Turtle Beach MultiSound Pinnacle

[Strangelet]

Okay, here comes something tricky, just to warn you.

I have been trying to get a Turtle Beach MultiSound Pinnacle board to work under Linux. It's a revision F model, and it works under Windows 98SE.

[Disclaimer]Yes, I know it's an ISA sound card that's more than ten years old, made in 1997. But this thing wipes the floor with any SoundBlaster unless you're a gamer, or you need surround sound. It's actually a Kurzweil music workstation including its own sampler with an ISA connector. And no, I don't want to replace it with something newer. This particular computer has been built around this very card, so this card is the reason why the machine exists in the first place.[/Disclaimer]

Before anyone asks me whether I searched the forum: I searched the whole Web for solutions. If there was anything useful enough for me already discussed here, the card would be working under Linux now. Besides, I believe that only few people here even still run computers (other than servers and Intel Atom machines) with single-core CPUs, let alone with an ISA slot on the mainboard (ISA for consumers is practically as dead as SCSI and has been for almost a decade), let alone with an actual device in that slot.

Now back to getting it to run. Before ALSA 1.0.20, the ALSA driver (module snd-msnd-pinnacle) was apparently broken. I managed to compile and install it (I had to compile it with settings adapted to my own card since I turned off PnP), but when I inserted the module into the kernel, I got nothing but a kernel oops, and under Ubuntu I was not even able to unload it again. I tested it with various Ubuntu versions and Fedora 10, by the way. I wrote the original maintainer, never got a reply, wrote some people at ALSA (to not have to file an official bug complete with all those procedures necessary just to get to work what may be the one single remaining Pinnacle in a Linux machine worldwide), no reply again, but they worked on snd-msnd-pinnacle before 1.0.20 and 1.0.21 were released.

So I decided to once again build ALSA from sources entirely, now under Ubuntu 9.04. The latter comes with ALSA 1.0.18 which is useless for my needs (snd-msnd-pinnacle not repaired yet and so on), besides, snd-msnd-pinnacle didn't come with it as a binary (what for anyway, for one card or what). I got me the latest sources and began to build it according to ALSA's own manual, starting with the driver. The config line read as follows with all the options I got from Windows and the card's own jumper settings:

./configure --with-cards=msnd-pinnacle io=0x290 irq=10 mem=0xd8000 cfg=0x270 mpu_io=0x330 mpu_irq=9 isapnp=0 index=0 --with-isapnp=no --with-sequencer=yes

Yes, this was necessary for a non-PnP ISA device.

• io = The Pinnacle's I/O port
• irq = The Pinnacle's IRQ
• mem = The Pinnacle's memory array
• cfg = The Pinnacle's control I/O port (needed when it's jumpered to non-PnP)
• mpu_io = The Kurzweil MA-1 synth's I/O port
• mpu_irq = The Kurzweil MA-1 synth's IRQ (this beast takes up up to three IRQs and six I/O ports when you're also using stuff like the on-board IDE controller for a CD-ROM drive)
• isapnp/with-isapnp = ISA PnP mode (turned off, it's a Plug 'n Pray card anyway, manual configuration was the only way to get it to work under Windows, and I think rejumpering it according to what OS I'm booting is ridiculous)
• index = it's my primary (and only) piece of sound hardware on this machine
• with-sequencer = MIDI sequencer support, turned on to be safe

Well, I built it, I even got me the necessary firmware files from Turtle Beach and put them into the respective folders.

I made an /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf from scratch which reads like this:

options snd slots=snd-msnd-pinnacle
alias snd-card-0 snd-msnd-pinnacle
options snd-msnd-pinnacle cfg=0x270 io=0x290 irq=10 mem=0xd8000 mpu_io=0x330 mpu_irq=9 isapnp=0 index=0

However, snd-msnd-pinnacle is not loaded at startup. There is no error message at all, but this appears in dmesg:

[   94.366286] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Non-PnP mode: configuring at port 0x270
[   94.366303] snd_msnd_pinnacle: snd_msnd_write_cfg: I/O error
[   94.366327] msnd-pinnacle: probe of msnd-pinnacle.0 failed with error -5

The only line I agree with is the first line.

