audio/alsa-tools: Added (tools and firmware for various soundcards)

Signed-off-by: Robby Workman <rworkman@slackbuilds.org>

7 files changed, 553 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/audio/alsa-tools/99-tascam.rules b/audio/alsa-tools/99-tascam.rules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..6d9f2d52ba758
--- /dev/null
+++ b/audio/alsa-tools/99-tascam.rules
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# udev rules for hotplugging Tascam USB audio devices.
+
+# This file is part of the slackbuilds.org alsa-tools build, released
+# under the WTFPL. See http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/ for details.
+
+# The vendor/product IDs were taken from /usr/share/usb.ids. The rules
+# were adapted from http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~mcs/tascam_us122/
+# (no idea who the author is, no name given on the page).
+
+# Tascam's USB Vendor ID is 1604.
+# Each device has two product IDs: first the initial product ID when it's
+# plugged in. Then after the 1st stage firmware is loaded with fxload,
+# the device re-identifies itself with a second product ID... when udev
+# sees this, we want it to load the 2nd stage firmware with usx2yloader.
+
+# Device           Inititial ID   2nd-stage ID
+# Tascam US-122    8006           8007
+# Tascam US-224    8004           8005
+# Tascam US-428    8000           8001
+
+# Note that I haven't tested the 224 or 428 rules, because I don't own
+# either of these devices. If you end up having to modify the rules to
+# make them work, please send me your modified version of this file
+# so I can include it in a future version of my SlackBuild. Of course,
+# you don't *have* to do this (the WTFPL doesn't require it), I'm just
+# asking you nicely :)
+
+# US-122:
+BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idProduct}=="8006", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/sbin/fxload -D %N -s /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/tascam_loader.ihx -I /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/us122fw.ihx'"
+BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idProduct}=="8007", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/usx2yloader'"
+
+# US-224:
+BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idProduct}=="8004", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/sbin/fxload -D %N -s /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/tascam_loader.ihx -I /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/us224fw.ihx'"
+BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idProduct}=="8005", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/usx2yloader'"
+
+# US-428. Note that we aren't starting the us428control daemon, so
+# the control surfaces won't work as MIDI controls.
+BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idProduct}=="8000", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/sbin/fxload -D %N -s /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/tascam_loader.ihx -I /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/us428fw.ihx'"
+BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idProduct}=="8001", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/usx2yloader'"
+
diff --git a/audio/alsa-tools/README b/audio/alsa-tools/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..cb2b84ce01a44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/audio/alsa-tools/README
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+alsa-tools includes card-specific tools for various soundcards,
+including firmware loaders for pcmcia and USB devices.
+
+This package includes the firmware as well as the loaders (so there's
+no need for a separate alsa-firmware package like Debian has).
+
+This build includes udev rules for the Tascam US-122, US-224, and US-428
+USB audio interfaces (which replace the old hotplug scripts shipped
+with the alsa-tools source). Also included is the SlackBuild author's
+"tascam-us122-HOWTO" document (see /usr/doc/alsa-tools-$VERSION).
+
+Included tools:
+
+ac3dec - simple AC3 stream decoder
+as10k1 - assembler for the emu10k1 DSP chip present in Creative soundcards
+cspctl - Sound Blaster 16 ASP/CSP control program
+dl10k1 - loads dumps previously created with lo10k1 & ld10k1
+echomixer - Linux equivalent of the Echoaudio console application
+envy24control - Control tool for Envy24 (ice1712) based soundcards
+extract_ac3 - extract AC3 streams from VOB files
+hdspconf - GUI to control the Hammerfall HDSP Alsa Settings
+hdsploader - firmware loader for the RME Hammerfall DSP cards
+hdspmixer - Linux equivalent of the Totalmix application from RME
+hwmixvolume - hardware mixer control for cards using hardware mixing
+init_audigy, init_audigy_eq10, init_live - initialize Creative cards
+ld10k1 - dump patches stored in an EMU10K1/EMU10K2 card
+ld10k1d - daemon for lo10k1
+lo10k1 - EMU10K1 (EMU10K2) patch loader for ALSA
+mixartloader - Firmware loader for Digigram miXart soundcards
+pcxhrloader - Firmware loader for Digigram pcxhr compatible soundcards
+qlo10k1 - GUI for loading patches on EMU10K1/EMU10K2 cards
+rmedigicontrol - control tool for RME Digi32 and RME Digi96 soundcards
+sbiload - OPL2/3 FM instrument loader for ALSA hwdep
+sscape_ctl - ALSA SoundScape control utility
+us428control - Tascam US-428 control surface daemon
+usx2yloader - 2nd Phase Firmware loader for Tascam USX2Y USB soundcards
+vxloader - Firmware loader for Digigram VX soundcards
+
+One of the tools (qlo10k1) uses Qt3. If you need this tool, install qt3,
+and pass QT3=yes in the environment for alsa-tools.SlackBuild.
