ESS(4)

📦
version 11.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💖 ESS(4) — the Kernel Interfaces Manual, but make it bestie 💖

okay so this is ess(4) from the Kernel Interfaces Manual, and we're gonna get you comfy with the ESS Technology AudioDrive family audio device driver. pull up a chair, bestie 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

ess — ESS Technology AudioDrive family audio device driver. like, the whole fam 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

ess*   at isapnp?
ess*   at pnpbios? index ?
ess*   at ofisa?
audio* at audiobus?
opl*   at ess?

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The ess driver provides support for the ESS 1788, 1888, 1887, and 888 AudioDrive audio devices. iconic lineup, honestly 👑

Vibe check on duplex: the AudioDrive 1788 is a half-duplex device, while the 1888, 1887, and 888 are full-duplex. All are capable of 8- and 16-bit audio sample recording and playback at rates up to 44.1kHz. slay 💖

The AudioDrive takes 16 I/O ports. The I/O port range, IRQ, and DRQ channels are set by the driver to the values specified in the configuration file (or for isapnp, pnpbios, or ofisa, the values assigned from the firmware). lowkey important, so here's the whole checklist:

  • The I/O port base must be one of 0x220, 0x230, 0x240, 0x250.
  • The IRQ must be one of 5, 7, 9, 10 (or 15 on the 1887 only).
  • The first DRQ channel must be selected from 0, 1, 3.
  • The second DRQ channel (used for playback by the full-duplex 1888/1887, ignored by the 1788) can additionally be set to 5.
  • If both DRQ channels are used they must be different.

The joystick interface (if enabled) is handled by the joy(4) driver. cute little handoff 🎮

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

👑 HISTORY 👑

The ess device driver appeared in NetBSD 1.4. a whole era, fr fr ✨

💀 BUGS 💀

⚠️ okay bestie, listen: the AudioDrive devices have a SoundBlaster compatibility mode, and may be detected by the SoundBlaster driver (see sb(4)) rather than the AudioDrive driver. The workaround is to remove the SoundBlaster driver from the kernel configuration. not me being messy but that's the fix 💅

mwah 💋 this page is source/version Debian, dated August 25, 2020, and it's ESS(4) — thanks for reading, bestie 🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from