OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Multimedia => Topic started by: Pete on September 29, 2024, 11:06:56 pm

Title: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on September 29, 2024, 11:06:56 pm
Hi All

Probably a question for Rick to answer but if anyone else knows...

I have Dell SB521A soundbar - https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/dell-slim-soundbar-sb521a/apd/520-aasi/pc-accessories - on order which has a usb power and audio connector, no separate audio lead.

Will aswitch.exe recognise already attached usb speakers at boot and do it's thing to output audio via usb or will I have to faff around unplugging/replugging usb speaker lead to get it to work?


Regards

Pete


Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Rich Walsh on September 30, 2024, 12:57:24 am
Will aswitch.exe recognise already attached usb speakers at boot and do it's thing to output audio via usb

It _should_ work as described, but...

If the soundbar is the only speaker you'll ever use, why not open 'Multimedia Setup' to the "USB Adapter Wave" page and make that the default audio device? If this is AOS 5.0.3(?) or later, this will work as expected. On eCS, MCP, etc, the checkbox is broken so 'aswitch.exe' is needed.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on September 30, 2024, 01:32:15 am
Hi Rich

Hmmmm.... What "USB Adapter Wave" page? - I suspect that page only appears if a USB Audio Device is installed.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on September 30, 2024, 04:00:11 pm
Hi Rich

Hmmmm.... What "USB Adapter Wave" page? - I suspect that page only appears if a USB Audio Device is installed.


Regards

Pete

No, it appears if the USB Audio Driver is properly installed (including the necessary updates to MMPM2.INI). The MMOS2 subsystem has no way of knowing if a USB audio device is inserted or not.
But you need to activate a certain sound driver (UNIAUD or USBAUD) in order to support streaming of data to/from the devices that are attached to that driver.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on September 30, 2024, 09:40:38 pm
Hi Lars

Thanks, that has "muddied the water" very well  :-)

The situation is fairly simple: On an existing working system I am replacing a pair of desktop speakers with a soundbar.

The desktop speakers have a power connector and (standard) stereo mini-jack audio connector.

The soundbar has only 1 usb connector for power and audio.

So, I need a way to route the audio output from existing soundchip (using uniaud) to the usb connected soundbar.

Do I need the USB Audio Driver installed as well?


Regards

Pete


Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: David McKenna on September 30, 2024, 10:36:03 pm
Pete,

  Yes, you need to install the USB audio driver using Minstall. Once installed, after rebooting you should have a tab in the 'Multimedia Setup' app (in the System Setup folder) called 'USB Adapter Wave'. Make that the default Waveaudio device and sounds should come through your soundbar.

Regards,
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Rich Walsh on September 30, 2024, 11:55:23 pm
> you need to install the USB audio driver using Minstall.

Easier:
- mount your AOS ISO
- open 'Programs\Multimedia\Multimedia Installer'
- click on "Audio Drivers on your ArcaOS DVD/ISO"
- on the dropdown list that appears, install both:
  * Enhanced USB Audio - device support
  * Enhanced USB Audio - sample rate support
  (these are from Lars' USB Audio package)

Bonus: this will also clean 'mmpm2.ini' after installation is done.

For those who want to do a cleanup without actually installing anything, select a sound driver you DO NOT have installed, then press "Install/Remove". On the next popup screen select "Remove", then OK.  It won't complain if the driver can't be found and will proceed to do cleanup, then tell you it's done.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: David McKenna on October 01, 2024, 01:15:30 am
 Hey Rich,

  That's good to know - thanks for the tip!

Regards,
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 02, 2024, 04:05:00 pm
Hi All

Thanks for all suggestions. Sadly neither setting USB Adapter Wave as Default or using aswitch.exe work...

Yes, the soundbar works in Windows - recognised on boot without user interference.

Any other tweaks/tricks I can try?


Regards

Pete


Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 02, 2024, 05:45:28 pm
Hi All

I may have found the cause of no sound with this usb soundbar.

