AC97(4)

💖 AC97(4) — ac97 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the AC97(4) page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual. this is where we stan ac97, the generic AC97 codec driver. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

ac97 — generic AC97 codec driver 🎀

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

AC97 codecs contain the analog-to-digital (A/D), digital-to-analog (D/A), and mixing circuitry of many modern sound cards. literally the analog glow-up lives here. 💅

For the most part, AC97 codecs do not talk to host busses like the PCI bus directly. instead, they communicate through an interface chip called the host controller. The Ensoniq AudioPCI 97 (see eap(4)) is an example of such a host controller. iconic teamwork, no cap. 🫶

Unlike many drivers, the ac97 driver does not appear in the configuration file. instead, the driver is automatically attached by the drivers that require it. so it doesn't need a main-character entrance — it gets pulled in by the drivers that need it. 🌈

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

• auacer(4)
• auich(4)
• auixp(4)
• autri(4)
• auvia(4)
• clcs(4)
• clct(4)
• eap(4)
• emuxki(4)
• esa(4)
• esm(4)
• fms(4)
• neo(4)
• yds(4)

💀 BUGS 💀

• The ac97 driver does not keep track of the current user settings and instead relies on the hardware to do this. so the hardware is holding that info, not the driver. 🙈
• The ac97 driver could do more to detect mixer channels that don't work and cull them from the list. lowkey it could be more selective, but that's the note. 😭

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and that's the page, bestie: Debian, October 7, 1999, AC97(4). mwah 💋