[PlanetCCRMA] Last call - how you can get notified when a Gadget Labs linux driver is ready

[Mike Mazarick]

(I hate a weirdly formatted message as is seen in the archives.   The old
dos2unix problems never have gone away.   I'm resending this to make it
easier for some folks to read).

(I don't know why this didn't dawn on me earlier.. I've notified the Gadget
Labs and Alsa mailing lists, but I forgot to notify the biggest potential
audience...  the crowd around PlanetCCRMA!!)

There is a recently re-invigorated effort to create an alsa driver for the
Gadget Labs 8/24 cards (a long bankrupt company).  The card was 'state of
the art' around 1998-2001, and is similar to the Delta 1010 in
functionality. It has 24 bit converters, 44.1/48 khz sampling rate, 8
channels of audio in/out, a rack mounted breakout box, etc.  The most
important thing is that there is already source available for a known good
"rock solid" Windows XP driver for us to model the linux driver off of.

There is a small mailing list (~10 people subscribed) for this project, and
there are currently archives available of the old postings.    Because there
is some concern about security and 'trolls' stealing email addresses that
some members would prefer to keep private, the group will go 'private'
within 5 days (I'm extending it by a couple of days so that the Planeteers
can subscribe if they want to).   When this happens, the only people
notified of the progress and availability of the driver will be developers,
beta software testers, and PEOPLE WHO ARE SUBSCRIBED TO THE MAILING LIST.  I
don't believe the existing archives will be available to non-subscribers
when this happens.
 
Subscribing can be done here:
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wavepro-driver-developers

Project summary is here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wavepro-driver/

Project Web page is here:
http://wavepro-driver.sourceforge.net/

It dawned on me this weekend (Doh!) that using this card may be of interest
to someone who's running Planet CCRMA software, but is currently testing it
out on their motherboard soundcard or Soundblaster, and is thinking of
getting a more professional setup with more channels.    If you've already
got a Delta 1010 or a RME card, then I'd recommend staying with what you
have since the companies still exist.  GL cards currently go on ebay in the
$80-$130 range.    I've also just received 6 GL cards and breakout boxes
that I will give to people who help with this project at my cost (a little
less than the low end of ebay's pricing).   If you are interested in helping
in some way, please let me know.
 
The current plan is to do beta testing with a Planet CCRMA software load
installed, and to include the driver in Alsa tree once a driver exists.   It
appears to me that the existing group of people is fairly skilled in C/C++
software development who don't have experience with alsa or kernel
development (but can probably figure it out).  It's a 'small club', and you
may enjoy being a member of it as well as CCRMA.

 

-Mike Mazarick