Sound compatibility for 11.2

D

dalpets

I have an MSI B360M Mortar motherboard running freeBSD 11.2. Looking at the available info for sound implementation I see that most are implemented for dedicated NOT on board codecs. I don't know which would apply for my m/b specs, which are as follows;
Realtek ALC892 codec
7.1-Channel High Definition Audio
Supports S/PDIF output
The reference to sound cards in "7.2 setting up the sound card" (hardware list 7 for v12, with their drivers) seems to cater only for relatively old sound cards. If I go down that path I need pcie compatibility. If, on the other hand, I want to use the available onboard sound how do I assess what drivers I need with the scant info available. The latter is my preference, if possible.
I don't want to spend a lot of time on this I just want usable sound. What would be your recommendation? Thanks a lot.
 
dalpets said:
What would be your recommendation? Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...
Reading the mentioned handbook section and following the instructions.

Not related to your issue but you should plan your upgrade to 11.3, 11.2 will be end-of-life soon.
 
SirDice, How long do I have?

For those struggling with PCie sound implementation, like me, the within information may be of help. Please note I have not confirmed this information to be correct so you are advised to do your own research before acting on it.

So, my 11.2 machine does indicate (see below) that it sees my onboard Realtek codec, but as far as I can see it is nowhere supported in the 7.2 hardware list, which in any event seems to only cover PCI. If I'm correct the lack of PCie support, for non-enterprise users at least, is a glaring omission .

Code: 
$ cat /dev/sndstat 
Installed devices: 
pcm0: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Analog 5.1/2.0)> (play/rec) default 
pcm1: <Realtek ALC892 (Front Analog)> (play/rec) 
pcm2: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Digital)> (play) 
pcm3: <Intel Kabylake (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play) 
No devices installed from userspace.

A user in 2017 did have success apparently, advising that...........
"I'm very pleased to report that the Creative Audigy RX 7.1 sound card (PCie) works 'out of the box' with FreeBSD 11.
The emu10kx driver is compiled into the generic kernel so all I had to do to test the card was to build xmms in ports, copy some MP3s to the system
and sit back & enjoy! This card has a proper headphone amp and works very well with high impedance 600 ohm headphones, which require a higher
voltage from the sound card to get decent sound levels".

The FreeBSD Manual pages says to compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file

device sound
device snd_emu10kx

Or alternatively, load the driver as a module at boot time, & place the following line in loader.conf(5):

Code: 
snd_emu10kx_load="YES"

Another user says he had success with...............
Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II. He said it worked without drivers.

Cheers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
dalpets said:
in the 7.2 hardware list, which in any event seems to only cover PCI. If I'm correct the lack of PCie support, for non-enterprise users at least, is a glaring omission .
Click to expand...
Your assumption it only covers PCI is incorrect. The actual bus (PCI or PCIe) is irrelevant.
 
So, whats Your actual problem? Your system says the card is detected. What else do You need?

If you now copy a file to /dev/dsp0.0 it shoudl make some noise. Just find out on which outlet it appears.
 
SirDice said:
Your assumption it only covers PCI is incorrect. The actual bus (PCI or PCIe) is irrelevant.
Click to expand...
Well, obviously I don't understand what I am reading since the hardware list only seems to mentions drivers/cards that are no longer available in the market place, and I assumed, therefore, they must be old & pci only. My motherboard will only accept pcie cards, so don't I need to look for specific device drivers that support cards for specific PCie hardware? You seem to be suggesting that my choices are quite wide. Perhaps you might give me a fix on them as I have not yet purchased the Creative Audigy RX 7.1 PCie board or any other (unknown to me) cheaper options . I only want vanilla sound as I don't pretend to be an audiophile!
 
PMc said:
So, whats Your actual problem? Your system says the card is detected. What else do You need?