I'm guessing but think the following applies:-

     usbaudio.sys supports usb1
     usbaud2.sys supports usb2
  There is no "usbaud3.sys" ie a driver to support usb3 - this is a usb3 only system, no uhci, ohci or ehci controllers.

Is the above the cause of no sound output using USB Adapter Wave as Default?


Also a guess but think that aswitch.exe only works with usb1 and usb2 as it does not work here.


Regards

Pete


Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Rich Walsh on October 02, 2024, 08:39:33 pm
I may have found the cause of no sound with this usb soundbar.
I'm guessing but think the following applies:-

Too much speculation...

'usbaudio.sys' supports the USB Audio Standard v1.0 which is implemented by nearly all USB audio devices. 'usbaud2.sys' supports the USB Audio Standard v2.0 and is only implemented by a few newer, high-end devices. The standard operates independently of the transport, so whether you have USB2 or USB3 is irrelevant. (Also, it's highly unlikely you have a "USB3-only" system. Rather, you only have xHCI controllers which typically support both USB2 and USB3.)

Since the datasheet for the soundbar makes no mention of which standard it uses (and it connects to your USB ports using a USB-A connector), it's almost certainly a USB Audio v1.0 device.

Some of the more likely causes of the problem are:
* some machines have USB3-only ports as well as USB2/3 ports: maybe your device is plugged into the wrong one.
* your USB stack is back-level: IIRC, AN's drivers had problems (now fixed) with isochronous connections which are used for audio.
* you have garden-variety settings issues in uniaud: use PMUnimix to set all available input volumes to max
* perhaps your driver installation failed (though I doubt it): confirm both driver lines appear in config.sys and aren't duplicated; open 'mmpm2.ini' and confirm you have sections for "WMBWAVEUSB01" and "WMBWAVE2USB01".

FWIW... I have an xHCI-only system and it all WFM.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 03, 2024, 01:16:24 am
Hi Rich

Glad your setup works for you - gives me hope  :-)

The soundbar is made as an accessory for my monitor and is supplied with a very short captive usb(3? - internal colour is blue) lead which plugs into any of the 4 usb3 ports built into the monitor. The monitor's usb3 hub is connected to the system box using a usb3 lead into a usb3 port.

I tried plugging the soundbar into the system box usb2 ports, doublechecked USB Adapter Wave was set as Default Waveaudio device and Rebooted - no sound. Yes, the usb2 ports are known to work as they are located at front of box and get used for flash drive access frequently.

As the driver level could be the problem, I updated to 12.16 (was using AN 12.14)
Following a reboot there was still no sound

I also downloaded USBAUDIO-12.16.exe which unpackaged itself into \MMOS2\INSTALL\usbaudio but did not install any files anywhere.
I replaced the usbaudio.sys/sym files in \mmos2 with the files from \MMOS2\INSTALL\usbaudio and rebooted.

The Desktop Startup sound almost played - started but cut off about 66% of the way through.

Opening Sound I see the Current scheme has gone missing (shows <none>) but selecting a selecting a sound always ends up with a \desktop\ sound.

Sadly the sound produced when Play is clicked on any selected sound is definitely not the noise intended.

Do I need to "clean up" the mmos2 setup? - I have the files from the Enhanced USB audio packages installed although I am not using the drivers from the package.

Should I MInstall the USBAUDIO-12.16 files?

Or is this a case of opening a ticket an AN?


Thanks for your thoughts

Pete



Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Rich Walsh on October 03, 2024, 10:00:00 pm
As the driver level could be the problem, I updated to 12.16 (was using AN 12.14)
Following a reboot there was still no sound

I also downloaded USBAUDIO-12.16.exe which unpackaged itself into \MMOS2\INSTALL\usbaudio but did not install any files anywhere. I replaced the usbaudio.sys/sym files in \mmos2 with the files from \MMOS2\INSTALL\usbaudio and rebooted.

