Baslinux mailing list

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

On Tue, 31 May 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > > Maybe. The sb.o initialization is a little too crude to get MPlayer
> > > or mpg123 working on its own, but play will work. OPL3 won't work,
> > > either. Does AWE32 work without DOS/isapnp initialization?
> >
> >
> > I just cold booted (power off, power on) this computer with a
> > non-awe SB16 card in it.  For some reason there is no high DMA (5,
> > 6, or 7) available and hwinfo and linux don't see that they are
> > taken.  Maybe some computers simply don't have those.  (This is
> > also the computer where resizecons does not work right except with
> > Matrox).
> >
> > If I run DOS diagnose /s (in autoexec.bat or from CLI) the speakers
> > start to hiss.  If I then insmod sb with settings, they stop
> > hissing.
> >
> > If I cold boot and hit F5 to skip autoexec.bat (don't run diagnose) and
> > insmod sb (dma=1, no high dma16 at all, 5 6 and 7 are not
> > available) I can STILL play wav files with play and mplayer.  I can
> > also play mp3 files with mplayer or mpg123.  I was also able to
> > play .wav files on the mad16 opti 931 card but I did not test
> > mplayer or mpg123 on it.
>
> Now this is strange, as my non-AWE Vibra16 will give a DMA warning
> and cause mpg123 and mplayer to fail. This is with grub. Perhaps
> loadlin and raw DOS do something to the card? Or maybe this has
> been fixed with the AWE Vibra16.

Perhaps you are not insmodding it with the proper settings?  Would you 
like a copy of SB16 diagnose to determine the settings and then use them 
in linux?  I was having the problem with DMA warning and IRQ/DRQ errors 
when playing mp3s until I also specified high dma on my three newest 
computers.  dma16=5 (try also 6 and 7 if 5 is taken). insmod sb io=0x220 
irq=5 dma=1 (or 0 or 3) dma16=5

You could try booting with loadlin from a DOS floppy disk to see if that 
fixes your problem first.

> > Maybe these would sound better after initialization?  I can't here
> > a difference but this is downloaded internet radio.  Perhaps higher
> > sampling rates need initialization?  /proc/dma shows that 0 is
> > SoundBlaster8.
> > What does high DMA do?
>
> It appears to be for 16-bit audio.

How does 16-bit audio differ from 8-bit audio?  Is it needed for stereo?
I listen to mono internet radio but mplayer offline should be playing 
stereo.  I am so used to mono FM that I don't notice if something is mono.

> > Would things sound better if low and high
> > were not the same DMA?
>
> Perhaps, but only if your source is 16-bit audio, and you can tell
> the difference between 16-bit and 8-bit (it is not very noticable
> to me).

> > Do you have the SB16 DOS diagnose program
>
> No.
>
> > and if not, would you
> > like a copy to test with?
>
> No, thanks. ISA PnP is working fine for me.

I thought you might be curious as to why I don't need it and you do,
even if I don't use diagnose before booting linux.

> > Could I free up an IRQ by not using ide1 (secondary controller)?
>
> Yes.

> > I was told that hard drive and CD-ROM drive should if possible be on
> > different controllers so they can transfer data faster
>
> That is correct. If you move one to a different controller, it can
> be master. When both are master, they go much faster.

Good, I set it up that way by using SCSI CD-ROM burner.

> > (or access
> > hd and DVD-ROM drive at the same time with two IRQs while playing
> DVDs, or is mplayer in RAM already?).

> Nope, not needed for MPlayer. Things will go fastest if you're not
> using your hard drive while you're playing a movie and the DVD drive
> is master (the hard drive doesn't need to be if it's not in heavy
> use).
Is mplayer using the hard drive once it starts?

> > Hardware motion compensation frees up the cpu?

> Yes, because it takes a long time for a CPU to do motion
> compensation. Farming it out to the GPU is much faster and
> lets the CPU work on other things.

> The same thing happens with scaling. (which can also be moved
> to the graphics card through the use of vidix or xvideo (xvideo
> needs XFree86 4+ and proper X drivers. vidix is better))

I think you said vidix works on GeForce2.  It did not on my PCI Nvidia 
GeForce2.  Is scaling used in games rather than movies?

> > Does the large heat
> > sink and fan sit on top of some sort of graphics cpu?
>
> Yes. These are usually known as GPUs.
>
> > The fan is as large as a 486 cpu fan.
>
> Notebook PC manufacturers are starting to put these mega graphics
> cards in portable computers. You can imagine what that does for
> heat and battery life.

Would I be better off avoiding graphics cards with heat sinks and fans if
not playing games?  Do they work better on DVDs movies?  My PCI Nvidia has 
no fan or large heat sink.

