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brisbin33

Member

From: boston, ma

Registered: 2008-07-24

Posts: 1,796

Website

nforce drivers, worth it?

i have a linux box running on an nvidia e-7150 nForce 630i motherboard with an intel core quad.

i use the nvidia display drivers and my own tweaks to xorg.conf to get video the way i want.  for sound, i use alsa and for ethernet i'm running the sky2 intel driver (i think).  i like to keep my system as free (as in speech) as possible, but i need that video driver.

my question:

is there any compelling reason(s) to download/install/configure the nforce drivers for the nvnet and nvsound modules? i've read most of the documentation about how nvsound needs oss but i could use alsa-oss emulation etc. but is it even worth the trouble?

my system is performing flawlessly now but my card has 7.1 surround sound and optical out that i'm not using and i think the nforce drivers are the only way to utilize that, right?  i don't think the nvnet will give me any significant improvements but i'm wondering if anyone has experience with these drivers / this mobo and would like to offer some insight.

thanks in advance.

Last edited by brisbin33 (2008-08-25 19:36:17)

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iBertus

Member

From: Greenville, NC

Registered: 2004-11-04

Posts: 2,228

Re: nforce drivers, worth it?

I think you can get hardware mixing working with nvsound but not with the F/OSS drivers. When I used an nforce board, I had no trouble setting up dmix or similar for sound mixing and using kernel drivers for network. Unless something is broken you shouldn't try to fix it, I'd say.

brisbin33

Member

From: boston, ma

Registered: 2008-07-24

Posts: 1,796

Website

Re: nforce drivers, worth it?

thanks for the reply.  i've had issues in previous distros where playing multiple sound sources at once would kill sound in any program thereafter until a reboot.  at that time i didn't quite understand the whole alsa / oss / pulse audio interaction though.  my only real concern for trying out these drivers was breaking my system back into that situation because i was quite happy to find that problem didn't exist when i set up my alsa-only arch box.

the idea of 7.1 surround sound enticed me; but i think you're right, "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

PS: your homebrew vis workstation is sick

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