+
+This requires fltk.
diff --git a/audio/alsa-tools/alsa-tools.SlackBuild b/audio/alsa-tools/alsa-tools.SlackBuild
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..b5b1a0e4d9a57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/audio/alsa-tools/alsa-tools.SlackBuild
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Slackware build script for alsa-tools
+
+# Written by B. Watson (yalhcru@gmail.com)
+
+# Licensed under the WTFPL. See http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/ for details.
+
+# I am *not* going to create separate packages for each of the individual
+# tools, as some distros do. They're small enough that it's worth the
+# tiny bit of extra disk space for unused tools, to avoid the annoyances
+# of having to write and test 10 or 12 packages. For the same reason,
+# the firmware is being included in the package as well.
+# *** I agree.  --rworkman   :-)
+
+PRGNAM=alsa-tools
+VERSION=${VERSION:-1.0.25}
+BUILD=${BUILD:-1}
+TAG=${TAG:-_SBo}
+
+if [ -z "$ARCH" ]; then
+  case "$( uname -m )" in
+    i?86) ARCH=i486 ;;
+    arm*) ARCH=arm ;;
+       *) ARCH=$( uname -m ) ;;
+  esac
+fi
+
+CWD=$(pwd)
+TMP=${TMP:-/tmp/SBo}
+PKG=$TMP/package-$PRGNAM
+OUTPUT=${OUTPUT:-/tmp}
+
+if [ "$ARCH" = "i486" ]; then
+  SLKCFLAGS="-O2 -march=i486 -mtune=i686"
+  LIBDIRSUFFIX=""
+elif [ "$ARCH" = "i686" ]; then
+  SLKCFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -mtune=i686"
+  LIBDIRSUFFIX=""
+elif [ "$ARCH" = "x86_64" ]; then
+  SLKCFLAGS="-O2 -fPIC"
+  LIBDIRSUFFIX="64"
+else
+  SLKCFLAGS="-O2"
+  LIBDIRSUFFIX=""
+fi
+
+set -e
+
+FIRMWARE=alsa-firmware
+
+rm -rf $PKG
+mkdir -p $TMP $PKG $OUTPUT
+
+# first, alsa-tools itself... which is really a bunch of separate packages
+# that happen to be tarred up together.
+cd $TMP
+rm -rf $PRGNAM-$VERSION
+tar xvf $CWD/$PRGNAM-$VERSION.tar.bz2
+cd $PRGNAM-$VERSION
+chown -R root:root .
+find . \
+ \( -perm 777 -o -perm 775 -o -perm 711 -o -perm 555 -o -perm 511 \) \
+ -exec chmod 755 {} \; -o \
+ \( -perm 666 -o -perm 664 -o -perm 600 -o -perm 444 -o -perm 440 -o -perm 400 \) \
+ -exec chmod 644 {} \;
+
+mkdir -p $PKG/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION
+
+# qlo10k1 depends on Qt3, which no longer ships with Slackware.
+# This supports the SBo qt3 build. It's not enough to source qt.sh,
+# the qt3 bin directories need to come first in $PATH too.
+# If you got your Qt3 from some other source, you may have to
+# fiddle with QTDIR and PATH yourself.