'USBAUDIO-12.16.exe' is the old IBM driver that lacks Lars' additional features. Do not intall it. Also, *.sym exist solely to make debug reports more intelligible. They are completely passive (and generally unused), so copying in the wrong ones isn't helping anything.

Quote
The Desktop Startup sound almost played - started but cut off about 66% of the way through.

So, you rebooted and got no sound, then did something that had no effect and rebooted. Voila, sound! Are you sure you didn't do anything else?

Quote
Do I need to "clean up" the mmos2 setup?

Messing-around when you don't know the correct configuration is seldom helpful.

Quote
I have the files from the Enhanced USB audio packages installed although I am not using the drivers from the package.

What does this mean? If the Enhanced USB audio packages are installed, how can you not be using its drivers?

At this point, I can only think of two possibilities:

* unlikely: maybe this is a USB Audio v2 device. With no audio streams open, set "UAC2 Adapter Wave" as the default in MM Setup, close it, then play a sound. If this fails, go back to "USB Adapter Wave".

* likely: perhaps there are still problems with xHCI isochronous transfers. File a bug report.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 04, 2024, 09:00:25 am
If you have lsusb.exe installed, have it dump the descriptor info (with the audio device inserted of course). That will allow to check if it is a class 1 or class 2 device.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 04, 2024, 09:47:39 am
plus, if you want, post your MMPM2.INI file.
By the way, did you regularly install the sound drivers (not just copying the driver file)? The package that I provided also installs a replacement for AUDIOIF.DLL (called USBAUDIF.DLL) and an SPI update that is matched to USBAUDIF.DLL.
Your MMPM2.INI will tell.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 04, 2024, 11:04:54 pm
Hi Lars

I used the Programs -> Multimedia -> Multimedia Installer to select and Install both the Enhanced USB Audio packages from the ArcaOS5.1 iso file, mmpm2.ini looks fine with sections for WMBWAVEUSB01, WMBWAVE2USB01 and
[defaultnames]
 Waveaudio=WMBWAVEUSB01
 Ampmix=WMBAMPMIXUSB01


