Baslinux mailing list

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

On Tue, 24 May 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > Would the Nvidia server be faster than SVGA or Xvesa?
>
> Yes.
But it is not available for kernel 2.2.16?
> > The bzip2 bug is causing the executable to get corrupted?
>
> Well, I like to blame the current corruption on bzip2, because it's
> what packed the file in question. I will use a different compression
> method, which should work better. It will also remove the need for
> bzip2 to install MPlayer.

You will post a final version not involving bzip2?

> > Do you know how framedrop decides what to drop? Is there a
> > default quality (say 50%, or 75%)?  Does it drop more frames when
> > there is more action?
>
> It's fairly arbitrary. When it falls behind the audio, it just drops
> frames until it catches up with the audio. hardframedrop doesn't
> even try to make sure that whole frames are drawn; it will actually
> "drop" pixels. When there is more action, MPlayer is more likely to
> fall behind, so you will see more dropped frames in high-action
> scenes.

In our case, the audio dropped behind the video.  You would see people's 
lips move, and then a few seconds letter the sound arrived.  After 20 sec 
(at 16-bit, or 2 sec at 24-bit color) the sound simply stopped.  So 
-framedrop must somehow set things such that the audio has priority.

(buggy driver)

> > Which is not the case for sb?
>
> sb probably has thousands if not millions of eyes looking at it for
> bugs. It is the most popular sound card driver, since there are
> many cards which are compatible with it.

> > I also got es1371 and esssolo1
> > working (on three PCI cards, for cases where I cannot figure out
> > the settings or where all the IRQs are taken).  Trident appears to
> > play, but no sound is heard, same for cs4232.

I also just got opti 82c931 working on the model of a Bulgarian forum's 
helpful list of what to use for the 930 (soundcore, soundlow, sound, 
ad1848, uart401, mad16 io=0x530 irq=5 dma=0 dma16=3 mpu_io=300 mpu_irq=7, 
all of them required or you get error messages, but joystick=1 optional). 
The three opti 929a's accepted the modules okay but when I tried to play 
sound 'can't open output file /dev/dsp, No such device'.  Any idea why? 
I tried to use isapnp pnpdump on them and it found no cards.  They have 
only line/speaker out jumpers.

Since we don't have modprobe, I would figure out what modules were needed 
by first doing insmod of the three 'sound*' modules. (PCI cards need only 
the first) and then matching up modules to the error messages.  I forget 
how Steven said to determine what modules a module needs, but this 
eventually worked.

Only one of the four sb-clones ess 1868 worked, the others appear to be 
broken electronically (according to Win98 something is wrong with the 
BIOS, and in linux they don't work with any IRQ or one appeared to play 
but no sound).  Is there some trick to getting these working or are they 
probably really dead?  (They were in a large batch of things given us to 
recycle).  The three will be recycled.

 >
> Not all sound cards have the volume turned up by default. Try
> aumix?

I thought it was in SW71 but I cannot find it now.  I will look at JPs 
site if it is still there.

> >   Good chance to learn isapnptools.
>
> I never did learn isapnptools. I just gave up and compiled a new kernel.
> I found it much harder to learn isapnptools than compile kernels. I
> may be interested in descriptions of how to use isapnptools.

It made no sense at all to me.  I typed pnpdump and got an output of some 
sort.

Speaking of compiling kernels, I added a few sound driver modules 
(answered m to ad1848 cs4232 mad16 ym3812 es1371 trident) to my kernel 
which was working perfectly and now it will not work with pppd.
Kermit (terminal program) works with it.  First I included SMP support and 
got a message saying the kernel did not support ppp.  Then I removed that 
and now it just hangs.  My previous kernel (sb16 sound only) still 
dials perfectly on the same computer.  How do I compare files with linux? 
I will post any sections that differ, for help.

> > Which cards have buggy drivers?
>
> Not sure. The ALSA emulation of OSS is perfect. I've also managed
> to test the following OSS drivers which worked great with MPlayer:
>
> cs4232 - back when I had a laptop with this chip. Great sound.

I was just given one of these, ISA Modules all install, it seems to play, 
but no sound at all.  Did this need aumix?  It is not powered - do the 
unpowered cards tend to sound as good as the older SB16's with power?

> sb - My current Vibra16
I have that and Creative cards working.

