From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Aug 21 18:37:08 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A776A16A4E8; Sat, 21 Aug 2004 18:37:08 +0000 (GMT) Received: from lakermmtao08.cox.net (lakermmtao08.cox.net [68.230.240.31]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0488343D53; Sat, 21 Aug 2004 18:37:08 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from conrads@cox.net) Received: from dolphin.local.net ([68.11.71.51]) by lakermmtao08.cox.net (InterMail vM.6.01.03.02.01 201-2131-111-104-103-20040709) with ESMTP <20040821183707.LDKC28752.lakermmtao08.cox.net@dolphin.local.net>; Sat, 21 Aug 2004 14:37:07 -0400 Received: from dolphin.local.net (localhost.local.net [127.0.0.1]) by dolphin.local.net (8.13.1/8.13.1) with SMTP id i7LIb6Ji000926; Sat, 21 Aug 2004 13:37:06 -0500 (CDT) (envelope-from conrads@cox.net) Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 13:37:01 -0500 From: "Conrad J. Sabatier" To: freebsd-amd64@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20040821133701.6ecf9f04@dolphin.local.net> In-Reply-To: <1093108393.4202.8.camel@funshine.carebears.net> References: <1093108393.4202.8.camel@funshine.carebears.net> X-Mailer: Sylpheed-Claws 0.9.12 (GTK+ 1.2.10; amd64-portbld-freebsd5.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: [Fwd: sound in CURRENT] X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 18:37:09 -0000 On Sat, 21 Aug 2004 19:13:13 +0200 Christer Solskogen wrote: > -----Forwarded Message----- > > From: Christer Solskogen > > To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org > > Subject: sound in CURRENT > > Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 16:26:03 +0200 > > > > FreeBSD funshine.carebears.net 5.3-BETA1 FreeBSD 5.3-BETA1 #1: Sat > > Aug 21 15:51:04 CEST 2004 > > root@funshine.carebears.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/FUNSHINE amd64 > > > > I cant get sound working on my SB Live. > > I have the following in kernel config: > > device sound > > device "snd_emu10k1" > > > > It seems like I dont have any sound modules either in /boot/kernel > > (yeah, i know the modules are named snd_*) > > > > (no need to CC: back to me. I`m subscribed) > > Could this only be on amd64? There are no sound modules on amd64 yet; sound *must* be compiled into the kernel. I don't know about the SB Live; I thought it was supposed to be one of the better-supported cards. Apparently not. And to think I was on the verge of buying one recently in hopes of curing my own sound problems. That being said, all I can add is that sound on amd64 appears to be seriously broken, with no fix in sight. I've tried both the onboard sound (nVidia nForce3) and my old es1371 card (which works fine on my old i386 Athlon box), and both break down after a certain period of time with "pcm0:play:0: play interrupt timeout, channel dead", after which, sound is no longer useable until a reboot. I've seen other reports from people who can't even get their sound chipsets to work at all. And whoever is currently maintaining the sound code has been *awfully* quiet lately. Feels like a waste of time reporting anything. Frankly, I'm rather disgusted with FreeBSD's sound support in general. Broken pcm devices, no MIDI; it's pathetic. I'm really quite close to giving up on ever resolving the sound problems under amd64 and just installing a Linux distro, which actually, I may just do anyway, regardless, since it's highly doubtful we'll ever catch up to Linux on the sound front. This is really a sad state of affairs, it truly is. I can remember a time with the old Voxware drivers when I could play MIDI files on my old AWE 64 with soundfont support and everything, and it sounded fantastic. What do we have now? Timidity. Bleah! Drastic as it may sound, I would vote in favor of scrapping the current sound system altogether and porting the Linux stuff over to FreeBSD. Let's face it; they're light-years ahead of us in the multimedia department, and we'll never catch up to them, not with the terrible base we're starting from. I wanted to scream when Voxware was pulled years ago, but I held my peace (not like there was much choice in the matter). But I never expected things would still be in such a shoddy, primitive state this many years later. Not to mention the recent rash of buildworld/buildkernel breakages lately from hurried, poorly tested commits. Does anyone even bother trying to compile their stuff anymore before committing? Ah well, just ranting here. Don't mind me. I'm just seriously disgruntled. I've only been using this OS for the last eight years, and never would have dreamed I'd reach a point where I'd seriously consider abandoning it, but it's starting to look like that time may have come. I really can't take much more of this. Oh, that reminds me. Time to pay a visit to FreeBSDMall and cancel my subscription. Not gonna continue shelling out for broken software. Later, people. -- Conrad J. Sabatier -- "In Unix veritas"