[PlanetCCRMA] A few questions - SB Audigy LS, Athlon 1400, dual boot

[Fernando Pablo Lopez-Lezcano]

> I then went straight to Best Buy to pick up a cheap soundcard, but because
> it was 5 minutes before closing, ended up with a mid range one (SB Audigy
> LS) - because it advertised 24 bit 96khz sound capability as well as Dolby
> 5.1.
> 
> After doing a little thinking about what to do next, I elected to put it on
> my "home" computer rather than my "work" computer (for obvious reasons).
> There are a couple of questions that I would like to have a little more info
> on before proceeding:
> 
> (Background info)
> [MUNCH]
> So my questions are:
> 
> 1.  Is the SB Audigy LS really capable of doing 24 bits with the current
> linux drivers, or would I be better off to take it back and just get a
> cheapo model or SB clone before I open the Audigy box?

I'm not really familiar with that particular card but I doubt you will
get real "pro" performace from it. The analog circuitry is inside the
computer so even if you can use 24 bits the last bits will probably be
just noise. I think it also shares the same internal architecture of the
SB Live in the sense that all processing is done internally at 48KHz, so
if your sources or destinations (even analog) are 44.1KHz the card will
do resampling for you. You can only get clean digital transfers and no
resampling if you work at 48KHz. That may or may not make a difference
for you. 

> 2.  Is the hardware "able to be isolated" such that I can keep the GL cards
> installed in the system and just not use them without undue impact to the
> systems performance?

That should not be a problem, I think. I think they will not use system
resources (ie: irq's, dma channels) because no driver will be available
on linux. As long as you have enough pci slots it should be fine. 

> 3.  I plan to partition my new hd into 3 parts, a Win2K partition (gives me
> something to copy to and upgrade later), a WinXP partition (let's me check
> out the GL driver without worrying about all the other diddling I've done in
> Win2K), and a Linux partition, so I can get on with the Linux stuff.   The
> question is:  is this a practical or workable solution?

Linux can coexist with WinXP or Win2K (install Windows first, then
Linux). I don't know if WinXP can coexist with Win2K, I imagine it
should :-) 

-- Fernando