256 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
256 lines
9.6 KiB
Plaintext
Release notes for the Linux Sound Driver 2.5
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--------------------------------------------
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There is also a version called 2.5-beta floating around the net. This
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version contains some fixes after it. Mainly to the SB and GUS code.
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CAUTION! The SVR4.2 port has not been tested much. Backup your system
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carefully before trying it.
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This is mainly a bug fix release. There are couple of new things such as
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linear volume mode for GUS and MIDI recording for SB 2.0 and SB Pro.
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Also this version supports the mixer of GUS v3.7. (Support for GUS MAX and
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the 16-bit daughtercard is coming sooner or later).
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NOTE! The sound driver is a part of the Linux kernel distribution also.
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Check that your kernel doesn't have more recent version than this
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when installing a separately distributed sound driver. The
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version number of this driver is defined in the makefile.
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This version contains a driver for the SB16 also.
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The SB16 driver requires separate DMA channels for the 8 and 16 bit
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modes. There should be a way to share the 8 bit DMA channels between
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these modes but this feature is not supported yet.
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The SB16 DSP support is by Joerg Schubert (jsb@sth.ruhr-uni-bochum.de).
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The SB16 driver has also the Midi input capability even at the same
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time with the /dev/dsp. Also the WaveBlaster daughter board is supported.
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No support for the ASP chip yet (the ASP chip can be installed but it's
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not used by the driver).
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You will need the snd-util-2.5.tar.gz and snd-data-0.1.tar.Z
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packages to use this driver. They should be in the same
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ftp site or BBS from where you got this driver. For
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example at nic.funet.fi:pub/OS/Linux/*.
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If you are looking for the installation instructions, please
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look at $OS/Readme.
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This version supports the following soundcards:
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GUS, SoundBlaster, SB Pro, SB16, Pro Audio Spectrum 16 and AdLib.
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In addition there is rather limited support for MPU-401.
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(and compatible) midi cards. Also the OPL-3 synthesizer
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Most of the features of the /dev/sequencer device file are
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available just for GUS owners.
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NOTE! There are separate driver for CD-ROMS supported by
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some soundcards. The driver for CDU31A (Fusion 16) is
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called cdu31a-0.6.diff.z. It will be contained in the
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Linux version 0.99.12. The driver for the CD-ROM of SB Pro
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is sbpcd0.4.tar.gz (these were the latest versions when I wrote
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this). These files should be at least at sunsite.unc.edu.
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Also the SCSI interface of the PAS16 should be supported by
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Linux 0.99.13k and later.
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There is also a driver for joystick. Look for file joystick-0.5.tar.gz
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(sunsite).
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Compatibility with the earlier versions
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---------------------------------------
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In this version the ultrasound.h no longer includes the sys/soundcard.h
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You have to change the gmod.c of the snd-util-2.0 package and to add an
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include for it.
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IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This version is not binary or source compatible with the version 1.0c.
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The ioctl() interface has changed completely since version 1.0c. All
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programs using this driver must be at least recompiled.
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The snd-util-2.0 package contains some utilities for this version.
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The version 1.0c and earlier used a 'nonportable' ioctl calling scheme
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where the input argument was passed by value and the output value was
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returned as the functional return. For example setting the speed of
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/dev/dsp were done as the following:
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int actual_speed;
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actual_speed = ioctl(fd, SOUND_PCM_WRITE_RATE, 44100);
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After version 1.99.0 this must be done as the following:
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int actual_speed = 44100;
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ioctl(fd, SOUND_PCM_WRITE_RATE, &actual_speed);
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If you have an application written for the version 1.0, you should search
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for the strings SNDCTL_ and SOUND_ and to check the parameters.
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The following ioctl calls have changed:
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SNDCTL_SEQ_GETOUTCOUNT
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SNDCTL_SEQ_GETINCOUNT
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SNDCTL_SEQ_TESTMIDI
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SNDCTL_DSP_SPEED
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SNDCTL_DSP_STEREO
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SNDCTL_DSP_GETBLKSIZE
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SNDCTL_DSP_SAMPLESIZE
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SOUND_PCM_WRITE_CHANNELS
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SOUND_PCM_WRITE_FILTER
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SOUND_PCM_READ_RATE
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SOUND_PCM_READ_CHANNELS
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SOUND_PCM_READ_BITS
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SOUND_PCM_READ_FILTER
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SOUND_PCM_WRITE_BITS
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SOUND_PCM_WRITE_RATE
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SOUND_MIXER_READ_* (several ones)
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SOUND_MIXER_WRITE_* (several ones)
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Since the this version will support more than one synthesizer devices
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at the same time, the ioctl(SNDCTL_FM_LOAD_INSTR) is obsolete. In addition
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there is some new fields which must be initialized. Look at the sbiset.c in
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the snd-util-2.0 package for further info.
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This version is almost 100% compatible with the alpha test version (1.99.9). The
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difference is in the installation procedure.
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Using this driver with other operating systems than Linux
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---------------------------------------------------------
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This package contains just the Linux version. The version 2.3
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for SCO is available at nic.funet.fi:pub/OS/Linux/ALPHA/sound.
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The version 2.3 doesn't work well with xxxxxBSD. Use the version
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2.3 for them.
