Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Wed, 18 May 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > I have both the PII (first) and PI (second) versions of David
> > Moberg's mplayer, as well as mpg123 from Slackware.
>
> I have a new version of MPlayer compiled. I am currently packaging
> it. It should be up later today.
>
> > On two PII computers, mpg123 works fine, mplayer for PII will not
> > play sounds but it will convert (-ao pcm) to a wav file which you
> > can then play with a script, using sox/play.
>
> I thought that the i686 version could play sounds without -ao pcm?
> To MPlayer, it is playing sounds, just not to OSS output.

Yes, it can play sounds on the i686, but just .wav not .mp3 (in linux). 
It plays mp3s in DOS.  I tried two different sound cards (both an awe32 
and an awe64, which does not work for me in DOS).  I can try a non-awe 
card next.  I have an AWE32 vibra working perfectly in the computer next 
to it, 233MHz PI.

It won't play mp3 with mpg123, or the i686 mplayer (which plays .wav) or 
the mplay script (which uses mplayer for PI to convert to way, then sox).

> > I now have a computer with Intel PIII 605 MHz cpu, which replaced
> > an Asus board (350MHz K6) which would NOT play stereo .wav files in
> > linux (but would play them in DOS, or mono wav files in linux).
> > Stereo files gave me an error message about IRQ/DRQ config error.
> >
> > I have the same hard drive that I was using in the Asus board.
>
> Is the sound card the same one as is in the other PCs? There may be
> some problem on the motherboard which is wreaking havoc with the
> Linux audio drivers.

I tried two sound cards and can try a third in a couple of days.
This motherboard, with both sound cards, plays wav files in linux, which 
the previous board would not do.  But there seems to be some IRQ/DRQ 
conflict in playing mp3s.  I had a conflict on the other board with wav 
sounds (and never did try playing mp3s).

> > I can now play wav files with sox/play.
> > I tried mpg123 on an mp3 file that worked on another computer, also
> > on one I found online:
> >
> > Playing MPEG stream from vivaldi.mp3 ....
> > MEPG 1.0 layer III, 128 kbit/s, 44100 Hz stereo
> > Sound:  DMA (output) time out - IRQ/DRQ config error?
> > (After a few lines of this I hit Ctrl-C).
> >
> > I then tried out both mplayers.
> > The first player (for P2) plays .wav files perfectly.
> > The second player is not expected to do so.
> >
> > I then tried to play an mp3 file with the first player:
> > Starting playback...
> > A:   0.3 0.0% 0%
> > (Nothing else happens).  I also tried online and got the same results.
> >
> > So I tried the 'mplay' script to play the same MP3 file with the
> > second player (which uses mplayer to convert to wav and play that).
> >   I know that the play part works.
>
> Please check if plain-old -ao pcm works. Do not pipe it through play yet.
> Just see if audiodump.wav actually gets created.

I did that and the mplayer for PI does NOT work either.  I forget exactly 
where it stopped at but I listed it in my last email.  It just gets stuck.

> If it is created, play may be having trouble with the sampling rate.
>
> If it isn't, you may have a serious CPU/motherboard problem.

I figured that out already but will try one other sound card before giving 
up on using this board to play mp3s.  I hope it works for DVDs.



> > I have not tried playing the library DVD.  Hopefully DVD sound is
> > .wav not .mp3.  I can play .wav with play or mplayer on here, just
> > not mp3s.
>
> If it is the CPU, you will likely have major problems with DVD output.

If someone can explain how to play a DVD in one easy lesson I will try 
that tonight.  I got a DVD.  How do I start at track 1 and play sound and 
video?

We have this board because it had bad capacitors.  We replaced six of 
them.  But the conflict is probably something in the design.  Every board 
we have had except the 233MHz sitting next to this one has some problem in 
linux.  The two ASUS would not play stereo wav sounds in linux (but would 
in DOS).  This board won't play mp3s in linux (but will in DOS with at 
least two programs).

> > The 233 Mhz PI continues to play mp3s nicely via mplayer -ao pcm
> > and 'play', on or offline.
> >
> > The phone line is fixed but had nothing to do with the problem (or
> > the fact that my 56K modem connects at 31K ;=( ).
> >
> > Any idea how to get around the IRQ/DRQ config error with mpg123?
>
> Can you tell mpg123 to write out to a wave file? Use the "-w
> audiodump.wav" option to make it behave like MPlayer -ao pcm.

I will try that next.


> You may be able to modify your mplay script if this works (and if
> play will actually play the resulting .wav file)

> > Or why neither version of mplayer will play mp3s but will play wavs?
>
> Perhaps a chipset problem. Or else play only works with certain wav
> files.

I can play any wav file I tried with both play and mplayer on this 600MHz 
computer.

> > I get the same result trying to play an ogg with the PII player.
> > Ogg:  bad packet in stream 0
> > A:  0.7 2.0% 0%
> >
> > mplay -- Detected cache-line size is 32 bytes.
>
> Same issue.
>
> > I did not try the 350MHz board with K6, which would not play wav
> > file with sox/play, using mpg123 or mplayer for PI.
> >
> > I am starting to be surprised when anything works right with sound.
>
> You may want to get a newer kernel with bells and whistles. ALSA is
> superior to OSS for sound. For those with minimal sound needs, OSS
> works just fine. If you want an easy installation or more features,
> ALSA is better.

Do you think a newer kernel will work with this board to play mp3s? Would 
I have to switch to ALSA?  I only know how to use sox and Christof's 
package.  I have SW81 CDs and can give this a try (booting with newer 
bare.i kernel and copying the SW81 modules for sound to a different 
directory - I may not even need all the modules with bare.i).

If it plays DVDs I will use it for that and play streaming audio on the 
233MHz computer instead.


> David