NVIDA now has full hardware mixing support under Linux

[ppurka]

However, I tried out 5.1 with the nvidia drivers (taken from Nvidia site) and they seem to switch my surround and center/LFE signals This might be an isolated case though. The stereo sound output is really good though.

Open nvmixer and check under "Advance Options" to see if Center and LFE are selected to be switched. If they are, then that is the problem. If not, click it and see if it fixes it.

It seems I overlooked your response. What I meant by my post was that my center/LFE channel sounds are actually output through the analog jack that is supposed to be for SurroundL/R. I also have to "Swap center and LFE" so that I get the left surround on Left speaker and right surround on right speaker. So, in the nvmixer, I have to increase/decrease the Center channel to affect my left surround speaker, and the LFE to affect my right surround speaker,- I guess you have got the picture by now.

I could live with that. However, I have observed a strange problem when I played a dvd containing 5.1 sound for the first time, using mplayer (mplayer -channels 6 dvd://1). After playing for around 1-2 min, mplayer just pauses. I have to press space twice in order to get the movie playing again. And then it again pauses after a few minutes. Interestingly, if I start mplayer as "mplayer dvd://1" which is equivalent to "mplayer -channels 2 dvd://1", then it doesn't pause, and the movie runs smoothly. SO, the problem is obviously in how the nvsound driver handles 5.1 channels of sound.

I wonder if anyone else has encountered a similar problem.

[sakus]

This driver is pretty cool, I switched to it from ALSA and I don't know if it's just me but my ears tell me that the sound is a bit clearer now (I got an Abit NF7-S mobo which uses nForce2). Anyway, what I'd still like to see is a graphical eq or at least simple bass/midrange/treble adjusting possibility as the Windows driver has. Is there some way to do this that I'm not aware of? I'm not going to start using arts or whatever even if they would provide me with that option..

[agent_jdh]

Dear Mods,

Can this thread please be unsticky-ied now, or the subject changed, or a new thread entitled "Feedback on NVidia's binary OSS drivers now that they support h/w mixing" started.

It appears nvidia are still being mailed with requests for h/w mixing even though they now support it, on the strength of this thread.

[col]

Code: Select all

insmod /lib/modules/2.6.12-rc2/kernel/sound/oss/nvsound.ko spdif_status=1
insmod: error inserting '/lib/modules/2.6.12-rc2/kernel/sound/oss/nvsound.ko': -1 Unknown symbol in module

dmesg
nvsound: Unknown parameter `spdif_status'

insmod /lib/modules/2.6.12-rc2/kernel/sound/oss/nvsound.ko

so how are you supposed to turn on spdif output ??

[irondog]

A nvidia guy pointed me at:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr ... post597243

I downloaded the file to: /usr/local/portage/media-sound/nforce-audio/files
Now I'm using this ebuild:

Code: Select all

# Copyright 1999-2005 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-sound/nforce-audio/nforce-audio-1.0.0301.ebuild,v 1.2 2005/03/30 19:26:27 luckyduck Exp $

inherit eutils linux-mod

PKG_V="pkg1"
NV_V="${PV/1.0./1.0-}"
X86_NV_PACKAGE="NFORCE-Linux-x86-${NV_V}"
AMD64_NV_PACKAGE="NFORCE-Linux-x86_64-${NV_V}"

DESCRIPTION="Linux kernel module for the NVIDIA's nForce SoundStorm audio chipset"
HOMEPAGE="http://www.nvidia.com/"
SRC_URI="x86? (http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nforce/${NV_V}/${X86_NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}.run)
        amd64? (http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nforce/amd64/${NV_V}/${AMD64_NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}.run)"

if use x86; then
        NV_PACKAGE="${X86_NV_PACKAGE}"
elif use amd64; then
        NV_PACKAGE="${AMD64_NV_PACKAGE}"
fi

