Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 20:11:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Kenneth Wayne Culver <culverk@wam.umd.edu> To: Donald Burr <dburr@pobox.com> Cc: naddy@mips.rhein-neckar.de, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: Sound card? Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95q.990531201035.23229A-100000@rac1.wam.umd.edu> In-Reply-To: <XFMail.990531164927.dburr@pobox.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (actually, it was on 31-May-99),
> the great prophet Christian Weisgerber once wrote:
> > I'm considering adding a sound card to my FreeBSD/i386 box. Now, I know
> > roughly zilch about sound cards. There are absurd numbers of different
> > models, with similar names, almost identical technical data, different
> > chipsets, product lifetimes of a few months at most, and varying support
> > throughout the operating system world.
> >
> > For example, opening up the latest leaflet from a local computer chain
> > store, I see:
> >
> > Soundblaster 16 PnP Value ISA, Vibra 16XV
> > Soundblaster PCI 64V PCI, Ensoniq
> > Soundblaster 16 PCI PCI, Ensoniq 1373
> > Soundblaster PCI 128 PCI, Creative 5507
> > Soundblaster Live! Value PCI, EMU 10K1
> > Soundblaster Live! PCI, EMU 10K1
> >
> > The latter two are a bit expensive.
> >
> > Looking at /sys/i386/isa/{snd/CARDS,sound/Readme.cards}, it appears that
> > of all these only the "SoundBlaster 16 PnP Value" is supported. In fact,
> > there seem to be no supported PCI sound cards at all!?
> >
> > Can anybody recommend an inexpensive, not too trashy sound card, that is
> > supported under FreeBSD and still available on the market? (I'm asking
> > for a lot, ain't I?)
>
> Take a look at OSS -- the Open Sound system
>
> http://www.opensound.com/
>
> It is a commercial sound driver that supports many systems, including
> FreeBSD. However it is quite inexpensive ($20) and gives you free updates
> and techsupport through the year 2003 (now that's what I call service!)
> It is extremely easy to configure (in fact, it pretty much auto-configures
> itself) and supports a whole host of sound cards, including many PCI
> cards. It also supports the "special features" of many sound cards, such
> as the Wavetable chips on many modern sound cards.
> ---
However, many will agree with me in saying that OSS isn't the most stable
thing in the world. At least it hasn't been in the past.
Kenneth Culver
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.GSO.3.95q.990531201035.23229A-100000>