Very Computer

by **Chris Water** » Thu, 22 Jan 1998 04:00:00

Hi all!

So, I went out and bought a cheapo sound board, mostly for games.
Didn't notice it was Plug-n-Pray till I got it home. It worked fine
for that game-playing OS, so I decided to see if I could make it work
under Linux. If not, no harm done; I'd buy a better card some day
when I cared enough about sounds. First, the card:

* Seems to be based on some "Aztech" chip set. ("Set" may be a
stretch: there's *a* chip on the board.)
* Claims to be compatible with SB Pro and Windows Sound System.
* Under DOS games, was recognized as a SB Pro, would not work as WSS.

So, I configured my kernel for SB support (despite the recommendation
to use WSS support instead for clone cards), set up isapnp, and indeed,
I have sound under Linux. But only eight-bit. Six*-bit sound
files sound like utter *when I play them. But they sound fine
when I try under that game-playing OS.

The output of /dev/sndstat looks ok, except that there's nothing under
"Synth". Is that correct? I'm not quite sure what it means.

I've read the Sound HOWTO, the Sound-Playing HOWTO, the isapnp man
pages, and hunted around a bit for info on the web. And basically,
I'm stumped at this point. So, I thought it was time to ask if anyone
else has been here before and has any suggestions.
--
Chris Waters | The real problem with the the year 2000 is

by **Hallo** » Fri, 23 Jan 1998 04:00:00

Quote:> So, I configured my kernel for SB support (despite the recommendation
> to use WSS support instead for clone cards), set up isapnp, and indeed,
> I have sound under Linux. But only eight-bit. Six*-bit sound
> files sound like utter *when I play them. But they sound fine
> when I try under that game-playing OS.

You're not going to get 16bit sound unless your card is fully
supported (i.e., it's fully supported using the windows driver,
because your card is not being used in sb mode). SB clones for
example only do 8 bit, as sound blaster and sound blaster pro's
are 8 bit cards. Noone to my knowledge has made an SB16/AWE64
compatible type clone.

You need some software to convert your files from 16bit to 8bit
when playing them under linux.

Hallow

by **Chris Water** » Fri, 23 Jan 1998 04:00:00

> : > So, I configured my kernel for SB support (despite the recommendation
> : > to use WSS support instead for clone cards), set up isapnp, and indeed,
> : > I have sound under Linux. But only eight-bit. Six*-bit sound
> : > files sound like utter *when I play them. But they sound fine
> : > when I try under that game-playing OS.
> I missed the beginning of this thread, so maybe I am overlooking
> something, but why don't you want to use the WSS mode? That should
> give 16-bit sound.
> That is probably how it is supported in that game-playing OS, you
> know.

I started the thread (that a quote from me above). The reason I
didn't try WSS mode is that when I tried a DOS game and told it I had
a WSS, it just plain didn't work. However, the board *does* claim WSS
compatibility, so I may give it a shot under Linux and see if it works
better. Otherwise, I'm going to shrug and deal with it later.

I'm not quite sure *how* to configure it for WSS mode using isapnp,
but I'll burn that bridge as I cross it, and come back here if and
when I have more questions. Thanks all.
--
Chris Waters | The real problem with the the year 2000 is

by **Larry Barlo** » Sat, 24 Jan 1998 04:00:00

One of these (mine was a Aztech 2320) type cards came with my computer. The
best thing to do is to throw it away and spend the $50 for a SB16 or $90 for
a SB AWE 64. However you can check with OSS. The last time I checked they
partially supported these chips in their commercial driver. It sells for
$20.

> > So, I configured my kernel for SB support (despite the recommendation
> > to use WSS support instead for clone cards), set up isapnp, and indeed,
> > I have sound under Linux. But only eight-bit. Six*-bit sound
> > files sound like utter *when I play them. But they sound fine
> > when I try under that game-playing OS.

> You're not going to get 16bit sound unless your card is fully
> supported (i.e., it's fully supported using the windows driver,
> because your card is not being used in sb mode). SB clones for
> example only do 8 bit, as sound blaster and sound blaster pro's
> are 8 bit cards. Noone to my knowledge has made an SB16/AWE64
> compatible type clone.

> You need some software to convert your files from 16bit to 8bit
> when playing them under linux.

> Hallow

by **Bernhard Oeme** » Sat, 24 Jan 1998 04:00:00

> * Seems to be based on some "Aztech" chip set. ("Set" may be a
> stretch: there's *a* chip on the board.)
> * Claims to be compatible with SB Pro and Windows Sound System.
> * Under DOS games, was recognized as a SB Pro, would not work as WSS.
> So, I configured my kernel for SB support (despite the recommendation
> to use WSS support instead for clone cards), set up isapnp, and indeed,
> I have sound under Linux. But only eight-bit. Six*-bit sound
> files sound like utter *when I play them. But they sound fine
> when I try under that game-playing OS.

Of course - since the SB pro _is_ only 8 bit. Better look for generic
support - i once had a SB pro/WSS compatible card based on the
Mozart(?) chip. If you don't find one, you better follow the mentioned
recommendation. ;-) (btw. under Dos, you'll also get stereo only if your
games supports WSS; needless to say that I found only one game which
does ...)

cu

--
Bernhard Oemer || E-mail: oemer<at>tph<dot>tuwien<dot>ac<dot>at
Technical University || WWW & PGP-key: http://www.veryComputer.com/~oemer
Vienna (Austria) || today's fortune: man 1 perl | grep -1 virtues

Very Computer

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