From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 6 09:50:16 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 938151065673; Tue, 6 Jan 2009 09:50:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yanefbsd@gmail.com) Received: from ug-out-1314.google.com (ug-out-1314.google.com [66.249.92.168]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E667A8FC19; Tue, 6 Jan 2009 09:50:15 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from yanefbsd@gmail.com) Received: by ug-out-1314.google.com with SMTP id 30so1318927ugs.39 for ; Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:50:14 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to :subject:cc:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding :content-disposition; bh=W/lw47HgyyqxcF+Qm0CWMuG1QIK1DoA0bnrMySxn86E=; b=JcQjGs/svMtyD905OnbMe6LIfYuHWPxRttjHbMC9gZlE0MkUX3an4KZTz69pzr5DSm iPLiJha+J0HZ1yyew8/520I9P5dM4sOgC7y5GgfQ3eX1eLN1+FzzcNjqV1cDIEj+PE25 Bn+mMzgLPO7q/TB5CN2zShfBeBO0MV4yesL44= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:mime-version:content-type :content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition; b=x7xZxHEgOsv/HkixxHF5edPYbpkPl7h1AWx4ENQbNryzsR2NzMTXZJHMNMOMOvLq5M /Ogs3BVtmB2K64ZZ2HLwycusahL+ZEW+46VNcroATIriYYE4zBHcsH1PomeswAd1oBDU VXpN6zFww/1LkhvJHKR+ZhPr6Iv4x72Z6lRiA= Received: by 10.67.25.3 with SMTP id c3mr4655064ugj.85.1231235414451; Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:50:14 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.67.88.9 with HTTP; Tue, 6 Jan 2009 01:50:14 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <7d6fde3d0901060150q721167f7jc44a804a1b5c0b48@mail.gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 01:50:14 -0800 From: "Garrett Cooper" To: multimedia@freebsd.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Cc: kris@pcbsd.com, FreeBSD Ports Mailing List Subject: Creative and the X-Fi driver fiasco... X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:50:17 -0000 Summary: This is just a heads up because there might be some other curious takers like me in the future. Creative is only producing X-Fi cards from now on, and they're quickly deprecating their Soundblaster Audigy line, which means that anyone purchasing Creative cards from here on out will only have the option of X-Fi cards once the Audigy line is completely obsolete. I can definitely attest to the fact that while audio `works' under 8-CURRENT with audio/oss: 1. The line-in and the break out support don't work (I foolishly purchased an X-Fi Fatal1ty Platinum edition and just switched my desktop over from Vista to FreeBSD). 2. Audio under Audacious is ok. 3. Audio in VLC is extremely choppy (skips frames every couple seconds). 4. When playing movies via mplayer, my system hard locks up when the file is finished. Backstory: When I approached Hennu (one of the OSS devs from 4frontend), here was his reply: Garrett Cooper wrote: > Hello folks, > I was reading through Henne's blog, and I was wondering if I could > strike up a deal with you folks. > Current X-Fi support through FreeBSD is nonexistent. With the > audio/oss port I can get proper sound with my X-Fi Fatal1ty card, but > it's still severely crippled (line-in support doesn't work, front > plate support doesn't work). > If it's at all possible, I would be more than happy to commission > someone to finish off the driver for $150 ~ $200, partly because I > know you folks need the funds, I know it would benefit a large > community of developers and opensource platform users, and because I > know there are a lot of users out there apart from me who either have > used, are trying to use, or have thought about using X-Fi on Unix. > As I said before on my comment to your blog, I'm more than happy to > help with rounding up funding from your group in the BSD camp, because > without proper sound support, and the way that the project's focus is > going, I'm unsure whether or not FreeBSD desktop support will remain > viable within the next couple years.. > Unfortunately the situation with X-Fi is that only Creative will be able to develop and maintain fully featured driver for it. The architecture is so complex that it would take about 5 to 15 months to write a proper driver for it. At the same time the features of the card are so lame that I have absolutely no interest to touch it any more. I would recommend that you spend your $150 - $200 on getting a decent sound card that is already supported by OSS. Best regards, Hannu When I approached Creative about driver support, here was their canned reply Dear Garrett, Thank you for contacting Creative Customer Support. With regards to your inquiry, the X-Fi sound card was not designed for opensource OS such as FreeBSD or Linux. There is no official driver or support for X-Fi sound cards but you can refer to the Creative Open Source at http://opensource.creative.com/soundcard.html more assistance. We apologize for any inconvenience, please let us know of we can be of any further assistance. Thank you again for contacting Creative. Best Regards , Jeen Direct Sales Creative Labs Americas - - - Capture Life -- The NEW Creative Vado Pocket Video Cam line-up makes it easy to shoot and share videos. Now in HD! http://us.creative.com/redirect.asp?id=19422 Find Your ZEN -- Award-winning music, video and photo players to suit every lifestyle and budget. http://us.creative.com/redirect.asp?id=19423 Sound Blaster X-Fi for Everyone -- Now available for PCI Express, ExpressCard, PCI and USB. Now everyone can make their movies, music and games sound their best. http://us.creative.com/redirect.asp?id=19424 - - - To provide feedback on your "Creative Experience" please click on the following link: http://www.creativehelp.com/support/contact/welcome.asp?r=CLI&d=DS Original Message Follows: ------------------------ ========================== Subject: CLI - Customer Service Request Name: Garrett Cooper E-mail Address: yanegomi@gmail.com Self Description: Advanced PC User Country: United States of America Inquiry Type: Product suggestion Product Purchased: Detailed Description of Inquiry: Hello Creative Team, I previously purchased 2 X-Fi soundcards and I have since then switched from Vista back to FreeBSD -- my OS platform of choice. There's a semi-working driver available via OSS, but it doesn't enable nearly all of the features that the card has (line-in, front panel, etc). ALSA support doesn't exist under FreeBSD, simply because it's Linux-specific. I'm somewhat disappointed in this fact that this card's line has been out for over 2 years now and yet it still doesn't have working opensource drivers yet. Even ALSA under Linux doesn't work 100% and causes panics right and left. I'm wondering whether or not someone from Creative is going to pursue actually writing a decent driver for the opensource community, or I need to just chuck my card in the trash (mind you, I spent $200 on it, plus $150 on the other one..) because it doesn't work on FreeBSD. Others I'm sure have spent just as much as well. I'm also more than happy to let the community know of the result either way, because people need to know whether hardware vendors are willing to work with them to achieve a working platform solution with their hardware. I would really consider this request for support because X-Fi appears to be the target line for Creative in this day and age, and the Audigy line of Creative cards are slowly, but surely dying out in the market place. Thanks, -Garrett I've asked this question 2 years ago, and I got a similar response -- I was a bit annoyed at the time when I asked last night, so that's part of the curtness and gauntlet throwing behind my original request, because Creative has been providing poor customer support to end-users for years. The Linux folks are incredibly keen on getting device support into their kernel. Do you think we could pool our resources to get this problem solved, either via getting specs, supporting Hannu with OSS, or a reverse engineering effort? I am more than happy to learn and work out the requirements as I now have a worthless piece of hardware -- which is incredibly good -- but still worthless to me for my purposes. And I know I won't be the first one to come across this stumbling block in the future... Thanks, -Garrett