> i810_audio (is that the name of it?) - my current laptop
> opl3sa2 - my old desktop sound card

I Have not ever seen either of these.  We now have three laptops with 
sound, which should be a challenge. (One has the odd Neomagic video too).
I gave up on an Aztech card which works as sb with a 2.4.x patch.
Three pci esssolo1's and an AudioPCI (es1371) work perfectly.


> > > > Does 2.2.16 support it?
> > >
> > > I thought that you tried it with 2.2.16 and it failed. I'm not sure
> > > whether it works or not.
> > What were we talking about here?
>
> SDL audio with 2.2.16.
>
> > I don't know how to try SDL sound.
>
> Use -ao sdl

In mplayer #1 and/or #3?  I thought you said you were not going to include 
it after the first version.  Do I need to do anything else differently 
from OSS?  How do you use ALSA emulation of OSS?

> > > > > PCs are fickle.
> > > >
> > > > This one seems a lot happier with the DVD drive as master not slave.
> > > > I have noticed that hard drives transfer slower as slave.
> >
> > Dos 'Syschk' gives us speed ratings. The same drive gets a higher
> > rating as master.  We put in a matched pair and measured once.
>
> hdparm does IDE drive benchmarks in Linux. It is also the de facto way
> to turn DMA on/off to improve speed/reliability. Busybox has a version,
> but Steven with a v didn't include it in BL3 (hey, it rhymes)
'that Steven with a little v did not include in BL3' scans better.

I used hdparm once to fix a HD reset problem.  Can I also use it with the 
DVD-ROM drive that is not working quite right and gives reset messages?

> > My DVD drive works badly with burned CDs - it gave me some reset
> > message but eventually did find the CD.
>
> cdrecord or cdrdao (one of the two) told me that mine cannot read
> CD-Rs. I can stick in the disk and hear the drive crank away. I
> don't get any error messages, but I just hear the drive try to
> access it. Eventually it gives up and mount acts as though nothing
> is in the drive.

Mine takes a while.  I will try it on an OEM CD for comparison.
Is yours an older model?  I was told the lasers were not as strong 
originally.

> > > CPU type doesn't affect the OSS sound bug.
> > But #2 would not even convert files on the PIII (-ao pcm).
>
> OK, CPU type doesn't affect the OSS sound bug, barring a buggy CPU.
Does this mean I have a buggy PIII cpu?  I have no others to test on.
This is irrelevant now that Version 3 is out.

> > > > #2 plays Realaudio - does #3?  #1 was said not to, I think.
> > >
> > > All 3 have the exact same codecs. #1 cannot play certain RA files
> > > over the RTSP protocol. HTTP and FTP are fine.
> >
> > Do you mean that #1 and #3 both cannot play certain RA files
> > fetched via RTSP?
>
> #1 only. #3 has proper RTSP support, as does #2. It's not the filetype,
> it's the RTSP server type which MPlayer #1 doesn't like. (because I
> didn't include the Live.COM library which handles most RTSP servers)
>
> > Will #3 be a little less efficient on the PIII?
>
> Not by much. I cannot tell any difference in speed between the
> three versions on my PII.

I will test them both on the same DVD in x11 without -framedump, count 
how many seconds until we lose sound, and if both versions play it equally 
well, keep only #3, otherwise both.

> > If so, I should probably keep #1 and use #3 elsewhere.  Does #3
> > differ only in that it supports all models of pentium-generation
> > computer?
>
> I believe so.
And does more Realaudio.

> > I will try it tomorrow.  Along with a list of other things if I can
> > remember them all.  There was a way to smooth the video, and #3 on
> > the PIII, and what else?
>
> That's it, I guess.
(We are also supposed to be building a house.)

> > Does #1 work a bit faster on a PII or later?  If so, I will keep it
> > for playing DVDs.  How would I measure exact speeds, by looking at
> > top while playing the same DVD with x11 and -framedrop?
>
> Do "-ao null" and set "-fps 30", 30 being some ridiculous frame rate
> which your PC cannot handle. Do not use any frame dropping. This is
> best done with short video clips if you're in a hurry.  Time how
> long it takes to play. This will tell you exactly how long it takes
> to decode the clip and display it.

I don't have any video clips.  What format would I look for on the web?


> David
>
> --
> _______________________________________________
> NEW! Lycos Dating Search. The only place to search multiple dating sites at 
> once.
> http://datingsearch.lycos.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> BasLinux mailing list
> BasLinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/baslinux

keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org