S=${WORKDIR}/${NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}/nvsound

LICENSE="NVIDIA"
SLOT="0"
KEYWORDS="-* ~x86 ~amd64"
RESTRICT="nostrip"
IUSE=""

MODULE_NAMES="nvsound(:${S}/main)"
BUILD_PARAMS="SYSSRC=${KV_DIR}"
BUILD_TARGETS=" "

src_unpack() {
        unpack ${A}

        cd ${WORKDIR}
        bash ${DISTDIR}/${NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}.run --extract-only
        cd ${WORKDIR}/${NV_PACKAGE}-${PKG_V}/nvsound/main
        patch -p0 nvmain.c < $FILESDIR/nvmain-patch.txt
}

src_compile() {
        cd ${S}/main

        if kernel_is 2 6
        then
                rm makefile
                ln -snf Makefile.kbuild Makefile
        fi

        linux-mod_src_compile
}

src_install() {
        linux-mod_src_install
        dobin nvmixer nvmix-reg
        dodoc ${S}/ReleaseNotes.html
}

pkg_postinst() {
        linux-mod_pkg_postinst

        einfo "You may also be interested in media-sound/nforce-nvmixer"
}

Skype works now for me, but a friend of mine told me he could only hear me for a few seconds. So there are still bugs.
Is anyone else trying this?

[placeholder]

sakus: Well, the nVidia drivers are indeed clearer so it is not just your ears. Especially when using SPDIF since it gives out Dolby Digital encoded sound. Not only that, you get full hardware mixing so there is no distortion caused by software mixing.

[dekeonus]

does anyone using these OSS drivers have a dolby digital decoder and does the oss driver do real-time Dolby Digital encoding (I would like to get rid of all but the spdif cable running to my amp).

And I am still waiting for alsa drivers, as I have multiple machines on my network and they are all setup for alsa. As alsa was the most convenient way to be able to login to different workstations and not have to re-configure individual apps for the differing hardware.

[placeholder]

Yes, my receiver is Dolby Digital. I have no idea how to tell if they are doing "real-time" or not, but seeing that the Dolby Digital light is lit up on my reciever and that it says it is using Dolby digital on the display, then I am going to go with yes unless there is something magical that I am missing.

[Gauss_Cleric]

Are there plans to make a ALSA driver with hardware mixing. My system is entirely configured for ALSA and I'm not going to switch back to OSS. Or does anyone know if there's anyway I can use it with my ALSA system?

Cheers,

[agent_jdh]

Are there plans to make a ALSA driver with hardware mixing. My system is entirely configured for ALSA and I'm not going to switch back to OSS. Or does anyone know if there's anyway I can use it with my ALSA system?

Cheers,

Jebus. From the freaking README http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/nfor ... Notes.html-

# Q: Linux distributions are moving towards ALSA as the standard sound driver architecture, but nvsound is an OSS driver. Why don't you provide an ALSA driver?

A: Our priority in shipping the nvsound driver was to provide support for nForce hardware features that were missing in the earlier nvaudio driver. NVIDIA plans to provide an nForce ALSA driver in future as our resources allow.

I know this is a long-ish thread now (and somewhat repetitive, not to mention outdated, which is why it should be un-stickyfied), but I posted that only 1 page back.

It might be time to start another thread re the nforce driver now it supports hardware mixing, and that explains nvidia's alsa position and the skype thing.

[ops]

I like the initiativ!

Put preshure on them.

[allex87]

Can these drivers do mixing? I tried these drivers today and it seems that they cannot do mixing. I have Rhythmbox playing a song, and at the same time mpg123 or anything else can't play another song saying /dev/dsp could not be opened. Is there an option I need to enable for mixing to happen by default?

Thanks,
Alex.

[xafan]

Can these drivers do mixing? I tried these drivers today and it seems that they cannot do mixing. I have Rhythmbox playing a song, and at the same time mpg123 or anything else can't play another song saying /dev/dsp could not be opened. Is there an option I need to enable for mixing to happen by default?

