Specifications

6.13. SEGV when running sound binaries that worked
previously
This is probably the same problem described in the previous question.
6.14. What known bugs or limitations are there in the sound
driver?
See the files included with the sound driver kernel source.
6.15. Where are the sound driver ioctls() etc. documented?
Currently the best documentation, other than the source code, is available at the 4Front Technologies web
site, http://www.opensound.com. Another source of information is the Linux Multimedia Guide, described in
the references section.
6.16. What CPU resources are needed to play or record
without pauses?
There is no easy answer to this question, as it depends on:
whether using PCM sampling or FM synthesis •
sampling rate and sample size •
which application is used to play or record •
Sound Card hardware •
disk I/O rate, CPU clock speed, cache size, etc. •
In general, any 386 machine or better should be able to play samples or FM synthesized music on an 8 bit
sound card with ease.
Playing MOD files, however, requires considerable CPU resources. Some experimental measurements have
shown that playing at 44kHz requires more than 40% of the speed of a 486/50 and a 386/25 can hardly play
faster than 22 kHz (these are with an 8 bit card sound such as a SoundBlaster). A card such as the Gravis
UltraSound card performs more functions in hardware, and will require less CPU resources.
These statements assume the computer is not performing any other CPU intensive tasks.
Converting sound files or adding effects using a utility such as sox is also much faster if you have a math
coprocessor (or CPU with on board FPU). The kernel driver itself does not do any floating point calculations,
though.
The Linux Sound HOWTO
6.13. SEGV when running sound binaries that worked previously 21