+if [ "${QT3:-no}" = "yes" ]; then
+  source /etc/profile.d/qt.sh
+  export PATH=/opt/kde3/lib/qt3/bin:/opt/kde3/bin:$PATH
+else
+  rm -rf qlo10k1
+fi
+
+# one loop to build them all
+for subdir in $( find . -name configure | sed -e 's,^\./,,' -e 's,/configure,,' ); do
+  cd $subdir
+
+  CFLAGS="$SLKCFLAGS" \
+  CXXFLAGS="$SLKCFLAGS" \
+  ./configure \
+    --prefix=/usr \
+    --libdir=/usr/lib${LIBDIRSUFFIX} \
+    --sysconfdir=/etc \
+    --localstatedir=/var \
+    --mandir=/usr/man \
+    --docdir=/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION \
+    --build=$ARCH-slackware-linux
+
+  make
+  make install-strip DESTDIR=$PKG
+
+  for doc in README AUTHORS COPYING ChangeLog NEWS TODO COPYING.LIB; do
+    [ -s "$doc" ] && cat "$doc" > $PKG/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION/$doc.$( basename $subdir ).txt
+  done
+  cd -
+done
+
+# second, build the firmware
+rm -rf $FIRMWARE-$VERSION
+tar xvf $CWD/$FIRMWARE-$VERSION.tar.bz2
+cd $FIRMWARE-$VERSION
+chown -R root:root .
+find . \
+ \( -perm 777 -o -perm 775 -o -perm 711 -o -perm 555 -o -perm 511 \) \
+ -exec chmod 755 {} \; -o \
+ \( -perm 666 -o -perm 664 -o -perm 600 -o -perm 444 -o -perm 440 -o -perm 400 \) \
+ -exec chmod 644 {} \;
+
+CFLAGS="$SLKCFLAGS" \
+CXXFLAGS="$SLKCFLAGS" \
+./configure \
+ --prefix=/usr \
+ --libdir=/usr/lib${LIBDIRSUFFIX} \
+ --sysconfdir=/etc \
+ --localstatedir=/var \
+ --mandir=/usr/man \
+ --docdir=/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION \
+ --with-hotplug-dir=/lib/firmware \
+ --build=$ARCH-slackware-linux
+
+make
+make install-strip DESTDIR=$PKG
+
+# remove the hotplug scripts, since Slackware 13.37 doesn't use hotplug.
+# Instead, they've been converted to udev rules.
+rm -rf $PKG/etc/hotplug
+
+mkdir -p $PKG/lib/udev/rules.d
+cat $CWD/99-tascam.rules > $PKG/lib/udev/rules.d/99-tascam.rules
+
+cat COPYING > $PKG/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION/COPYING.firmware.txt
+cat README > $PKG/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION/README.firmware.txt
+
+# I wrote this doc when I got my US-122, might as well include it in
+# case it helps anyone.
+cat $CWD/tascam-us122-HOWTO > $PKG/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION/tascam-us122-HOWTO
+
+cat $CWD/$PRGNAM.SlackBuild > $PKG/usr/doc/$PRGNAM-$VERSION/$PRGNAM.SlackBuild
+
+find $PKG/usr/man -type f -exec gzip -9 {} \;
+for i in $( find $PKG/usr/man -type l ) ; do ln -s $( readlink $i ).gz $i.gz ; rm $i ; done
+
+mkdir -p $PKG/install
+cat $CWD/slack-desc > $PKG/install/slack-desc
+cat $CWD/doinst.sh > $PKG/install/doinst.sh
+
+cd $PKG
+/sbin/makepkg -l y -c n $OUTPUT/$PRGNAM-$VERSION-$ARCH-$BUILD$TAG.${PKGTYPE:-tgz}
diff --git a/audio/alsa-tools/alsa-tools.info b/audio/alsa-tools/alsa-tools.info
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..91647d94d5fd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/audio/alsa-tools/alsa-tools.info
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+PRGNAM="alsa-tools"
+VERSION="1.0.25"
+HOMEPAGE="http://www.alsa-project.org/"
+DOWNLOAD="ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/tools/alsa-tools-1.0.25.tar.bz2 \
+          ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/firmware/alsa-firmware-1.0.25.tar.bz2"
+MD5SUM="57bfec98a814d12e0f7ab379aaeccd87 \
+        f1939da45b162c83a726c54a470ef139"
+DOWNLOAD_x86_64=""
+MD5SUM_x86_64=""
+MAINTAINER="B. Watson"
+EMAIL="yalhcru@gmail.com"
+APPROVED="rworkman"
diff --git a/audio/alsa-tools/doinst.sh b/audio/alsa-tools/doinst.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..04211c800a666
--- /dev/null
+++ b/audio/alsa-tools/doinst.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+if [ -x /usr/bin/update-desktop-database ]; then
+  /usr/bin/update-desktop-database -q usr/share/applications >/dev/null 2>&1
+fi
+
+if [ -e usr/share/icons/hicolor/icon-theme.cache ]; then
+  if [ -x /usr/bin/gtk-update-icon-cache ]; then
+    /usr/bin/gtk-update-icon-cache usr/share/icons/hicolor >/dev/null 2>&1
+  fi
+fi
+
+if [ -x /sbin/udevadm ]; then
+  /sbin/udevadm control --reload-rules
+fi
+
diff --git a/audio/alsa-tools/slack-desc b/audio/alsa-tools/slack-desc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..575c2fa020bb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/audio/alsa-tools/slack-desc
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# HOW TO EDIT THIS FILE:
+# The "handy ruler" below makes it easier to edit a package description.  Line
+# up the first '|' above the ':' following the base package name, and the '|'
+# on the right side marks the last column you can put a character in.  You must
+# make exactly 11 lines for the formatting to be correct.  It's also
+# customary to leave one space after the ':'.