Thanks,
Alex.

*sighs*

Same for me...same for me...

[chunderbunny]

Mixing is always enabled with these drivers, that's the whole point of using them. The drivers do have issues with certain programs, so that might be the fault, or this might be caused if your user account has incorrect permissions.

[dhasenan]

Hopefully they make the new version work in 2.6.11 kernels as well. The current version refuses to load in all the 2.6.11 rc kernels I've tried.

Damn, that's why I have no sound, and rhythmbox says it can't create audio objects. Excuse me while I roll back to 2.6.8.

[Venceremos]

Damn, that's why I have no sound, and rhythmbox says it can't create audio objects. Excuse me while I roll back to 2.6.8.

I'm using 2.6.11-gentoo-r4 kernel and everything is fine.... well not everything but at least the drivers manage to load. I'm still waiting for the alsa drivers.

[HeadHolio]

I'm using these drivers with gentoo-sources-2.6.12-r4 and everything works. KDE programs using arts work, mplayer works, xmms works, Doom 3 and Quake 3 work. All in all, I'm extremely happy with these drivers.

[timonator]

i dont know if an answer to this has been posted already, but what about nForce 3? i've got an asus k8n-e deluxe ans currently use ALSA,
but if the nvsound driver also works with nForce 3 i'd un-alsafy my system and make use of HW-mixing at last!
my problem has always been that for example when one of my friends on TS send me a song or a flash or a video or anything i have to exit TeamSpeak, eventually close my Firefox, so the audio would work, look at/listen to whatever they sent me and come back and say "well, that was kind of funny" instead of just laughing right into their ears while looking at/listening to whatever...

also i dont have any sound in UT2004 while on teamspeak or listening to music, but i sure aint the first person with that problem :/

[Trojan1313]

How about a standardized mail? Then they will know that this comes from one of the many communities that wish for this.
Also, I have no idea what to write. I don't own a nforce board, but I want to participate in every "drivers-for-linux-campaign" I can.

[sman]

No, definitely not a standardized mail. There are several reasons why standardized e-mails are bad - they raise suspicions about the real number of people that have voiced their opinion (since it's easy to have a bot send such e-mails with slight changes) and also how strong that opinion is (if people write unique e-mails it's obvious that they're very concerned instead of just submitting a standardized e-mail). If you wish to emphasize that there's a community behind it you send one e-mail (or preferably a letter) with many signatures (and I guess that an on-line petition is the only viable option in a case like this).

[Trojan1313]

No, definitely not a standardized mail. There are several reasons why standardized e-mails are bad - they raise suspicions about the real number of people that have voiced their opinion (since it's easy to have a bot send such e-mails with slight changes) and also how strong that opinion is (if people write unique e-mails it's obvious that they're very concerned instead of just submitting a standardized e-mail). If you wish to emphasize that there's a community behind it you send one e-mail (or preferably a letter) with many signatures (and I guess that an on-line petition is the only viable option in a case like this).

True, of course... didn't think about that.
So... can we fix an online petition? Not one of those "sign up for free"-petitions of course, seems so... n00bish.

Seriously though, I think it would give a greater impression if we showed them that it's the voice of an entire community.

[madcat87]

Can somebody tell me how to emerge/install these drivers Please.

[Jesus Franco]

I would also like to know how to install these drivers in gentoo. Perhaps there is a ebuild in portage but it is masked? if it is can someone explain how to unmask them and install them. (if there is a official way in gentoo, I already know how to install it via nVidia's instructions.) thanks

[Dan Forever]

I just sent a friendly email asking for any info they have on the status of hardware mixing alsa drivers

[Dominique_71]

I have send a email for this sound issue and one more for an issue with their graphic driver.

I don't have a Nvidia soundcard but a graphic one. When you have more as one kernel, the Nvidia driver recognize only the one for which you have installed it, all the other are brokken and X fail.

Take a look at http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-26 ... ml#2667481 for more on that issue.