Updated Uniaud32 build

[Paul Smedley]

Hi All,

Prompted by Lewis reporting a problem with no sound on a newish laptop, I built uniaud32.sys last night for the first time since December 2015.

After managing to patch the realtek driver to add some additional chipsets which got Lewis sound, I got interested again in updating Uniaud.

As some may recall, way back when, I was updating the uniaud32 core with the latest ALSA code.... I got as far as ALSA 1.0.24 (released January 2011), but could never get ALSA 1.0.25 (released early 2012) to work. After that, the code was incorporated into the linux kernel, and it all got too hard. Plus, at the time, we still had the hangs with hda audio and I started running linux as my main OS.

Anyhow, after helping Lewis last night, I added the OS/2 patches to the linux kernel 3.0 code and got it building. This represents an alsa-kernel approximately 6 months newer that what's in the last uniaud32 release.

I've tested this in virtualbox with the Intel HDA driver and it still makes sound. That's about the level of testing I've done. I can't be bothered walking upstairs to grab one of the Thinkpads and test on other hardware.

Anyway...... link is http://smedley.id.au/tmp/uniaud32-linux-3.0.zip

Feedback appreciated. If there's interest, I'll continue to try and update the code to hopefully fix upstream bugs and support newer hardware.

Cheers,

Paul

[Mike Kölling]

Hi Paul,

First of all, thanks for your ongoing support of OS/2. It is very appreciated.

I have tested your uniaud32.sys driver today at my TP X250. Unfortunately it didn't work well. I got only distorted sound after using your new driver  .
The one from AN I am using is working fine so far, but I thought testing the new one will help.
Please see also "https://www.os2world.com/wiki/index.php/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X250" for my review of the working one.

Greetings from Potsdam/Germany
Mike

[Eugene Tucker]

 ::)Pau ::)l , sadly this driver resulted in no sound.

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi Eugene, can you please provide more feedback?
Like the hardware you are running it, and if it is not longer working compared to a xxx version of Uniaud?

Just in case I guess that the latest version of Uniaud was 2.2.5 / 2018-11-26  (Available at hobbes and Arca Noae site).

Regards

[Martin Iturbide]

Hi Paul

Thanks for doing this and checking the code of Uniaud. I was also good to know more about the technical history of the port and know that because of the complexity with the Linux Kernel it was harder to get up to the ALSA latest version.

I tried your updated driver on a VirtualBox ArcaOS 5 guest. Intel HD Audio. I just backup the old uniaud32.sys and replaced with the new one. Rebooted and all desktop sounds seems to be working normally. Nothing fancy on the config.sys (just DEVICE=C:\MMOS2\UNIAUD32.SYS) I will keep testing to see if I can find something else.

Paul, Is there any other recommended test or information that you also need that we can help with?

Regards

[Eugene Tucker]

Hello Martin the subject of the driver my Dell laptop. Model Inspiron 5537. It was using the last availible drive from Arca Noae.

[David Graser]

On my Levovo T430S, the sound works as it should.

[roberto]

Well, it's not all bad news, it works perfectly for me. On an Hp8760W, the old one also worked. Thank you anyway.
saludos

[David Graser]

One of the problems I have noticed is that when adjusting the sound level through the sound object in the System Setup folder, it has no effect on the volume icon.  When I first installed the new driver, I had the volume.exe set to 0 and was adjusting with the sound object.  I had no sound with the new driver.  Although sound object set to 100%, the volume controller still showed 0.  It was only when I adjusted the sound with the volume controller did I get my sound back.
This with ArcaOS 5.04.

Easy to test:

Use volume icon to set sound level to 0.
Go to System Setup folder > Sound icon.
Set the volume on the sound icon to 100% and test sound.  On my machine, I had no sound.

There will not be sound until one goes back to the volume control icon and adjust the sound there.

[Hermit]

Hi, Paul.

On my desktop computer with the updated driver, the sound is gone. In archive log files.

[Dave Yeo]

Haven't tried this set yet as my speakers are broke, but one thing I've noticed with some sound chips is I have to use PMUnimix to turn up the front speakers to actually get sound, once they're turned up, the regular volume control works.

[Paul Smedley]

Hi All,

Thanks for testing, I'll try and post some more specific comments tonight, but for reference, could anyone that's having troubles with the driver based on the linux kernel 3.0 code, try with http://smedley.id.au/tmp/uniaud32-trunk.zip ? This build represents the current code in the svn trunk at netlabs.

Thanks,

Paul

[Hermit]

Hi Paul,

The uniaud32-trunk.zip driver version works normally, there is sound. The log is attached.

[Lars]

One of the problems I have noticed is that when adjusting the sound level through the sound object in the System Setup folder, it has no effect on the volume icon.  When I first installed the new driver, I had the volume.exe set to 0 and was adjusting with the sound object.  I had no sound with the new driver.  Although sound object set to 100%, the volume controller still showed 0.  It was only when I adjusted the sound with the volume controller did I get my sound back.
This with ArcaOS 5.04.

Easy to test:

Use volume icon to set sound level to 0.
Go to System Setup folder > Sound icon.
Set the volume on the sound icon to 100% and test sound.  On my machine, I had no sound.

There will not be sound until one goes back to the volume control icon and adjust the sound there.

That's because the volume set by volume.exe sets the MASTER volume whereas the volume lever in the sound object is the APPLICATION volume (in that case, for the PMSHELL.EXE application as the sound object is a WPS object). In the end, the audio driver just multiplies these two values :-)

[Lars]

Haven't tried this set yet as my speakers are broke, but one thing I've noticed with some sound chips is I have to use PMUnimix to turn up the front speakers to actually get sound, once they're turned up, the regular volume control works.

In the end, this is always true. But in practice, there are some MB providers that are smart enough to crank up the HW volume of the sound device to the max, I suppose by the BIOS/UEFI code already on system start.
If that is not true, unimix.exe/pmunimix.exe will have to do it. That's even one step  before setting MASTER volume and finally APPLICATION volume.