+
+          |-----handy-ruler------------------------------------------------------|
+alsa-tools: alsa-tools (tools and firmware for various soundcards)
+alsa-tools:
+alsa-tools: alsa-tools includes card-specific tools for various soundcards,
+alsa-tools: including firmware loaders for pcmcia and USB devices.
+alsa-tools:
+alsa-tools: This package includes the firmware as well as the loaders (on most
+alsa-tools: other Linux distributions, the firmware is in a separate alsa-firmware
+alsa-tools: package).
+alsa-tools:
+alsa-tools:
+alsa-tools:
diff --git a/audio/alsa-tools/tascam-us122-HOWTO b/audio/alsa-tools/tascam-us122-HOWTO
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ea36dcfce35d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/audio/alsa-tools/tascam-us122-HOWTO
@@ -0,0 +1,270 @@
+How to get a Tascam US-122 working with Slackware 13.37.
+
+The Tascam US-122 is a bus-powered USB 1.1 audio interface, with 2
+channels of input (either 1/4" unbalanced or XLR balanced) and adjustable
+direct monitoring. See Tascam's product page for more information (Links
+section, below).
+
+These directions might also be useful for the US-224 and US-428. There are
+also US-122MkII and US-144MkII units which are cosmetically different,
+but might be the same thing internally (or might not; I don't have one
+for testing).
+
+Before you start: the US-122 is bus-powered, and draws quite a bit more
+power than your average USB device (though not more than the 500mA that
+the USB specification says USB ports/hubs should support). It probably
+won't work with cheap powered USB hubs (it may be detected & show up
+in alsamixer, but fail to actually play any audio). It will of course
+never work with an unpowered hub. It's also possible (but unlikely) that
+it could fry a cheap motherboard, if plugged in without a hub. If you're
+even slightly worried about this, I'd recommend getting a decent powered
+hub (one that says it supports "high power" or "hi-power" USB devices).
+
+You should read the owner's manual (see Links, below). Obviously you
+can skip the parts about installing/using the Windows/Mac drivers and
+software (which is most of the manual actually), but the product specs
+in the back are informative.
+
+Unlike some other "USB mixer" devices, the Tascam isn't just plug and
+play on Slackware Linux systems. Although it appears as a standard
+class-compliant USB audio interface (and also as a MIDI interface),
+it requires its firmware to be sent over the USB cable each time it's
+plugged in. Presumably, this is to save on cost (no ROM or flash is
+required inside the unit), and to allow for easy firmware upgrades.
+
+To get the device to work, you'll need the firmware itself, the firmware
+loader utility, and some udev rules that cause the firmware loader to
+be run when the device it plugged in. Read on for the gory details...
+
+To start with, leave the device unplugged.
+
+The commands below assume you have root access (either logged in as root,
+or via "su -". Don't use "su" without the hyphen though).
+
+Steps
+-----
+
+1. To get the US-122 working without audio glitches:
+
+# echo 'options snd_usb_usx2y nrpacks=1' > /etc/modprobe.d/tascam.conf
+
+What this does is reduce the number of audio packets sent in each USB
+packet. Without this, the Tascam worked, but every few seconds its
+audio would get "scratchy" sounding (due to dropped samples). When this
+happened, I was using jack, and it didn't report any x-runs. I don't
+really understand why nrpacks works, I found it by googling (see the
+links section, below).
