Baslinux mailing list

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

On Wed, 8 Jun 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > The patch may have come later than Slackware 7.1.
> >
> > I looked at the 33 pages of mdacon.c (don't know from which year)
> > and discovered that it does intensity, underline, reverse and blink
> > but cannot do reverse and underline at the same time, and reverse
> > is used for cursors sometimes and takes precedence.
> >
> > I also ran across my discussion with David about the mdacon.o
> > included with his framebuffer package, which is different from the
> > one that comes with Slackware 7.1.  Was the framebuffer version
> > compiled with the same source code (SW7.1)?

I recalled where the underlines do not work (only tested in the older 
mdacon).  Lynx uses lynx.lss to specify attributes and I had changed u: to 
display underlines.  It works in DOS, and the color part of it works on 
the VGA monitor when I change that, but on the TTL monitor the underlines 
display as bold.   So I use lynx in DOS when possible.  I had thought 
about running WP5.1 in dosemu but dosemu has too many other problems.

> Perhaps it was not exactly the same? I got my source code from
> kernel.org, which has the "official" Linux source code. I first
> downloaded 2.2.0, then all of the 2.2.x patches. I then untarred
> 2.2.0 and patched it up to 2.2.16. Perhaps Slackware 7.1 added
> some patches to their Linux source code?
>
> How much different is my mdacon.o versus the one from Slackware?
> The size difference may be easily explained by my use of a newer
> version of gcc. The reason the Slackware one cannot be used with
> a framebuffer is because it was not built to go with a framebuffer.

I had not noticed it acting differently and I cannot check now because I 
go online with DOS to see underlines.


> > But recent dosemu (last year) had a bug that I could not figure out
> > how to use the patch for (no ^ A or S appeared when you typed them
> > in CLI) so I was using it in BL3 after installing bash so that
> > dosemu would install. I will try the earliest version for glibc2
> > unless they fixed the bug in the latest version.  Perhaps someone
> > could help figure out the patch since other people have also
> > expressed an interest in dosemu with BL.  The other problem with WP
> > is Alt-F keys, which mean something to WP but in linux shift
> > consoles, so I would need to change linux somehow so that Alt-F2
> > did not do anything in linux itself.
>
> I don't think Alt-F2 does anything if you aren't using virtual
> terminals. There is a deallocvt program which lets you remove
> virtual terminals.

But I DO use virtual terminals - four of them.  chvt can be used instead 
of Alt-F2.  I am giving up on dosemu for a year or so.


> > > UARTs are also found in serial ports, where they split data into
> > > individual bits. You should have one on an SB16.
> >
> > What would a bad one do?
>
> Force the card to not work at all.
Mine works.  I did run across something about a sound card that clicks but 
the site was not accessible.

> > Is this why I get clicking noises when
> > not playing something?
>
> Probably not. This is likely interference from other things on the
> computer. Completely normal.
>
> > This must be how people make midi files - I had thought they used
> > a program to do it.
>
> You do use a "program" to capture MIDI. You can also use a tracker,
> but it is much slower and more artificial.
>
> > Do you know if each voice (each instrument) gets
> > recorded separately?
>
> Yes, they are.
I heard one CD with 8 trumpet parts all recorded by the same player,
analog.

> > Could you play midi files on one of those
> > expensive new Yamaha player pianos?
>
> Probably on at least one of them. I remember seeing a MIDI player piano
> about a decade ago. It took DOS-formatted floppy disks with MIDI files
> and played them back by mechanically moving the keys up and down.

We heard a demo but did not know about MIDI files at the time.  So in 
order for my downloaded midi files to sound good I should get a grand 
piano.  Would an electronic keyboard also work?  A friend has one (a good 
one) and we have a cheapie for kids.

 > > David

Back to interrupts:

I downloaded DOS software for the Opti931, which claimed to need Win3.1 to 
install it, and typed sndinit.exe and was told to specify the SOUND 
directory.
set sound=e:\opti931
sndinit then ran (it crashed when I ran it on the TTL monitor so I made a 
batch file to change to color when I typed sndinit) and I learned that the 
card is 8-bit only but will set DMA1 and DMA2 to different values.  One is 
for playing and one for recording.

