[Alsa-user] Problems with Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II

[Martins M. <mar...@la...>]

Hi there,

I got myself a new Hecules Fortissimo II card and tried to configure it
under Linux. There seems to be a couple of problems with alsa (as well as
standard kernel oss) driver. I tried it on several machines and results were
the same. I used kernel 2.4.18, alsa 0.9.0rc1, Debian Linux 2.2 (potato)
and 3.0 (sid).

Drivers do compile and install without a problem. The card is detected and
seems to be working. The alsa utilities work. But the sound that comes
out of XMMS is garbled. It sounds as if the speakers were damaged.
Which is not the case, because under Windows all is well. And not only 
mp3s, CDs also sound bad. The same happens when I use standard oss drivers
from kernel, btw. Which sets me thinking that there are problems of how both
drivers work with Fortissimo's CS4624 chip. This is a major pain, because
obviously I can not use my new card under Linux at all (if I want to enjoy
what I am hearing that is :)

The second problem is the composite cable is not supported. Fortissimo II
has a composite output cable which plugs into one input/output jack and then
splits into 4 inputs/outputs (speakers front, speakers rear, headphones,
mic). Under Windows one uses software to select which of the outputs will be
used by driver. Under Linux only "speakers front" output works. There is
no way to get four speakers or output to headphones at all. Which is not
nice. Obviously the driver module options should have the possibility
to select the output. Not to mention digital output channel which afaik (I
did not try) does not work at all. This is not a major problem, but it would
be nice if the card would work as intended.

So these are my gripes about Fortissimo II under Linux (alsa or no alsa).
What can I hope for? Maybe there is something I should know?

	Martins