mod - an Amiga ProTracker module player for the VoxWare sounddriver
-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the first release of a module player I have been working on
since I bought a GUS for my Linux-system. The only soundcard supported
is GUS but I might add support for /dev/(pc)audio and thus Sound
Blaster / DAC but that has a rather low priority (and would require
some work).

The current version is 0.1, but don't let the low number scare you off
(as a linux user you should be quite used to the fact that version
numbers are quite meaningless :-). I just didn't want to bump up the
version number too quickly.

The goal of this project was to be able to play all the Amiga
ProTracker modules as they sound on a real Amiga (as closely as the
hardware will permit). I am working with the assembler-sources of the
Amiga-replayers to achieve this goal (I was coding on the Amiga before
I got myself a Linux-machine). Support for other moduleformats (like
the different PC ones) has a lower priority, but will probably be
implemeted as I find some documentation for them.

This release requires at least version 2.5 of the VoxWare sounddriver
(not out at the time I am writing this). If you currently are using
version 2.4 (this is the one distributed with linux-1.0), you will
have to apply a small patch for the player to work. Be sure you apply
the patch _before_ you try to compile the sources.

Installing mod
--------------

Assuming you extracted the archive in /tmp

1) If you have VoxWare version 2.4 do

   cd /usr/src ; patch -p < /tmp/mod/lin_vol.diff >&patch.results

   This assuming you have your kernel sources in /usr/src/linux. The diffs
   are against VoxWare 2.4, so if you have an earlier version you should
   get a newer one (earlier versions are not recommended as there has
   been a few important fixes to the GUS-driver).

   Make sure all hunks got accepted by checking patch.results.

2) Support for mainvolume is currently not turned on by default, so if
   you want to use the -a option in mod you have to add the following
   line to local.h in the drivers/sound directory of the kernel sources
   (this file is created when you configure the sounddriver):

   #define GUS_USE_CHN_MAIN_VOLUME

   This might not be necessary in later versions of the driver.

3) Recompile your kernel if you performed 1) or 2). Copy the image to the
   right place and rerun LILO so it really will be loaded.
   Reboot and continue to 4.

4) cd /tmp/mod

5) Edit the makefile if you don't want the binary and manual page in /usr/local

6) make all

7) make install

   You can skip this step and copy 'mod' and 'mod.1' by yourself.

8) man mod

9) Try it out! (for zsh-users: mod -rv /**/*.mod  ;-)

Invoking mod
------------

Try 'mod', 'mod -h' or read the included manual page.

Credits
-------

Linus Torvalds and all the people that made the Linux OS what it is today.

Hannu Savolainen for his VoxWare sounddriver.

Advanced Gravis for their EXCELLENT soundcard.

Dr.Awesome for his great modules (major reason to why I started this project :)

kurt.kennett@gravis.com for his MODFIL10.TXT that helped me understand the
basics of the module format before digging into the original sources for
the gory details.

And of course Karsten Obarski for creating the MOD-format.

Future versions
---------------

Feel free to report bugs or send me suggestions for features that you
would like to see implemented.

/Mikael Nordqvist (mech@df.lth.se or d91mn@efd.lth.se)
