writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

[Forest Bond]

Hello all,

I'm new to the list.  Joined up because I've decided I want to write a 
driver for the Mark of the Unicorn PCI-324 PCI card.  This card allows a 
variety of MOTU external interfaces to be used.  I own a MOTU 2408 MK 
II, an 8 channel interface.  This (and similar interfaces from MOTU) are 
common in the pro audio world.

I have emailed MOTU tech support, but have not gotten a response.  I 
have a feeling this will be the case in the future, as well.  MOTU has 
strong ties with Apple.

I've searched the list archive, and, from what I can see, noone has 
begun work on a driver for these interfaces.  It may not be feasible, 
given the lack of technical information available (yeah, yeah, I know, 
welcome to the wonderful world of linux driver development).  If, 
however, anyone is aware of an attempt to write a driver, please let me 
know.  Also, if anyone is interested in pitching in, send me an email.

I have limited experience writing drivers (well, next to none, 
actually), but I'm gonna give it a shot anyway.

Couple of questions:

Can released ASIO drivers be used to gather technical information on the 
hardware?

Are there any good techniques for probing the hardware and discovering 
necessary technical info?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Forest


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Re: writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

[Clemens Ladisch]

Forest Bond wrote:
> I've decided I want to write a driver for the Mark of the Unicorn
> PCI-324 PCI card.
>
> I have emailed MOTU tech support, but have not gotten a response.  I
> have a feeling this will be the case in the future, as well.

IIRC somebody reported that at a NAMM, a MOTU representative said that
MOTU wouldn't support Linux, wouldn't give out technical information,
and doesn't want any third party to write Linux drivers.

> Can released ASIO drivers be used to gather technical information on the
> hardware?

Yes.  Reverse engineering is perfectly legal in this case.

> Are there any good techniques for probing the hardware and discovering
> necessary technical info?

The only good technique is reading the technical documentation,
preferrably with the source code of the driver to see where the doc is
wrong.

If that isn't possible, you can run a disassembler on the driver and
then try to find out what it does.  Good luck.


HTH
Clemens



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Re: writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

[Eckhard Jokisch]

> Forest Bond wrote:

>
>> Can released ASIO drivers be used to gather technical information on
>> the hardware?
>
> Yes.  Reverse engineering is perfectly legal in this case.
AFAIK - (having an 986HD) they encrypt the datastream somehow. But that
should also be possible to "guess" if using same digitized signals several
times.What about a wrapper around the original drivers like they do with
ndiswrapper. Would that be an option?
Cheers
Eckhard




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Re: writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

[Martin Langer]

On Sun, May 08, 2005 at 12:14:25PM -0400, Forest Bond wrote:
> 
> Are there any good techniques for probing the hardware and discovering 
> necessary technical info?

Qemu with the PCI-Proxy patch from Gianni Tedesco seems to be really 
intersting for reverse engineering, but I've never used it until now...

http://www.scaramanga.co.uk/stuff/qemu-pciproxy/


martin


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Re: writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

[Clemens Ladisch]

Eckhard Jokisch wrote:
> > Forest Bond wrote:
> >> Can released ASIO drivers be used to gather technical information on
> >> the hardware?
> >
> > Yes.  Reverse engineering is perfectly legal in this case.
>
> AFAIK - (having an 986HD) they encrypt the datastream somehow.
> But that should also be possible to "guess" if using same
> digitized signals several times.

Or just reverse engineer the algorithm based on the driver; this is
still legal.

> What about a wrapper around the original drivers like they do with
> ndiswrapper. Would that be an option?

It would be possible in theory.  Thank you for volunteering to
implement it.  ;-)


Regards,
Clemens



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Re: writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

[Jef]

Forest Bond <f_a_b <at> softhome.net> writes:

> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I'm new to the list.  Joined up because I've decided I want to write a 
> driver for the Mark of the Unicorn PCI-324 PCI card.  This card allows a 
> variety of MOTU external interfaces to be used.  I own a MOTU 2408 MK 
> II, an 8 channel interface.  This (and similar interfaces from MOTU) are 
> common in the pro audio world.
> 
> I have emailed MOTU tech support, but have not gotten a response.  I 
> have a feeling this will be the case in the future, as well.  MOTU has 
> strong ties with Apple.
> 
> I've searched the list archive, and, from what I can see, noone has 
> begun work on a driver for these interfaces.  It may not be feasible, 
> given the lack of technical information available (yeah, yeah, I know, 
> welcome to the wonderful world of linux driver development).  If, 
> however, anyone is aware of an attempt to write a driver, please let me 
> know.  Also, if anyone is interested in pitching in, send me an email.
> 
> I have limited experience writing drivers (well, next to none, 
> actually), but I'm gonna give it a shot anyway.
> 
> Couple of questions:
> 
> Can released ASIO drivers be used to gather technical information on the 
> hardware?
> 
> Are there any good techniques for probing the hardware and discovering 
> necessary technical info?
> 
> Any help would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks!
> Forest
> 

Hello!
I know this is an old post, but I was hoping that the sentiment was still
alive and strong. I have recently made the transition to Linux as my primary
OS, and I, too, am looking to move my audio gear along as well. Has there
been any progress on the PCI-324 linux driver development front? Is there an
active project in the works, or has this idea been abandoned?
Cheers! And thank you.
Jef

Re: writing driver for MOTU PCI 324, 2408 MK-II

[Jef]

Forest Bond <f_a_b <at> softhome.net> writes:
 
> I Joined up because I've decided I want to write a 
> driver for the Mark of the Unicorn PCI-324 PCI card.

Hello!

I know this is an old thread, but I was hoping that the sentiment was still
alive and strong. I have recently made the transition to Linux as my primary
OS, and I, too, am looking to move my MOTU PCI audio gear along as well. Has
there been any progress on the PCI-324 linux driver development front? Is
there an active project in the works, or has this idea been abandoned?

While I'd hate to have to replace all of my digital gear, I know
historically MOTU has been blatantly hostile towards any support of Linux.
So, as sad as it might be, I would understand if this project got dropped.
But I thought it worth a try if for no other reason than to demonstrate a
sustained interest.

Incidentally, I apologize for posting this again, but my previous post
looked to be quite a mess, so I thought I'd clean it up a bit. Cheers! And
thank you.
Jef