aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/sound/alsa/seq_oss.html
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/sound/alsa/seq_oss.html')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/sound/alsa/seq_oss.html409
1 files changed, 409 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/sound/alsa/seq_oss.html b/Documentation/sound/alsa/seq_oss.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d9776cf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/sound/alsa/seq_oss.html
@@ -0,0 +1,409 @@
+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
+<HTML>
+<HEAD>
+ <TITLE>OSS Sequencer Emulation on ALSA</TITLE>
+</HEAD>
+<BODY>
+
+<CENTER>
+<H1>
+
+<HR WIDTH="100%"></H1></CENTER>
+
+<CENTER>
+<H1>
+OSS Sequencer Emulation on ALSA</H1></CENTER>
+
+<HR WIDTH="100%">
+<P>Copyright (c) 1998,1999 by Takashi Iwai
+<TT><A HREF="mailto:iwai@ww.uni-erlangen.de">&lt;iwai@ww.uni-erlangen.de></A></TT>
+<P>ver.0.1.8; Nov. 16, 1999
+<H2>
+
+<HR WIDTH="100%"></H2>
+
+<H2>
+1. Description</H2>
+This directory contains the OSS sequencer emulation driver on ALSA. Note
+that this program is still in the development state.
+<P>What this does - it provides the emulation of the OSS sequencer, access
+via
+<TT>/dev/sequencer</TT> and <TT>/dev/music</TT> devices.
+The most of applications using OSS can run if the appropriate ALSA
+sequencer is prepared.
+<P>The following features are emulated by this driver:
+<UL>
+<LI>
+Normal sequencer and MIDI events:</LI>
+
+<BR>They are converted to the ALSA sequencer events, and sent to the corresponding
+port.
+<LI>
+Timer events:</LI>
+
+<BR>The timer is not selectable by ioctl. The control rate is fixed to
+100 regardless of HZ. That is, even on Alpha system, a tick is always
+1/100 second. The base rate and tempo can be changed in <TT>/dev/music</TT>.
+
+<LI>
+Patch loading:</LI>
+
+<BR>It purely depends on the synth drivers whether it's supported since
+the patch loading is realized by callback to the synth driver.
+<LI>
+I/O controls:</LI>
+
+<BR>Most of controls are accepted. Some controls
+are dependent on the synth driver, as well as even on original OSS.</UL>
+Furthermore, you can find the following advanced features:
+<UL>
+<LI>
+Better queue mechanism:</LI>
+
+<BR>The events are queued before processing them.
+<LI>
+Multiple applications:</LI>
+
+<BR>You can run two or more applications simultaneously (even for OSS sequencer)!
+However, each MIDI device is exclusive - that is, if a MIDI device is opened
+once by some application, other applications can't use it. No such a restriction
+in synth devices.
+<LI>
+Real-time event processing:</LI>
+
+<BR>The events can be processed in real time without using out of bound
+ioctl. To switch to real-time mode, send ABSTIME 0 event. The followed
+events will be processed in real-time without queued. To switch off the
+real-time mode, send RELTIME 0 event.
+<LI>
+<TT>/proc</TT> interface:</LI>
+
+<BR>The status of applications and devices can be shown via <TT>/proc/asound/seq/oss</TT>
+at any time. In the later version, configuration will be changed via <TT>/proc</TT>
+interface, too.</UL>
+
+<H2>
+2. Installation</H2>
+Run configure script with both sequencer support (<TT>--with-sequencer=yes</TT>)
+and OSS emulation (<TT>--with-oss=yes</TT>) options. A module <TT>snd-seq-oss.o</TT>
+will be created. If the synth module of your sound card supports for OSS
+emulation (so far, only Emu8000 driver), this module will be loaded automatically.
+Otherwise, you need to load this module manually.
+<P>At beginning, this module probes all the MIDI ports which have been
+already connected to the sequencer. Once after that, the creation and deletion
+of ports are watched by announcement mechanism of ALSA sequencer.
+<P>The available synth and MIDI devices can be found in proc interface.