The lsusb output for this soundbar:-

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 413c:a510 Dell Computer Corp.
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x413c Dell Computer Corp.
  idProduct          0xa510
  bcdDevice            2.06
  iManufacturer           3
  iProduct                1
  iSerial                 2
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength       0x0080
    bNumInterfaces          2
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          4 DELL Slim Soundbar SB521A
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      1 Control Device
      bInterfaceProtocol      0
      iInterface              6 DELL Slim Soundbar SB521A
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (HEADER)
        bcdADC               1.00
        wTotalLength       0x003a
        bInCollection           1
        baInterfaceNr(0)        1
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                12
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (INPUT_TERMINAL)
        bTerminalID            14
        wTerminalType      0x0101 USB Streaming
        bAssocTerminal          0
        bNrChannels             2
        wChannelConfig     0x0003
          Left Front (L)
          Right Front (R)
        iChannelNames           0
        iTerminal              18 Speaker
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      3 (OUTPUT_TERMINAL)
        bTerminalID            15
        wTerminalType      0x0301 Speaker
        bAssocTerminal         14
        bSourceID               4
        iTerminal               0
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                13
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      6 (FEATURE_UNIT)
        bUnitID                16
        bSourceID              14
        bControlSize            2
        bmaControls(0)     0x0003
          Mute Control
          Volume Control
        bmaControls(1)     0x0000
        bmaControls(2)     0x0000
        iFeature                0
      AudioControl Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                15
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      8 (EXTENSION_UNIT)
        bUnitID                 4
        wExtensionCode     0x0bda
        bNrInPins               1
        baSourceID(0)          16
        bNrChannels             2
        wChannelConfig     0x0003
          Left Front (L)
          Right Front (R)
        iChannelNames           0
        bControlSize            1
        bmControls(0)        0x01
        iExtension              0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0
      iInterface              0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         1 Audio
      bInterfaceSubClass      2 Streaming
      bInterfaceProtocol      0
      iInterface              0
      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      1 (AS_GENERAL)
        bTerminalLink          14
        bDelay                  1 frames
        wFormatTag         0x0001 PCM
      AudioStreaming Interface Descriptor:
        bLength                11
        bDescriptorType        36
        bDescriptorSubtype      2 (FORMAT_TYPE)
        bFormatType             1 (FORMAT_TYPE_I)
        bNrChannels             2
        bSubframeSize           3
        bBitResolution         24
        bSamFreqType            1 Discrete
        tSamFreq[ 0]        48000
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 9
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x07  EP 7 OUT
        bmAttributes            9
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               Adaptive
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0150  1x 336 bytes
        bInterval               4
        bRefresh                0
        bSynchAddress           0
        AudioStreaming Endpoint Descriptor:
          bLength                 7
          bDescriptorType        37
          bDescriptorSubtype      1 (EP_GENERAL)
          bmAttributes         0x01
            Sampling Frequency
          bLockDelayUnits         0 Undefined
          wLockDelay         0x0000
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass          239 Miscellaneous Device
  bDeviceSubClass         2 ?
  bDeviceProtocol         1 Interface Association
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 05, 2024, 09:08:54 am
The audio control interface header says bcdADC = 1 so it's a class 1 device. You will need USBAUDIO.SYS.
If you post the complete MMPM2.INI I would be able to say if the install is complete. As I mentioned, not only the drivers need to be installed.
And as Rich said, you should use the "enhanced" package.
If you can hear sound at all, you should check if setting the volume works (it should). If the sound stops playing prematurely, try with a USB 2.x only port (a port connector not colored in blue) if you can find that on this PC or another. If that works without a problem, then I suspect that USB isochronous transfers do not work properly with USB 3.0 (USBXHCD.SYS).
The iso endpoint is of type "adaptive". I don't know if that's what my USB audio device uses. Ill need to check. Maybe that type needs special treatment not yet implemented.
By the way, UNIAUD and the on-board sound support have nothing to do with/no impact when using that soundbar. The audio HW is all contained in that soundbar. The audio HW itself only supports a sample rate of 48 kHz but USBAUDIO.SYS contains rate conversion to/from quite a few other standard sample rates.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 06, 2024, 06:19:57 pm
Hi Lars

Thanks for looking into this for me.

The MMPM2.INI file is attached as MMPM2.INI.txt for your perusal.

Current results with the Enhanced USB Audio packages installed is no sound output regardless of whether the soundbar is plugged into a usb3 or usb2 port. Opening System Setup -> Sound I can select a sound but clicking Play results in no noise.


Possibly of interest - simply because it shows sound should be possible:
If I delete the usbaudio.sys file and replace it with the version from USBAUDIO-12.16.exe following a reboot the Startup sound plays but does not complete and attempting to play any other sound results in various noises, system sounds play like they are "speeded up" and get worse with every attempt - timing problem maybe?

I rebooted with the soundbar plugged into a usb2 port. Startup sound does not complete, System Setup -> Sound plays the selected sound but Volume is stuck on 100% ie lowering the volume does not lower volume of sound.
I tried Klondike Solitaire which played a "dealing sound" for the 1st card then displayed "No connection found" for the rest, then hung until closed, Mahjongg works on 1st tile selected but displays "No connection found" when clicking on a matching tile then simply does not play sound or display the message again for further tile clicks - at least it does not hang.
Sound does not work in dosbox.
Sound does work with mplayer and vlc/2 - and volume control works with both apps.


So, with the Enhanced USB Audio packages installed but the usbaudio.sys file replaced by the usbaudio.sys file from USBAUDIO-12.16.exe we have some success.

However, if I Uninstall the Enhanced USB Audio packages and Install the USBAUDIO-12.16.exe files properly after a reboot there is no sound from either usb2 or usb3 ports with USB Wave selected.


