[linux-audio-user] Scratch-built DAW - what's your favorite?

Brad Fuller brad at sonaural.com
Wed Dec 1 19:12:30 EST 2004



Lee Revell wrote:

>On Wed, 2004-12-01 at 07:19 -0800, Brad Fuller wrote:
>  
>
>>I want to understand how the design of these (Win-centric) mobos are a 
>>hindrance to running Linux.
>>    
>>
>
>As you examine cheaper hardware, you will find that vendors cut corners
>by stripping away anything not needed to run Windows.  Often they do
>this by making the hardware dumber and pushing more functionality into
>the driver.  You saw this in the past with Winmodems.  When Winmodems
>came out I don't think you could even have used one on Linux if you had
>a driver, because they require an RT task to do the DSP and Linux could
>not have scheduled such a task reliably enough to keep from getting
>booted and the kernel was not yet capable of that.
>
>For example many of the cheaper onboard AC97 sound chipsets have no
>hardware mixing and no hardware volume control - they rely on the
>Windows kernel mixer.  Since the equivalent technology on Linux is not
>as mature we have problems.  And since the crappiest hardware is
>disproportionately affected, and requires the most work, many of the
>issues don't get fixed.
>  
>
I see what you are saying.

Today, most mobos contain onboard audio (like the Realtek ALC850, 650). 
Are there any that don't?

Any other audio-centric hw gotchas that one should look out for when 
choosing a mobo?


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