Ubuntu
alsa-tools package

Tascam US122 won't load + alsa supplied firmware missing

Bug #45880 reported by Dirk on 2006-05-21

This bug report is a duplicate of: Bug #26294: Ubuntu is missing the alsa-firmware package. Edit Remove

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	alsa-tools (Ubuntu)	Confirmed	Wishlist	Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: alsa-firmware-loaders

The tascam us-122 requires a two step process to load its firmware. It requires a first stage loader (which is supplied by the fxload package as well as the alsa-firmware package) and then the usx2yloader which loads the firmware supplied by Tascam - which is distributed AFIAK legally - in the alsa distribution.

Firstly the Tascam firmware has been removed from the alsa-firmware package, which effectively makes the whole thing useless and anyway the scripts that are in there are all hotplug which won't work on a udev system. You also need to add fxload as a dependency because you can use usx2yloader without loading the first stage.

If there were any sane documentation on udev and hotplugging usb devices easily available I would fix it and submit a patch!

Although Ubuntu distribute the alsa-firmware package, it does not contain any of the firmware that *Alsa* distribute with the original base package. Surely the politics of this mean that you just need to distribute this package from some different place (eg universal) or else make some mention of the problems on the "downloaded restricted software" page.

Related branches

lp:ubuntu/karmic/alsa-tools

Revision history for this message

David Meier (droebbel-melta) wrote on 2006-05-28:

The alsa-firmware-loader is in fact quite useless when there is no package containing the firmware to be loaded, not even in multiverse.

Anyone wanting to use a card that needs firmware upload will have to compile the _complete_ software himself anyway, which is not at all obvious with a firmware-loader package being provided.

Revision history for this message

CTAF (goctaf) wrote on 2006-06-16:

alsa-firmware-loaders miss a dependancy on fxload (for the us428)

Revision history for this message

CTAF (goctaf) wrote on 2006-06-16:

here is a draft udev file :
(i don't know idproduct for us224)
(i use ezusb firmware loader, used by new alsa version)

/etc/udev/rules.d/56-tascam.rules

BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", SYSFS{idProduct}=="8000", SYSFS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/sbin/fxload -D %N -s /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/ld2-ezusb.hex -I /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/us428fw.ihx'"
BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", SYSFS{idProduct}=="8001", SYSFS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/usx2yloader; /usr/bin/us428control&'"

BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", SYSFS{idProduct}=="8006", SYSFS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/sbin/fxload -D %N -s /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/ld2-ezusb.hex -I /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/us122fw.ihx'"
BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", SYSFS{idProduct}=="8007", SYSFS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/usx2yloader'"

Revision history for this message

W. James MacLean (james-maclean) wrote on 2006-07-28:

This problem also affect the US-428 sound card (mixing board), with the additional problem:

Finally, when you attempt to run us428control (assuming you manually installed/loaded the firmware files), you get

<code>
us428control: cannot open hwdep hw:0
ALSA lib seq_hw.c:456:(snd_seq_hw_open) open /dev/snd/seq failed: No such file or directory
us428control: seq.c:1044: snd_seq_poll_descriptors_count: Assertion `seq' failed.
</code>

Revision history for this message

CTAF (goctaf) wrote on 2006-10-01:

I'am willing to help ubuntu, to support the usx2y card out of the box.

What should be done:
- add fxloader as a dependency to alsa-firmware-loaders
- add a udev script
- add the firmware to multiverse.

Tell me how can I help.

Daniel T Chen (crimsun) on 2006-11-04

Changed in alsa-tools:
importance:	Medium → Wishlist
status:	Unconfirmed → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

nitrogen (i-am-nitrogen) wrote on 2007-04-08:

I think this should be a bit more important than Wishlist, as it is an easy to support card that doesn't work because of an omission in Ubuntu. The following thread on the forums, as well as previous comments here, have all the information necessary to implement this, step by step. It would take less than an hour or two for an Ubuntu maintainer to package the files.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=30891&page=7

A slightly more developed udev rules file is also on that forum page.

Revision history for this message

blitze (blitze) wrote on 2007-04-19:

Same for the Echo Audio firmwares. Bloody annoying that their firmware is not included in the Alsa Firmware package for Ubuntu.

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Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote on 2007-04-20:

This will be fixed in gutsy (either distributed in linux-foo or in alsa-firmware-foo).

Revision history for this message

Daniel T Chen (crimsun) wrote on 2007-10-08:

alsa-tools (1.0.14-1ubuntu2) gutsy; urgency=low

  * Integrate changes from Debian's 1.0.14-2:
    - Make usx2yloader and udev play nicely,
    - Update alsa-firmware-loaders's dependencies to include udev
      and fxload. These two changes resolve the non-firmware
      portion of
    LP: #45880.

-- Daniel T Chen <email address hidden> Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:56:20 -0400

Changed in alsa-tools:
status:	Confirmed → Fix Released

Revision history for this message

^rooker (rooker) wrote on 2009-04-21:

#10

The firmware portion of this bug is still open:

The tascam firmware (and other files existing in the original alsa-firmware package) are still missing in the ubuntu packages.

Additionally, there seem to be some inconsistencies between udev-scripts and the usx2yloader, expecting firmware files in different locations:
"/usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/" (udev scripts and others)
"/lib/firmware/usx2yloader/" (usx2yloader)

I'm willing to help sorting this one out, unless there's a reason why the files for /usr/share/alsa/firmware are not packaged.

Revision history for this message

^rooker (rooker) wrote on 2009-04-21:

#11

Reverted from "Fix released", since the alsa supplied firmware files are still missing.

Changed in alsa-tools (Ubuntu):
status:	Fix Released → Confirmed

Revision history for this message

^rooker (rooker) wrote on 2009-04-21:

#12

Sorry. Marked this one as duplicate of the "won't fix" bug "Ubuntu is missing the alsa-firmware package". It cannot be fixed, due to licensing/copyright issues with distributing the firmwares in binary form.

See http://packages.medibuntu.org/changelogs/pool/non-free/a/alsa-firmware/current.jaunty/copyright for some explanation.

The only workaround currently existing is to use repositories/packages from medibuntu or ubuntu studio.