[linrad] Linrad-02.07

[Leif Asbrink <sm5bsz.com; leif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

Known bugs are now corrected:-)

The transfer to multi-thread is not yet complete
because all calls to the error handling routine
lirerr(int error_code) have to be followed by a 
test for an error condition followed by a conditional 
return to the calling routine. 370 such calls need 
to be fixed and some of them that do graphics are 
in turn called from a few thousand places from where
a conditional exit should also be made and so on....

It will take some time to complete this and it 
is not a very interesting work to do....

Before all of this is fixed, Linrad will continue
after reporting an error as if nothing has happened
until eventually some thread detects that the
program runs with the error flag set. Normally
this is perfectly OK, but if the error affects some
pointer value a segfault could result.

The only problems I know about right now are
associated with ALSA on Debian Etch. 
(alsa-base/etch uptodate 1.0.10-3

In the first place I can only get 16 bits from my
Delta44 so I loose some dynamic range. As far as
I know the ALSA interface to the old soundcard
interface of legacy sound and OSS is intended
for low grade applications only and the ALSA group
has no intention to introduce 32 bit transfer
for this interface. "Serious programmers should
use the ALSA native interface", something I have
no idea how to do. This means I will continue to
use OSS for serious measurements here.

A second problem with ALSA is that the 8-bit output
format does not work. I set the format to unsigned
8-bit which is "The standard unsigned 8-bit audio
encoding used in PC soundcards" (AFMT_U8) I get a very
loud and distorted signal. It is a simple ALSA bug.
I can set the format to AFMT_S8 and then it works
well on this system, but I get the error on all
other systems. ALSA seems to have mixed up these
two formats.

With some luck, Linrad-02.xx is now stable enough
to get the label "unstable" removed. Please send
reports on your observations of unexpected things,
bugs or suggestions for changes. The day when I
feel confident enough to announce "Linrad for Windows"
to a greater audience might not be too far away:-)

73

Leif / SM5BSZ

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