The German UbuntuUsers forum recommends a few lines to check certain things:

martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ lsb_release -d
Description:	Ubuntu 9.04
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ uname -r
2.6.28-15-generic
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
--- no soundcards ---
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ aplay -l
aplay: device_list:223: keine Soundkarten gefunden ...
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Noise.wav
ALSA lib confmisc.c:768:(parse_card) cannot find card '0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4154:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_card_driver returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:392:(snd_func_concat) error evaluating strings
ALSA lib conf.c:4154:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_concat returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1251:(snd_func_refer) error evaluating name
ALSA lib conf.c:4154:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4633:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2211:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM default
aplay: main:608: Fehler beim Öffnen des Gerätes: No such file or directory
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ lspci | grep -i audio
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ ps -C esd
  PID TTY          TIME CMD
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ ps -C arts
  PID TTY          TIME CMD
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ ps -C pulseaudio
  PID TTY          TIME CMD
 3501 ?        00:00:00 pulseaudio
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ grep "^audio" /etc/group | grep "$USER" | wc -l
0
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ lsmod | grep "snd"
snd_msnd_pinnacle      25228  0 
snd_msnd_lib           22148  1 snd_msnd_pinnacle
snd_mpu401_uart        15360  1 snd_msnd_pinnacle
snd_rawmidi            29984  2 snd_msnd_lib,snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device         15372  1 snd_rawmidi
snd_pcm_oss            45984  0 
snd_mixer_oss          22912  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                83716  3 snd_msnd_pinnacle,snd_msnd_lib,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              29192  1 snd_pcm
snd                    62244  9 snd_msnd_pinnacle,snd_msnd_lib,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_page_alloc         17032  1 snd_pcm
soundcore              15200  1 snd
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ head -n 3 /proc/asound/card0/codec#0
head: „/proc/asound/card0/codec#0“ kann nicht zum Lesen geöffnet werden: No such file or directory
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ head -n 3 /proc/asound/card0/codec97#0/ac97#0-0
head: „/proc/asound/card0/codec97#0/ac97#0-0“ kann nicht zum Lesen geöffnet werden: No such file or directory
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ head -n 3 /proc/asound/card0/codec97#0/ac97#0-0+regs
head: „/proc/asound/card0/codec97#0/ac97#0-0+regs“ kann nicht zum Lesen geöffnet werden: No such file or directory
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ asoundconf list
Names of available sound cards:
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ cat ~/.asoundrc
cat: /home/martin/.asoundrc: No such file or directory
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ cat ~/.asoundrc.asoundconf
cat: /home/martin/.asoundrc.asoundconf: No such file or directory

I apologize for the German, but I am German. By the way, there has never been a /proc/asound/card0 at all. Besides, I'm wondering why it's looking for something AC '97-like.

A bit of information about the (successfully built) module snd-msnd-pinnacle, since you folks might not see it every day:

martin(at)DerNeueAlte:/~$ modinfo snd-msnd-pinnacle
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.28-15-generic/kernel/sound/isa/msnd/snd-msnd-pinnacle.ko
firmware:       turtlebeach/pndsperm.bin
firmware:       turtlebeach/pndspini.bin
license:        GPL
description:    Turtle Beach MultiSound (Pinnacle/Fiji) Linux Driver
author:         Karsten Wiese <###(address of maintainer)###>
srcversion:     7E1D1FF6894B0D5D14A1898
alias:          acpi*:TBS0001:*
alias:          pnp:dTBS0001*
alias:          acpi*:TBS0000:*
alias:          pnp:dTBS0000*
depends:        snd-msnd-lib,snd-pcm,snd,snd-mpu401-uart
vermagic:       2.6.28-15-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586 
parm:           index:Index value for msnd_pinnacle soundcard. (array of int)
parm:           id:ID string for msnd_pinnacle soundcard. (array of charp)
parm:           isapnp:ISA PnP detection for specified soundcard. (array of bool)
parm:           io:IO port # (array of long)
parm:           irq:array of int
parm:           mem:array of long
parm:           write_ndelay:array of int
parm:           calibrate_signal:int
parm:           digital:array of int
parm:           cfg:array of long
parm:           reset:array of int
parm:           mpu_io:array of long
parm:           mpu_irq:array of int
parm:           ide_io0:array of long
parm:           ide_io1:array of long
parm:           ide_irq:array of int
parm:           joystick_io:array of long

These are the first two hwinfo entries (the rest has got nothing to do with the Pinnie):

martin(at)DerNeueAlte:/proc$ hwinfo --isapnp
09: ISA(PnP) 01.1: 0000 Unclassified device                     
  [Created at isapnp.142]
  UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pnp_TBS0001
  Unique ID: u9pt.HJ8b5IkvLf0
  SysFS ID: /devices/pnp1/01:01/01:01.01
  SysFS BusID: 01:01.01
  Hardware Class: unknown
  Model: "Turtle Beach Pinnacle"
  Vendor: TBS 
  Device: eisa 0x2002 "Turtle Beach Pinnacle"
  SubVendor: TBS 
  SubDevice: eisa 0x0001 
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

