[Oberon] n-o sound: hardware basics ?

[shark at gulfnet.sd64.bc.ca]

Chris,

> Linux sees: Model: CMI8330/C3D Audio Adapter.

Soldered on the board or plugged in?

> I heard something from:
> cat  <soundFile> /dev/dsp [or ? /dev/audio]

You are convinced that the sound hardware works
properly for Linux?

> And n-o / PCITools.Scan ~ sees: ... 

So n-o doesn't detect the sound hardware.

> Q1 - can it be assumed that only 1 IRQ is alloacated to the MoBo
>    sound-system ? 

I've never heard otherwise.  Does any documentation
for a sound card mention more than one IRQ?  If Linux
can operate sound, the IRQ must be OK. 

> Q2 - what is this about "LowDMA" and "HighDMA" ?

Don't know.  Check the Web sites and manuals on 
PC hardware.

> Q4 - would a 'sound device' just use a single port, or is this the
>   base-base adr. of a consecutive set ?

Don't know.  Again, check the documentation for 
all the sound cards you can find.

> Q5 - is it correct that since IRQ is input only, I can't determine which
>    IRQ number is correct, except by 'activating' each sequentially until
>     I get a response  - which is impractical ?

With an ISA expansion card, you might be able to 
trace an interrupt line from the connector contact 
up to a jumper or to a pin on a chip.  With a 
sound chip on a pci system board, this approach 
isn't so straightforward.  This is a question for
a PC hardware expert.

> Q6 - how else should I proceed.

Backtrack.  What happens if you plug in a known 
working ISA Soundblaster card?  I have always 
obtained sound from a *.wav file.  The only 
problem was that PC Native 05.01.2003 was frozen 
after interpreting the file.

Also check for pertinent system parameter settings.
Is pnp off?

Regards,             Peter E.


            http://carnot.pathology.ubc.ca/