+
+2. Install fxload and alsa-tools from slackbuilds.org.
+
+# sbopkg -i fxload alsa-tools
+
+If you prefer, you can download the SlackBuild tarballs and build them
+manually, instead of using sbopkg.
+
+If you're not actually using Slackware, or if you decide to compile
+alsa-tools without using the slackbuilds.org package, see the "Udev Rules"
+section of this document.
+
+3. Plug in the device.
+
+After a couple of seconds, the green USB light on the Tascam should light
+up. The snd_usb_usx2y should be auto-loaded by udev (check the output of
+"lsmod").
+
+4. Testing
+
+Have a look at the output of "aplay -l", and/or run alsamixer and press
+F6. The card should show up as "USX2Y [TASCAM US-X2Y]". It will probably
+be device #1 (the numbering starts at zero, and your internal/onboard
+audio normally shows up as device #0).
+
+Example:
+# aplay -l
+**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
+card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
+  Subdevices: 1/1
+  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
+card 1: USX2Y [TASCAM US-X2Y], device 0: US-X2Y Audio [US-X2Y Audio #0]
+  Subdevices: 1/1
+  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
+
+Since it's card #1, we should be able to use it to play an mp3 or ogg file
+with mplayer, like so:
+
+# mplayer -ao alsa:device=hw=1 somesong.mp3
+
+You can use some other audio player, if you don't have mplayer installed.
+Whatever you use, set its audio device to "hw:1" (no, the "device=hw=1"
+above isn't a typo, it's how you tell mplayer to use "hw:1". Really.)
+
+Obviously you need speakers or headphones plugged into the Tascam, to
+actually hear anything. Also, the headphone and main volumes have to be
+turned up. There's no software volume control (you can't use alsamixer
+or KDE's volume control), you'll have to actually turn the knobs :)
+
+Troubleshooting
+---------------
+
+If you don't hear any audio, and/or mplayer (or whatever audio playing
+app) gives error messages and/or freezes up, the Tascam might not be
+getting enough power. Run "dmesg|tail" and look for messages like:
+
+[623530.547384] Sequence Error!(hcd_frame=226 ep=10out;wait=226,frame=223).
+[623530.547386] Most propably some urb of usb-frame 226 is still missing.
+[623530.547387] Cause could be too long delays in usb-hcd interrupt handling.
+
+Try a different powered USB hub, or try it in a USB port on the PC itself.
+
+Once you get everything working, you should be able to use the US-122
+with jack (with or without qjackctl).  Make sure to enable the MIDI ports
+(-Xseq on the jackd command line) if you plan to use them.
+
+(Apparently, the US-428 requires a daemon called us428control to be
+running, to get the MIDI controls to work. I haven't got a US-428 so I
+don't know anything about this)
+
+JACK Latency
+------------
+
+As a USB 1.x device, the Tascam's audio latency is going to be pretty
+awful. To measure it, you loop the output back into the input, and run
+jack_delay (I used a 1/4" guitar cable, connected from the headphone
+output to the left line input jack). Make sure the "Direct Monitoring"
+switch is off, or else it will feed back and jack_delay won't be able
+to measure anything.
+
+I've measured my Tascam with jack_delay. Results:
+
+# jack_delay -I system:capture_1 -O system:playback_1 -E
+        210.625 frames    4.388 ms
+
+To get jack-using applications to compensate for latency, use the -I and
+-O options. jack_delay's README says:
+
+  To determine the correct values for jack's -I and -O, set both
+  of them to zero ('default' in qjackctl) and measure the latency
+  using the -E option. Then set each of the -I and -O options to
+  half the value displayed.
+
+The options can't be fractional, so I use "-I 105 -O 105", which seems
+to work OK. My complete jackd command line looks like:
+
+/usr/bin/jackd -Z -R -P65 -dalsa -dhw:1 -r48000 -p256 -n3 -Xseq -I105 -O105
+
+With these settings, I'm able to use fluidsynth, beatrix, bristol,
+and other audio synths. I use a USB MIDI keyboard, but you could
+use the Tascam's MIDI in jack with a standard MIDI keyboard as well.
+ardour and ecasound also work for recording audio, though I haven't
+tested them thoroughly.
