WARNING - OLD ARCHIVES

This is an archived copy of the Xen.org mailing list, which we have preserved to ensure that existing links to archives are not broken. The live archive, which contains the latest emails, can be found at http://lists.xen.org/
   
 
 
Xen 
 
Home Products Support Community News
 
   
 

xen-users

RE: [Xen-users] Re: XEN sound emulation locks device exclusively

To: "Csillag, Kristof (GE Healthcare, consultant)" <Kristof.Csillag@xxxxxx>, xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Re: XEN sound emulation locks device exclusively
From: "Petersson, Mats" <Mats.Petersson@xxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:15:26 +0100
Delivery-date: Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:19:58 -0800
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <0C1F591F23B0204A831F94EBC0B817E81ED689@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
List-help: <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-id: Xen user discussion <xen-users.lists.xensource.com>
List-post: <mailto:xen-users@lists.xensource.com>
List-subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
Sender: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thread-index: AccG9zBXU0XdlfKVRdKcnrjg4P5ycgAPrlLA
Thread-topic: [Xen-users] Re: XEN sound emulation locks device exclusively
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
> Csillag, Kristof (GE Healthcare, consultant)
> Sent: 13 November 2006 07:42
> To: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Xen-users] Re: XEN sound emulation locks device exclusively
> 
> > As I think XEN has no "audio emulation", there's probably 
> no fix other than
> > using VMware that has an audio emulation.
> 
> OK, so I have the wrong idea about how XEN handles sound.
> (I found no documentation on this, so it was basically a guess.)
> 
> Here is what I know:
> 
> - In the notebook computer there is and Intel HDA sound card.
> - In the configuration file for my HVM guest, I have "soundhw='sb16'".
> - The WinXP running as HVM guest sees a Sound Blaster 16 
> sound device, and can use it.
> 
> Here is what I thought:
> 
> - Either the XEN hypervisor, or some user-space tool 
> (probably the later) emulates
>   the hardware interface of a SB16 for the HVM host, and
> - it relays the sound to the sound system of DOM0.
> 
> If this is not how it goes, then what?
> I thought that since there is no real SB16 in the host in question,
> the SB16 interface must have been emulated,
> but from what you say I seem to be mistaken.
> 
> Could someone please explain this, or give a link to the 
> appropriate documentation?

If it's a HVM guest, the sound emulation is done in QEMU-DM, the device
model for the HVM mode. 
In fact, qemu-dm is responsible for ALL hardware emulation with a few
exceptions (timer and interrupt controller functionality) that for
performance reasons are in Xen itself. 

So, yes, qemu-dm will have a SB16 type emulation layer that then
forwards the sound to be played to the real hardware. 

I would expect that this happens at a very low level, so it's "bare
samples" being sent to the hardware, which may mean that it needs to
lock the device exclusively to prevent other streams from interacting. 

--
Mats

> 
> Thank you:
> 
> 
>      Kristof Csillag
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
> 
> 
> 



_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>