Specifications

3. Supported Hardware
This section lists the sound cards and interfaces that are currently supported under Linux. The information
here is based on the latest Linux kernel, which at time of writing was version 2.4.4. This document only
applies to the sound drivers included with the standard Linux kernel source distribution. There are other
sound drivers available for Linux (see the later section entitled Alternate Sound Drivers).
For the latest information on supported sound cards and features see the files included with the Linux kernel
source code, usually installed in the directory /usr/src/linux/Documentation/sound.
3.1. Platform Notes
The information in this HOWTO is valid for Linux on the Intel x86 platform.
The sound driver should also work with most sound cards on the Alpha platform. However, some cards may
conflict with I/O ports of other devices on Alpha systems even though they work perfectly on i386 machines,
so in general it's not possible to tell if a given card will work or not without actually trying it.
Users have reported that the sound driver was not yet working on the PowerPC version of Linux, but it
should be supported in future.
Sound can be configured into the kernel under the MIPs port of Linux, and some MIPs machines have EISA
slots and/or built in sound hardware. I'm told the Linux−MIPs group is interested in adding sound support in
the future.
The Linux kernel includes a separate driver for the Atari and Amiga versions of Linux that implements a
compatible subset of the sound driver on the Intel platform using the built−in sound hardware on these
machines.
The SPARC port of Linux currently has sound support for some models of Sun workstations. I've been told
that the on−board sound hardware works but the external DSP audio box is not supported because Sun has
not released the specifications for it.
3.2. Sound Card Types
A number of different types of sound cards exist, reflecting the different bus architectures available. Here is a
brief overview of the more common types and their distinguishing features.
ISA bus cards are among the oldest sound cards using the original (non Plug and Play) ISA bus. These
typically use jumpers to select hardware settings for I/O addresses, IRQ, and DMA channel. You are unlikely
to find any of this type manufactured today.
ISA Plug and Play cards use the extended version of the ISA bus that supports software identification and
configuration of card settings. Few of these, if any, are still being manufactured.
PCI bus cards use the higher bandwidth PCI bus which provides identification and configuration of cards in
3. Supported Hardware 4