Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004, Ron Clarke wrote:

> Hi Sindi,
> 
> On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 22:52:16 -0500 (EST)
> Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com> wrote:
> 
> > Many thanks for the warning.  We have 4 SB16 cards of which one is a 
> > Vibra16 so I will avoid using that one.  Do you know the difference 
> > between Vibra16 and Soundblaster other than that linux does not like 
> > Vibra16?


>     Not what I meant to say.  That Vibra16 runs just fine under DOS,
> Win3.1 and under Peanut Linux (a redhat distro).  Peanut HAS the correct
> soundcard drivers and modules for it.  I couldn't find the same for
> Slakware7.1 ....... YET !

Oh, so in theory it is possible but in practice difficult?  I have a 
VIBRA16 card working with DOS already.  No problem, there are two 
non-VIBRA cards available.  I can do it the hard way some other time.

> 
> > The SB cards are all PlugNPlay - would that be a problem with Linux?
> > There may also be jumpers, and I can ask Windows about things like IRQ.
> 
>     If you can get them to work in DOS, then use the same settings after 
> the -
> insmod sb   io=0x220 irq=5 dma=1(0)  etc, and you should have no problems.

Okay.  
I did some reading and discovered that ESS1868 (we have a couple) is SBPro 
compatible and can be run with sb if you add to the line esstype=1868.

To adjust settings on pnp cards there is isapnptools.  I have not tried 
it.


Someone got the Opti931 (we have one working in Win98) going with linux 
but said it was difficult.  I will let Windows keep it.  The Opti931 works 
with nonpowered speakers, unlike all our ESS cards.  But so do all the 
Soundblasters even tho we don't see any heat sinks onboard.  The 
Soundblasters also work without software if you want to play a CD by just 
pushing the button on the front (or using CDPLYER in DOS and then exiting 
it).  So does 1 of the 4 Crystal-based cards, one of which someone got 
working in Linux (4232).  It sounds like an art to get anything non 
Soundblaster working in linux.

(We have so many of these sound cards, about 30, because someone gave us 
50 'broken' computers to recycle and we got 10 of the pentiums working and 
kept the sound cards from the XT-486s and dead pentiums.)


> > >     AMP plays MP3s, not MIDIs.  For MIDIs you need TIMIDITY and a good
> > > set of MIDI patches properly installed.
> > 
> > What is a MIDI patch?  
> 
>    A MIDI patch is a small soundfile that is used by Timidity (and others) 
> as if
> it was a musical instrument. They come as a set, often with the extension 
> .pat ,
> and with a configuration file to set each .pat file against a MIDI 
> instrument 
> channnel.  
>    You have, therefore, a PIANO.PAT, FLUTE.PAT, TROMBONE.PAT and so on.
> 
>    Timidity also comes with a .cfg file that points to the MIDI config file.
> 
>    Without MIDI patches, a MIDI player will be piping total silence to each 
> MIDI
> channel ... and that is what you will hear: total silence.

Is there a DOS equivalent of these?  Maybe the SB16 package came with 
them.  

I have never used CDP.EXE and will try it.  The MIDI players I have for 
DOS all sound rather tinny except on the card where you can load wavetable 
sounds into RAM.  I will try Windows on them.

>     There are, however, some MIDI players that have their patches inside the
> player or driver(s) file(s). The Windows Media Player, for instance, or 
> Florian
> Xaver's excellent CDP.EXE for DOS.
> 
> Regards,
>          Ron
> 
> 

Thanks for all the useful info.  I might just tackle linux sound today.

Sindi Keesan