[alsa-devel] [PATCH 0/3] ASoC: Enable a new IC master mode: bcm2835<=>IC<=>cs42xx8

[Matt Flax]

On 27/02/17 09:16, Matthias Reichl wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 07:21:13AM +1100, Matt Flax wrote:
>>
>> On 27/02/17 01:49, Matthias Reichl wrote:
>>> On Sun, Feb 26, 2017 at 09:13:09AM +1100, Matt Flax wrote:
>>>> On 26/02/17 00:39, Matthias Reichl wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, Feb 25, 2017 at 04:03:11PM +1100, Matt Flax wrote:
>>>>>> This patch set lets the ASoC system specify that an IC between the SoC and codec
>>>>>> is master. This is intended to put both the SoC and Codec into slave modes.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> By default un-patched SoC and Codec drivers will return -EINVAL if they aren't
>>>>>> enabled and tested for this mode.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> soc-dia.h has the new SND_SOC_DAIFMT_IBM_IFM definition set as :
>>>>>> #define SND_SOC_DAIFMT_IBM_IFM		(5 << 12) /* IC clk & FRM master */
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The cs42xx8 codec driver is enabled for this mode and so too is the BCM2835
>>>>>> SoC driver. This forms a chain : bcm2835<=>IC<=>cs42xx8
>>>>>> where the IC is bit and frame master.
>>>>> Model your IC as a codec. No need to add patches to random drivers
>>>>> and add a flag with the rather meaningless semantics "someone else is
>>>>> automagically setting up clocks for me".
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> My last patch, used the two codec approach, however it was pointed out that
>>>> the
>>>> bcm2835 was run in DSP mode with a codec master (rather then IC master) and
>>>> that
>>>> the patch doesn't work. Which is clearly true and a problem, it can only
>>>> work with an
>>>> intermediate non-codec master.
>>>>
>>>> I think you summed it up well with your statement :
>>>>
>>>> On 25/02/17 Matthias Reichl wrote:
>>>> If the clock timing adheres to DSP mode A timing and you add code
>>>> to the the CPU DAI driver so it can operate in DSP mode A then
>>>> that should also work. If not, it's broken.
>>> Your bcm2835 patch doesn't configure the bcm2835 to DSP mode A,
>>> it's still setup for I2S (slave) mode. You are just adding code
>>> to pretend it's running in DSP mode A. Don't do that, it's wrong.
>> All configuration is done in a machine driver, which I haven't submitted.
>> The machine driver's dai_fmt is as follows :
>>
>> .dai_fmt = SND_SOC_DAIFMT_IBM_IFM|SND_SOC_DAIFMT_DSP_A|SND_SOC_DAIFMT_NB_NF,
>>
>>>> This patch set fixes the problem of a daisy chain of three possible masters
>>>> (CPU <=> IC <=> codec) where only the IC can be master. In fact, when retro
>>>> fitting DSP mode to old silicon, the CPU can specify which of the three can
>>>> be masters
>>>> and there is no chance that someone can fire the system up with the wrong
>>>> master
>>>> (which we know produces bit offset and random channel swapping when a codec
>>>> is
>>>> master).
>>> Please follow the advice I gave you about 3 weeks ago and model your
>>> setup properly.
>>>
>>> | So you have bcm2835 I2S <-> FPGA <-> codec - IOW a standard codec<->codec
>>> | link.
>>> |
>>> | What you seem to be missing is just a method to transfer your 8-channel
>>> | data via a 2-channel link - userspace want's to see an 8-channel PCM,
>>> | but the hardware link (bcm2835-i2s) is only 2-channel.
>>> |
>>> | And that's where IMO as userspace plugin looks like a very good solution.
>>> | It's basically the counterpart of your FPGA and contains the code that's
>>> | neccessary to encapsulate/pack/whatever the 8-channel data into a 2-channel
>>> | stream so it can then be unpacked to 8-channel by the FPGA.
>>> |
>>> | If you go this route your hardware and machine driver will work with
>>> | other I2S codecs as well, and IMO that's a far better solution than
>>> | adding very ugly hacks to a single I2S driver.
>>>
>>> If you add an active hardware component (your "IC"/FPGA) you also
>>> have to model that in software.
>>>
>>> If that component is acting as a clock master it probably has some
>>> method to setup clocks. Even if you don't have that, eg if you
>>> are running at some fixed rate you'll have to store that information
>>> somewhere.
>> Clocks are set up in the machine driver as well.
>>
>>> The place to do that is in a codec driver. In your setup it'll look
>>> like this:
>>>
>>> That "IC" codec has 2 DAIs and operates as a clock master on both.
>>> You link one DAI in I2S mode to the bcm2835 and the other DAI
>>> in DSP (or whatever mode you are using) to the cs42xx8.
>>>
>>> If you model it this way you no longer work against ALSA and
>>> you can stop adding hacks to existing drivers.
>>>
>>>
>> Thanks, this is actually very constructive advice. Let me try to understand
>> what
>> you are suggesting here... I am confused about how to set bit depth
>> correctly for
>> the codec when I play to the IC chip in this setup... lets walk me through
>> this one...
>>
>> I implement a new codec which matches this IC. The IC can be setup to be
>> master in
>> its dai fmt. The sound card shows up with two devices, only the IC device
>> can be used to play
>> and record.
> Actually you don't get 2 PCMs from that in userspace, you are only
> telling ALSA that your stream is routed through another codec inbetween.
>
>> Say I use aplay to play to the first device (the IC chip) it does hw_params
>> and clocks are set.
>> But the second device (the codec) never gets hw_params executed ? If I
>> select 16 or 24 bits,
>> it never knows ... is that right ? If so, how do we solve this problem ?
> Have a look at the end of Documentation/sound/alsa/soc/DPCM.txt
> where codec<->codec links are explained.
>
> You can setup the stream parameters for the "IC"<->"real codec" link
> with snd_soc_dai_link.params.
>
> You can do that for example in your machine driver in hwparams:
> when hw_params is called eg with 2 channels 192kHz just set the
> dai link parameters of the codec to 8 channels 48kHz.
>
> Maybe using dynamic pcm (which offers a be_hw_params_fixup hook)
> is the more appropriate way to do that, but I can't tell for sure
> as I never used it and am not familiar with it.
>
>

Thanks for this information, I will give this a go - seems a better way 
now then introducing an IC master into the mix !

Do you agree that we still need the BCM2835 SoC CPU driver to be 
expanded to handle DSP mode
and multichannel setups ? I can't see any other way to enable the 
multichannel hardware setup without altering bcm2835_i2s.c to handle DSP 
mode and more then 2 channels in its _hw_params.

thanks
Matt