+Run "<TT>cat /proc/asound/seq/oss</TT>", and check the devices. For example,
+if you use an AWE64 card, you'll see like the following:
+<PRE>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; OSS sequencer emulation version 0.1.8
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ALSA client number 63
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ALSA receiver port 0
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Number of applications: 0
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Number of synth devices: 1
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; synth 0: [EMU8000]
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; type 0x1 : subtype 0x20 : voices 32
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; capabilties : ioctl enabled / load_patch enabled
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Number of MIDI devices: 3
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; midi 0: [Emu8000 Port-0] ALSA port 65:0
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; capability write / opened none
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; midi 1: [Emu8000 Port-1] ALSA port 65:1
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; capability write / opened none
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; midi 2: [0: MPU-401 (UART)] ALSA port 64:0
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; capability read/write / opened none</PRE>
+Note that the device number may be different from the information of
+<TT>/proc/asound/oss-devices</TT>
+or ones of the original OSS driver. Use the device number listed in <TT>/proc/asound/seq/oss</TT>
+to play via OSS sequencer emulation.
+<H2>
+3. Using Synthesizer Devices</H2>
+Run your favorite program. I've tested playmidi-2.4, awemidi-0.4.3, gmod-3.1
+and xmp-1.1.5. You can load samples via <TT>/dev/sequencer</TT> like sfxload,
+too.
+<P>If the lowlevel driver supports multiple access to synth devices (like
+Emu8000 driver), two or more applications are allowed to run at the same
+time.
+<H2>
+4. Using MIDI Devices</H2>
+So far, only MIDI output was tested. MIDI input was not checked at all,
+but hopefully it will work. Use the device number listed in <TT>/proc/asound/seq/oss</TT>.
+Be aware that these numbers are mostly different from the list in
+<TT>/proc/asound/oss-devices</TT>.
+<H2>
+5. Module Options</H2>
+The following module options are available:
+<UL>
+<LI>
+<TT>maxqlen</TT></LI>
+
+<BR>specifies the maximum read/write queue length. This queue is private
+for OSS sequencer, so that it is independent from the queue length of ALSA
+sequencer. Default value is 1024.
+<LI>
+<TT>seq_oss_debug</TT></LI>
+
+<BR>specifies the debug level and accepts zero (= no debug message) or
+positive integer. Default value is 0.</UL>
+
+<H2>
+6. Queue Mechanism</H2>
+OSS sequencer emulation uses an ALSA priority queue. The
+events from <TT>/dev/sequencer</TT> are processed and put onto the queue
+specified by module option.
+<P>All the events from <TT>/dev/sequencer</TT> are parsed at beginning.
+The timing events are also parsed at this moment, so that the events may
+be processed in real-time. Sending an event ABSTIME 0 switches the operation
+mode to real-time mode, and sending an event RELTIME 0 switches it off.
+In the real-time mode, all events are dispatched immediately.
+<P>The queued events are dispatched to the corresponding ALSA sequencer
+ports after scheduled time by ALSA sequencer dispatcher.
+<P>If the write-queue is full, the application sleeps until a certain amount
+(as default one half) becomes empty in blocking mode. The synchronization
+to write timing was implemented, too.
+<P>The input from MIDI devices or echo-back events are stored on read FIFO
+queue. If application reads <TT>/dev/sequencer</TT> in blocking mode, the
+process will be awaked.
+
+<H2>
+7. Interface to Synthesizer Device</H2>
+
+<H3>
+7.1. Registration</H3>
+To register an OSS synthesizer device, use <TT>snd_seq_oss_synth_register</TT>
+function.
+<PRE>int snd_seq_oss_synth_register(char *name, int type, int subtype, int nvoices,
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; snd_seq_oss_callback_t *oper, void *private_data)</PRE>
+The arguments <TT>name</TT>, <TT>type</TT>, <TT>subtype</TT> and
+<TT>nvoices</TT>
+are used for making the appropriate synth_info structure for ioctl. The
+return value is an index number of this device. This index must be remembered
+for unregister. If registration is failed, -errno will be returned.
+<P>To release this device, call <TT>snd_seq_oss_synth_unregister function</TT>:
+<PRE>int snd_seq_oss_synth_unregister(int index),</PRE>
+where the <TT>index</TT> is the index number returned by register function.
