Re: The imperfect beauty of NetBSD

[matthew sporleder <msporleder%gmail.com@localhost>]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 7:47 PM, Alex Goncharov
<alex-goncharov%comcast.net@localhost> wrote:
> ,--- I/Alex (Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:24:42 -0500) ----*
> | Started to look for "something else".  Checked what could be booted:
> |
> |   * FreeBSD 8.0 -- no...
> |   * NetBSD 5.0 -- yes..
> |   * OpenSolaris -- yes, with plenty of caveats.
> |
> | Wanted to give OpenSolaris another (re past approaches) try.  Was
> | giving it for a month.  Much better than before -- however,
> | reluctantly, this past weekend I decided that it was still, as usual,
> | "not there".  With deep regrets decided to replace it with FreeBSD
> | 8-CURRENT, if that could work, or NetBSD (I knew it would.)
> |
> | Put the freshest FreeBSD 8-CURRENT snapshot on a memory stick, tried
> | to boot: a panic early in the kernel.
> |
> | OK, this left me with no choice -- NetBSD it be.
>
> [ Spoke too soon?.. ]
>
> Comparing what I see in NetBSD with what I saw in OpenSolaris:
>
>  * Bootup: Of course, NetBSD boots nicer (IMHO). Not a deal breaker,
>    though.
>
>  * ACPI: OpenSolaris is probably more error-verbose, but there is no
>    fundamental difference here: personally, I won't use NetBSD in
>    earnest with the kind of issues I documented in PR 42583.
>
>  * System power-off: identical -- neither one works.  Not a deal
>    breaker for me.
>
>  * Sound (a deal breaker for me):
>
>    ** OpenSolaris has huge issues with the audiohd driver, slowly
>       being worked on.  Still, with certain art applied, the sound
>       is fully functional -- I could comfortably watch and listen to
>       news video clips.
>
>    ** NetBSD seems not to work here at all:
>
> ----------------------------------------
> pcictl pci0 list | grep -i audio
> =>
> 000:27:0: Intel 82801I High Definition Audio Controller (multimedia subclass 
> 0x03, revision 0x03)
>
> ls -l /dev/audio*
> =>
> lrwx------  1 root  wheel        6 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audio -> audio0
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 128 Jan  6 14:13 /dev/audio0
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 129 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audio1
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 130 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audio2
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 131 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audio3
> lrwx------  1 root  wheel        9 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audioctl -> audioctl0
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 192 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audioctl0
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 193 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audioctl1
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 194 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audioctl2
> crw-rw-rw-  1 root  wheel  42, 195 Jan  2 19:11 /dev/audioctl3
>
> file /usr/pkg/lib/python2.5/test/audiotest.au
> =>
> /usr/pkg/lib/python2.5/test/audiotest.au: Sun/NeXT audio data: 8-bit ISDN 
> mu-law, mono, 8000 Hz
>
> time cat /usr/pkg/lib/python2.5/test/audiotest.au > /dev/audio
> =>
> [ silence ]
> real    0m2.912s
> user    0m0.001s
> sys     0m0.001s
>
> dmesg | egrep -i 'sound|audio'
> =>
> [ nothing ]
>
> sysctl -a |  egrep -i 'sound|audio'
> =>
> kern.drivers = [160 -1 crypto], [161 -1 pf], [163 163 fss], [164 -1 pps], 
> [165 -1 ptm], [166 -1 atabus], [167 -1 drvctl], [168 168 dk], [169 -1 tap], 
> [170 -1 veriexec], [171 -1 fw], [172 -1 ucycom], [173 -1 gpio], [174 -1 
> utoppy], [175 -1 bthub], [176 -1 amr], [177 -1 lockstat], [178 -1 putter], 
> [179 -1 srt], [180 -1 drm], [181 -1 bio], [182 182 altmem], [187 -1 twa], 
> [188 -1 cpuctl], [189 -1 pad], [190 190 zfs], [191 -1 tprof], [192 -1 isv], 
> [193 -1 video], [194 169 dm], [195 -1 hdaudio], [0 -1 cons], [1 -1 ctty], [2 
> -1 mem], [3 0 wd], [4 1 swap], [5 -1 pts], [6 -1 ptc], [7 -1 log], [8 -1 
> com], [9 2 fd], [10 3 wt], [12 -1 pc], [13 4 sd], [14 5 st], [15 6 cd], [16 
> -1 lpt], [17 -1 ch], [18 16 ccd], [19 -1 ss], [20 -1 uk], [22 -1 filedesc], 
> [23 -1 bpf], [24 17 md], [27 -1 spkr], [38 -1 cy], [39 7 mcd], [40 -1 tun], 
> [41 14 vnd], [42 -1 audio], [43 -1 svr4_net], [44 -1 ipl], [45 -1 satlink], 
> [46 -1 rnd], [47 -1 wsdisplay], [48 -1 wskbd], [49 -1 wsmouse], [50 -1 isdn], 
> [51 -1 isdn
>  ctl], [52 -1 isdnbchan], [53 -1 isdntrc], [54 -1 isdntel], [55 -1 usb], [56 
> -1 uhid], [57 -1 ulpt], [58 -1 midi], [59 -1 sequencer], [60 -1 vcoda], [61 
> -1 scsibus], [62 18 raid], [63 -1 esh], [64 -1 ugen], [65 -1 wsmux], [66 -1 
> ucom], [67 -1 sysmon], [69 19 ld], [70 -1 urio], [71 -1 bktr], [73 -1 cz], 
> [74 -1 ses], [75 -1 uscanner], [76 -1 iop], [77 -1 altq], [78 -1 mlx], [79 -1 
> clockctl], [81 20 cgd], [82 -1 agp], [83 -1 pci], [84 -1 irframe], [85 -1 
> ksyms], [86 -1 wsfont], [87 -1 mly], [88 -1 dpti], [89 -1 joy], [90 -1 cir], 
> [91 -1 radio], [92 -1 kttcp], [96 -1 dpt], [97 -1 twe], [98 -1 nsmb], [141 -1 
> xenevt], [142 142 xbd], [143 -1 xencons]
>
> ----------------------------------------

Can you check to see if the volume is on/enabled with mixerctl?