SND_ATIIXP(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ SND_ATIIXP 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to snd_atiixp(4) — the ATI IXP bridge device driver, aka the little kernel dude that lets your sound card actually talk to the rest of the system. this is a Kernel Interfaces Manual page, and yes it's giving "old but iconic". 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

snd_atiixp — ATI IXP bridge device driver

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

so there's two ways to get this driver living in your kernel, and you get to pick your vibe.

option one: compile it in. drop these lines into your kernel config file:

device sound
device snd_atiixp

option two: load it as a module at boot time. put this single line into loader.conf(5):

snd_atiixp_load="YES"

either way works, no cap. 🫶

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

the snd_atiixp bridge driver is the matchmaker here — it lets the generic audio driver, sound(4), attach itself to ATI IXP audio devices. literally its whole job. 💖

and what does it support? glad you asked:

  • 16bit playback and recording — yep, works
  • 32bit native playback and recording — yep, also works

(hold that 32bit thought, we're coming back to it in BUGS. foreshadowing. 🍓)

🦋 Runtime Configuration 🦋

okay so besides all the sysctl(8) variables that literally every sound(4) device gets, there's this one extra:

  • dev.pcm.%d.polling — experimental polling mode, where the driver operates by querying the device state on each tick using callout(9). polling is disabled by default.
💀 bestie listen. do not turn this on unless you're facing weird interrupt problems, or the device literally cannot generate interrupts at all. it's experimental for a reason. this is not a "just for funsies" toggle. 🙈

👑 HARDWARE 👑

the snd_atiixp driver supports these audio chipsets:

  • ATI IXP 200
  • ATI IXP 300
  • ATI IXP 400

three icons, all ate. ⭐

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

💜 HISTORY 💜

the snd_atiixp device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 6.1. a legend from day one. ✨

🧚 AUTHORS 🧚

this manual page was written by Joel Dahl <joel@FreeBSD.org>. thank you for your service king 🫶

😭 BUGS 😭

okay so the not-so-slay parts, we're keeping it real:

  • the snd_atiixp driver does not support S/PDIF. but implementing it should be fairly easy if the right hardware is available, so like... if you have the hardware, the door is open. 👀
  • 32bit native recording is broken on some hardware. yeah. that one. it's a known thing. 🍓

and that's the whole page bestie, you're officially an ATI IXP expert now 💅 this one came from the Debian manual set, dated November 29, 2006, filed under SND_ATIIXP(4). vintage, but make it useful. 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from