10: ISA(PnP) 01.0: 0000 Unclassified device
  [Created at isapnp.142]
  UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pnp_TBS0000
  Unique ID: R_Yp.mhY9+SljT2D
  SysFS ID: /devices/pnp1/01:01/01:01.00
  SysFS BusID: 01:01.00
  Hardware Class: unknown
  Model: "Turtle Beach Pinnacle"
  Vendor: TBS 
  Device: eisa 0x2002 "Turtle Beach Pinnacle"
  SubVendor: TBS 
  SubDevice: eisa 0x0000 
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

(snip)

Please note "Hardware Class: unknown". Ubuntu does not know this is a sound card.

Talking about ISA PnP:

martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ dmesg | grep isapnp                       
[    1.653083] isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
[    1.783316] isapnp: 1 Plug & Play card detected total

It found an ISA PnP card—despite the fact that the Pinnacle is explicitly jumpered non-ISA PnP. There isn't any other ISA hardware in this computer, in fact, there is even only one ISA slot on the mainboard.

The resources chosen for the Pinnacle are all vacant:

martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ cat /proc/ioports
0000-001f : dma1
0020-0021 : pic1
0040-0043 : timer0
0050-0053 : timer1
0060-0060 : keyboard
0064-0064 : keyboard
0070-0073 : rtc0
0080-008f : dma page reg
00a0-00a1 : pic2
00c0-00df : dma2
00f0-00ff : fpu
0170-0177 : 0000:00:07.1
  0170-0177 : pata_via
01f0-01f7 : 0000:00:07.1
  01f0-01f7 : pata_via
0213-0213 : ISAPnP
02f8-02ff : serial
0376-0376 : 0000:00:07.1
  0376-0376 : pata_via
0378-037a : parport0
037b-037f : parport0
03c0-03df : vga+
03f2-03f5 : floppy
03f6-03f6 : 0000:00:07.1
  03f6-03f6 : pata_via
03f7-03f7 : floppy DIR
03f8-03ff : serial
04d0-04d1 : pnp 00:02
0a79-0a79 : isapnp write
0cf8-0cff : PCI conf1
4000-4003 : ACPI PM1a_EVT_BLK
4008-400b : ACPI PM_TMR
4010-4015 : ACPI CPU throttle
4020-4023 : ACPI GPE0_BLK
40f0-40f1 : ACPI PM1a_CNT_BLK
5000-500f : 0000:00:07.4
  5000-5007 : vt596_smbus
6000-607f : via686a
  6000-607f : 0000:00:07.4
    6000-607f : via686a
e000-e00f : 0000:00:07.1
  e000-e00f : pata_via
e400-e41f : 0000:00:07.2
  e400-e41f : uhci_hcd
e800-e81f : 0000:00:07.3
  e800-e81f : uhci_hcd
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ cat /proc/interrupts
           CPU0       
  0:    1421123    XT-PIC-XT        timer
  1:      15586    XT-PIC-XT        i8042
  2:          0    XT-PIC-XT        cascade
  5:     386512    XT-PIC-XT        nvidia
  6:          4    XT-PIC-XT        floppy
  7:          4    XT-PIC-XT        parport0
  8:          0    XT-PIC-XT        rtc0
 11:      72673    XT-PIC-XT        acpi, uhci_hcd:usb1, uhci_hcd:usb2, 0000:00:0f.0
 12:     131461    XT-PIC-XT        i8042
 14:      28293    XT-PIC-XT        pata_via
 15:      65663    XT-PIC-XT        pata_via
NMI:          0   Non-maskable interrupts
LOC:          0   Local timer interrupts
RES:          0   Rescheduling interrupts
CAL:          0   Function call interrupts
TLB:          0   TLB shootdowns
SPU:          0   Spurious interrupts
ERR:          0
MIS:          0
martin(at)DerNeueAlte:~$ cat /proc/iomem
00000000-00001fff : System RAM
00002000-00005fff : reserved
00006000-00006fff : System RAM
00007000-0000ffff : reserved
00010000-00092bff : System RAM
0009fc00-0009ffff : reserved
000a0000-000bffff : Video RAM area
000c0000-000cf7ff : Video ROM
000cf800-000cffff : pnp 00:00
000f0000-000fffff : reserved
  000f0000-000fffff : System ROM
00100000-1ffeffff : System RAM
  00100000-005050fe : Kernel code
  005050ff-0072ae5f : Kernel data
  007b8000-008780ab : Kernel bss
  01402000-01402fff : Local APIC
1fff0000-1fff2fff : ACPI Non-volatile Storage
1fff3000-1fffffff : ACPI Tables
e0000000-e7ffffff : PCI Bus 0000:01
  e0000000-e7ffffff : 0000:01:00.0
e8000000-ebffffff : 0000:00:00.0
ec000000-edffffff : PCI Bus 0000:01
  ec000000-ecffffff : 0000:01:00.0
    ec000000-ecffffff : nvidia
  ed000000-ed01ffff : 0000:01:00.0
ee000000-ee007fff : 0000:00:0f.0
  ee000000-ee007fff : 0000:00:0f.0
fee00000-fee00fff : pnp 00:00
ffff0000-ffffffff : reserved
  ffff0000-ffffffff : pnp 00:00

