Discuss: Mac OS X guest sound support driver

Discussions about using Mac OS X guests (on Apple hardware) in VirtualBox.
OmegaX
Posts: 24
Joined: 12. May 2010, 06:19
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: OS X Snow Leopard

Discuss: Mac OS X guest sound support driver

Post by OmegaX »

[modedit]This howto is now available at http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=33358. This is now left for discussion.[/modedit]
Last edited by OmegaX on 16. Jun 2010, 12:11, edited 12 times in total.
notbad
Posts: 78
Joined: 5. Jan 2010, 16:07
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Mac OS X

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support for Leopard, Snow Leopard guest

Post by notbad »

is the sound good? bcs i have installed such an kext but the sound is bad for me. is this kext someway patched?
OmegaX
Posts: 24
Joined: 12. May 2010, 06:19
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: OS X Snow Leopard

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support for Leopard, Snow Leopard guest

Post by OmegaX »

notbad wrote:is the sound good? bcs i have installed such an kext but the sound is bad for me. is this kext someway patched?
Sound quality is perfect for me, played music through it to test it, input(mic) works also.
This is the AC97 drivers compiled from Darwin source patched specifically for the AC97 sound device VirtualBox emulates.
notbad
Posts: 78
Joined: 5. Jan 2010, 16:07
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Mac OS X

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support for Leopard, Snow Leopard guest

Post by notbad »

thanks I will try :wink:
Kariddi
Posts: 6
Joined: 22. May 2009, 21:16
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by Kariddi »

The audio quality is bad for me.

I'm using it on MacOSX 10.6.3 and only one speaker works. The audio also crackles a lot.

Any suggestion?
takwing
Posts: 72
Joined: 17. Jan 2010, 07:44
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: winxp, Leopard, Snow Leopard, , Win7, ubuntu 9.10
Location: Hong Kong
Contact:

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by takwing »

Are you using v3.2.0 beta 3?
Would you mind following my guide to install SL again and see if that works?

http://www.takwing.idv.hk/tech/virtual/ ... index.html
come and visit my technical page:
http://www.takwing.idv.hk/tech/index.php
OmegaX
Posts: 24
Joined: 12. May 2010, 06:19
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: OS X Snow Leopard

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by OmegaX »

Kariddi wrote:The audio quality is bad for me.

I'm using it on MacOSX 10.6.3 and only one speaker works. The audio also crackles a lot.

Any suggestion?
I'm not sure, I haven't been able to recreate that problem but i've seen a few people have it, for most it seems to be working fine.
are you using NullCPUPowerManagement.kext as well? if not it might help to install it.
paulscode
Posts: 25
Joined: 9. May 2010, 03:36
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by paulscode »

This doesn't seem to work for me. My host is Ubuntu Lucid 64-bit, VB is 3.2 Beta2, guest is Snow Leopard 10.6.3. I tried both the package installer method and the manual install method. In both cases, the guest freezes when shutting down, requiring me to power it off manually. After firing back up, there is still no sound and the System Preferences->Sound window shows "No output devices found".

Note, my Snow Leopard guest is running in 64-bit mode (seems to be required for some reason, probably since the host is 64-bit). Do you know if that could be causing a problem?
OmegaX
Posts: 24
Joined: 12. May 2010, 06:19
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: OS X Snow Leopard

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by OmegaX »

paulscode wrote:This doesn't seem to work for me. My host is Ubuntu Lucid 64-bit, VB is 3.2 Beta2, guest is Snow Leopard 10.6.3. I tried both the package installer method and the manual install method. In both cases, the guest freezes when shutting down, requiring me to power it off manually. After firing back up, there is still no sound and the System Preferences->Sound window shows "No output devices found".

Note, my Snow Leopard guest is running in 64-bit mode (seems to be required for some reason, probably since the host is 64-bit). Do you know if that could be causing a problem?
I forgot to mention this but the driver is only 32-bit, thats why it's not loading when you're in 64-bit mode. I'm going to try to work on a 64-bit compatible driver but for now you could run in 32-bit to get sound support working, you aren't required to run the guest as 64-bit on 64-bit hardware, I run mine in 32-bit on my 64-bit Core 2 Duo system.