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/dev/sndstat
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------------
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The /dev/sndstat is now available in the SCO and BSD versions also.
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This is a new devicefile for debugging purposes. A better place for
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it is in the /proc -directory but I was just too lazy to implement it
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properly. The /dev/sndstat (major 14, minor 6) is a file which returns
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info about the current configuration (see the example below). If you
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send me a error/problem report, please include a printout from this
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device to your message (cat /dev/sndstat).
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Note! This device file is currently present only in the Linux version
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of this driver.
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------ cut here --- cat /dev/sndstat example --------
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Sound Driver:1.99.7 (Fri Jul 9 17:01:47 GMT 1993 root@lucifer.savolai.fi)
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Config options: 0x00000d4b
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HW config:
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Type 4: Gravis Ultrasound at 0x210 irq 15 drq 6
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Type 3: ProAudioSpectrum at 0x388 irq 10 drq 3
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Type 2: SoundBlaster at 0x220 irq 7 drq 1
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Type 1: AdLib at 0x388 irq 0 drq 0
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PCM devices:
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00: Gravis UltraSound
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01: Pro Audio Spectrum
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02: SoundBlaster 2.0
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Synth devices:
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00: Gravis UltraSound
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01: Yamaha OPL-3
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Midi devices:
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00: Gravis UltraSound
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01: Pro Audio Spectrum
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Mixer(s) installed
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------ cut here ---- End of Example -----------
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Known bugs/limitations
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----------------------
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- High speed recording of long audio samples (>20 second) to disk
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is not possible. Everything works until next sync() which delays the
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recording process too much. A delay longer than 0.1 to 0.3 seconds is
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too much.
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- The SB16 driver sometimes swaps the left and right channels together.
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- Midi input doesn't work with SB and SB Pro (SB16 works).
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- It's not possible to open /dev/dsp (or /dev/audio) while the
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/dev/sequencer is open for output and GUS is the only soundcard
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installed. It's possible if /dev/dsp is opened before /dev/sequencer
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but at this time the GUS is not available for access via /dev/sequencer.
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This is a limitation of the driver.
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- MPU-401 driver hangs the computer on boot if there is no MPU-401 installed.
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It uses by default the I/O port 0x330 whic is used by Adaptec 1542 SCSI
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adapter.
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- There are some problems in midi input with MPU-401 and the SB16 midi
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(MPU-401 emulation). This makes it impossible to read long sysex dumps
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using these devices.
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- The /dev/sequencer playback to GUS sounds sometimes rather weird. Hitting
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^C and playing again should solve this problem. This is propably caused by
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incompatibilities between GUS and certain VLB motherboards (like mine).
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Try to avoid
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switching between VTs while patches are being loaded to the GUS.
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This problem disappears completely if you define GUS_PATCH_NO_DMA in the
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local.h (after make config in linux). The drawback is that patch loading
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without DMA takes several times longer than with DMA.
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- There is a skeleton of the patch manager support. It don't work in
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this version.
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Future development
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------------------
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- Since this driver is no longer just the Linux Sound Driver, it's time
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to give it a new name. I have planned to use name VoxWare.
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- I'm writing a Hacker's guide to the VoxWare sound driver. Should
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be ready within this(/next) year (alpha version).
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- Completion of the ISC, SCO and BSD ports. Port to SVR4.2.
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- I'm interested to implement/include support for new soundcards and
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operating systems.
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Hint for the soundcard and OS manufacturers:
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I'm collecting soundcards (high end ones) and SDKs for them. In
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addition I'm collecting PC operating systems. I will be happy if
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somebody sends me such items. In addition such kind of donation
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makes it easier to change the VoxWare driver to support your
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soundcard or operating system. However, please contact me before
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sending anything.
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I will propably release some fix versions within this and next year. At
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least when the non-Linux versions get ready. The next major release (3.0)
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will be quite complete rewrite and released after about a year (end of 94 or
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beginning of 95).
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Contributors
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------------
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This driver contains code by several contributors. In addition several other
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persons have given usefull suggestions. The following is a list of major
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contributors. (I could have forgotten some names.)
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Craig Metz 1/2 of the PAS16 Mixer and PCM support
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Rob Hooft Volume computation algorithm for the FM synth.
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Mika Liljeberg uLaw encoding and decoding routines
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Greg Lee Volume computation algorithm for the GUS and
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lot's of valuable suggestions.
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Andy Warner Initial ISC port
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Jim Lowe Initial FreeBSD port
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Anders Baekgaard Bughunting and valuable suggestions.
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Joerg Schubert SB16 DSP support.
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Andrew Robinson Improvements to the GUS driver
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Megens SA MIDI recording for SB and SB Pro.
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Mikael Nordqvist Linear volume support for GUS.
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Ian Hartas SVR4.2 port
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Markus Aroharju and
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Risto Kankkunen Major contributions to the mixer support
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of GUS v3.7.
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Hunyue Yau Sound Galaxy NX Pro mixer support.
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Regards,
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Hannu Savolainen
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hannu@voxware.pp.fi, Hannu.Savolainen@Helsinki.fi
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Snail mail: Hannu Savolainen
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Pallaksentie 4 A 2
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00970 Helsinki
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Finland
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