Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2018 19:07:28 -0800 From: C Gray <frankfenderbender@council124.org> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: a rant about soundcards and its endless dead-time Message-ID: <EF6F136C-3442-4633-8BBB-ED031973915E@council124.org>
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So, I ordered the Creative Sound Blaster Live! SB0060: a) it is an accepted EMU10K1 chipset; b) it is listed as supported in FreeBSD's snd_emu10kx(4) driver = <https://freebsd.org/releases/11.1R/hardware.html#sound>; c) it does not state PCIe x4 or x8. d) = <http://txmicro.com/creative-labs-sound-blaster-live-pci-sound-card-sb0060= />> is a typical listing,=20 usually found leading to dead web pages, a loss-leader, or = an no-return Amazon store. =95 Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! PCI Sound Card =20 =95 General Features: =95 Interface: PCI =95 E-mu Systems, Inc. EMU10K1 chipset =95 64-voice hardware polyphony with E-mus patented 8-point = interpolation technology =95 48 MIDI channels with 128 GM & GS compatible instruments and = 10 drum kits =95 Support for real-time digital effects like reverb, chorus, = flanger, =95 pitch shifter, or distortion across any audio source =95 Capable of processing, mixing and positioning audio streams = using up to 131 =95 available hardware channels =95 Accelerates Microsoft DirectSound and DirectSound 3D =95 Processes bit resolutions from 4-bit to 16-bit =95 Processes sample rates from 5kHz to 48kHz =95 Hardware full duplex support enables simultaneous record and = playback at =95 8 standard sample rates =95 Utilizes AC 97 Audio Codec =95 Supports Sound Blaster MIDI and MPU-401 modes =20 =95 On-Board Connectors: =95 Line in =95 Microphone in =95 Line Level Out (front) / Headphone Out =95 Line Level Out (rear) =95 15-pin MIDI / Joystick port =95 Telephone Answering Device In =95 MPC-3 Analog CD Audio In =95 MPC-3 AUX Audio In =95 SPDIF Audio In =20 =95 Sound Card Only (no drivers or software are included) The search string for a card for a system only 78 years old shows how = little the throwaway anti-ecology=20 "high tech" (more like "high toxin") industry has people willingly = expecting. The "high" stands for high profit-margin as the only = motivation. My search will never find anything, esp. given that the search engine = war went to a company hell-bent on refusing the world use to its own = history, knowledge, and tools: "Creative Sound Blaster Audigy" AND ("EMU10K2" OR "CA0100" OR = "CA0101") AND "PCM" AND "MIDI" AND ("PCIe x4" OR "PCIe x8" OR "PCI-X") I was sent the following: Cards do NOT fit and run in any slot if the slots and card inserts are = kept in the "need to know" zone. False advertising and planned obsolescence run the industry. That isn't why I got my ASCST and BSCS degrees in the late 1980s. I have standardized slots for in my Dell PowerEdge T300 server as = follows: slot 1: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x4 with x8 connector slot 2: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x4 slot 3: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x8 slot 4: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x8 slot 5: 3.3-V, full-length PCI-X The technology may have switched, like Apple changing connectors or the = "hit factory" music industry changing media, however, the programs are = worse, the computers die from bad 1/2-cent capacitor placement next to = heat sources, and the music gets more PCfully-banal every day. So, I guess I choose "none of the above". I'll program w/o that whiney noise droning from some narcissist's = beefed-up genderless lips. Soundcards, like the "open" Apples of the II+ era, memory management, = platform-independent programming, quality assurance, and scientific = search engines have all been murdered because they hurt someone's = feelings no doubt. The FreeBSD list needs to actually be based in less of a Venn-diagram = abstract and more in a list or real card models numbers which have been = verified, but that would be documentation and QA, and science. This 1984 = world of 2+2=3D5 with all of its labor-instensive "convenience" gives us = the delusion of wisdom when we reinvent the ball over and over and = over... and quite by accident. For me, it's a choice: smash the hell out of this useless card as was = done in "Office Space" to that mind-numbing printer error programmer in = effigy, or, spend more life time pretending I'll solve anything besides = building up Jeff Bezos' bank account and social control by circling = (x,y)=3D(0.0) in flatland, the zero-sum of "high tech". My question about sound? How sound is it to ruin the future by deleting the past before its = shadow even climbs out of bed? I save money in my fleeting past to pay for stuff that lasts a shorter = and shorter period BY POLICY. The old Apple people put their feet down and started manufacturing their = own cards when tech pimps kept reducing support and manuals for what you = just paid for until you are buying something already outdated or broken = by design. At times like these I am embarrassed to have worked in this field and = very sorry I decided to write software at all. Sound depressed? Yes. I apologize for the rant but working w/o a voice is slavish. Have a better weekend than I, chris
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