+
+I haven't experimented with the -p and -n options. Lower values would
+mean less latency, at the expense of more CPU and I/O overhead. I'm using
+the Tascam with an eeePC (relatively slow single core Intel Atom CPU),
+you might do better on faster hardware... but don't expect miracles:
+USB 1.1 just plain doesn't move data fast enough to get truly low latency
+audio. You'd need USB 2.0 (expensive, proprietary) or better yet, Firewire
+(also expensive) for that.
+
+If you can't seem to get rid of audio problems any other way, try
+(in order):
+
+- make sure jackd and your audio applications have the appropriate
+  POSIX capabilities (e.g. setcap cap_ipc_lock,cap_sys_nice=ep
+  /usr/bin/jackd)
+
+- add append="threadirqs" in lilo.conf (re-run lilo, reboot)
+
+- use the rtirq script from http://www.rncbc.org/jack/
+
+- recompile the kernel with CONFIG_PREEMPT=y
+
+- Use a realtime-patched kernel
+  from http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/rt/
+
+There is a lot of info out there on the 'net about reducing latency
+and/or x-runs in jack. You'll get it working if you're persistent.
+
+Miscellaneous
+-------------
+
+This isn't Slackware- or Linux-specific information, but it's not covered
+real well in the owner's manual either.
+
+Unlike some other "USB mixer" devices, the Tascam won't work as a
+standalone mixer. It's USB-powered, and needs its firmware loaded.
+
+The Direct switch sends whatever's coming in on the inputs, directly to
+the output, with no latency. In ardour, select "Options > Hardware does
+monitoring" to use this. If you want to use the Tascam + your computer
+as a live guitar effects rig (maybe using rakarrack, jack-rack, and/or
+sooperlooper), this needs to be disabled.
+
+The inputs are labelled L and R (left and right). When the Mono switch
+is in the On position, both channels are mixed together and appear on
+the left and right outputs (and on both system:capture_* ports in jack).
+The device still appears to be stereo from jack and alsa's point of view
+(just with identical audio on both channels).
+
+The insert jacks are described as "TRS jacks" in the manual. This means
+tip-ring-sleeve. Probably you'll need a stereo 1/4" Y-cable (with two
+mono 1/4" plugs or jacks on the other end) to make any use of the inserts.
+I haven't tried them yet. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector
+
+There are no software-controllable mixer controls. You can only adjust
+the volume with the hardware knobs (separate ones for headphone and
+line outputs).
+
+You can't use the US-122's controls as a MIDI control surface. From what
+I've read, the US-428 is capable of this.
+
+Links
+-----
+
+Tascam US-122 product page: http://tascam.com/product/us-122/
+The owner's manual is in the "Downloads" section.
+
+These instructions were adapted from the Fedora Core 5 instructions here:
+http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~mcs/tascam_us122/
+
+Ubuntu forum topic about Tascam devices (there's a lot of noise, but some
+useful info too):
+http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=30891
+
+The US-122L, US-122MkII, and US-144 are apparently completely different
+beasts. Here are a couple of pages discussing them (which may contain
+outdated information, YMMV):
+http://www.premiumorange.com/la-page-web-of-phil/index.php?page=P030001
+http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-November/045912.html
+
+Udev Rules
+----------
+
+If you used the slackbuilds.org package of alsa-tools, you don't need
+this (it already includes a suitable set of udev rules for the US-122,
+US-224, and US-428).
+
+# cat > /lib/udev/rules.d/99-tascam.rules <<EOF
+BUS=="usb", ACTION=="add", SYSFS{idProduct}=="8006", SYSFS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/sbin/fxload -D %N -s /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/tascam_loader.ihx -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'"
+EOF
+
+(the above is two long lines beginning with "BUS==". There shouldn't be any
+other line breaks)
+
+For the US-224, change the "us122fw.ihx" above to "us224fw.ihx", and
+change the SYSFS{idProduct} numbers to 8004 and 8005. For the US-428,
+the firmware is "us428fw.ihx" and the product IDs are 8000 and 8001.
+
+After creating the udev rules file, tell udevd to load it:
+
+# udevadm control --reload-rules
+
+Author
+------
+
+B. Watson (yalhcru at gmail dot com)
+
+If you find anything confusing or inaccurate in this guide, or have more
+information (particularly about the other Tascam US-series interfaces),
+let me know and I'll update the guide at some point.