And snd-msnd-pinnacle isn't a Legacy Non-PnP ISA Driver either. Error messages from alsaconf:

(snip)

modinfo: could not find module snd-opl3sa2
modinfo: could not find module snd-cs4236
modinfo: could not find module snd-cs4232
modinfo: could not find module snd-cs4231
modinfo: could not find module snd-es18xx
modinfo: could not find module snd-es1688
modinfo: could not find module snd-sb16
modinfo: could not find module snd-sb8

(snip)

↑These↑ are the Legacy Non-PnP ISA Drivers.

It's not that I'm in dire need of help with this card, it's just that it would be nice if I got it to work. Furthermore, I'm not at this particular computer that often, so it's normal if I cannot give you detailed answers for two, three, or four weeks.

[MikeSh]

You are not alone ... I also have a TB Pinnacle card (currently in a little used 100MHz Pentium 1 W95 m/c). I would like to install it in a Ubuntu 9.10 m/c (1GHz dual pentium III, GigaByte 6UXD7 motherboard). I really like this soundcard for the Kurz synth. I look forward to following your progress. Good Luck!

[Strangelet]

Well, I hoped someone else would have a clue or could make something out of the messages I posted. But I guess installing obscure 1990s ISA hardware has fallen into oblivion, as have the error messages.

The situation might change, though. I'm going to reinstall both Windows (I'll try 7 first, and if that fails, XP) and Ubuntu, and while doing that, I'm going to jumper the Pinnacle to PnP mode. I hope it will work as a PnP card then (I heard installing it under XP was a lot easier than under 98SE).

If everything else fails, I might try to build my own kernel. The kernel might be a troublemaker actually. The thing is that support for all sorts of stuff is compiled into the Ubuntu kernel; I haven't looked at the config for years, but I believe this includes the Fiji/Pinnacle driver. Since it can be built in a number of configurations, my guess is that it is configured for PnP.


Edit: Stupid me. The card had been jumpered for PnP all the time. I should take a look at my hardware every now and then...

[Strangelet]

Okay, new approach.

The Pinnacle is now jumpered non-PnP with 0x250 being the config port (will be required to make that thing run under Windows XP which doesn't support ISA PnP anymore, making non-PnP ISA necessary *sigh*, but those troubles with sudden BSODs and stuff are an entirely different story).

The module has been built accordingly using Ubuntu's own alsa-source (1.0.20, in case you're curious). I installed alsa-source with all corresponding tools to build it with module-assistant. I configured alsa-source with

sudo dpkg-reconfigure alsa-source

That didn't offer me all settings I needed, so I went to edit /etc/alsa/alsa-source manually and changed the line starting with ALSA_CARD_OPTIONS to

ALSA_CARD_OPTIONS="io=0x290 irq=10 mem=0xd8000 cfg=0x250 mpu_io=0x330 mpu_irq=9 isapnp=0"

Then I built it.

sudo m-a a-i alsa-source

According to Ubuntu, this command also installed the driver. Well, as it appears, so it did. The module snd-msnd-pinnacle was built, and I can check it with modinfo.

To be safe, I edited /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf and added these two lines:

alias sound-card0 snd-msnd-pinnacle
options snd-msnd-pinnacle irq=10 io=0x290 mem=0xd8000 mpu_irq=9 mpu_io=0x330 cfg=0x250 isapnp=0 index=0

I found out that the system tries to load the module assuming ISA PnP mode unless one explicitly states it's non-PnP ISA (isapnp=0) wherever possible.

