> Hi Bob, what I mean is that when building this system a few years > ago, I tried several different operating systems with varying degrees > of success. I tried Win95, Win98, WinME, Win2000 Pro, and WinXP Pro > (first generation). > > With every operating system except WinXP, I had to find and install > drivers for each of the sound cards. 3 of the cards are Soundblaster > PCI models, and the fourth is a SoundBlaster ISA unit. The problems I > experienced ranged from interaction between the individual mixer > controls of the different cards to occassional computer lockups. > > In contrast, when I tried WinXP, it picked up ALL of the sound cards > during installation and I didn't have to install any drivers > whatsoever, even for the old ISA card. And, it placed all cards > correctly within the sound devices system, assigned mixers, and I > have no interaction between them at all. > > Of course, this is just my experience with my particular computer > hardware and your milage may vary..... > > - Darrell/KA7BTV
For multiple audio ports these days I'd recommend using USB audio devices. ISA slots are way gone and PCI slots aren't far behind. For an embedded PC controlling radios 24/7 you want something small, quiet and low power, most form factors that fit that description usually have few if any PCI slots. Linux has no problems handling multiple USB audio devices and I'm sure Windows will as well. I've personally used 3, but have read reports of 8+. In addition to audio you'll need PTT and COS/CTCSS sense inputs and outputs and some USB audio chipsets also provide general purpose I/O pins that can be used for that purpose. DMK Engineering makes a USB device called the URI (USB Radio Interface) specifically for interfacing radios (http://www.dmkeng.com/Products.htm ). You may be interested in my VoIP/Repeater controller project called thelinkbox: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thelinkbox . It's an open source project that runs on Linux. It supports any sound device that's supported by Linux. It's still in open Beta, but it has been in 24/7 operation in several locations for over a year. 73's Skip WB6YMH
