New Delfina sound card

[Dragster]

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

[Dragster]

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

[Dragster]

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

[Dragster]

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

[Dragster]

@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