Regards

Pete

Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Rich Walsh on October 07, 2024, 05:09:53 am
I notice that the USB interface descriptor for the speaker specifies a 48000 sample rate but under [WMBWAVEUSB01], it's configured for 44100:
 PARMSTRING=FORMAT=1,SAMPRATE=44100,BPS=16,CHANNELS=2,DIRECTION=PLAY

You may want to try changing SAMPRATE to 48000. After doing so, do NOT open MMSetup (stpm.exe) before you reboot - it always rewrites MMPM2.INI with the values currently in memory, wiping out any manual changes.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 07, 2024, 09:25:39 am
That setting is mostly irrelevant. AMPMXMCD.DLL (or was it USBAUDIF.DLL ?) reads it but effectively never uses it (it just uses these settings as a first/inital check if that sample rate/number of channels/data format/replay capability is supported but won't fail for good if not).
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 07, 2024, 09:29:52 am
I'll prepare a new USBDRVxxx.zip. Then you can pull the audio stuff from it and replace with that.
I do not know exactly what version AN delivered.

For the time being, pull the audio stuff from this package:
https://trac.netlabs.org/usb/raw-attachment/ticket/96/usbdrv251_2024_08_04.zip
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 07, 2024, 09:48:37 am
I rebooted with the soundbar plugged into a usb2 port. Startup sound does not complete, System Setup -> Sound plays the selected sound but Volume is stuck on 100% ie lowering the volume does not lower volume of sound.

Pete

I remember that there was this sound fix that needed to be added to config.sys so that startup sounds will play. Do you have that in config.sys ?

RUN=C:\MMOS2\mmfix.exe
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 09, 2024, 01:39:44 am
Hi Lars

The AN build is

 ::::::@@USB Audio Driver (c) 2024 Arca Noae LLC
Vendor:          Arca Noae LLC
Revision:        12.16
Date/Time:       15 Jul 2024 12:50:13


Progress report on soundbar and your latest USB audio packages:-

I uninstalled both USB Enhanced packages and the AN driver.

Installed the audio packages from usbdrv251_2024_08_04.zip

Rebooted with soundbar plugged into a usb3 port which had the same sort of results as when trying the AN driver package - startup sound did not complete and other system sounds were wrong.

Plugging the soundbar into a usb2 port (via usb2 extension lead) results in sound working properly - except startup sound which I discovered over several reboots sometimes plays OK but usually it is truncated. Yes, the mmfix.exe line is in config.sys.

System sounds play OK, volume adjustments work OK in both Sound and Volume apps

Sound seems to be working well with the apps I have tried: vlc/2, (s)mplayer, "os/2 games"

Sound no longer works from dos games running in dosbox which "fakes" a soundblaster (sb16) for dos games to use which has always worked well when using the uniaud driver.
Anyone know if dos games can output sound in a standard (os/2 supplied/installed) dos environment using a usb soundbar? - don't have dos/win16 installed here.


So, happy to report your latest usb audio driver packages work well when usb soundbar is plugged into a usb2 port except for the startup sound. Not sure if sound from dos games running in dosbox should work with the usb soundbar and driver packages...


Thanks

Pete

Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Dave Yeo on October 09, 2024, 02:44:54 am
Hi Pete, as far as I know, no sound in DOS now a days, hasn't been since basically ISA days.
Does DosBox give you any other sound driver choices? If so, try them.
At least sound is now working for you, shame only on USB2, which is getting rare in computers. I know I only have USB3 on this box.
You could consider opening an issue with Arca Noae, sounds like their USB sound could be updated and who knows, perhaps USB3 could be fixed.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 09, 2024, 02:04:35 pm
Hi Pete, as far as I know, no sound in DOS now a days, hasn't been since basically ISA days.
Does DosBox give you any other sound driver choices? If so, try them.
At least sound is now working for you, shame only on USB2, which is getting rare in computers. I know I only have USB3 on this box.
You could consider opening an issue with Arca Noae, sounds like their USB sound could be updated and who knows, perhaps USB3 could be fixed.

