[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >On Wed, 14 Aug 2002, at 4:06pm, Matthew S. Sacks wrote: > >>The lspci command identifies the Multimedia audio controller as an Intel >>Corp. 82801BA/BAM AC'97 (rev 05) (This may make sense if ADI chip has been >>integrated onto a motherboard made by Intel....) >> > > FYI: AC'97 = Audio Codec 1997. It is an interface standard for cheap >onboard sound. Basically, it builds part of the sound into the core chipset >of the motherboard, so that the actual sound chip(s) can be simpler/cheaper >to produce. So, on your PCI bus, you see the AC97 interface of the Intel >chipset, which is then connected to the ADI chip. > >>When I try to play audio with the gnome CD player, the player seems to >>think that it is playing - but I cannot hear anything. >> > > Do you actually get activity from the drive? Does the light flash? > > You see, there are two general methods of getting audio off a CD using a >CD-ROM drive. > > The "traditional" way uses the CD-ROM drive like a glorified Discman(TM). >The laser reads the digital audio stream from the CD, and the drive's >built-in digital-to-analog converter (DAC) turns it into analog audio. A >two-channel analog audio cable runs from the CD-ROM drive to the sound >card's amplifier/mixer circuitry, and to the speakers. The CPU and Linux are >not involved (other than sending the "play" command). In fact, if the >CD-ROM has front panel buttons, you don't even need a working computer -- >just a power source. > > The other, newer way is called Digital Audio Extraction, or DAE. DAE >reads the digital audio stream from the CD, but does not decode it in the >CD-ROM drive. Instead, it is sent to the host computer as data, like a >software CD's files. The host CPU is responsible for doing any processing, >and has to send it out a sound card for you to hear music. > > Each method has advantages. Analog output from the CD-ROM leaves your >CPU, memory, and system bus free to do other things. DAE lets the computer >add effects, analyze the audio stream for visualizations, and/or store the >audio for later playback without the CD. > > Many "CD player" programs can only handle the analog output method, and I >am pretty sure that is what your computer is using. There are two likely >causes of this problem. One is that the analog audio cable from the CD-ROM >drive to the sound card was simply never installed. If that is the case, >your best bet is likely to just switch to DAE -- more on that below. > > However, the other possibility is equally likely, and easy to check: The >CD audio channel on your sound card may be turned down (or off). The sound >card has an onboard mixer that can combine digital audio with analog >sources, and each channel has its own volume control. From the GNOME "foot" >menu, do Programs -> Multimedia -> Audio Mixer, and check the "CD" slider. > >>Same thing happens with XMMS. XMMS load files button does not see any >>files on the CD. >> > > XMMS's standard "CD Audio Player" plug-in is kind of funky. It "fakes" >having the CD mounted, as if the audio tracks were in the filesystem. I >never really liked it, and have seen it do weird things. I always use >instead the "AudioCD Reader" plug-in. It does DAE, along with CDDB lookups, >and generally behaves in a saner fashion. You can get it from: > > ftp://mud.stack.nl/pub/OuterSpace/willem/ > I have downloaded several .gz files from this site. gunzip will not unzip any of them. Yes, I did -d.
????? > > > Yell if you need help installing it; it is pretty easy, but if you've >never built something from source before, it can appear daunting. > >>The sndconfig utility identifies the audio card as the Intel 82801, and >>plays an audio clip of a man saying that he pronounces Unix as Linux. >> > > "Heeelo, my name is Lee-nus Torvahlds, and I pronounce Lee-nooks like >Lee-nooks." ;-) > >>The quality of that sound clip is very poor, but it is coming out of the >>speakers. >> > > The clip is, while "classic", not of terribly good quality. See if you >can track down a sound sample you "know" is good (an MP3 or WAV file would >work), and play that. > _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss
