[linux-audio-user] RME Cardbus + multiface

derek holzer derek at x-i.net
Mon Jan 12 07:18:39 EST 2004


Tim,

Tim Blechmann wrote:

> if i use the second pcmcia slot, i can manage to run the hdsp on irq11
> ... anyway, there are quite a few devices on this irq, too (pcmcia,
> on-board sound, usb, eth0) ... on irq5 there are only the pcmcia and the
> usb controller ... i suppose it's not possible to get the hdsp to use
> another irq than the corresponding pcmcia controller ... if i'm wrong,
> please correct me...

A few things:

1) I never got a soundcard running proper on IRQ 5. That could be one 
part of the trouble. Currently my IRQ 9 looks like this:

   9:        472          XT-PIC  acpi, Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (#2), 
usb-uhci, usb-uhci, hdsp, ohci1394, Intel 82801CA-ICH3, eth0

And the card seems to run good. IRQ 9 is about the best IRQ you can get 
for sound, although IRQ 9 without having to share it is even better.

2) Often there is a difference between the two PCMCIA slots in a laptop. 
One them is a type-1 and one of them is a type-2. I never got results 
putting my cardbus in the #1, type-1 slot [which incidentally defaults 
to IRQ 5, hmmmmmm]. Also of note is that a type-2 slot monopolizes the 
system, and I cannot run a type-1 card in the other slot [Flash memory, 
wlan, or whatever...] without a kernel freeze when using the HDSP. Be 
curious to know from some guru here why that is...

3) If your BIOS cannot reassign IRQs, you should try booting with 
"pci=noacpi" or even "acpi=off" in your grub.conf or lilo.conf. This 
will keep the ACPI daemon from choosing IRQs for your hardware, and a 
new, better configuration may accimagically arise. I boot with the first 
argument, and that is how I got the cardbus on IRQ 9.

4) [This is the extreme solution.] I forget which distro you are using, 
but I swear to Allah that I *never* could get my cardbus HDSP running 
with Mandrake or Red Hat. The only distros which worked were Debian and 
Gentoo [which I use currently]. Voodoo maybe, or it might have something 
to do with the amount of stuff that gets recompiled under these two 
distros [specifically kernel and modules for PCMCIA], or it might have 
to do with some of Man-Hat's "distro-dummy" configuration schemes... who 
knows? I only know what works...

Good luck,
D.
-- 
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
---Oblique Strategy # 206:
"What most recently impressed you?
How is it similar?
What can you learn from it?
What could you take from it?"




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