[Sunhelp] SunPCi board and audio

[patl at Phoenix.Volant.ORG]

On 17-Aug-00 at 13:38, Bill Bradford (mrbill at mrbill.net) wrote:
> > I somehow missed the original question.  From the quote above, I'm
> > guessing some sort of problem playing MP3 files.  I've had no problem
> > using WinAmp with headphones or my old cheap speakers.
>
> Are you using the 1.2 or the 1.3EA software?  I pkgrm'ed 1.3EA and
> reinstalled 1.2 last night, but now I get a "DISK BOOT ERROR" when
> trying to startup the SunPCi software (even tho my disk files re
> there, and fine....)

1.2.2  I'm not running Win 2000; so I didn't see any advantage to
trying 1.3.

> > (I am having some trouble with my new Yamaha USB speakers though - after
> > a few minutes of continuous MP3 or RealAudio I completely loose audio
> > output, even if I switch back to the ES1869.  I usually have to reboot
> > to get it back.)
> 
> Using a powered USB hub?

Yep.  A 7 port Inland.  And the speakers work for extended periods if
I don't try any continuous output.  (I.e., With just the Windows sound
effects on.)  Also, it is kind of odd that when it stops, I lose all
audio output, even through the ES1869.  On the surface, it would appear
to be some sort of driver problem; but it doesn't happen when I attach
the speakers to a friend's Hitachi notebook.  (Which has exactly the
same set of OS updates; and pretty much the same set of additional
software active.)

I'm also occasionally seeing Windows get into a state where it doesn't
refresh the screen.  Sometimes Ctrl-Alt-Del will bring up the dialog
and show that RealPlay is not responding.  When that happens, clicking
End Task seems to fix it.  (Note that this happens whether or not I'm
running the Real player - it looks like it installs something that is
started at login time and runs in the background with an icon in the
system tray.)  Other times the C-A-D dialog doesn't show anything out
of the ordinary; and sometimes it doesn't come up at all and I have to
Reset via the SunPCi menu.

> > Is there some reason that xmms (http://www.xmms.org/) on the SPARC
> > side isn't sufficient?
> 
> I like WinAmp better.  XMMS tends to crash my entire X session and
> leave me back at dtlogin.

Ick.  Did you compile it yourself or install the pre-built binary?


-Pat