24 Aug
2004
24 Aug
'04
9:30 a.m.
Hi all,
I'm in a similar situation. Within a couple of weeks I'll be buying a
new PC which (besides still running Windows) should be, say, at least
Linux friendly.
Since in this case I'm not tied to given legacy hardware, I'd rather put
in some components that are particularly suitable for Linux.
From what I heard, culprits can be
- audio card
- graphics card (hi resolution, 1280+, no 3D game capability needed)
- and I assume MIDI interface as well (6 to 8 ports in+out)
Are there cards with rather good Linux driver support?
Are there cards better to avoid in Linux world, due to their poor driver
status?
Is there a Linux hardware FAQ site somewhere, with some recommendations?
Until now I've been using an Emagic AW8 audio card, which perfectly fits
my needs (don't really need 24/96k or oodles of audio ports).
For Windows I was considering an Emagic AMT8 or Unitor8 interface, but I
don't remember seeing any Linux drivers on their site (well, they may
call'em OS X drivers... ;-)
Another component may be somewhat outside this list's topics, I'm
thinking of adding a video MPEG input/encoder card as well - maybe somebody
can give me any pointers on that...?
regards
Chris
On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 04:16:39 +0000 Thomas Pickett wrote:
On Sunday 22
August 2004 04:37 pm, Frank Barknecht wrote:
> Hallo,
>
> There are many more (pci cards), a very popular one being the RME card.
Can anyone suggest a good RME Card? I have looked at their website but was
wondering if anyone had personal preference. I preferably would like a
sound card with mutilple in/outs, mic in/outs, midi, spdif.
Once again I appreciate all the feedback. As for distros, I'm leaning
towards debian, but I will do some more research.
Thanks,
Thomas 
24 Aug
24 Aug
10:36 a.m.
On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 03:14:40PM +0200, ChristianH wrote:
Hi all,
I'm in a similar situation. Within a couple of weeks I'll be buying a
new PC which (besides still running Windows) should be, say, at least
Linux friendly.
Since in this case I'm not tied to given legacy hardware, I'd rather put
in some components that are particularly suitable for Linux.
dunno about mult-port midi devices, my own midi needs are
very modest.
From what I heard, culprits can be
- audio
card
- graphics card (hi resolution, 1280+, no 3D game capability needed)
- and I assume MIDI interface as well (6 to 8 ports in+out) Are there cards with rather good Linux driver support?
Are there cards better to avoid in Linux world, due to their poor driver
status?
Is there a Linux hardware FAQ site somewhere, with some recommendations?
There was the Linux Audio Quality HOWTO, but since I stopped
maintaining it, it's very old info now.
http://www.linuxdj.com/audio/quality/
This Wiki can be helpful:
http://alsa.opensrc.org/
... especially this page about all the drivers:
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=AlsaDrivers
Until now I've been using an Emagic AW8 audio
card, which perfectly fits
my needs (don't really need 24/96k or oodles of audio ports).
For Windows I was considering an Emagic AMT8 or Unitor8 interface, but I
don't remember seeing any Linux drivers on their site (well, they may
call'em OS X drivers... ;-)
An OS X driver wouldn't do you any good.
Somebody did write an AW8 driver here:
http://www.sipkema-digital.com/~msipkema/audiowerk.shtml
... but it's rather non-standard (why the driver talks to its
own user-space JACK code and isn't an alsa driver is beyond me,
presumably it was a quicker way for the author to get what he wanted.)
If you're buying a new card and want just a few good-quality I/O,
you might consider one of the ice1712-based cards as listed
on http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=AlsaDrivers...
a lot of us have them and like them. I've got a Delta 66.
Archives of this mailing list will also be helpful.
In general, if there's a card you're interested in, google
for name of card + linux + alsa and see what pops up.
Another component may be somewhat outside this
list's topics, I'm
thinking of adding a video MPEG input/encoder card as well - maybe somebody
can give me any pointers on that...?
sorry, no idea.
--
Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com
10:39 a.m.
ChristianH wrote:
- and I assume MIDI interface as well (6 to 8 ports
in+out)
For Windows I was considering an Emagic AMT8 or Unitor8 interface,
There is no Linux driver for these. The snd-usb-audio driver
currently supports multiport USB interfaces from ESI/Edirol/
Roland/M-Audio/Yamaha.
HTH
Clemens
2:08 p.m.
On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 04:23:10PM +0200, Clemens Ladisch wrote:
ChristianH wrote:
Note that others have reported issues with the M-audio usb devices.
I can't speak to that but I recall the subject popping up from
time to time. Their PCI devices, on the other hand,
are generally excellent and well supported.
--
Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com
- and I assume MIDI interface as well (6 to 8
ports in+out)
For Windows I was considering an Emagic AMT8 or Unitor8 interface,
There is no Linux driver for these. The snd-usb-audio driver
currently supports multiport USB interfaces from ESI/Edirol/
Roland/M-Audio/Yamaha. 
2:58 p.m.
Hallo,
Paul Winkler hat gesagt: // Paul Winkler wrote:
Note that others have reported issues with the M-audio
usb devices.
I can't speak to that but I recall the subject popping up from
time to time.
I think. you still need to patch the kernel 2.6 to accept the
non-standard-compliant device-ID numbering in many (all?) USB audio
cards by M-Audio.
Many of their USB midi cards (or boxes...) seem to work fine on 2.6,
though.
