Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Tenacious on June 29, 2003, 02:17:04 AM
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Has anyone had any luck with the new Delfina sound card? The Delfina library seems to crash my system. I've sent an E-mail to Petsoff but have heard nothing back so far.
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Has anyone had any luck with the new Delfina sound card?
Nope. :-(
Infact, my card ceased to work after about 30 minutes. I sent mine back to my dealer about 2 weeks ago and have yet to hear anything back.
My card crashed while using delfinampeg.device after playing about 2 or 3 mp3's, upon rebooting the card was no longer recognised in my system.
I've gone back to using my sb128 under the Mediator PCI bus for playing mp3's which although consumes alot of CPU time, can at least play quite a few mp3's before crashing.
Hopefully, I just got a defective card, but if other users like you are having problems maybe I'm not quite as optimistic.
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Hi,
I own a delfina sound card and I've experienced some software problems with it. One of them is that when you play mp3 using the DSP, the delfina crashes or the app used to play the mp3 file does, that's the well known "freeze bug" in the delfina library that also affects other delfina models. Another problem is that when you play something via AHI with the delfina your serial port will become unusable, so you can't play mp3 and be online to the internet at the same time (the serial connection simply dies). This bug also affected other mp3 players and even the delfmpeg device by Michael Henke. Michael fixed this problem and now I can play mp3 and be online without problems (see aminet), this bug must also be fixed in delfina AHI drivers, I've emailed Martin Blom about this but I've had no reply yet. Contact me privately if you want me to send you some files (including a patched delfina library that avoids the freeze bug, but beware, this is an UNOFFICIAL patch)... and see what we can both do to get Jens S. to fix this.
Cheers
Daniel
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why would you be sending Petsoff an email? I would think Individual Computers, the current mfr, would be a better bet. I think Petsoff is involved only in licensing the tech to IC anymore....
I'm still anxious to see the zorro version of the new delfina, the specs look pretty good....
kevin orme
amiga university
www.amigau.com
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I have had this card for a few years, I also found it had problems with the serial end and being online at the same time trying to play MP3. I have dowloaded all new updates for the delfina libs except for the last one which I think it's only a update for PCI? I like the card, but it has a few problems with the software and maybe being overclock, I installed cable from my CD to the card and it does sound great, I also download the program to play iff sounds and it seems to work. I'm glad they fix the delfina crash pop-up but when they said it's doesn't crash anymore I think they were not quit right, the sound will lock up and when you go amiga, amiga and del it doesn't work:(. I would pay up to $50.00 or more if they would just fix the software problem with the AHI interface, make a good MP3 player but there is not very many of us and I do understand supply and demand, you need food on the table. The new company did respond to my Email, but told me I should contact the old company with any problems. This is what I would like and pay for:
1. New Delfina libs that work.
2. New player that plays multi type of sounds.
3. Better AHI to Delfina interface.
Mike
San Diego
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Hello,
If you download the latest aminet delfpmeg and the new delfmpg.device from aminet also you will be able to play mp3 and be on the internet (via serial port) witn no problems. Michael Henke fixed this in the latest versions (I reported the problem and beta tested his programs before release). However, this problem has not left the AHI delfina driver, the driver suffers from the same problem: You can't play anything via AHI with the delfina and be on the internet (serial) at the same time, this is something the delfina ahi driver coder should fix, I assume Martin Blom is the coder, so I emailed him but I received no reply yet. Another problem as I mentioned in the previous post, is the "freeze bug" that causes mp3 players to freeze randomly, this includes amiga amp, amplifier, delfmpeg, etc. It's a problem in the delfina library that Jens S. (or whoever the delfina library maintainer is) should fix and as far as I know, this problem affects ALL delfina models. What can we do? Well, we all delfina boards users should email Mr. Jens Schoenfeld AND petsoff people and ask them to fix this, we do not have to pay again for something we've already paid for. In my case, I can play mp3 and be online now and I have no random freezes (because of my patched delfina library) but I can't hear internet radio with the delfina, if I select delfina in AHI prefs in AminetRadio for example and then select a radio station to play, it only plays the fulfilled buffer 'cause as soon as the program starts to play, the serial connection just dies :-/
So.. let's get together and ask for a fix to this problems!!!
regards,
Daniel
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I'll Email later today after going to the beach, I think I'll try again and hope for the best.
