Baslinux mailing list

["David Moberg" <davidjmoberg AT lycos.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "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?

It works with 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?

Yes.

> >> 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)

Woah, now _that_ sounds like a buggy driver. My problem is the
opposite; the video driver can't produce frames fast enough to
keep up with the audio.

> >> 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.

Does dmesg seem to indicate successful module insertion?

> 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.

Read the modules.dep file from Slackware. It's what modprobe uses to
decide what modules are needed.

> 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.

2.2.16 is very buggy. The PPP driver will cause you many problems
if you try to use it under unusual circumstances (e.g. with SMP,
strange modem/other drivers)

> >> 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?

IIRC it did. MPlayer lets you change PCM volume. See mplayer --help
for the key to use. On mine, it's Shift+8 (in other words, the *
character) to increase volume. You need /dev/mixer for this to work.

> It is not powered 
> - do the unpowered cards tend to sound as good as the older SB16's 
> with power?

If your speakers have good amplifiers the sound quality will be
better. I have found sound card amplifiers to be very noisy.

> > 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).

The opl3sa2 driver was used with a "Yamaha OPL3-SAx" board. ISA PnP.
isapnptools didn't like it, either. The Vibra16 board is PnP, too,
but it works with the plain sb.o driver. (Thanks for posting fixes
for the DMA problem)

> 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.

es1371 is apparently a good board for Linux, next to the sb in
compatibility, I believe.

> > Use -ao sdl
> 
> In mplayer #1 and/or #3?

#3. Another difference between #1 and 3 that I forgot to mention.

> I thought you said you were not going to 
> include it after the first version.

It got included anyway. It's not that big.

> Do I need to do anything else 
> differently from OSS?

No. -ao sdl is just a different way of sending audio
to OSS in MPlayer #3.

> How do you use ALSA emulation of OSS?

Once you've inserted all of the ALSA modules you can insmod
snd-pcm-oss.o which allows you to use /dev/dsp just like with
OSS. It is better than plain OSS because you get more mixer
features and less chance of a buggy driver.

> 'that Steven with a little v did not include in BL3' scans better.

Should we use last names?

> 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?

Probably. I haven't experienced reset problems. I've found that
hdparm treats ATAPI CD drives and hard drives similarly. My CD burner
absolutely refuses to work with DMA, so I sometimes need to use
hdparm to turn it off. My DVD drive, on the other hand, works
much better for DVD playback with DMA enabled. hdparm lets me
choose the correct option.

> >> 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.

Yes. That's probably the issue. Mine's from 1998 (probably manufactured in 
'97)
and is slot-loading to boot, which means I can't use unusually shaped CDs.

> >>> 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.

Or is it a uClibc interaction? Do #3 or #1 work on the PIII?
#2 was built against uClibc, which cause most of the problems.
#1 and #3 were both built against glibc (all static, in case you're
wondering)

> >> 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.

There is a better benchmarking method listed in the MPlayer
manpage.

> >> 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.

And SDL. By the way, RTSP can stream any file. RA files are what is
commonly used, though.

> >> 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?

MPlayer is adept at .mpg files. You should have no trouble at all with
them. Earlier AVI codecs like Cinepak and Indeo 3.1/3.2 are also well-
supported. I have had success with .asf files, but I don't think all of
them will work with the standard codecs.

David

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