My Vibra16X will also set the second DMA only to 0 1 or 3 and it insists 
on this being the same DMA as for the first DMA, which I read is needed if 
you want to play and record at the same time.

My Vibra16C's and AWE32s and SB32s and AWE64s and SB16's let me set high 
DMA to 5, 6 or 7, which means they record 16-bit sound whereas the Vibra16 
X records only 8-bit sound.  That must be what you have, and you can set 
the second DMA to the same as the first one, or just skip it if you will 
not be recording.

8-bit files take up a lot less space than 16-bit files but don't sound 
very good.  Maybe some games use them.  Telephone quality is 12-bit.

Despite not having a DMA 5, 6, or 7, the Vibra16X plays 8-bit sound hissy 
and 16-bit sound much nicer.  Maybe you can play 16-bit but not record 
16-bit sound?

Back to the Opti931.  It emulates either SBPro (io 220) or 
Windows/Microsoft Sound System (WSS) (io 534).  I was able to disable mpu 
and gameport in DOS (no IDE) and play wav and FM synthesized midi sounds 
with autoexec.bat set to 220 5 1 3 and sound16 set to the opti director. 
The card seems to initialize itself at boot time without running sndinit 
again.  It came set by default to io 220 irq 5 dma 1 dma 3.

The opti sounded a lot better when we moved the jumpers from speaker to 
line and turned up the speakers instead.  It has no heat sink.  Loud 
volumes sounded very buzzy with speaker out.

So I booted into linux and tried these settings and the address did not 
work.

  I ran pnpdump -rc > /etc/isapnp.conf and isapnp /etc/isapnpconf:

Enabled OK
Ports 0x534 0x380 0x220 0xe0c0 IRQ 5 DMA0 DMA1

I tried all of these port settings - 'Invalid codec port 534' etc.

I commented out the mpu and game lines in the .conf file.

I then used the settings I had found by reading a Bulgarian posting:

insmod mad16 io=0x530 irq=5 dma=0 (and optionally also dma=1)

Previously it would not work unless I also specified mpu_io=300 and 
mpu_irq=7 (which isapnp told me correctly before I commented those parts 
out) but this time it did insmod and told me 'invalid midi port 0x0'.


Set to 530, it plays wav and mp3 files.

At one point I got some message (from isapnp?) about 4 bytes of resource 
conflict at 534.  There was something in teh config file that I got 
without -rc about minimum irq being 534, but 530 still worked.

So the solution to getting a pnp card to work is first to run isapnp, 
comment out the parts you do not want, then look up the correct io setting 
when nothing listed in the .conf file actually works.



I then found DOS software (mixed together with Win95 in a large file) for 
Opti 929, which I have on four cards with Crystal chips as well.  There 
were several versions.  This package comes with DOS installation software 
but there was really nothing to install for the 931 - just set sound16 and 
run sndinit and then play music.

The other DOS ISA sound cards that I have all say to install the DOS 
programs using Win 3.1.  Aztech Sound Galaxy, ES1868, ALS100 (16-bit) and 
they should all work in linux.

I have found DOS software for only one PCI card - sblive, which is said to 
have a poor setup for digital input.  CD music gets converted multiple 
times between digital and analog before being played, so they suggest 
using something like CDDA2WAV instead to play digital sound directly to 
the sound card, for better sound.  Most sound cards don't even have 
digital input.  Plugging speakers or headphones into the CD-ROM microphone 
jack if available would probably sound better than using a non-digital 
sound car.

So far, it does not look like there is any need to initialize SB or Opti 
cards in DOS before using them in linux, or to use isapnp (unless you 
expect to get the correct settings from it, which I did not).  The 
exception is playing midis with AWE (and probably with FM synthesis, which 
I have not tried in linux yet).

Sindi