Re: [vox-tech] Accessing SoundBlaster drivers/modules in Debian

[Peter Jay Salzman <p@dirac.orMAPSg>]

On Wed 21 Feb 01,  7:31 PM, Edwin P. Groot said: 
>      I need some help in sound configuration on my 486 DX2-66 (16MB 
> RAM, 200MB HD) running kernel 2.2.18pre21 in the Debian distibution.  
> The card is a SoundBlaster 16 ISA with all jumpers on default values.  
> Sound works half-heartedly, and I think the reason is a correctly 
> configured SoundBlaster module on top of a flakey or misconfigured 
> SoundBlaster driver.  I think the heart of the matter is how can I 
> reconfigure or remove drivers that are not listed in /etc/modules.conf, 
> but still get loaded at bootup.

edwin, on debian, all modules listed in /etc/modules get loaded at boot
time.

modules.conf does not load any modules itself.

>      I started working on the problem at the Feb. 18 IF.  At the 
> previous IF, the flamboyant Rick Moen installed Debian Base on this 
> system. When I started working on sound support I noticed a 
> SoundBlaster driver or module loader was already running. I get this 
> message on bootup (took several boots to see it long enough to write 
> down): 
> "Soundblaster audio driver Copyright (c) by Hannu Savolainen 1993-1996 
>  SB 4.05 detected OK (220)" 

remember -- you can always dmesg | less to look at the boot messages.

since mod-utils can only print to console or log in system logs (this is a
flaw, in my opinion), you'll need another method to look at output from
modutils.

try shift-PageUp to see what scrolled off the screen.

> I guess the driver came with the Debian Base installation because I 
> told it my CD-ROM was using the Mitsumi interface on the SoundBlaster 
> card. 

yup

edwin, my apologies -- i need to go to sleep soon.  let me quickly comment
things i'm sure about and leave out the things that require more thought.

> on mp3blaster play beautifully 10 - 20 seconds, then stutter the rest 
> of the song. I figure this is because decompression is slower than 
> playback on a 486.  Indeed, these MP3s suffer the same problem played 
> on WinAmp when under control of the Evil Empire's OS. These problem WAV 
> files play OK when I boot the machine in Win95. 

yes, this i can guarentee you -- mp3 will not play nicely on a 486 with 16MB
of ram.

> I figure I have two SoundBlaster drivers loaded now.

see "lsmod" to look at what drivers are currently loaded.

> I now get an 
> extra message on bootup: 
> "sb NOTE: /etc/modules.conf is more recent than 
> /lib/modules/2.2.18pre21/modules.dep" 

this message is fine.  it's an FYI.  not an error.

> before.  I am a little worried that there is nothing under the "Synth 
> devices:" entry, because I know my SoundBlaster has an FM-Synthesis 
> port at 0x388. Removing /etc/modutils/sb, rerunning update-modules, and 
> rebooting takes me back to the point where Linus T. just says "Hel-".  
> I am not terribly satisfied with the sound support right now. 
>      Any ideas, comments, leads? I have exhausted all the Man and Web 
> pages I can think of. 

there's an AWE howto, but i think it's terribly outdated.

kernel 2.4.0 can probe ISA pnp.  supposedly, kernel hackers found some safe
way of probing.   maybe a kernel upgrade would help.

to be perfectly honest, i had problems with the same card till i went to the
2.3 series (which eventually became 2.4).   i'm not the world's SB AWE
expert, but the kernel upgrade helped.

pete

-- 
"...and here is fortress ovum being stormed by               p@dirac.org
    millions of tiny warriors..."                            www.dirac.org/p
           -- Robert "Schweitzer" Picardo