[simpits-tech] A hard-fought victory!

dabigboy at cox.net dabigboy at cox.net
Tue Nov 20 18:51:42 PST 2012 

Actually there is a function in PyAlsa that returns all the handles for the sound cards. :) I could actually write code to automagically assign cards to radio channels, but they would be totally random....there would be no way for the computer to "know" what channels on the audio panel each card is connected to. Also worth mentioning is that I am not even running X on this PC...in fact, there is no monitor or keyboard connected, everything is through SSH and Samba. :) I've had too much crap with GUI tools doing weird stupid stuff over the years, everything is direct config files for me now.

I've been doing all my coding on a "development" PC, and mounting file shares to each PC onto this one. That way I ALWAYS have at least two copies of everything, even when I am lax in backup procedures. It also makes coding a lot more fun...no hopping back and forth from one PC to the next, or using a KVM switch.

Matt

---- Cris Harrison <phoenixcomm at gmail.com> wrote: 
> ok but I you had picked a different distro like Mint
> all of my sound cards show up under the sound settings and I didn't have to
> install anything..
> Output Device:
> Internal Audio Analog Stereo
> 5880B [AudioPCI] Analog Stereo
> 5880B [AudioPCI] Analog Stereo
> ES1371[AudioPCI] Analog Stereo
> 
> You can find out the info you need in you Computer Settings
> as well as in your /dev for the handle info
> 
> enjoy
> Cris
> 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 7:00 PM, <dabigboy at cox.net> wrote:
> 
> > Funny you should mention ALSA...I am actually using PyAlsa (the "good"
> > one..there are like 3 projects by that name), which is a Python layer to
> > ALSA. It's nice because the author has taken a lot of the mystery and
> > undocumented weirdness out of the works (did not port over the entire ALSA
> > system, in fact he readily admits that he only understands about half of it
> > due to its complexity and lack of documentation). My "hardcoded" bit is
> > literally 5 lines referencing the ALSA names of the sound cards...so yes, I
> > will have to change code if I ever switch stuff to a different computer or
> > use different sound cards, but it's literally a 5 minute fix. :)
> >
> > I have not gotten into JACK much but I am curious about it, I may dig into
> > it a little deeper to see if it might help me in some way. Though at this
> > point my actual audio needs are so simple, I think PyAlsa is all I need.
> > Perhaps it will be useful if/when I look into replacing X-Plane's
> > environmental/engine sound system with my own.... :)
> >
> > Matt
> >
> > ---- Cris Harrison <phoenixcomm at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Mat,
> > > I did a lot of ground work for a Radio Sub System, and I did talk about
> > in
> > > my blog..
> > > Yes I use Mint for development. I added the Cinnamon desktop to it as
> > well.
> > > It runs my Eclipse development environment as well. This way I don't have
> > > to re-target my stuff from windows, and it uses GCC under the hood! I use
> > > VIM, Eclipse  or Notepad+ as my editors. With Eclipse it cuts my
> > > development & test time down.
> > >
> > > Ok.. instead of hard coding your audio cards, you should have used*
> > > ALSA<http://www.alsa-project.org/>  Advanced
> > > Linux Sound Architecture*, It was designed to do handle multiple sound
> > > cards for you (easy peasy), It is included in most distros, and therefore
> > > its *portable*. (and I hate redesigning a wheel, that works fine, that
> > is!)
> > >
> > > Now for moving all that sound around.. again look around for ALSA aware
> > > programs and you will find Jack <http://jackaudio.org/>.
> > > Again portability is the key, and BTW don't forget our friend the wheel.
> > >
> > > Portability is defined as what hell happens when you blow up the
> > > motherboard or audio cards. I don't want to re-code. Do you?
> > >
> > > About distros:
> > > It dosent mater. Just make sure the feature set you need is there. I have
> > > used Sun Open Desktop (on Solaris), GENTO (way too hard to configure),
> > Red
> > > Hat on my server in the clouds (really junk), OpenBSD (had my firewall on
> > > it!!), Ubunto (not that impressed but much better), and then Mint12 (I
> > like
> > > it, yes its from the Ubunto tree), and then there are smaller OS of
> > course.
> > > Like my Beagle Bone.. boots to Linux (Agstom) with a Cloud9 desktop, and
> > > the TI Launchpad cards (less than $20, and crushes the Arduino) and they
> > > give you the tools they have a 32bit Sellaris card that I am working with
> > > now! I also have a 68k VME box that has a shit load of I/O but has to
> > load
> > > very old kernels.. So I build the solfware here in Mint but target them
> > > with a 68k backend on GCC. oh one more thought check out you can build
> > your
> > > own light weight distros... (I forgot the tool that I have used (brain
> > > fart!)
> > >
> > > If you need some help drop me a line.
> > > Upwards and Onwards
> > > Cris H.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sat, Nov 17, 2012 at 6:07 PM, <dabigboy at cox.net> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hey Cris, I do recall you talking about your audio system a while back.
> > > You are doing far more than me! I am basically just hooking everything
> > into
> > > X-Plane's "brain" and spitting the data out to the appropriate places
> > > (example: rather than having my software look up what navaids are nearby
> > or
> > > looking for marker beacons, I just let X-Plane tell me when it's picking
> > up