AN did fixes to USB isochronous audio with 12.16 (I am talking about USBXHCD.SYS). However, it seems that there is enough of a difference between for example Intel chipsets (and their USB 3.x support) and other chipsets (and their USB 3.x support) that sometimes isochronous audio (at least replay) works decently well for Intel but still won't work for those others.

Look here: https://trac.netlabs.org/usb/ticket/96

I don't think that this can be solved in USBAUDIO.SYS / USBAUD2.SYS. This is something that needs to be fixed in the USBXHCD.SYS as seemingly USB 2.x works ok (with the very same USB audio drivers). But I think USB audio has no priority for AN (an industry customer won't care for sure).

DOS box sound support: I have no clue of how audio gets passed over from DOS to the native OS/2 sound driver. It is possible that DOS will only ever use the very first sound device listed in MMPM2.INI (I am just guessing).
In that case, what you could do is change the sequence of devices in this section of MMPM2.INI:

[Drivers]
 Digitalvideo=IBMDIGVIDPLAYER01,IBMMPEGPLAYER01
 Speaker=SPEAKER
 Headphone=HEADPHONE
 Microphone=MICROPHONE
 Filter=IBMFILTER01,IBMFILTER02,IBMFILTER03
 Waveaudio=UNIAUDWAVE01,WMBWAVEUSB01,WMBWAVE2USB01
 Ampmix=UNIAUDAMPMIX01,WMBAMPMIXUSB01,WMBAMPMIX2USB01
 CDaudio=IBMCDAUDIO01,IBMCDAUDIO02
 Sequencer=

What you could try is to change that to:
[Drivers]
 Digitalvideo=IBMDIGVIDPLAYER01,IBMMPEGPLAYER01
 Speaker=SPEAKER
 Headphone=HEADPHONE
 Microphone=MICROPHONE
 Filter=IBMFILTER01,IBMFILTER02,IBMFILTER03
 Waveaudio=WMBWAVEUSB01,UNIAUDWAVE01,WMBWAVE2USB01
 Ampmix=WMBAMPMIXUSB01,UNIAUDAMPMIX01,WMBAMPMIX2USB01
 CDaudio=IBMCDAUDIO01,IBMCDAUDIO02
 Sequencer=

but as I said this is just guessing.



Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 11, 2024, 05:52:55 pm
Pete, can you tell me if my proposition helped?
If not, I would have another idea but that would mean to update the drivers and I would need a "guinea pig" to test...
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Dave Yeo on October 11, 2024, 06:12:02 pm
Hi Lars. Dosbox is an emulator, uses SDL or SDL2 for video, sound etc to emulate a DOS environment, so nothing to do with a DOS VDM.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 11, 2024, 11:43:52 pm
Hi Lars

I tried the mmpm2.ini change you suggested but, sorry to say, it made no difference.

Happy to do the "guinea pig" bit but, as Dave says, dosbox is not a dos vdm which may make you rethink your idea(s).

I have emailed Jochen - dosbox porter - to get his input but I think dosbox "fakes" a soundcard then routes any sound to the host os sound driver for processing. Hopefully Jochen will clarify the way it works.


