From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Thu Feb 1 11:13:03 2018 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1106CEE165E for ; Thu, 1 Feb 2018 11:13:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mout.kundenserver.de (mout.kundenserver.de [212.227.126.133]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "mout.kundenserver.de", Issuer "TeleSec ServerPass DE-2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0569984B7C for ; Thu, 1 Feb 2018 11:13:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r56.edvax.de ([92.195.213.55]) by mrelayeu.kundenserver.de (mreue007 [212.227.15.167]) with ESMTPA (Nemesis) id 0LdyNE-1f6Jrc26e4-00pucC; Thu, 01 Feb 2018 12:12:52 +0100 Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2018 12:12:51 +0100 From: Polytropon To: C Gray Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: sound-card/driver question Message-Id: <20180201121251.95e345cf.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <8F08E935-33A8-4B5F-9057-51FAD51DA97D@council124.org> References: <8F08E935-33A8-4B5F-9057-51FAD51DA97D@council124.org> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Provags-ID: V03:K0:Ko+oA+y953rzirol71f4ijAKv88zCF5pYB26WYbjA28T6M4dL4I GtINJcjQIs+WUM/LvvqgVGG1Bcf9HBbe2+5xz+9pavHPiyIPm4d3qRuH/CBCmOLj5+G3LCQ MldBd9UsgzDSIjV7CvphIg69BiKdWlFQHYADXoxhLy2F87qRHym6jpcNq2/GLY4I/GLt2hL eTdlOSGHeGTa4+yUMa74w== X-UI-Out-Filterresults: notjunk:1;V01:K0:TasIIAXVD5g=:VNaoDxcZho8ZhcvjdzrdpG orv9Egze7K5x5SoTOq+rrZtTxt/FjDLeETJdtkBoqzfWsOJdaf1p9GV2QVdRHTAUx5n61D7XP Pc28PJrk/zk2jteAo+n26dwBMaK4z/LPI5ZQ8N/+NVa/QiwMBOAYT7Dku+lcJCJLqmrj+eozY 7DDs5jQwKNyWGkJ3Z3XUMOyXfFMl6vpzpQmATmr6VRgqw/Vv6B82F53Wxi+IcqdF2bYyXRK/B ub9CRadIviFtEsaMx5x4wQll4bUJ85QTPj7+1vfRp7knBYPwuOsUghMJ/UsgHxNZsV9vIesET ZvagAa9dsd7PTmQErxwlg8z4OUHZjxBLbRAWgfKezWpcwMCEC+6Ye+mATf0nRYH66YBCCsVp/ jfKqtDlGRQVzBxfP0vR+S04FUoc8PLtE3nVuME56I58sAgc7HdOklWaqpMREoGw5cAE5ZmZdQ axhOAtcY5K4zAim3Fglh3mTTBdC1ckblaCvBxDlzk/tggG5LvomEiso/Lf9oRV8OdrZTxKEF4 KBvhEFKVm/fdjmvL+grg16RjkbxF7QO5Q3NLyuEfnqv9tqNK1xbYY2b5bwcYf6KElKQXReKgI lAxhaUqciK6WqoGdbs+YDleStKT2Phnhh6EsIGn9dIfsz842nbWGkXH3kq1mhnL2+tRLzMftm 0FBKgmP5LxqYqjOBye8JDyKo2J6xu5T/Bv8l17/AxejoUXCsGImOf8dDhJhi2bBHms/NFKOjQ w9uZCaodrNGl5zSRaZUlI3Ex42To8ZkyIYNKWFsICoFjN9McmLeBSiOl7rM= X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.25 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2018 11:13:03 -0000 On Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:02:30 -0800, C Gray wrote: > I have a Dell PowerEdge T300 server which has the following slots available: > slot 1: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x4 with x8 connector > slot 2: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x4 > slot 3: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x8 > slot 4: 3.3-V, full-length PCIe x8 > slot 5: 3.3-V, full-length PCI-X > > The system is based around: > Xeon X3440 @ 2.50 GHz Quad core > 2GB DDR3 RAM. > > It's been said that a driver supported for Vista will work with for FreeBSD. That sounds very strange. Both systems are so fundamentally different in architecture and binary interfaces. > The card I am looking at works with Microsoft Windows7, Vista, and XP. > It's PCI-X based, and would, thus, be inserted into [my] slot 5: > Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer SB0770 7.1-Channel > PCI Sound Card > > My question is whether the CD of sound card drivers are in a > standardized format such that, > FreeBSD/TrueOS can use them, as is, just as the Microsoft-verified > environments do? Probably not. But it's not needed. FreeBSD provides the drivers needed and loads them automatically at system startup once the hardware has been detected properly. There usually is no need to manually download or install something. I've been using Creative Labs SoundBlaster cards in the past, and the OS automatically loaded the correct driver. You can easily verify this with # pciconf -lv | less and # cat /dev/sndstat The sound card should then be listed, and the corresponding driver right next to it. SoundBlaster cards have a long tradition of out-of-the-box support on FreeBSD. Even on Linux, ALSA seems to provide support for this particular card. > Do they even use the same suffix? What kind of suffix are you talking about? > Are they well-written enough to discover the platform whereon > they are expected to run (*that is, to "drive"). Probably not. Drivers made for "Windows" will only work on a specific subset of "Windows" versions, i. e., the "driver system" they have been created for. So their use is even limited within the "Windows" ecosystem, and outside of it, they are more or less useless. > It the OS discovers the driver rather than the driver > discovering the OS, the same functional use may be achieved, > however, I'm ignorant other than > guessing as to how drivers work and what is required for that > to take place. As I said, manually supplying drivers is not needed on FreeBSD because the drivers are already there. The OS discovers the hardware and loads the driver. Simple and easy. :-) > Where are they stored in Windows and in FreeBSD, and how do I > install the proper one from the > disk accompanying the card (most likely meant for Microsoft's > toolset/installer. You don't. The OS already has the drivers installed. > Suggestions? If you have the card at hand, install it as recommended into the system and boot FreeBSD. With the commands mentioned above, check if (a) the device has been recognized, and (b) the appropriate driver has been loaded. There isn't much more you have to do, as FreeBSD is a "plug & play" OS. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...