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Thanks for the info. It sounds like everyone can at least get their cards to function. As soon as I invoke any of the supplied utilities, I get a RAMLIB ERROR #800000004. I get no indication that the Delfina exits in my system, it's mounted on clock port 0 of an X-surf (which does work well). I may try shooting an E-mail to IC. AmigaU, you say the specs are impressive, I agree. In fact, for the last year, the manufacturer's web site went on about "..there's nothing we can't improve..". If I had known the bugs weren't resolved, I would not have invested. Next time, I'll post my questions before buying.
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This is to update my experience with the Delfina Flipper. I downloaded a new delfina.library (dated about the 5th of June) from Individual Computers (IC). This allows me to boot my A3000 successfully about once in every six tries with the Delfina software initializing in the user.startup. After finally booting, I can play Mp3s with DelfMpeg (sounds good in full quality) but the program never exits and ties up multitasking when asked to shut down. In addition, the supplied DelfPrefs program ties up multitasking the same way.
Ic has been quick to respond to my E-mails and beleives there is an incompatibility with my Cyberstorm 060 (see signature). They indicated that there is a bugfix on the way but no time frame was given.
This card has great potential, but I couldn't recommend it until the 060 bugs are resolved.
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Hello Tenacious
The problems you mention do not appear in my machine. My machine boots just fine and initializes the delfina in a correct way. I can play mp3 files for hours now with Michael henke's programs (delfpmeg.device, delfmpeg player, AmigaAMP using MHI driver, etc). There are just two repaining bugs, one in delpfmpeg.device and the other in the delfina library. The first one has to do with Streamer web stream player, it tuirns out to be that using streamer with the delfina to play shoutcast streaming does not work for low frequencies, only at high freq (128 KHz +). The other bug in the delfina library is the freeze bug, a well known bug that causes mp3 players to freeze while playing... apart from that, I have no problems. Michael Henke gave me a patched delfina library that fixes the freeze bug...
I'll bug IC until they fix these bugs... daily if necessary.
Regards
Dragster
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Hi Dragster,
Looking at the posts, it seems people with 060/PPC compination boards fare better, or maybe, Cyberstorms are a special problem. It would be interesting to compare the software you use with what I have.
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@dragster:
What kind of delfina board do you have? Tenacious is asking about the new delfina flipper.
The freeze bug should be gone in the latest delfina.library beta from IC (www.ami.ga).Try it.
@Tenacious:
Have you tried all the obvious stuff? Such as moving boards around and similar,
Oh btw, howis it connected? In a Zorro slot, or on the clockport of the x-surf?
@all:
I just bought a second hand delfina plus. When playing mp3's with delfinampeg.device, I get noise and popping (generally low quality sound). With ppc decoding and AHI playback I have no problems. I never had any similar problems with my delfina lite, (which has been replaced by the delfina plus and moved over to another amiga, without problems).
-Paul
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Hi Paul
AFAIK the Flipper can only be connected to a clockport so far. There is another double header on the Flipper for 2 future, optional, direct interfaces, zorro and PCI. Both are supposed to have higher bandwidth when they are released for sale.
My flipper is connected to clock port 0 of the X-Surf. Jens suggested trying port 1 just in case one is different. I'm going to try this today, wish me luck.
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Hi Delfina fans. ;-)
I just found these threads about the Delfina and thought I wanted to contribute some facts.
There are just two repaining bugs, one in delpfmpeg.device and the other in the delfina library. The first one has to do with Streamer web stream player, it tuirns out to be that using streamer with the delfina to play shoutcast streaming does not work for low frequencies, only at high freq (128 KHz +)
This is not a bug but a (missing) feature.
DelfMPEG and delfinampeg.device both support MPEG-1 audio streams only. That of course means that MPEG-2 streams are not supported. (see README file btw.) So whats the point? One extension of MPEG-2 over MPEG-1 is lower frequency/lower bitrate - also known as MPEG-2 LSF (Low Sampling Frequency - 16, 22.05 or 24 kHz) - which is often used for low-bandwidth streaming.
The other bug in the delfina library is the freeze bug, a well known bug that causes mp3 players to freeze while playing...
Yes, that's a bug which has been in delfina.library for years. The "old" Delfina users (Lite, Plus, 1200) know it very well and unfortunately it is still not fixed yet so the "new" Flipper users get to know it, too. :-x
The hacked library that Dragster mentioned disables some parts of the code and avoids the "freeze". Hopefully Jens Schönfeld will be able to provide an official fix some time.
