Subject: Sound card stream design questions
To: None <tech-kern@netbsd.org>
From: Wouter Klouwen <dublet@dublet.org>
List: tech-kern
Date: 10/06/2004 10:12:51
Dear list,

as a select few of you already know, I have in part been working on a sound
card driver. Due to time constraints this has so far led me nowhere quite
quickly. One of the major stumbling blocks I have encountered is the lack of
documentation on how one can, or even should, create the internal workings
of such a driver.

The base skeleton of the driver is finished so far, by borrowing some code
from emuxki(4). However, looking at how it handles streams makes want to
know what exactly it does. :)
Looking at several other sound card drivers it is clear that there is no one
way on how to solve this problem. In my quests for the design questions I
have not yet encountered anything which would actually help me beyond what I
already know.

Yes, I have read audio(9), but it doesn't handle or mention these things. I
have read several OS development books, but no sound card gets a proper
mention. I have read several driver creation books, but no sound card design
issues, beyond that it needs to be a char device.

So in my quest for clear documentation about this subject, I have been
unable to find anything relevant, so I will create documentation before I
will continue with any implementation.

Any help and enlightenment, especially from the emuxki(4) creators, would 
be much appreciated.

Regards,
	Wouter