[Alsa-user] CS4281 External MIDI Problem

[<che...@in...>]

Hello,
	I've been using the ALSA drivers in my laptop, a Toshiba 
Satellite 1700-300, for more than few weeks now.
They used to work great, but recently I discovered a problem with midi.
This problem I had with ALSA 0.90rc5 and 0.90rc6 .

First of all, aconnect -o gives:
--
client 64: 'External MIDI 0' [type=kernel]
    0 'MIDI 0-0        '
client 65: 'OPL3 FM synth' [type=kernel]
    0 'OPL3 Port       '
--

The problem is that 'pmidi -p 64:0 midifile.mid' locks my machine (I have 
to reboot manually to make things work again); cat-ting some bytes to 
/dev/midi?? produces the same effect.
I don't know exactly what that External MIDI interface is or should be. I 
thought that it should be an external midi connector: but there is none
on my computer. 
Maybe the lock depends on the absence of the midi port?
The driver expects it to be there so when probing the 
non-existant-interface, the driver freeze my system?

Anyway, considering that I don't need that 'External MIDI' interface,
I'm searching for a way to disable it from modules.conf, if possible, or 
directly from the cs4281.c file. Of course, any other solution to my 
problem I would be glad to hear.

It's maybe worth reading that when I attach my EDIROL UM-1 usb-to-midi 
interface to the computer, alsa creates another midi interface which 
works as expected (not freezing the computer, but playing midi files on 
my keyboard) :
--
client 72: 'External MIDI 1' [type=kernel]
    0 'UM-1 Port 0     '
--

Also using OPL3 or timidity (as an alsa midi daemon) works as it 
should.


Well, that said I'll list some configuration details.
'lsmod' gives:
---
Module                  Size  Used by    Tainted: PF 
snd-usb-audio          46144   0 (autoclean)
snd-seq-oss            33920   0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-seq-midi            4992   0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-seq-midi-event      5640   0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi]
snd-opl3-synth         12772   0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-seq-instr           7996   0 (autoclean) [snd-opl3-synth]
snd-seq-midi-emul       7212   0 (autoclean) [snd-opl3-synth]
snd-ainstr-fm           3088   0 (autoclean) [snd-opl3-synth]
snd-seq                47472   2 (autoclean) [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi snd-seq-midi-event snd-opl3-synth snd-seq-instr snd-seq-midi-emul]
ide-cd                 33668   0 (autoclean)
cdrom                  33696   0 (autoclean) [ide-cd]
snd-pcm-oss            44420   0 (autoclean)
snd-mixer-oss          15512   0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-cs4281             15136   0 (autoclean)
snd-pcm                83296   0 (autoclean) [snd-usb-audio snd-pcm-oss snd-cs4281]
snd-rawmidi            18400   0 (autoclean) [snd-usb-audio snd-seq-midi snd-cs4281]
gameport                3396   0 (autoclean) [snd-cs4281]
snd-opl3-lib            8932   0 (autoclean) [snd-opl3-synth snd-cs4281]
snd-seq-device          6176   0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi snd-opl3-synth snd-seq snd-rawmidi snd-opl3-lib]
snd-timer              15304   0 (autoclean) [snd-seq snd-pcm snd-opl3-lib]
snd-hwdep               5888   0 (autoclean) [snd-opl3-lib]
snd-ac97-codec         36100   0 (autoclean) [snd-cs4281]
snd                    39308   0 (autoclean) [snd-usb-audio snd-seq-oss snd-seq-midi snd-seq-midi-event snd-opl3-synth snd-seq-instr snd-seq snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-cs4281 snd-pcm snd-rawmidi snd-opl3-lib snd-seq-device snd-timer snd-hwdep snd-ac97-codec]
soundcore               6468  11 (autoclean) [snd]
ipt_state               1048   1 (autoclean)
ip_conntrack           21212   1 (autoclean) [ipt_state]
agpgart                42496   0 (unused)
vmnet                  23584   4
vmmon                  23092   0 (unused)
nfs                    81248   2 (autoclean)
lockd                  58288   1 (autoclean) [nfs]
sunrpc                 77660   1 (autoclean) [nfs lockd]
8139too                17704   1
mii                     2156   0 [8139too]
iptable_filter          2412   1 (autoclean)
ip_tables              14840   2 [ipt_state iptable_filter]
ds                      8712   2
yenta_socket           12960   2
pcmcia_core            58144   0 [ds yenta_socket]
mousedev                5524   1
keybdev                 2944   0 (unused)
input                   5792   0 [mousedev keybdev]
hid                    11796   0 (unused)
usb-uhci               26156   0 (unused)
usbcore                76992   1 [snd-usb-audio hid usb-uhci]
---

My 'modules.conf' is:
---
options ide-cd dma=1

alias eth0 8139too

# ALSA portion
alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4281
alias char-major-116 snd

# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

# USB Audio
alias snd-card-1 snd-usb-audio
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1

post-install sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || :

alias usb-controller usb-uhci

alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc

# lt_drivers: autoloading and insertion parameter usage
alias char-major-62 lt_serial
alias /dev/tts/LT0 lt_serial
alias /dev/modem lt_serial
# The next two lines are syntax examples, only Rarely Needed, to automate parameter usage during lt_drivers insertion. See documentation for details.
# options lt_modem vendor_id=0x115d device_id=0x0420
# options lt_modem Forced=3,0x130,0x2f8,0
# section for lt_drivers ends
---

My distribution is a Red Hat 8.0, with a custom 2.4.19 kernel and ALSA 
0.90rc6 (compiled with all sound cards and --with-isapnp=no).

Thank you in advance for any help and for your work on these drivers,
	Flavio Chierichetti