> > > > Not Xvesa.  But I thought xvidix did not require X11.
> > >
> > > VIDIX doesn't, per se. It can work with -vo vesa, too. But this
> > > particular vidix driver seems to need some card initialization.
> > > I've read somewhere that you can use the cvidix output driver
> > > instead and bypass all of this. This seems to conflict with the
> > > statement above.
> >
> > I am very confused.  Should I try one of the above cards with
> > xvidix?

> Any of the ATI cards (Radeon, Rage(128), Mach64) should work with
> both -vo xvidix and -vo vesa:vidix. The nvidia may need a full-size
> X server. But just in case, try -vo cvidix with the nvidia.
> Everything else should work like an ATI card.

We may have a dead ATI Rage.  I will try cvidix some time.  There are 
three ways to use vidix?  vesa:vidix cvidix xvidix?  The xvidix did not 
work with our Nvidia card.  I should read up on this.

> > > This DMA problem doesn't appear to be a conflict. It looks like
> > > the drive itself doesn't like DMA. If I turn DMA on and try to
> > > read anything from the disk in the drive, I get a DriveReady
> > > SeekComplete error. The whole computer freezes. The keyboard
> > > and mouse completely die, and I need to hard reset it. It does
> > > the exact same thing if I remove the two ISA cards.
> > > I have plenty of free DMAs.
> >
> > So did I, but it would not use them.  It seemed to want the same
> > DMA as the sound card (DMA 1).
>
> The only DMA I have in use is 4 (cascade, whatever that is).

I seem to always have 2 in use (controls other DMA?).  SB16 looks for 1 3 
or 5 for low DMA.

> > Why do ISA sound cards need DMA but PCI cards don't, even in linux?
>
> One reason is because ISA is slower than PCI.
>
> > Maybe Ubuntu simply omitted ISA card support to fit into one CD.
>
> That is very odd for a modern distribution.

I will look in it for isapnp.  Perhaps they only work on modern hardware.

> > Any ideas why four CD-ROM drives would not work with linux in one
> > computer, and now the one that does work in linux won't work in
> > Windows? They all work in DOS.  We are still trying to update a X2
> > modem which insists on SE for the program.  20X, no jitter.
>
> What does "not work" mean? Not detected at all? The IDE chipset may
> be iffy.

I think it means not detected.  I have a computer where BL2 detects the 
CD_ROM but BL3 does not (won't mount it even after I insmod the three 
modules).  And a keyboard that works in BL3 but not BL2 (recycled it).
Windows is also having trouble booting on that computer.  It is about to 
be replaced with one twice the speed if we can cut the ATX/AT jumper wire 
to use AT power supply.  We have at least two computers where FreeDOS will 
boot from floppy drive but not hard drive.

> .....
>
> > A review said the MX420 Geforce2 was much faster than the 400, but
> > is AGP (the 400) faster than PCI (the 420)?
>
> AGP is faster than PCI. But what are you using this for? For 3D, 420
> is probably faster. For MPlayer, 400 is.

For playing DVDs, not games.  I will try both the AGP MX400 and the AGP 
7700 Ti (with half the RAM) and report back.

> > Is MX with 64MB or Ti with 32MB likely to play DVDs better/faster?
>
> No. Not significantly.

(The Ti has faster memory speed but less memory).

> > I. e., is memory size or speed more important here?
>
> Memory size has nothing to do with it, as long as the memory can
> hold the DVD. (i.e. play it at all) GPU speed is not very
> important for DVDs. All GPUs will help with DVD decoding just
> as well, provided that they have motion-compensation assistance
> and hardware scaling, with proper drivers.

It sounds like either AGP card would work equally well, and better than 
the PCI card.  I will test all three and also an ATI Mach 64, for speed 
(on playing the same video clip), how long they work in X without losing 
sound, and whether they work with *vidix instead of X.  The Nvidias are 
nice because they work with Xvesa and vesafb, unlike ATI or Trio3D.

Do these cards generate a lot of heat all the time, or just while playing 
games?  We have a very hot overclocked 600>750MHz board with three heat 
sinks on the slot - should we choose a cool (non-heat-sinked) video card 
for it?  We chose a hooded power supply that blows air over the cpu area.
Is AGP advantageous if you are not playing games or DVDs?  We have some 
nice PCI cards without heat sinks.

It is so much fun learning to use the hardware that I don't have time to 
actually watch a whole DVD on it.  And there are two more computers 
sitting on the front stoop.

Any idea if our 'new' $4 15GB hard drive is fixable if it lights up and 
whirs for a couple of seconds then the light goes off and the MB does not 
boot?  It won't even boot from the master (with DOS on it) when I plug 
this in as slave.  The seller thought it was not working because he needed 
SATA drives in his new computer.  Good thing we don't need 15GB.

> David