ALSA support on PowerMac
This page attempts to summarize the status of support for ALSA sound on Mac PowerPC hardware. The info was gathered from this thread on debian-powerpc and mimics the controls offered by alsamixer.
Please add any missing info you can provide.
More info on the ALSA bug tracker (use the Guest login to view).
n/a = not applicable. |
# = see note below. |
? = untested. |
To determine your Mac's audio chipset, use: cat /proc/asound/cards
To determine your Mac's machine ID, use: grep machine /proc/cpuinfo
To determine your kernel's ALSA version, use: cat /proc/asound/version
Chipset |
Platform (machine ID) |
Master Volume |
Speakers |
Headphones |
CD |
Line Input |
Microphone |
Beep |
AWACS |
601, 603, 604 (Old World) |
yes |
# |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
Screamer |
G3 beige DT (Gossamer) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
# |
yes |
n/a |
yes |
Screamer |
G3 iMac SL (PowerMac2,1 PowerMac2,2 PowerMac4,1) |
# |
yes |
# |
# |
# |
yes |
yes |
Screamer |
G4 AGP (PowerMac3,1) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
? |
yes |
n/a |
yes |
Burgundy |
G3 B&W (PowerMac1,1) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
? |
yes |
n/a |
yes |
Burgundy |
G3 iMac classic (iMac,1) |
yes |
# |
# |
yes |
yes |
# |
yes |
Daca |
G3 iBook clamshell (PowerBook2,1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
no |
Tumbler |
G4 Silver (PowerMac3,4) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
n/a |
n/a |
yes |
Tumbler |
G4 Quicksilver (PowerMac3,5) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
n/a |
n/a |
yes |
Snapper |
G4 Mirrored Drive Doors (PowerMac3,6) |
yes |
yes |
# |
n/a? |
n/a? |
? |
yes |
Tumbler |
G4 iMac flowerpot (PowerMac4,2) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
n/a |
no |
yes |
Snapper |
G4 pBook (PowerBook3,4) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
# |
yes |
yes |
Tumbler |
G3 iBook2 (PowerBook4,1) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
n/a |
n/a |
yes |
Snapper |
G3 iBook2 (PowerBook4,3) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
n/a |
n/a |
yes |
Snapper |
G4 pBook (PowerBook5,2) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
? |
n/a |
no |
yes |
Snapper |
G4 pBook (PowerBook5,6) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
n/a |
yes |
yes |
Snapper |
G4 iBook2 (PowerBook6,5) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
n/a |
yes |
yes |
Snapper |
G5 desktop (PowerMac7,2) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
n/a |
yes |
Snapper |
eMac 700 (PowerMac4,4) |
yes |
|
|
|
|
no |
no |
Snapper |
eMac 1.25 (PowerMac6,4) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
yes |
yes |
yes |
Toonie |
Mac Mini (PowerMac10,1) |
# |
# |
# |
# |
# |
# |
# |
NOTES
AWACS (601, 603, 604, 604e a.k.a. Old World)
- Beeping goes to both the internal speaker and the audio output, because the circuitry to mute the internal speaker is not detected by the driver. As such, getting beeps exclusively to the audio output requires disconnecting the cable going to the internal speaker.
As of kernel 2.6.26 (ALSA 1.0.17):
- Everything seems to work on a 7300/200.
Screamer (beige G3, iMac G3 slot-loading)
As of kernel 2.6.13.2 (ALSA 1.0.9b):
- CD playback requires selecting the CD source as recordable.
- Output jack doubles as speaker/headphones.
- Input jack doubles as line/microphone.
As of kernel 2.6.15 (ALSA 1.0.10):
- beige:
- CD playback requires selecting the Mic source as recordable, CD source selector does nothing.
- Master volume and switch affect only line output.
- Headphones controls not available, headphone detection does not work correctly.
- CD playback does not work at all.
- Line input is affected by Mic Boost (which exists on both Playback and Capture tabs).
As of kernel 2.6.26 (ALSA 1.0.17):
Everything should work. (1st generation iMac SL PowerMac2,1 requires next release.)
Burgundy (iMac G3)
As of kernel 2.6.13.2 (ALSA 1.0.9b):
- Most of the mutes don't work, or their state cannot be saved.
- Headphone detection induced auto-muting of the speakers doesn't work.
- Controls for the stereo speakers and for the headphones are reversed (wrong offset in the control matrix?).
As of kernel 2.6.15 (ALSA 1.0.10):
- Capture page in alsamixer is empty, sound input from built-in microphone does not work. (Mic slider on playback page controls play-through.)
As of kernel 2.6.26 (ALSA 1.0.17):
- Everything should work.
Snapper
G4 Mirrored Drive Doors (PowerMac 3,6)
As of kernel 2.6.26 (ALSA 1.0.16)
?BrandenRobinson reports: Speaker jack in rear and headphone jack in front both work, but plugging in headphones does not mute speaker output regardless of whether AutoMute (KMix->Settings) is set or not. I did not test CD playback or the microphone port. If there's a line input I don't know where it is. The snd_powermac module was not automatically loaded; I had to modprobe it.
G4 PowerBook (PowerBook 3,4)
As of kernel ?
- Martin Habets says: The only glitch with line input is that channels switch sometimes with mono input. Never during one recording, but sometimes between takes (i.e. when the device gets closed/opened). I'm keeping an eye on this, but have not found a pattern yet.
G5 desktop
As of kernel 2.6.12 (ALSA 1.0.9):
- The 3 outputs (line/headphones/speakers) work correctly, along with auto-detection of an insterted plug on the first two outputs.
- The digital input is not working yet.
G4 PowerBook (PowerBook 5,2)
As of kernel ? (ALSA 1.0.9a):
- Sound has some syncronisation issues (approx. 120% of the normal speed).
- Using dmasound-pmac + esd instead of alsa.
G4 PowerBook alu post-february-2005 (PowerBook 5,6)
As of kernel 2.6.13 (ALSA 1.0.9a):
- Sound is dead when returning from a power suspend.
- Analog CD control is not available.
Toonie
Mac Mini
- There is no mixer on this chipset, so all mixing and volume controls have to be done in software.
- No Analog CD output, no analog inputs at all.
- Moved to a new driver, snd-aoa.