I'll edit the topic to make it known it's currently 32-bit only.
paulscode
Posts: 25
Joined: 9. May 2010, 03:36
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by paulscode »

Awesome, thanks much!
Sasquatch
Volunteer
Posts: 17798
Joined: 17. Mar 2008, 13:41
Primary OS: Debian other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux
Location: /dev/random

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by Sasquatch »

Can you also provide the source code of the driver, so that the devs can possibly use it for Guest Additions (if they are going to add audio to it)?

In the mean time, I think this is a great addition and will therefore sticky this thread.
Read the Forum Posting Guide before opening a topic.
VirtualBox FAQ: Check this before asking questions.
Online User Manual: A must read if you want to know what we're talking about.
Howto: Install Linux Guest Additions
Howto: Use Shared Folders on Linux Guest
See the Tutorials and FAQ section at the top of the Forum for more guides.
Try searching the forums first with Google and add the site filter for this forum.
E.g. install guest additions site:forums.virtualbox.org

Retired from this Forum since OSSO introduction.
OmegaX
Posts: 24
Joined: 12. May 2010, 06:19
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: OS X Snow Leopard

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by OmegaX »

Sasquatch wrote:Can you also provide the source code of the driver, so that the devs can possibly use it for Guest Additions (if they are going to add audio to it)?

In the mean time, I think this is a great addition and will therefore sticky this thread.
Thank you, I'll provide all the necessary info for building the driver shortly.
Technologov
Volunteer
Posts: 3342
Joined: 10. May 2007, 16:59
Location: Israel

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by Technologov »

Having AC97 driver is very favorable development.

OmegaX: Which community are you come from? OSx86, or from VBox OSE, or from Oracle, or ... ?
OmegaX
Posts: 24
Joined: 12. May 2010, 06:19
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: OS X Snow Leopard

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by OmegaX »

Technologov wrote:Having AC97 driver is very favorable development.

OmegaX: Which community are you come from? OSx86, or from VBox OSE, or from Oracle, or ... ?
I guess you could say i'm from OSx86 but posting this extension there was my first post in years of inactivity.
takwing
Posts: 72
Joined: 17. Jan 2010, 07:44
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: winxp, Leopard, Snow Leopard, , Win7, ubuntu 9.10
Location: Hong Kong
Contact:

Re: Mac OS X guest sound support driver UPDATE [See Attachment]

Post by takwing »

Omega,

I got some information that you may find interesting.

I have tried your NullCPUPowerManagement kext installation package on my existing SL VM (which has sound working by using your audio driver). Installation of NullCPUPowerManagement kext is find (as reported). After I reboot, I find that my sound does not work perfectly anymore.... there is only sound from the right channel (if I remember correctly, this has been reported by one user also) and the sound interruptions issue reoccurs again!

Trying to solve this problem, I have tried to
- reinstall the audio driver by using the installation package. Installation is reported to be OK, but after reboot, the sound is not improved.
- hopefully, I have take a snapshot installing and testing the audio dirver... and so I restore that snapshot.
I boot up the machine again and to my surprise, the problem is not solved! (I previously think that restoring a snapshot is a MUST-WORK solution.)

The sound is still not working perfectly at this moment. I have taken a snapshot of the boot up screen and I wonder iif the 2 lines that are related to audio driver expected or not. Sorry that I really cannot tell if these 2 lines are in fact there even when the audio is working perfectly.

Besides, I have tried to "tune" the left-right balance of the sound volume in MacOS and have the following findings:
- when I move the slider to the right a little bit, sounds are coming out from my left speaker (I am sure that the left, right channel of my system is correct as I have verified this in Windows)
- when I move the slider to the farmost right, there is no sounds coming out from both speaker
- when I move the slider to the center, or a little bit to the left, sounds are coming out from my right speaker (I am sure that the left, right channel of my system is correct as I have verified this in Windows)
- when I move the slider to the farmost left, there is no sounds coming out from both speaker
Attachments
sl_vm_bootup.jpg
sl_vm_bootup.jpg (88.82 KiB) Viewed 240663 times
come and visit my technical page:
http://www.takwing.idv.hk/tech/index.php
Locked