From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Fri Feb 2 13:14:23 2018 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 23292ED8E3D for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2018 13:14:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from robroy@robroygregg.com) Received: from mail.robroygregg.com (173-13-147-189-sfba.hfc.comcastbusiness.net [173.13.147.189]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 92F546B0B4 for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2018 13:14:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from robroy@robroygregg.com) Received: from beak.h.net (beak.h.net [192.168.32.10]) by mail.robroygregg.com (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 97609b75; Fri, 2 Feb 2018 05:07:39 -0800 (PST) Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2018 05:07:39 -0800 (PST) From: Robroy Gregg X-X-Sender: robroy@beak.h.net To: C Gray cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: followup to my previous sound-card/driver question In-Reply-To: <69060D2E-8ED1-4BDB-8801-2BA29F15C632@council124.org> Message-ID: References: <8F08E935-33A8-4B5F-9057-51FAD51DA97D@council124.org> <20180201121251.95e345cf.freebsd@edvax.de> <09DEB81A-3DC1-4147-9249-0497C89F429B@council124.org> <69060D2E-8ED1-4BDB-8801-2BA29F15C632@council124.org> User-Agent: Alpine 2.20 (BSF 67 2015-01-07) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.25 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 02 Feb 2018 13:14:23 -0000 'morning Chris, On Thu, 1 Feb 2018, C Gray wrote: > I just want some audio for my Python/PHP/Java/Javascript/Perl/C > development server. For this use I'd recommend skipping the internal sound card all together, and buying an external, USB-connected sound card (DAC). This one works fine for me with FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE in a USB 2.0 port: http://www.m-audio.com/products/view/micro-dac-24-192 I bought one through eBay for $49. You just plug this item in to any USB 2.0 or 3.0 port (no penalty for 2.0), plug your headphones in, and you have sound--and the sound quality seems excellent. A USB connected sound card may seem hokey, but I gather from the more audio-inclined that it's a nicer design since it's less subject to EMI than internal cards. To respond to your other questions about PCI-e card mixing'n'matching, here are a few goofy things I did recently that completely worked (also with 11.1-RELEASE): a] A QLE2562 (PCI-e 2.0 x8) card in a PCI-e 3.0 x4 slot b] An nVidia PCI-e 3.0 x16 card in a PCI-e 2.0 x8 slot Yet I think you'll be better off using the external DAC and saving your PCI-e slots for a card that can actually use the bandwidth. Days of joy to you Chris