However, as of now, it refuses to be loaded at system startup (mind you that Legacy as in non-PnP ISA drivers need special precautions to be loaded; I'm still working on finding all this out). And probing it manually doesn't work either. My first attempts added lines like these to /var/sys/syslog:

Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.607027] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Non-PnP mode: configuring at port 0x250
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.607120] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Configuring MPU to I/O 0x330 IRQ 9
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.620050] snd_msnd_pinnacle: TB Pinnacle revision F, Xilinx version 1.4, I/O 0x290-0x297, IRQ 10, memory mapped to 0xD8000-0xDFFFF
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.664059] msnd-pinnacle msnd-pinnacle.0: firmware: requesting turtlebeach/pndspini.bin
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.672556] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Error loading turtlebeach/pndspini.bin
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.672568] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Cannot upload DSP code
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.672571] snd_msnd_pinnacle: DSP reset failed
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.672600] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Attach failed
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  130.672626] msnd-pinnacle: probe of msnd-pinnacle.0 failed with error -2
Dec 24 16:47:25 DerNeueAlte firmware.sh[1995]: Cannot find  firmware file 'turtlebeach/pndspini.bin'

Okay. It needed the Turtle Beach firmware files pndspini.bin and pndsperm.bin, the same files that used to go to /etc/sound in the good ol' OSS days. I happen to be in possession of these files—don't ask me where they're from, I'm working on remembering this, too. I don't think I've got them from Turtle Beach, they only supply you with the Assembler code to build them). At least I know now that they're required for loading the module. They might also be needed for building them, but they seem to come with the source. What I don't understand, though, is how you can require these files for inserting the module, and at the same time, they're rm -rfed automatically after building (I read it somewhere in source code)?

Somehow I had figured out earlier that the directory "turtlebeach" means the path "/lib/firmware/turtlebeach" and has to be created unless you've already had a Turtle Beach card running on that system. I created the directory, copied the files in, modprobed, and

Dec 24 16:51:35 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.053866] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Configuring MPU to I/O 0x330 IRQ 9
Dec 24 16:51:35 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.072107] snd_msnd_pinnacle: TB Pinnacle revision F, Xilinx version 1.4, I/O 0x290-0x297, IRQ 10, memory mapped to 0xD8000-0xDFFFF
Dec 24 16:51:35 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.128086] msnd-pinnacle msnd-pinnacle.0: firmware: requesting turtlebeach/pndspini.bin
Dec 24 16:51:35 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.138353] msnd-pinnacle msnd-pinnacle.0: firmware: requesting turtlebeach/pndsperm.bin
Dec 24 16:51:36 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.181783] ALSA /usr/src/modules/alsa-driver/isa/msnd/../../alsa-kernel/isa/msnd/msnd.c:130: msnd: Upload host data not multiple of 3!
Dec 24 16:51:36 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.181796] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Error uploading to DSP
Dec 24 16:51:36 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.181817] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Cannot upload DSP code
Dec 24 16:51:36 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.181819] snd_msnd_pinnacle: DSP reset failed
Dec 24 16:51:36 DerNeueAlte kernel: [  381.181847] snd_msnd_pinnacle: Attach failed

"Upload host data not multiple of 3!" Great. Now I seem to have reached a point at which only the developers can help me out, for the only references to this which can be found on the web are copies of the source code of alsa-driver.

Or can anyone here make something of this?

[tuharsky]

Hi,

my TB Pinnacle has been sleeping in a box for a while (kids could make You hobbies disappear however my newer computer is broken now so I use old one, one of the last QDI boards equipped with ISA slot.

So I have simply plugged the card in and awaiting the "whoila", however after booting Debian Squeeze, nothing happened, no card detected, so I was kind of disappointed. Then I found this forum.

I positively know, that I used this card with PnP ON with some Debian version, probably the Etch. The card worked well. The Etch was of kernel version 2.6.18. So anything has happened to the driver, it should have been after 2.6.18.

I also have long standing problems with even older from Turtle Beach - the Tropez. This is quite old piece of hardware, no PnP available, however it worked with Debian Woody somehow, and I don't know whether I simply forgot how to make it work (I was even not quite sure of the right parameters), or something has broken later in kernel so that I couldn't start it anymore. The Tropez was an exceptional piece of soundcard with such a sound quality that no Soundblaster could have matched for 10 years forward...


Back to the Pinnacle. I know that the pndsp*.bin files I must have compiled from TB source files, I might even be able to find the manual page if necessarry.

After the effort You have shown, I really think that the only way to go is thru kernel developers. I don't have so much time to do it myself, but I will be glad to hear of any accomplishment of Yours.