Michael Henke
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PaSha wrote:
@all:
I just bought a second hand delfina plus. When playing mp3's with delfinampeg.device, I get noise and popping (generally low quality sound). With ppc decoding and AHI playback I have no problems. I never had any similar problems with my delfina lite, (which has been replaced by the delfina plus and moved over to another amiga, without problems).
If I remember correctly the discussions some years ago, the Delfina Plus boards with 32K DSP memory have some sort of hardware fault (incorrect memory mapping). It causes delfinampeg.device to produce noisy, "popping" output. I don't know if it is possible to workaround that with a software patch (delfina.library). The Delfina Plus with 128K memory and of course the new Delfina Flipper don't have this problem...
Michael Henke
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Thanks for the info, Michael.
I guess I'll stick with ppc decoding then.
Maybe I'll look for the 128 kWord ram chips, but i suspect they might be insanely expensive.
-Paul
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I have the Delfina plus with 128k words, and it has the popping sound some times, so it maybe the software. I didn't know about the Mp1 and Mp2 problem, this answer a lot of questions.
mike
san diego
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Hi all
@Pasha
I have a delfina flipper (see signature). The bugs I'm talking about are not fixed yet, not even in the latest delfina library version (which only add support for the highway USB card). I got an email from Jens S. yesterday and he confirmed me that the bug is being worked on by the library developer.
Quoting Jens C. email:
> I'd like to know about the posibility of fixing a couple of annoying
>bugs of two software parts of the delfina flipper board. One of them is the
>"freeze bug" present in the delfina.library.
That is a so-called "race-condition" in the DSP code. The fix is already in
the testing phase. A race condition is an event where two programs (tasks)
access the same data in memory. If this happens in the same order most of
the time, but the order is reversed only on very rare events, a bug in
accessing the data in the wrong order is not found easily. Well, the bug
itself might be easy to reproduce, but you also have to find the routine
where it fails, and this takes lots of time. The good news is that Teemu
has isolated the routine.
> The other bug affects AHI drivers. This bug causes the serial port
>(a VAR I/O 's or internal amiga serial port) to be almost unusable, so that
>if you're connected to the internet via modem/serial port all connections
>simply die and they can be recovered only when you stop playing anything
>with the delfina through AHI. This problem *was* present in Michael Henke's
>mp3 software (delfmpeg.device and delfmpeg player author) and he fixed it in
>his latest (and last) release of his programs (I reported him this problem
>and I was tester of his programs). This has been taken from delfmpeg readme
>file (it can be found in aminet):
That's in the secondary code, the Amiga-side of the Delfina drivers, and is
related with the race condition. The freezing Amiga is a result of that
race condition, and the DSP holds the IRQ forever, because there's no
program to catch it on the Amiga.
> This interference with serial I/O is what I'm talking about..
>Delfina AHI drivers 'cause this problem too :-(
..because they all use the delfina-library where the bug is located.
>I contacted Martin Blom
>regarding this problem but I've had no reply, I do not even know if he wrote
>the delfina driver...
No, that's not the guy. It was Teemu Suikki, and I'm in close contact with
him. No new betas currently, I'd like to publish them, but it's incomplete
softwre (other parts have been removed to make sure the fault is not cause
by them, and this stuff has to be put back in).
End quote.
So, I think this clarifies everything... so, all delfina users, let's wait!!!
@Michael:
I'm so glad to see you here, really!!!
Thanks for clarifying the streamer problem, good to know it's not a delfmpeg device bug :)
Are you coming back as an activa amiga user/programmer? Please say YES! :)
Regards
Dragster
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@ Dragster
Hi Daniel.
My Amiga hardware is stored in some boxes in the basement now. I have no plans to revive my Amiga any time soon. It would take so much time to install the system again and all the software I used to use on a new hard disk, some of that stuff will probably be lost forever after the HD crash. :-(
Anyway, I'm glad that I could release the software updates just in time... And it's good to see that Teemu and Jens Schönfeld are working on the bug fixes.
A bright, happy future awaits the Delfina users. Have fun! :-D
Michael Henke
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@Michael
What can I say? Now that things look to be going somewhere, you leave us...
Sad... :-(
I hope you comeback someday to the Amiga.
Take care & good luck,
Dragster
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Well I took the delfina lite from my A1200T (the zorro2 backplane doesn't work anyway), and when I had a closer look, it turns out that my Delfina Lite has a 66 MHz DSP :-)
So, everyone out there with a delfina Lite is encouraged to have a closer look at the speed of their DSP, you might be lucky.
-Paul