+<H3>
+7.2. Callbacks</H3>
+OSS synthesizer devices have capability for sample downloading and ioctls
+like sample reset. In OSS emulation, these special features are realized
+by using callbacks. The registration argument oper is used to specify these
+callbacks. The following callback functions must be defined:
+<PRE>snd_seq_oss_callback_t:
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int (*open)(snd_seq_oss_arg_t *p, void *closure);
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int (*close)(snd_seq_oss_arg_t *p);
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int (*ioctl)(snd_seq_oss_arg_t *p, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg);
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int (*load_patch)(snd_seq_oss_arg_t *p, int format, const char *buf, int offs, int count);
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int (*reset)(snd_seq_oss_arg_t *p);
+Except for <TT>open</TT> and <TT>close</TT> callbacks, they are allowed
+to be NULL.
+<P>Each callback function takes the argument type snd_seq_oss_arg_t as the
+first argument.
+<PRE>struct snd_seq_oss_arg_t {
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int app_index;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int file_mode;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int seq_mode;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; snd_seq_addr_t addr;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; void *private_data;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; int event_passing;
+};</PRE>
+The first three fields, <TT>app_index</TT>, <TT>file_mode</TT> and
+<TT>seq_mode</TT>
+are initialized by OSS sequencer. The <TT>app_index</TT> is the application
+index which is unique to each application opening OSS sequencer. The
+<TT>file_mode</TT>
+is bit-flags indicating the file operation mode. See
+<TT>seq_oss.h</TT>
+for its meaning. The <TT>seq_mode</TT> is sequencer operation mode. In
+the current version, only <TT>SND_OSSSEQ_MODE_SYNTH</TT> is used.
+<P>The next two fields, <TT>addr</TT> and <TT>private_data</TT>, must be
+filled by the synth driver at open callback. The <TT>addr</TT> contains
+the address of ALSA sequencer port which is assigned to this device. If
+the driver allocates memory for <TT>private_data</TT>, it must be released
+in close callback by itself.
+<P>The last field, <TT>event_passing</TT>, indicates how to translate note-on
+/ off events. In <TT>PROCESS_EVENTS</TT> mode, the note 255 is regarded
+as velocity change, and key pressure event is passed to the port. In <TT>PASS_EVENTS</TT>
+mode, all note on/off events are passed to the port without modified. <TT>PROCESS_KEYPRESS</TT>
+mode checks the note above 128 and regards it as key pressure event (mainly
+for Emu8000 driver).
+<H4>
+7.2.1. Open Callback</H4>
+The <TT>open</TT> is called at each time this device is opened by an application
+using OSS sequencer. This must not be NULL. Typically, the open callback
+does the following procedure:
+<OL>
+<LI>
+Allocate private data record.</LI>
+
+<LI>
+Create an ALSA sequencer port.</LI>
+
+<LI>
+Set the new port address on arg->addr.</LI>
+
+<LI>
+Set the private data record pointer on arg->private_data.</LI>
+</OL>
+Note that the type bit-flags in port_info of this synth port must NOT contain
+<TT>TYPE_MIDI_GENERIC</TT>
+bit. Instead, <TT>TYPE_SPECIFIC</TT> should be used. Also, <TT>CAP_SUBSCRIPTION</TT>
+bit should NOT be included, too. This is necessary to tell it from other
+normal MIDI devices. If the open procedure succeeded, return zero. Otherwise,
+return -errno.
+<H4>
+7.2.2 Ioctl Callback</H4>
+The <TT>ioctl</TT> callback is called when the sequencer receives device-specific
+ioctls. The following two ioctls should be processed by this callback:
+<UL>
+<LI>
+<TT>IOCTL_SEQ_RESET_SAMPLES</TT></LI>
+
+<BR>reset all samples on memory -- return 0
+<LI>
+<TT>IOCTL_SYNTH_MEMAVL</TT></LI>
+
+<BR>return the available memory size
+<LI>
+<TT>FM_4OP_ENABLE</TT></LI>
+
+<BR>can be ignored usually</UL>
+The other ioctls are processed inside the sequencer without passing to
+the lowlevel driver.
+<H4>
+7.2.3 Load_Patch Callback</H4>
+The <TT>load_patch</TT> callback is used for sample-downloading. This callback
+must read the data on user-space and transfer to each device. Return 0
+if succeeded, and -errno if failed. The format argument is the patch key
+in patch_info record. The buf is user-space pointer where patch_info record
+is stored. The offs can be ignored. The count is total data size of this
+sample data.
