[Alsa-user] S/PDIF on nForce2 from CVS, intel8x0 5.1 surround.

[<tr...@we...>]

First problem: S/PDIF
---------------------

I noticed that the driver (intel8x0) for my sound card (onboard
nforce2) got support for S/PDIF in cvs recently, so I decided to try
them out using this driver:

	http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa/ftp/cvsexport/2003-04-29.tar.bz2

This driver adds an additional playback device that is selectable from
the alsa output plugin in xmms as "NVidia nForce2 - IEC958", but
selecting this audio device locks the entire OS.  The same happens if
i use aplay directly on this device:=20

	$ aplay -D hw:0,1 ...

At least I think this would be the same device. The driver in CVS adds
another playback device in /proc/asound/dev/pcmC0D1p.  My skills as a
private investigator tells me this is the iec958 device, and this is
the one that locks my kernel.  I'm just curious if anyone of you have
made this work?  My motherboard is asus a7n8x deluxe, and I'm using
the stock linux-2.4.21-rc1 kernel in debian sid (unstable).



Second problem: 5.1 surround. How?
----------------------------------

I've never been able to get 5.1 surround in alsa with this driver.
4.0 (or is it 4.1) surround works fine using

	$ mplayer -ao alsa9:surround40 -channels 4 ...

but my center speaker is left out and there is no dedicated sound to
the sub.  If I try playing through the surround51 device using

	$ aplay -D surround51 soundfile.wav

I get this error message:

	aplay: set_params:810: Channels count non available

How can I get proper 5.1 surround in alsa-0.9.2 with this
soundcard/driver?  I'm clueless of what to put in .asoundrc if there's
something I have to do there.  Now, I've searched the wonderful world
wide web for possible configurations, but i could not find anything.
I cannot play through the 'rear' and 'center_lfe' devices neither
using

	$ aplay -D rear/center_lfe ...

It only gives me this:

	ALSA lib pcm.c:1785:(snd_pcm_open_conf) Invalid type for PCM rear
	definition (id: rear, value: cards.pcm.rear)
	aplay: main:480: audio open error: Invalid argument

Is 5.1 surround or rear/center_lfe supported in alsa for this sound
card?  I've browsed the mailing lists for info on this, but I
understand support for this soundcard just recently got bundled with
alsa.  I guess what I'm asking is what this driver (snd-intel8x0) is
capable of on the nforce2 soundcard and how to enable all it's bells
and whistles.


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K=E5re Slettnes