I would recommend just to stay clear of the M-Audio USB audio devices
for now (provided the patching is still necessary), there are many
alternatives of equal quality.
Ciao
--
Frank Barknecht _ ______footils.org__
3:09 p.m.
New subject: [linux-audio-dev] Re: [linux-audio-user] Setting up linux computer
I would recommend just to stay clear of the M-Audio USB
audio devices
for now (provided the patching is still necessary), there are many
alternatives of equal quality.
i would also mention that m-audio is now owned by digidesign's parent
company avid. its way, way too early to tell what will happen, but its
not necessarily the case that the existing cooperation that we've seen
with them (which has been OK, not excellent) will continue.
--p
25 Aug
25 Aug
3:29 a.m.
Paul Winkler wrote:
On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 04:23:10PM +0200, Clemens
Ladisch wrote:
The MidiSport MIDI interfaces work just fine (once you have managed to
get the firmware and to install the firmware loader). It's the audio
interfaces that have (rather major) "issues".
Regards,
Clemens
The snd-usb-audio driver currently supports
multiport USB
interfaces from ESI/Edirol/Roland/M-Audio/Yamaha.
Note that others have reported issues with the M-audio usb devices.
10:27 a.m.
On Wed, Aug 25, 2004 at 09:13:05AM +0200, Clemens Ladisch wrote:
Paul Winkler wrote:
Yes, sorry I forgot to make that distinction.
I had the same experience with my Oxygen - works fine once you've
dug around the net and figured out how to load the #@()% firmware.
--
Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com
On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 04:23:10PM +0200, Clemens
Ladisch wrote:
The MidiSport MIDI interfaces work just fine (once you have managed to
get the firmware and to install the firmware loader). It's the audio
interfaces that have (rather major) "issues". The snd-usb-audio driver currently supports
multiport USB
interfaces from ESI/Edirol/Roland/M-Audio/Yamaha.
Note that others have reported issues with the M-audio usb devices.
11:22 a.m.
Why is it so important to load the firmware?
Do they put in an extra light firmware at the factory, in order to keep
shipping weights low? <gr>
Or is it just that they are actually continuously working on it after
product release? (which may be a good thing - unless a product is rushed
out hastily and then requires fixes to make it work at all...)
Chris
BTW - I found a nice overview at http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/ ,
comparing lots of cards and their Linux driver situation. That list
appears to be more honest than any hardware sales guy could ever be...
THX for all your replies :-)
On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 10:11:10 -0400 Paul Winkler wrote:
On Wed, Aug 25, 2004 at 09:13:05AM +0200, Clemens
Ladisch wrote:
Paul Winkler wrote:
Yes, sorry I forgot to make that distinction.
I had the same experience with my Oxygen - works fine once you've
dug around the net and figured out how to load the #@()% firmware.
--
Paul Winkler
http://www.slinkp.com On Tue, Aug 24, 2004 at 04:23:10PM +0200, Clemens
Ladisch wrote:
The MidiSport MIDI interfaces work just fine (once you have managed to
get the firmware and to install the firmware loader). It's the audio
interfaces that have (rather major) "issues". The snd-usb-audio driver currently supports
multiport USB
interfaces from ESI/Edirol/Roland/M-Audio/Yamaha.
Note that others have reported issues with the M-audio usb devices. 
12:05 p.m.
On Wed, Aug 25, 2004 at 05:06:53PM +0200, ChristianH wrote:
Why is it so important to load the firmware?
Do they put in an extra light firmware at the factory, in order to keep
shipping weights low? <gr>
to keep shipping weights rather low, they put in NO firmware in some
hardware (just a loader). firmware is included with the driver and
required to be uploaded to the device on every initialization or at
least after every power on.
Or is it just that they are actually continuously
working on it after
product release? (which may be a good thing - unless a product is rushed
might be the idea behind that, and that the user doesn't need to go
for the risky step of flashing the thing (and sending the half-flashed
device back and complaining etc.)
bests,
martin
26 Aug
26 Aug
2:21 p.m.
New subject: [linux-audio-dev] Re: Setting up linux computer
martin rumori <lists(a)rumori.de> writes:
On Wed, Aug 25, 2004 at 05:06:53PM +0200, ChristianH
wrote:
Which can be very problematic, as some people do take it *very* serious
with free software and refuse to include firmware which is not under GPL
or a similar free licence in their distribution...
In my case it was the firmware of a RME Hammerfall card which (some)
Debian people do not want to distribute... The case made me switch
from AGNULA/DeMuDi to Planet CCRMA (Which are both excellent audio
distributions BTW)
Robert Epprecht
Why is it so important to load the firmware?
Do they put in an extra light firmware at the factory, in order to keep
shipping weights low? <gr>
to keep shipping weights rather low, they put in NO firmware in some
hardware (just a loader). firmware is included with the driver and
required to be uploaded to the device on every initialization or at
least after every power on. 
2:10 p.m.
On ons, 2004-08-25 at 17:06, ChristianH wrote:
Why is it so important to load the firmware?
Do they put in an extra light firmware at the factory, in order to keep
shipping weights low? <gr>
They report themselves to be "a general device" instead of the widely
understood notion of "a midi device" ...
7189
days inactive
7191
days old
linux-audio-dev@lists.linuxaudio.org
11 comments
8 participants
participants (8)
-
ChristianH -
Clemens Ladisch -
Frank Barknecht -
Jens M Andreasen -
martin rumori -
Paul Davis -
Paul Winkler -
Robert Epprecht