If you now copy a file to /dev/dsp0.0 it should make some noise. Just find out on which outlet it appears.
Click to expand...
No, my system does not detect the card as I haven't purchased the Creative Audigy RX 7.1 (it's expensive) . It was the only PCie card that my very recent long winded research (outside of this forum & BSD docs) identified as PCie & that also has a driver for it on the BSD hardware list. I thought others may find it helpful, but SirDice is saying I misunderstand and the PCI/PCie issue is irrelevant. It would be nice to know, how so. I must be overthinking this.
 
dalpets said:
No, my system does not detect the card
Click to expand...

Unless you made up the output of cat /dev/sndstat your system clearly detect a Realtek ALC892 card, onboard it seems.

[EDIT]

Btw, this is the output of mine, and I listening to Villalobos from it in this exactly moment:

Code: 
Installed devices:
pcm0: <NVIDIA GT440 (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm1: <NVIDIA GT440 (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm2: <NVIDIA GT440 (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm3: <NVIDIA GT440 (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
pcm4: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Analog 7.1/2.0)> (play/rec)
pcm5: <Realtek ALC892 (Front Analog)> (play/rec) default
pcm6: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Digital)> (play)
pcm7: <Realtek ALC892 (Onboard Digital)> (play)
No devices installed from userspace.
 
dalpets said:
No, my system does not detect the card as I haven't purchased the Creative Audigy RX 7.1 (it's expensive) . It was the only PCie card that my very recent long winded research (outside of this forum & BSD docs) identified as PCie & that also has a driver for it on the BSD hardware list. I thought others may find it helpful, but SirDice is saying I misunderstand and the PCI/PCie issue is irrelevant. It would be nice to know, how so. I must be overthinking this.
Click to expand...

The problem is, we don't really understand what You are trying to achieve.
You say, the hardware compatibility iist contains only old PCI cards, and that may indeed be true. But people here probably have some experience with newer cards and could tell You which ones they use. Only, we need to know where You want to go.
You quoted this piece of output,
Code: 
$ cat /dev/sndstat
Installed devices:
pcm0: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Analog 5.1/2.0)> (play/rec) default
pcm1: <Realtek ALC892 (Front Analog)> (play/rec)
pcm2: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Digital)> (play)
pcm3: <Intel Kabylake (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
No devices installed from userspace.
and this says that You already have a soundcard (probably integrated in your mainboard). If, as You say, You "just want useable sound", then that one should work.
If, on the other hand, You want to buy an extra card, and Your mainboard accepts ony PCIe, then just ask for recommendations for a card that 1. is available on the market, and 2. somebody here can report that it works alright with FreeBSD - and hopefully somebody has something to recommend.
 
dalpets said:
Why?
Click to expand...
Abstraction. There are various layers that deal with this, the pci(4) driver for example supports both PCI and PCIe (they're not that different from each other). It just doesn't make sense if each individual driver would need to have code to do the same things as every other driver. So various bits of code are generalized in such a way that every driver can use it as an interface and doesn't need to bother with specific implementation details.
 
dalpets said:
Why?
Click to expand...
Device drivers don't care if the chip is connected via PCI or PCIe. You can even plug a PCI card into a PCIe slot, using a small adaptor, and the driver won't even notice. I did exactly that, so I could continue using an old PCI SCSI card in my new PCIe-only mainboard.
 
Regarding your audio problem (or rather non-problem, it seems): Basically all onboard audio chips of common mainboards are supported. Just enable sound, and it will work out of the box, you don't have to look for a specific driver for your hardware. /dev/sndstat lists all audio devices and connectors that are recognized and supported.
 
