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

["Edwin P. Groot" <epgroot@ucdavis.edMAPSu>]

At 01:10 AM 2/22/2001 -0800, you wrote:
>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 
>
>edwin, on debian, all modules listed in /etc/modules get loaded at boot
>time.

   Ahhh [fog slowly lifts], /etc/modules lists the names of the modules to
load at bootup and /etc/modules.conf sets their configuration options.
There are too damn many files to think about in Unix.  Now back in the CP/M
days I could count the built-in commands on one hand and the external
commands on the other...
   Does that mean I don't have to fiddle with recompiling the kernel :) :)
:) :) :)  Oh, I was so dreading that.  Are kernel modules something new?  I
kept reading on the internet that I would have to set the drivers to use
and RECOMPILE THE KERNEL to get the sound support working right.
>
>modules.conf does not load any modules itself.
>

>> message on bootup (took several boots to see it long enough to write 
>> down): 
>
>remember -- you can always dmesg | less to look at the boot messages.

   Oh isn't that a nifty trick.
>
>
>try shift-PageUp to see what scrolled off the screen.

   Cool, Peter that is pretty slick. No wonder I always got beeped at when
I tried plain Pgup~~.
>
>
>> I figure I have two SoundBlaster drivers loaded now.
>
>see "lsmod" to look at what drivers are currently loaded.

   I RETRACT MY PRESUPPOSITION NOW.
>
>
>> 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. 

   OK, given your information I figured this out.  Add "adlib_card" to
/etc/modules.  Make a new file /etc/modutils/adlib_card with one line in it:
options adlib_card io=0x388
Then run "# update-modules".  Then reboot with "# shutdown -r now" to have
the change take effect.  /dev/sndstat now has "Yamaha OPL3" for FM Synthesis.

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there's an AWE howto, but i think it's terribly outdated.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

   My card is not PnP, so this is not relevent.  BUT I got "bplay", a
command-line WAV/RIFF player, and it plays all those WAVs perfectly, after
those modifications to /etc/modules.conf.  I found that redirecting a file
to /dev/dsp is not meant for playing WAVs, but is just a way to test that
/dev/dsp is working.


     Problem solved more or less.  Get it? - unix pun.  Thanks Pete.

     Edwin