+<H4>
+7.2.4 Close Callback</H4>
+The <TT>close</TT> callback is called when this device is closed by the
+applicaion. If any private data was allocated in open callback, it must
+be released in the close callback. The deletion of ALSA port should be
+done here, too. This callback must not be NULL.
+<H4>
+7.2.5 Reset Callback</H4>
+The <TT>reset</TT> callback is called when sequencer device is reset or
+closed by applications. The callback should turn off the sounds on the
+relevant port immediately, and initialize the status of the port. If this
+callback is undefined, OSS seq sends a <TT>HEARTBEAT</TT> event to the
+port.
+<H3>
+7.3 Events</H3>
+Most of the events are processed by sequencer and translated to the adequate
+ALSA sequencer events, so that each synth device can receive by input_event
+callback of ALSA sequencer port. The following ALSA events should be implemented
+by the driver:
+<BR>&nbsp;
+<TABLE BORDER WIDTH="75%" NOSAVE >
+<TR NOSAVE>
+<TD NOSAVE><B>ALSA event</B></TD>
+
+<TD><B>Original OSS events</B></TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD>NOTEON</TD>
+
+<TD>SEQ_NOTEON
+<BR>MIDI_NOTEON</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD>NOTE</TD>
+
+<TD>SEQ_NOTEOFF
+<BR>MIDI_NOTEOFF</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR NOSAVE>
+<TD NOSAVE>KEYPRESS</TD>
+
+<TD>MIDI_KEY_PRESSURE</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR NOSAVE>
+<TD>CHANPRESS</TD>
+
+<TD NOSAVE>SEQ_AFTERTOUCH
+<BR>MIDI_CHN_PRESSURE</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR NOSAVE>
+<TD NOSAVE>PGMCHANGE</TD>
+
+<TD NOSAVE>SEQ_PGMCHANGE
+<BR>MIDI_PGM_CHANGE</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD>PITCHBEND</TD>
+
+<TD>SEQ_CONTROLLER(CTRL_PITCH_BENDER)
+<BR>MIDI_PITCH_BEND</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD>CONTROLLER</TD>
+
+<TD>MIDI_CTL_CHANGE
+<BR>SEQ_BALANCE (with CTL_PAN)</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD>CONTROL14</TD>
+
+<TD>SEQ_CONTROLLER</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD>REGPARAM</TD>
+
+<TD>SEQ_CONTROLLER(CTRL_PITCH_BENDER_RANGE)</TD>
+</TR>
+
+<TR>
+<TD>SYSEX</TD>
+
+<TD>SEQ_SYSEX</TD>
+</TR>
+</TABLE>
+
+<P>The most of these behavior can be realized by MIDI emulation driver
+included in the Emu8000 lowlevel driver. In the future release, this module
+will be independent.
+<P>Some OSS events (<TT>SEQ_PRIVATE</TT> and <TT>SEQ_VOLUME</TT> events) are passed as event
+type SND_SEQ_OSS_PRIVATE. The OSS sequencer passes these event 8 byte
+packets without any modification. The lowlevel driver should process these
+events appropriately.
+<H2>
+8. Interface to MIDI Device</H2>
+Since the OSS emulation probes the creation and deletion of ALSA MIDI sequencer
+ports automatically by receiving announcement from ALSA sequencer, the
+MIDI devices don't need to be registered explicitly like synth devices.
+However, the MIDI port_info registered to ALSA sequencer must include a group
+name <TT>SND_SEQ_GROUP_DEVICE</TT> and a capability-bit <TT>CAP_READ</TT> or
+<TT>CAP_WRITE</TT>. Also, subscription capabilities, <TT>CAP_SUBS_READ</TT> or <TT>CAP_SUBS_WRITE</TT>,
+must be defined, too. If these conditions are not satisfied, the port is not
+registered as OSS sequencer MIDI device.
+<P>The events via MIDI devices are parsed in OSS sequencer and converted
+to the corresponding ALSA sequencer events. The input from MIDI sequencer
+is also converted to MIDI byte events by OSS sequencer. This works just
+a reverse way of seq_midi module.
+<H2>
+9. Known Problems / TODO's</H2>
+
+<UL>
+<LI>
+Patch loading via ALSA instrument layer is not implemented yet.</LI>
+</UL>
+
+</BODY>
+</HTML>