| 1 | | FFADO version 1.999.7 |
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| 2 | | ===================== |
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| 3 | | |
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| 4 | | This project aims to provide a free driver implemenation for the BeBoB |
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| 5 | | platform. The BeBoB is used in many available IEEE 1394 based break-out |
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| 6 | | boxes. |
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| | 1 | FFADO v2.x |
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| | 2 | ========== |
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| | 3 | |
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| | 4 | The FFADO project aims to provide a free driver implemenation for FireWire |
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| | 5 | (IEEE1394, iLink) based (semi-) professional audio interfaces. The focus of |
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| | 6 | the project are on audio/music production rather than consumer audio. This |
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| | 7 | means that, although we intend to supported all features at some point, |
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| | 8 | consumer features are considered less important. The most obvious example of |
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| | 9 | a consumer feature is AC3/DTS passthrough support, which is unsupported at |
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| | 10 | the moment. |
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| | 11 | |
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| | 12 | This package provides the libffado shared library that provides a unified |
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| | 13 | programming interface to configure and use all supported devices. Currently |
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| | 14 | this library is used by the 'firewire' backends of the jack audio connection |
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| | 15 | kit sound server (jackaudio.org). This backend provides audio and midi support, |
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| | 16 | and is available both in jackd and it's multiprocessor variant jackdmp. |
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| | 17 | (note: At the moment there is no support for ALSA nor for pulseaudio.) |
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| | 18 | |
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| | 19 | Access to the device internal configuration (e,g, internal mixer) is exposed |
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| | 20 | using the ffado-dbus-server daemon. This daemon exposes the configurable |
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| | 21 | parameters of all detected devices through DBUS. The ffadomixer application in |
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| | 22 | support/mixer presents a GUI to control these parameters (only for officially |
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| | 23 | supported devices). |
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| | 24 | |
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| | 25 | Features |
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| | 26 | -------- |
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| | 27 | * 24-bit audio input/output (unlimited number of channels) |
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| | 28 | * supports for all samplerates a device supports |
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| | 29 | * MIDI input/output (unlimited number of channels) |
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| | 30 | * Support for S/PDIF and ADAT/SMUX I/O |
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| | 31 | * Internal mixer and device control support for all officially supported devices |
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| | 32 | (NOTE: no support for internal DSP) |
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| | 33 | * Support for device aggregation (limited to devices on the same bus) |
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| | 34 | |
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| | 35 | Device Support |
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| | 36 | -------------- |
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| | 37 | |
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| | 38 | The devices officially supported are: |
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| | 39 | * ESI Quatafire 610 |
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| | 40 | * Terratec Producer Phase 88 |
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| | 41 | * Focusrite Saffire (original/white) |
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| | 42 | * Focusrite Saffire PRO10 |
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| | 43 | * Focusrite Saffire PRO26 |
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| | 44 | * ECHO AudioFire2 |
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| | 45 | * Mackie Onyx Mixer FireWire expansion |
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| | 46 | |
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| | 47 | The 'officially supported' label is only given to devices that fullfil the following: |
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| | 48 | * at least one of the developers has the device |
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| | 49 | * the vendor provides development support (access to information) |
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| | 50 | * the device works |
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| | 51 | |
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| | 52 | Through reverse-engineering the following devices will also work: |
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| | 53 | * MotU traveller |
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| | 54 | * MotU 828mkII |
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| | 55 | Note: the support for these devices is based on a significant reverse engineering effort. |
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| | 56 | This means that the developers had no support of the device vendor, and this of course |
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| | 57 | limits the extent as to which problems can be solved. You have been warned. Please do not |
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| | 58 | buy devices for which support is based upon reverse engineering, nor from vendors that are |
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| | 59 | Linux-hostile (e.g. MotU). Value the support that some vendors provide and buy their stuff. |
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| | 60 | Check ffado.org for details. It can't be said enough: currently it is a stupid move to buy |
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| | 61 | a MotU device if you intend to use Linux. |
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| | 62 | |
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| | 63 | The driver is written to provide generic support for all devices it might be |
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| | 64 | able to handle. This means that most devices based on the BridgeCo BeBoB or the |
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| | 65 | ECHO FireWorks platform will work, at least to a certain extent. |
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| | 66 | |
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| | 67 | Devices that have been reported to (partially) work with the generic support: |
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| | 68 | * Presonus FireBox |
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| | 69 | * Presonus FirePod / FP10 |
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| | 70 | * Focusrite Saffire LE |
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| | 71 | * ECHO AudioFire8 |
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| | 72 | * ECHO AudioFire12 |
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| | 73 | |
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| | 74 | Usupported devices: |
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| | 75 | * Presonus FireStation |
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| | 76 | * Presonus FireStudio (all variants) |
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| | 77 | * TC Konnekt (all variants) |
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| | 78 | * Alesis devices |
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| | 79 | * Metric Halo devices |
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| | 80 | * RME Firewire devices |
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| | 81 | |
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| | 82 | We constantly try to persuade vendors to help us extend our device support. |
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