit SoundBlaster "compatible" sound card only works in
  8-bit mode under Linux.


  16-bit sound cards described as SoundBlaster compatible are really
  only compatible with the 8-bit SoundBlaster Pro. They typically have a
  16-bit mode which is not compatible with the SoundBlaster 16 and not
  compatible with the Linux sound driver.

  If your card is also listed as compatible with the Microsoft Windows
  Sound System, you may be able to get it to work in 16-bit mode if you
  enable support for the WSS in the Linux sound driver. You will also
  probably have to do the DOS initialization trick to get the card to
  work.


  6.29.  Where can I find sound applications for Linux?


  Here are some good archive sites to search for Linux specific sound
  applications:


  o  <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/kernel/sound/>

  o  <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/apps/sound/>

  o  <ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/sound/>

  o  <ftp://nic.funet.fi:/pub/OS/Linux/util/sound/>


  o  <ftp://nic.funet.fi:/pub/OS/Linux/xtra/snd-kit/>

  o  <ftp://nic.funet.fi:/pub/OS/Linux/ALPHA/sound/>


  6.30.  Can the sound driver be compiled as a loadable module?


  The sound driver is now supported as a kernel loadable module. See the
  file Readme.modules for details on how to do this.


  6.31.  Can I use a soundcard to replace the system console "beep"?


  Try the oplbeep program, found at
  <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/.pub/linux/apps/sound/oplbeep-alpha.tar.gz>

  Alternatively, with some sound cards you can connect the PC speaker
  output to the soundcard so that all sounds come from the sound card
  speakers.


  7.  References


  If you have a sound card that supports a CD-ROM or SCSI interface, the
  Linux SCSI HOWTO and the Linux CD-ROM HOWTO have additional
  information that may be useful to you.

  Hannu Savolainen has written a draft version of the Hacker's Guide to
  VoxWare. The latest version is draft 2, and can be found on
  <ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/OS/Linux/ALPHA/sound/>.

  The following FAQs are regularly posted to the usenet newsgroup
  news.announce as well as being archived at
  <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers>:


  o  PCsoundcards/generic-faq (Generic PC Soundcard FAQ)

  o  PCsoundcards/soundcard-faq (comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard FAQ)

  o  PCsoundcards/gravis-ultrasound/faq (Gravis UltraSound FAQ)

  o  audio-fmts/part1 (Audio file format descriptions)

  o  audio-fmts/part2 (Audio file format descriptions)

  The FAQs also list several product specific mailing lists and archive
  sites. The following Usenet news groups discuss sound and/or music
  related issues:


  o  alt.binaries.sounds.* (various groups for posting sound files)

  o  alt.binaries.multimedia (for posting Multimedia files)

  o  alt.sb.programmer (Soundblaster programming topics)

  o  comp.multimedia (Multimedia topics)

  o  comp.music (Computer music theory and research)

  o  comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.* (various IBM PC soundcard groups)

  A Web site dedicated to multimedia can be found at
  <http://viswiz.gmd.de/MultimediaInfo/>.

  The Linux mailing list has a number of "channels" dedicated to
  different topics, including sound. To find out how to join, send a
  mail message with the word "help" as the message body to
  majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu.

  As mentioned several times before, the kernel sound driver includes a
  number of Readme files containing useful information about the sound
  card driver. These can typically be found in the directory
  </usr/src/linux/drivers/sound>.

  The author of the kernel sound driver, Hannu Savolainen, can be
  contacted by email at hannu@voxware.pp.fi. He also has a World-Wide
  Web site at  <http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/voxware>.

  The Linux Software Map (LSM) is an invaluable reference for locating
  Linux software. Searching the LSM for keywords such as sound is a good
  way to identify applications related to sound hardware. The LSM can be
  found on various anonymous FTP sites, including
  <ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/LSM.gz>.

  The Linux Documentation Project has produced several books on Linux,
  including Linux Installation and Getting Started. These are freely
  available by anonymous FTP from major Linux archive sites or can be
  purchased in hardcopy format.