@Dave
Still have my last ISA soundcard boxed somewhere: AWE32 P'n'P which I seem to recall had drivers/software for DOS, Win16/95 and OS/2 - including midi - and worked very well.
The end of ISA was when I stopped bothering installing DOS/Win16 support - only needed it to play a few games which play better with sound support - dosbox and uniaud to the rescue  :-)


Regards

Pete


Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Dave Yeo on October 12, 2024, 01:27:21 am

@Dave
Still have my last ISA soundcard boxed somewhere: AWE32 P'n'P which I seem to recall had drivers/software for DOS, Win16/95 and OS/2 - including midi - and worked very well.
The end of ISA was when I stopped bothering installing DOS/Win16 support - only needed it to play a few games which play better with sound support - dosbox and uniaud to the rescue  :-)


Yes I still have my ProAudio Spectrum card laying around, which worked very well under OS/2 and DOS, it included a Sound Blaster clone so it was like having 2 sound cards, one for WinOS2 and one for OS/2. Also the odd game like Simcity2000 (DOS version) could use both.
Like you, once ISA went away I didn't play many DOS games though I did have a MB (Athlon) where the BIOS emulated a sound driver along with the included OS/2 sound driver. That was the last MB I had that had any OS/2 drivers.
Wish there was a cheap simple adapter so could still use an ISA card.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 12, 2024, 09:18:45 am
Hi Lars. Dosbox is an emulator, uses SDL or SDL2 for video, sound etc to emulate a DOS environment, so nothing to do with a DOS VDM.

That is really odd. I helped Jochen to implement correct default device selection and also recording capability in SDL2. And I used the SDL2 test programs and they worked ok. Maybe that did not make it into the SDL2 provided by BWW?

From SDL2 I know that it uses DART. But that should work just fine with the USB audio drivers. At least it does here.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Dave Yeo on October 12, 2024, 05:40:00 pm
Hi Lars. Dosbox is an emulator, uses SDL or SDL2 for video, sound etc to emulate a DOS environment, so nothing to do with a DOS VDM.

That is really odd. I helped Jochen to implement correct default device selection and also recording capability in SDL2. And I used the SDL2 test programs and they worked ok. Maybe that did not make it into the SDL2 provided by BWW?

From SDL2 I know that it uses DART. But that should work just fine with the USB audio drivers. At least it does here.

Looking at http://hobbesarchive.com/?submit=Search&search=dosbox&stype=any&sort=type_name&dir=%2F (http://hobbesarchive.com/?submit=Search&search=dosbox&stype=any&sort=type_name&dir=%2F) Dosbox is using SDL. Likely a newer version would use SDL2.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 13, 2024, 04:19:40 pm
Too bad. I only fixed SDL2. I cannot even find the SDL that we use.
Maybe it's time to build a version of dosbox that uses SDL2.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Dave Yeo on October 13, 2024, 06:20:26 pm
Too bad. I only fixed SDL2. I cannot even find the SDL that we use.
Maybe it's time to build a version of dosbox that uses SDL2.

Hmm, looking, DosBoxes last release was 5 years back, so likely no SDL2 support though I didn't find build instructions.
There are forks such as DosBox-X, https://dosbox-x.com/ (https://dosbox-x.com/) which would be nice to have. Even it comes with an intree heavily modified SDL as well as support for SDL2. This one would be nice to have as it is expanded to run most DOS apps including Win9x.
There is also SDL3 now
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Mentore on October 14, 2024, 08:10:32 am
Too bad. I only fixed SDL2. I cannot even find the SDL that we use.
Maybe it's time to build a version of dosbox that uses SDL2.

Hmm, looking, DosBoxes last release was 5 years back, so likely no SDL2 support though I didn't find build instructions.
There are forks such as DosBox-X, https://dosbox-x.com/ (https://dosbox-x.com/) which would be nice to have. Even it comes with an intree heavily modified SDL as well as support for SDL2. This one would be nice to have as it is expanded to run most DOS apps including Win9x.
There is also SDL3 now

SDL3 would be a good add-on to our video libraries. What is really sad is the lack of OpenGL support - though I guess it is almost useless without a real accelerated video driver. But alas, an OpenGL comeback on OS/2 would allow porting many applications. I know - we are a little community.

But let me dream  8)

Mentore
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 15, 2024, 06:21:45 am
Hi All

I can confirm that the only sdl2 game I have installed plays sound using Lars usb audio driver packages.
I have several sdl games installed but cannot test with them as they all need snap installed to run...