> > > some sort of navaid, marker beacon, etc...ditto for most instrument
> > flags).
> > > Seems like your approach is more comprehensive, and also probably better
> > > for using the system on multiple sim software packages? Mine is pretty
> > > unique to my sim, though I try to keep things reasonably portable and
> > > non-specific (but on my audio system, for instance, I don't have any
> > > auto-discovery code for the sound cards, they are hard-coded to that
> > > specific machine).
> > > >
> > > > Btw, somewhat unrelated but I noticed your post about Linux Mint
> > network
> > > config issues. Mint is a great distro from what I've seen, but it's very
> > > feature-filled and "desktop'ish". What you experienced is exactly the
> > kind
> > > of crap I've had to deal with on the more "feature-rich" help-me desktop
> > > distros. For the kind of work we're doing, might I suggest another
> > distro?
> > > I'm 100% Slackware here, as it is a no-nonsense, vanilla, un-tweaked
> > distro
> > > which actually uses a vanilla kernel straight from the tree, no funky
> > > distro-specific weirdness. Ditto for most of the included packages as
> > well,
> > > there aren't really any special things done to original programs by the
> > > Slackware folks. I've heard Arch is good also, DSL is very light weight
> > and
> > > simple, and of course there's always Linux From Scratch if you're really
> > > intrepid. :)
> > > >
> > > > Matt
> > > >
> > > > ---- Cris Harrison <phoenixcomm at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > Mat
> > > > > Congrats!
> > > > > Seems you took a page out of my playbook,
> > > > >
> > phoenixcomm.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/arinc-410-subsystem-audio-routing I
> > > > > have the Morse Code stuff done with a database (all of the radios &
> > > navaids
> > > > > from the FAA; which i take an dump into my mysql db), i can get items
> > > from
> > > > > the db by location and or station id. + tones (inner, outer, etc.),
> > and
> > > 5
> > > > > audio cards running on an un-modified system.. My Audio Radio Audio
> > > source
> > > > > is on a Linux box very easy to do.. I finds all the cards for you, so
> > > all
> > > > > you have to do is use a software patchboard that connects the
> > sources to
> > > > > the channel + I do slant range calculation  on radios so if you car
> > at
> > > NY
> > > > > - Kennedy you can hear LAX!! in Linux/Unix each card has it's own
> > handle
> > > > > (just like opening a database). also I have a flight recorder which
> > > > > is time-stamped  (on the same box) plus it since its part of my RSS
> > or
> > > > > Radio Sub System it also controls various flags on the instruments
> > via
> > > > > messages.
> > > > >
> > > > > Cris H.
> > > > > phoenixcomm.wordpress.com<
> > >
> > http://phoenixcomm.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/arinc-410-subsystem-audio-routing/
> > > >
> > > > > www.phoenixaerospace.us
> > > > > www.flite-tronics.com
> > > > >
> > > > > On Sat, Nov 17, 2012 at 3:41 PM, <dabigboy at cox.net> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks! Yep, 5 sound cards.....it's probably possible to utilize a
> > > couple
> > > > > > more ports on each card (for ones that support 5.1 Dolby, anyways)
> > > and thus
> > > > > > get 2 or 3 channels out of a single card, but it's not worth the
> > > trouble
> > > > > > IMO. Plus I would probably be stuck only being able to play out of
> > one
> > > > > > output per card at once. Much simpler to just stick the "the green
> > > port" on
> > > > > > each card, both channels (left/right) and wire one card per "radio"
> > > on the
> > > > > > audio panel.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I could almost use more, but 5 worked out OK...my audio panel has
> > nav
> > > 1/2,
> > > > > > ADF, DME, and marker beacons...that's 5 outputs, perfect! Of course
> > > it also
> > > > > > has comm 1/2, but I'm going to probably be handling them
> > separately,
> > > as I
> > > > > > plan on using Pilot Edge ( http://www.pilotedge.net/ ) which I
> > just
> > > found
> > > > > > out about...apparently it actually reads the comm freq set in the
> > sim
> > > and
> > > > > > routes audio correctly based on that. Pretty cool! But at any rate,
> > > the
> > > > > > only thing I might need a comm channel for besides that would be
> > for
> > > > > > pre-recorded "chatter". I can always use the audio on my instrument
> > > panel
> > > > > > PC and wire that to comm 2, for instance, if I want chatter while
> > > flying
> > > > > > offline.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Matt
> > > > > >
> > > > > > ---- sander at vpilot.net wrote:
> > > > > > > Awesome work! Congrats on your victory.
> > > > > > > 5 soundcards?
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> > > > >
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> > > We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a
> > > habit.
> > > Aristotle
> > >
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> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Please Note:
> Any transactions over 1,000.00, or overseas transactions will be pre-paid
> via Bank Wire only.
> ALL VAT, Taxes and or shipping, custom charges will be paid by the customer.
> 
> Mobil    :       214-635-9818
> Skype ID      Phoenixcomm
> AIM - ICQ     194602804
> 
> We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a
> habit.
> Aristotle
> 
> www.phoenixcomm.net/~phnx2000/sim
> www.phoenixtrading.biz / www.phoenixcomm.net / phoenixaerospace.us
> Shipping / Billing Address: 921 Crawford Street, Suite 4207, Fort Worth,
> Texas 76104 USA

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