PMc said:
The problem is, we don't really understand what You are trying to achieve.
You say, the hardware compatibility iist contains only old PCI cards, and that may indeed be true. But people here probably have some experience with newer cards and could tell You which ones they use. Only, we need to know where You want to go.
You quoted this piece of output,
Code: 
$ cat /dev/sndstat
Installed devices:
pcm0: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Analog 5.1/2.0)> (play/rec) default
pcm1: <Realtek ALC892 (Front Analog)> (play/rec)
pcm2: <Realtek ALC892 (Rear Digital)> (play)
pcm3: <Intel Kabylake (HDMI/DP 8ch)> (play)
No devices installed from userspace.
and this says that You already have a soundcard (probably integrated in your mainboard). If, as You say, You "just want useable sound", then that one should work.
If, on the other hand, You want to buy an extra card, and Your mainboard accepts ony PCIe, then just ask for recommendations for a card that 1. is available on the market, and 2. somebody here can report that it works alright with FreeBSD - and hopefully somebody has something to recommend.
Click to expand...
Well now we are getting somewhere! At last someone who mostly understands what I'm about. As a newcomer the hardware list appears not to speak to emdbedded system sound drivers. Why?
Accordingly, I start to look for solutions outside and the only one I can come up with is the ALC892, that is available as the Audigy device with the snd_emu10kx driver . In reverse it was just luck to find this hardware as the drivers don't tell you anything about the hardware they support. But joy to the world now, anyhow!

In my travels around the internet I come across comments about why people have decided not to use freebsd. Mostly it seems, due to its complexity, very steep learning curve, arcane nature & the massive documentation, needed to make it work. Well, it's also said that it's not for everyone, particularly for desktop users such as myself. No wonder it has trouble winning significant support from potential linux converts. I must be a masochist, but hey I'm retired & that's the only reason I am able to continue with this challenge.
Note, no one has come forward here to suggest what card I might use, as you suggest I might ask. I have already asked the moderator but didn't receive a reply but in any event it's no longer an issue in light of other replies.
The problem I see with this issue is that people who reply don't take the time necessarily to assess the experience level of the poster. In my case I'm a new user & have not been exposed to the wider machinations of the operating system. I'm still learning. There's almost a case for a specific forum for new users.
 
olli@ said:
Device drivers don't care if the chip is connected via PCI or PCIe. You can even plug a PCI card into a PCIe slot, using a small adaptor, and the driver won't even notice. I did exactly that, so I could continue using an old PCI SCSI card in my new PCIe-only mainboard.
Click to expand...
Thanks. At least I have a clear answer now.
 
dalpets said:
Note, no one has come forward to suggest what card I might use, as you suggest I might ask.
Click to expand...
Why not use the onboard audio of your PC? According to the output from /dev/sndstat that you have quoted, it is clearly supported, as several people have pointed out already. Just to make this perfectly clear: If a device is listed in /dev/sndstat, then it is supported.

If it doesn't work, please specify exactly what the problem is (e.g. error messages that you receive).

If you want to use a separate sound card for a different reason, I'd be interested to hear why.
 
olli@ said:
Why not use the onboard audio of your PC? According to the output from /dev/sndstat that you have quoted, it is clearly supported, as several people have pointed out already. It seems that you are seeing a problem that doesn't really exist.

If it doesn't work, please specify exactly what the problem is (e.g. error messages that you receive).

If you want to use a separate sound card for a different reason, I'd be interested to hear why.
Click to expand...
Now I know that I will certainly do so. Thanks
 
PMc said:
So, whats Your actual problem? Your system says the card is detected. What else do You need?

If you now copy a file to /dev/dsp0.0 it shoudl make some noise. Just find out on which outlet it appears.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Just another method a new user is not aware of. Thanks.
 
Now, please tell us, what you actually tried to do with them and where they are connected. I'm assuming you already tried to play something without success, otherwise you are wasting everyone's time.
 
shkhln said:
Now, please tell us, what you actually tried to do with them and where they are connected. I'm assuming you already tried to play something without success, otherwise you are wasting everyone's time.
Click to expand...
Stop treating me like a child. You haven't taken the time to understand what I've tried to clarify. If you had you would understand that I haven'yet tried to play anything. It's all been about preliminary issues and how BSD treats sound implementation. You simply have missed the point of my OP.
 
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