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Dave Yeo on October 15, 2024, 07:18:11 am
Don't you just need SDDHELP.SYS installed for the SNAP dependency?
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 15, 2024, 03:06:37 pm
Hi Dave

I did think of that but it seems SNAP needs to be installed for the SNAP dependency as just having sddhelp.sys loading in config.sys results in:-

J:\GAMES.ECS\SDLVERSIONS\SDLINVADERS>sdlinvaders.exe

SDLInvaders Version 0.8.0

[SNAP_Initialize] : Initializing...
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Starting...
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling DosSetPriority!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling WinInitialize!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling WinCreateMsgQueue!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Calling GA_loadDriver!
[SNAP_ThreadFunc] : Could not load graphics driver!
[SNAP_Initialize] : SNAP-Thread could not initialize itself!
[FSLib_Initialize] : Could not initialize SNAP!
[os2fslib_CreateDevice] : Could not initialize FSLib!
Unable to initialize SDL: No available video device

J:\GAMES.ECS\SDLVERSIONS\SDLINVADERS>


Other sdl games briefly flash what is probably the above message before closing the window containing the message.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Pete on October 22, 2024, 06:47:44 am
Hi Lars

The SDL package in use is SDL-1.2.15-5.oc00.pentium4.rpm (from netlabs-rel) which provides the sdl120.dll required by dosbox074_2020-11-04.wpi which seems to be the latest release.

No response to my email to Jochen


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Jochen Schäfer on October 22, 2024, 10:45:32 am
Hi Lars

The SDL package in use is SDL-1.2.15-5.oc00.pentium4.rpm (from netlabs-rel) which provides the sdl120.dll required by dosbox074_2020-11-04.wpi which seems to be the latest release.

No response to my email to Jochen


Regards

Pete
@Pete: Sorry, I was sick. You got a response ;-)

To clarify: DOSBOX proper only uses SDL. The maintainers have explicitely stated, that they don't want to use newer SDL libs and stay with SDL.
I haven't looked into DOSBOX-X or other forks, yet.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 23, 2024, 12:45:21 pm
Hi Lars

The SDL package in use is SDL-1.2.15-5.oc00.pentium4.rpm (from netlabs-rel) which provides the sdl120.dll required by dosbox074_2020-11-04.wpi which seems to be the latest release.

No response to my email to Jochen


Regards

Pete
@Pete: Sorry, I was sick. You got a response ;-)

To clarify: DOSBOX proper only uses SDL. The maintainers have explicitely stated, that they don't want to use newer SDL libs and stay with SDL2.
I haven't looked into DOSBOX-X or other forks, yet.

1) @Pete: I need the sources for SDL in order to fix it.
2) @Jochen: I am confused, you mean to say "they don't want to use newer SDL libs and stay with SDL." Correct ?
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Jochen Schäfer on October 23, 2024, 03:25:19 pm
@Lars: It was a typo. I corrected my post.
The source code should be on BWW's Github. IIRC, the old SDL2 audio was an almost straight copy from SDL.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Lars on October 23, 2024, 04:22:58 pm
@Lars: It was a typo. I corrected my post.
The source code should be on BWW's Guthub. IIRC, the old SDL2 audio was an almost straight copy from SDL.

If I search for "SDL" on BWW's github, I only find "SDL2" stuff.
Title: Re: Can aswitch.exe be used for always connected/attached usb speakers?
Post by: Dave Yeo on October 23, 2024, 06:12:11 pm
@Lars: It was a typo. I corrected my post.
The source code should be on BWW's Guthub. IIRC, the old SDL2 audio was an almost straight copy from SDL.

If I search for "SDL" on BWW's github, I only find "SDL2" stuff.

The source rpm has this, http://svn.netlabs.org/repos/ports/libsdl/trunk (http://svn.netlabs.org/repos/ports/libsdl/trunk) likely https now.