Interested in having a go at coding an ALSA driver

Interested in having a go at coding an ALSA driver

[Chris Share]

Hi Everyone,

I'm an amateur programmer and musician (and technical writer) familiar with 
C/C++ programming on the Mac and PC. I've written a couple of apps that I'm 
currently distributing as shareware.

After reading Sound On Sound Feb 2003 article on Linux and audio/MIDI I'm 
very interested in moving to this platform. I'm currently awaiting my 
Debian distribution at the moment.

However, it appears that one of the current major drawbacks of Linux is the 
lack of ALSA soundcard drivers. I'm speaking here more about semi-pro and 
pro products. I currently use two soundcards:

Yamaha SW1000
Hoontech DSP24 Value

I'd be interested in having a go a coding a driver for one of these.

I've never done any kernal programming and feel a bit daunted by the task 
in front of me. Any suggestions on where to start would be much 
appreciated. I have downloaded quite a few articles on ALSA, etc. so that 
should keep me going for a while.

Cheers,

Chris Share




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Re: Interested in having a go at coding an ALSA driver

[ljp]

First thing might be to download the free book 
Linux Device Drivers, it's free.

http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/




On Tuesday February 11 2003 08:34 pm, Chris Share wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm an amateur programmer and musician (and technical writer) familiar with
> C/C++ programming on the Mac and PC. I've written a couple of apps that I'm
> currently distributing as shareware.
>
> After reading Sound On Sound Feb 2003 article on Linux and audio/MIDI I'm
> very interested in moving to this platform. I'm currently awaiting my
> Debian distribution at the moment.
>
> However, it appears that one of the current major drawbacks of Linux is the
> lack of ALSA soundcard drivers. I'm speaking here more about semi-pro and
> pro products. I currently use two soundcards:
>
> Yamaha SW1000
> Hoontech DSP24 Value
>
> I'd be interested in having a go a coding a driver for one of these.
>
> I've never done any kernal programming and feel a bit daunted by the task
> in front of me. Any suggestions on where to start would be much
> appreciated. I have downloaded quite a few articles on ALSA, etc. so that
> should keep me going for a while.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris Share
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.NET email is sponsored by:
> SourceForge Enterprise Edition + IBM + LinuxWorld = Something 2 See!
> http://www.vasoftware.com
> _______________________________________________
> Alsa-devel mailing list
> Alsa-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-devel

-- 
My cat's a debugger....

Potter, Lorn, "ljp"
core member / Web Administrator
Project OPIE- the Open Palmtop Integrated Environment
http://opie.handhelds.org 
IRC: irc.freenode.net #opie #opie.de

llornkcor@handhelds.org
llornkcor@helixcommunity.org



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Re: Interested in having a go at coding an ALSA driver

[Chris Share]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

At 08:51 PM 2/11/03 -0700, ljp wrote:
>First thing might be to download the free book
>Linux Device Drivers, it's free.
>
>http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/
>
>
>
>
>On Tuesday February 11 2003 08:34 pm, Chris Share wrote:
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > I'm an amateur programmer and musician (and technical writer) familiar with
> > C/C++ programming on the Mac and PC. I've written a couple of apps that I'm
> > currently distributing as shareware.
> >
> > After reading Sound On Sound Feb 2003 article on Linux and audio/MIDI I'm
> > very interested in moving to this platform. I'm currently awaiting my
> > Debian distribution at the moment.
> >
> > However, it appears that one of the current major drawbacks of Linux is the
> > lack of ALSA soundcard drivers. I'm speaking here more about semi-pro and
> > pro products. I currently use two soundcards:
> >
> > Yamaha SW1000
> > Hoontech DSP24 Value
> >
> > I'd be interested in having a go a coding a driver for one of these.
> >
> > I've never done any kernal programming and feel a bit daunted by the task
> > in front of me. Any suggestions on where to start would be much
> > appreciated. I have downloaded quite a few articles on ALSA, etc. so that
> > should keep me going for a while.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Chris Share
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------
> > This SF.NET email is sponsored by:
> > SourceForge Enterprise Edition + IBM + LinuxWorld = Something 2 See!
> > http://www.vasoftware.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > Alsa-devel mailing list
> > Alsa-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-devel
>
>--
>My cat's a debugger....
>
>Potter, Lorn, "ljp"
>core member / Web Administrator
>Project OPIE- the Open Palmtop Integrated Environment
>http://opie.handhelds.org
>IRC: irc.freenode.net #opie #opie.de
>
>llornkcor@handhelds.org
>llornkcor@helixcommunity.org




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Re: Interested in having a go at coding an ALSA driver

[Clemens Ladisch]

Chris Share wrote:
> I've never done any kernal programming and feel a bit daunted by the task
> in front of me. Any suggestions on where to start would be much
> appreciated. I have downloaded quite a few articles on ALSA, etc. so that
> should keep me going for a while.

There's a document about writing ALSA drivers in
alsa-kernel/Documentation/DocBook/writing-an-alsa-driver.tmpl.

> Yamaha SW1000
> Hoontech DSP24 Value
>
> I'd be interested in having a go a coding a driver for one of these.

Yamaha doesn't publish useful informatin about the SW1000XG, so you'd have
to reverse engineer the Windows driver first.

alsa-kernel/pci/ice1712/hoontech.h says that the SoundTrack DSP 24 Value
is supported, but the DSP 24 is marked "untested" in the sound card list.
Anyway, if it doesn't work with your card, it should be easy to make it
work.


HTH
Clemens




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Re: Interested in having a go at coding an ALSA driver

[Takashi Iwai]

At Wed, 12 Feb 2003 09:31:54 +0100 (MET),
Clemens Ladisch wrote:
> 
> Chris Share wrote:
> > I've never done any kernal programming and feel a bit daunted by the task
> > in front of me. Any suggestions on where to start would be much
> > appreciated. I have downloaded quite a few articles on ALSA, etc. so that
> > should keep me going for a while.
> 
> There's a document about writing ALSA drivers in
> alsa-kernel/Documentation/DocBook/writing-an-alsa-driver.tmpl.

available on-line, too:

	http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/index.html

and 

	http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver.pdf

> 
> > Yamaha SW1000
> > Hoontech DSP24 Value
> >
> > I'd be interested in having a go a coding a driver for one of these.
> 
> Yamaha doesn't publish useful informatin about the SW1000XG, so you'd have
> to reverse engineer the Windows driver first.

yes, or give pressure to Yamaha to release the info :)
seriously, it's always good to ask to the hardware vendor.
nowadays, many vendors are very cooperative with the linux
development.


> alsa-kernel/pci/ice1712/hoontech.h says that the SoundTrack DSP 24 Value
> is supported, but the DSP 24 is marked "untested" in the sound card list.
> Anyway, if it doesn't work with your card, it should be easy to make it
> work.

well, so far, ST DSP24 and ST DSP24 Media 7.1 are supported.
not sure whether your card is compatible with them.  just give a try
and feedback to us please.


ciao,

Takashi


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