Baslinux mailing list

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

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "sindi keesan" <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
>
> > How would I automate this, perhaps by putting all the insmods in rc
> > except for the mad16 itself?
>
> Good idea. This should work if a delay is all that is needed.
>
> > I am about to set up a Basiclinux
> > computer for the high-school-age son of a friend who views it as a
> > big upgrade from Redhat 6.2 (which he figured out how to get to
> > boot into CLI).
>
> I am surprised that a distro as old as that would not boot to CLI
> by default.

Maybe I misunderstood him.  I recall being given a 486 66MHz with 12MB 
RAM and Redhat 6 that took 5 minutes to boot and then another 5 min to 
load X.  It was three years after that before we bothered with linux 
again.  Then we found Redhat 9 on a 485MHz with 256MB RAM which took even 
longer to boot.

> > He likes to listen to MIDI files - my next
> > challenge (non-AWE midi).
>
> Does the card in question (opti929) do OPL3? I did a cursory
> search but couldn't find anything relevant (mostly Windows
> drivers). opti929+linux actually turned up your recent post
> to this list as the 8th result. The 930 doesn't seem to have
> any hardware MIDI.

I told you there is not much about that card for linux.

The card plays MIDI files nicely in DOS with CDP or MSP or the test 
program.  It would not play wav files with anything I had - complained 
about low-level drivers with the SB16 play program.  The program 
identified something at address 388.

> If the hardware fails, there is always Timidity, which will
> probably produce better sound than anything built into a
> sound card.

I hear it is a huge download.  I am currently trying to download playmidi 
rpms and they all download as something that extracts with rpm2tgz to 127 
bytes of tgz, or gives an error message that it is a bad file (mc menu). 
I got the same package (2.4.9 for Redhat 6.2) from several sites using 
lynx, links, and wget.  Do you have the binary that you could post?
This also happened with version 2.4.16 that you posted a link to.  My post 
says at one point I succeeded somehow in getting a usable binary but it is 
on another computer somewhere.

There must be something odd in the code.

I am able to insmod opl3 io=0x388 without using isapnp, and it shows up in 
/proc/ioports at that address.  But I don't have a midi player for opl3 - 
as you said, the one I compiled only seems to do awe.

 >
> > He is willing to switch over completely
> > as long as he can use the programs he compiled for Redhat 6.2 - is
> > that the same library as BL3?
>
> No, glibc 2.1.x, probably roughly equivalent to BL2/Slackware 7.1.

BL2 sounds perfect for him then - he can use his old programs.  He 
compiled sc and really likes it.

> > I was going to put on both 2 and 3,
> > with chroot scripts.  He is interested in the games,
>
> There are many to try if you are willing to dig deep enough.

Steven provided several for BL3 but this does not seem to be a gaming 
group on our list.

> > and Abiword,
>
> Steven's excellent binary for BL3 is statically compiled, and should
> work anywhere there is ix86 Linux.
Yes, I just have to look up your instructions for what to add to Xvesa in 
BL2 to make it work there.  There was one small program having to do with 
fonts.

 >
> > and RPM (I told him rpm2tgz
> > would help)
>
> You can also install full RPM, but rpm2tgz is easier.
It has not yet worked on any file for me, but neither has mc-menu.

> > and Gnumeric - does that require GNOME?
>
> It doesn't need GNOME. It does need many different libraries.

I told him that would be his problem to install it.  I am giving him a 2GB 
drive.  He was getting crowded compiling with linux on a 800MB drive.


> > > What I would do:
> > >
> > > insmod up to and including mad16
> > > until (echo >/dev/dsp); do rmmod mad16; insmod mad16 (mad16
> > > parameters go here); done
> >
> > That is essentially what I have had to do to get this to work.
> > But if I separate the steps - all but mad16 in rc, and the mad16
> > line when needed, will that also work?
>
> Yes, it's the same idea.
>
> > Why does ALSA not work with the same module for 929 and 931?
>
> Because the 931 has different features?

They both played wav and I think mp3 files with mad16.

I just noticed that I have been insmodding mad16 after booting with the 
kernel I compiled in which I answered N to mad16 support rather than M. 
This is a rather strange module/card.  I have one more Opti929 to test 
that comes with an AD1845XP chip as well as Yamaha OPL like the first two 
(which also have Crystal chips) - I am hoping ad1848 works here too.  It 
worked with the Crystal card that had no Opti chip.  I have another 
Crystal card with the same Crystal chip as the Opti929 cards but no OPti 
chip - instead 2 Compumedia chips.  Then two Reveal cards with all the 
chips covered by Reveal labels, one of which is a Sound Galaxy that has 
its own module.  There must have been a lot of variation in early sound 
cards.

> > Are the BL3 games statically compiled (will they work in BL2?).
>
> I don't think so. I posted modifications for two different games
> at my website. You might have a look over there. Please let me
> know if my descriptions of them are too confusing.

Maybe later.    We still have to put the hardware together and copy over 
my BL setups and remove personal files.  We spent much of today proving 
that USR modems (four of them) will not work at one address but Rockwell 
(three of them) will do so.  The USRs start to dial, you hear a dial tone, 
then they tell you 'NO DIAL TONE'.  ath1 in the init string will fix this.
The USRs work at all other addresses.

> You can find BL2 binaries for all of the BL3 games. I will post
> the list of URLs to get them from if you want it.

Thanks, I might let him get his own games for BL2 if he likes them in BL3.

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