
Quick installation instructions for Open Sound System
=====================================================

IMPORTANT! Do not remove any OSS files if you are upgrading from an earlier 
           Open Sound System version. The upgrade procedure requires that 
           all files from the previous Open Sound System installation are in 
	   their place.

You should have three files in this directory:

	INSTALL 	(this file)
	oss-install	The installation program
	oss.pkg		A data file containing the software to be installed.

To install the OSS software you should perform the following steps:

1)	OSS can't be installed if there is a sound driver already loaded. The 
	easiest way to verify this is to execute cat /dev/sndstat. If it
	prints out information about sound drivers, it means you have some
	driver installed. 

	a) If you have earlier version of Open Sound System installed you 
	should unload it using "soundoff" before proceeding. However you 
	_DO NOT_ need to remove the existing driver files since the 
	installation automaticly updates (only) the required parts.

	b) There is a sound driver compiled in the kernel (not as a loadable
	module). In this case you have to reconfigure and recompile the kernel
	so that there is no sound driver included. Don't forget to boot with
	the newly compiled kernel before proceeding. This only affects Linux,
	FreeBSD, SCO OpenServer, UnixWare and BSD/OS versions of OSS.

	NOTE FOR LINUX USERS:
	In the event that your sound driver is a loadable kernel module, 
	you should unload the sound module before proceeding with the OSS
	installation. Execute "rmmod sound" and ensure that the module is not 
	reinstalled during next boot or by kerneld. The easiest way to do this
	is to remove all "sound.o" files from the subdirectories of 
	/lib/modules.

2) 	Execute the installation program (./oss-install). This must
	be done when logged on as root (don't use "su"). The installation
	procedure is described below.

	If you get error "./oss-install: No such file or directory" please verify that 
	you are trying to install proper OSS/Linux installation package. There are
	different packages available for both the "traditional" libc/libc5 and the new
	glibc/libc6 version (for example RedHat 5.x, SuSE 6.x and later).

	In Linux it's possible that oss-install complains something like

        "Error opening terminal: linux".

	This may happen because there are two different versions of the curses
	library. The original one expects the terminfo database to be located
	in /usr/lib/terminfo while the new version looks for them in
	/usr/share/terminfo. Currently the glibc versions of OSS are linked 
	with the new curses library and the libc version with old curses library.

        You may also try setting the TERM environment variable to vt100.

3) 	After installation is complete, you can start the driver by 
	executing "soundon". To stop the driver use "soundoff". These files
	are found in the directory where OSS is installed and in some systems
	they can be found in /usr/local/bin. When you need to change 
	configuration of the driver, you an do it by executing "soundconf" in 
	the directory where you installed OSS (usually /usr/lib/oss).

Selecting the right OSS/Linux installation package (Linux only)
---------------------------------------------------------------

Due to differences between kernel versions there are 8 different
OSS/Linux installation packages downloadable from our web site.
4 of them are for systems using the traditional libc and the last 4
ones are for new glibc/libc6 library (RedHat 5.x and later, SuSE 6.x
and later and probably all Linux 2.2.x based distributiins). 

Linux 2.0.x

This is the "normal" version which should be used together with all
kernels between 2.0.0 and 2.0.36 compiled with uniprocessor support
(the default case).

Linux 2.0.x (SMP)

This package is for Linux 2.0.0 to 2.0.36 kernels compiled with SMP
support (SMP=1 uncommented in the kernel Makefile). Use this package only
if you have compiled the kernel yourself with SMP support (all Linux
distributions install the "normal" (non SMP) kernel by default).

Linux 2.2.x (SMP)
Linux 2.2.x (UP)

There are two different packages for the latest Linux 2.2.x 
kernels. You should select the package depending on the way how the kernel
is compiled (this has nothing to do with the number of CPUs on your
machine). To find out which version to select simply execute uname -rv
command on your system. Then select the "SMP" version if string "SMP" was
included on the printout. Select the "UP" version if the "SMP" string was
not included.

For example:

"2.2.0 #2 SMP ..." means that you should select the SMP version while
"2.2.0 #2 ..." means that you should select the UP version.

Steps performed by the installation program (oss-install)
------------------------------------------------------------

When executed oss-install performs the necessary steps required to install 
Open Sound System. The steps are:

0) Initial compatibility checks are performed. You will be informed if
you should download another installation package of OSS.

1) The program shows the licence agreement. After reading the
agreement, accept it by activating the [Accept] button below the text area.
You can use the arrow up and arrow down keys to scroll the text. Use TAB to
jump between the scroll area and the buttons below it. Press ENTER to
activate the selected (highted lighted) choice.

2) Next the program views release notes of Open Sound System (Readme). After
reading it activate the [Ok] button.

3) The third step is selecting the directory where the Open Sound System 
software is installed. The program offers several alternatives but 
/usr/lib/oss is the recommended choice.

4) After the above interactive steps the installation program extracts the
software files to the selected directory. It also verifies that the driver
version is compatible with your current kernel version by trying to
load the modules. 

NOTE FOR LINUX USERS:
On Linux, if there are some kind of kernel version incompatibilities, the 
installation program attempts to resolve them by recompiling the "sndshield" 
module. This step succeeds only in systems that meet criterias listed in Readme.
If remompilation fails, you should download new driver version from 
http://www.4front-tech.com/linux.html.

5) Finally the configuration program is invoked automaticly (see below).

Running the configuration program (soundconf)
---------------------------------------------

The configuration program is started automaticly after software installation
is complete. You can run it again by executing "soundconf" command in the
directory where Open Sound System was installed (/usr/lib/oss in most cases).

When running the configuration for first time, it performs all the necessary
auto-detection steps. You will first be presented with a screen that asks you
if you want to automatically detect Plug-and-Play (PnP) sound cards. It's 
safe to proceed to select the [Detect] option by pressing the <TAB> key and
then pressing the <Enter> key. The next screen prompts you to select if you
want to detect Non-Plug-and-Play (Non PnP) cards. You should proceed with
caution since the sound drivers will probe all known sound cards and if
there is an IRQ or I/O address conflict, the system can lock up. However,
if you're reasonably sure that there are no hardware conflicts with your
adapters, you can proceed to select the [Detect] option. If you want to
skip this process, select the [Cancel] button by hightlighting the option
on the screen using the <TAB> key and then pressing <Enter>.


After this the main menu is displayed. Activate the "Add new card/device" to 
add more cards if more than one of them installed. It will display a list
of devices from which you can choose your sound card. Use the arrow keys
to go up and down the list. Select a card by high-lighting it and pressing
the <Enter> key. 

On some systems, you will be prompted to select the I/O addresses, IRQ and
DMA values for various sound card ports. Once you are done, you can simply
select the [OK] button and get back to the main menu. 

If you have multiple sound cards, you can resolve the settings by
selecting the "Manual Configuration" option. 

When you have completed the configuration, save it by activating the
[Save changes and exit] selection. It's important to save the changes 
after installing new Open Sound System version even if you made no changes 
to the device configuration.  Otherwise unnecessary driver modules will be 
loaded during soundon.

Now you are ready to run Open Sound System by running the soundon command.
To check the status of your drivers, you can type "cat /dev/sndstat". This
will give you a detailed listing of all devices configured by OSS and also
information about your license and serial number.

Should you have any questions, please submit a technical support request by
fillout the form at http://www.4front-tech.com/support.cgi

-----------------------
Copyright (c) 1999, 4Front Technologies. All rights reserved.
Open Sound System is a trade mark of 4Front Technologies.
All other trade marks and copyrights belong to their respective owners.
