This is just too much fun!  I don't even care that the SS2 doesn't
have high fidelity audio...the point is that it works.  (!!)

There's something quite satisfying about playing my MP3 files
from my NFS-mounted directory on the SparcStation II....
it sort of beats inflation, if you know what I mean.  It proves
older hardware is useful for something.  ;)   

And yes, I think it is 40 Mhz.   I had forgotten, I think it's the bus
that is 20 Mhz.  :)

On Tue, 29 Jan 2002, Greg A. Woods wrote:

> [ On Monday, January 28, 2002 at 20:23:02 (-0800), Glendon Gross wrote: ]
> > Subject: /dev/audio working on SS2(!)
> >
> > 
> > To my delight, after building a kernel with sound support enabled
> > for the SS2 and rebuilding all devices, I am able to cat
> > files to /dev/audio and I can hear the sound!
> 
> Can you record anything with 1.5?  I've been unable to record with my
> SS-1+ using a newer kernel (1.5W).  See my post to this list about a
> week ago....

I have not tested recording but will do so and let you know the results.

> 
> > Now I'm going to see if I can use software like mpg123 to decode
> > files.... I'm not sure what the limitations are, but at 25 Mhz I won't
> > be too surprised if compressed audio is a challenge.
> 
> mpg123 does work, even on an SS-1+.  I can play a mono MP3 encoded at
> 64kbit/s, with a sampling of 44.1KHz, even while running X11 and typing
> this message, though moving the mouse causes skipping, especially if the
> window manager has to page in (over NFS -- this is a diskless
> workstation).
> 
> 	$ mpg123 -m --8bit -r 8000 --au /dev/audio qq061001f.mp3     
> 	High Performance MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 Audio Player for Layer 1, 2 and 3.
> 	Version 0.59r (1999/Jun/15). Written and copyrights by Michael Hipp.
> 	Uses code from various people. See 'README' for more!
> 	THIS SOFTWARE COMES WITH ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
> 	
> 	Playing MPEG stream from qq061001f.mp3 ...
> 	MPEG 1.0 layer III, 64 kbit/s, 44100 Hz mono
> 	Warning, flexibel rate not heavily tested!
> 

The above syntax works like a charm, thanks for your input.


> Running with '-v' even works with a local xterm, though then I can't
> type to a remote X client or move the mouse without causing lots of
> skipping, and this is with a monochrome bwtwo framebuffer (i.e. not
> moving very many bits to draw on the screen).
> 
> However even without moving the mouse (only swisswatch as well as a
> local and couple of remote xload's ticking away), I get constant
> skipping when playing 128kbit/s streams.  Since your SS-2 is hopefully
> at least 40 MHz (not 25 MHz like this SS-1+) it should be able to do
> just fine (assuming you have enough memory and not too much else hitting
> the CPU), though of course what you hear isn't going to be very pleasing
> -- it's something like listening to hold music on the telephone, even
> with a good set of headphones or a wonderful external speaker it's still
> tinny.
> 	

The novelty of this is what I like... the fact that it works on 
a medium (MP3) that didn't exist when the box was manufactured tickles me.


> I really only want the local NAS server to work, but with NetBSD the NAS
> server (voxware) uses liboss instead of /dev/audio and that part seems
> broken -- I only get noise.  See my previous post for more details.
> 

Maybe it would be fun to do some work on this.  But the OSS drivers
are proprietary, aren't they?  Or does NetBSD include the source?

Regards,

Glendon Gross


> -- 
> 								Greg A. Woods
> 
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>