> Subject: Re: Sun4m Audio
> From: Greg Earle <earle@isolar.Tujunga.CA.US>
> 
> > What can I do to help bring about audio support on Sparc Station 5's?
> > 
> > I am currently running SunOS 4 on an SS5 and would very much like to
> > migrate to NetBSD-sparc, but require audio capabilities.  From looking
> > at the mailing list archives, it seems this has been on the back
> > burner for a long time.
> 
> Indeed ...
> 
> > I'm really tired of running a dead OS and have no desire to "upgrade"
> > to the hell that is Solaris 2.  I am aware that SparcLinux supports
> > audio on SS5's [...]
> 
> Couldn't someone steal the basics of how to deal with the chip from this
> driver (once again, how is it that the Linux folks get documentation on these
> chips/subsystems that lets them write drivers?)?

There seem to be two kinds of Sparc Audio.  The flavor used on the sun4c
systems is pretty simple, but the one used on sun4m's like the SS10/20 uses
the "DBRI" to drive the audio chip.  This is an AT&T ISDN driver chip of
some complexity that happens to be able send a bit stream to/from the audio
chip as one of it's tricks.  Getting docs for this chip out of AT&T and
getting it to do something useful is a considerable challenge...notice there's
no ISDN driver floating around either...  8-)

On the other hand, if the SS5 uses the older scheme, or there's a way to
bypass the DBRI and just pound bits at the sound chip directly, it might
not be too hard to get it working under *BSD, need to go look at the details.

							George