[ILUG] Sound Questioning

[Conor Wynne]

> Daniel Goldsmith wrote:
>
>>Recently I bought a new computer, which has 'onboard' VIA/Realtek AC97
>>audio. My older computer has an old, but prefectly serviceable,
>>SoundBlaster AWE64 PCI card. I have/am experiencing great difficulty
>>getting the AC97 to work under Debian [Sarge] and am seriously
>>thinking of putting the AWE32 into the new computer.
>>
>>Does anyone have an opinion on whether this is wise? Would an older
>>card, which was (once) expensive be better than any on-board system?
>>
>>
>
> the AC97 does not have a MIDI controller built in, IIRC, so the AWE32
> has an immediate plus there, in my books.
> Also, the AWE32 has an amount of onboard memory (8MB?) which should help
> get a better response than the AC97.

The AWe32 had 4MB, the 64 8MB -> daughter cards were an option.

There was never a awe32/64 in PCI AFAIR --> check here to be sure.
http://us.creative.com/support/identifyproduct/

If its PCI based, then its either an ensoniq (creative bought them years
ago) or the superiour emu10k1 chip (sblive)

I would not put an ISA card in a good machine, as it will slow it down no
end. --> in games anyway. It'll be grand for midi (AWE32/64) but you would
be better off buying a decent PCIcard. They cost nothing these days
anyway.

The AWE is more likely a Sound Blaster PCI64 (ES1370)

> you should be able to turn off the AC97 in your BIOS, so there should be
> no difficulty in the configuration.
>
> Kae
> --

Regards
Conor.