Tracker 4.42

### 4.5.3: The HP ports

There are currently three ports (actually four if you count NextStep):

hp3, hpalib and hplow. I've only been able to check personally hplow, which is a horrible hack which accesses the audio hardware directly, since hplib is not installed here. hpalib and hp3 are mostly equivalent (done by different persons).

Difference between hp3 and hpalib (by Bjoern Stabells, see Credits):

- my port, hpalib, uses AConvertBuffer(), while hp3 doesn't. I'm actually not sure if it's necessary. :)
- hp3 also supports 8bit linear, while hpalib only supports 16bit linear
- hpalib does a 3 second wait to let the audio stream fill up, while hp3 doesn't, resulting in uneven playback (silent gaps in the music)
- hp3 rounds the frequency to always use a legal frequency, while hpalib really should be able to handle all frequencies, but doesn't right now.

#### Old documentation for the hp3 port

This documentation was written by Darryl Okahata, See Credits.

NOTE: this is still undergoing development, and will probably be enhanced, as some parts don't work very well.

This is a port of tracker, version 3.19, to HP-UX 7x5 machines with audio devices that can handle 16-bit CD-quality stereo audio. Tracker plays Amiga MOD files, which are generally of much higher quality than most computer music that most people have heard (however, MOD files still aren't excellent in terms of sound quality---they are merely "very good").

Note that you must have an audio device that supports stereo and 16-bit data. Other audio output devices are not supported, although support may be added in the future.

You also need HP-UX 9.01 to use this program, and you must have set up audio services on your 7x5 workstation. See the audio services manual to see how to set this up.

#### Quickstart instructions:

1. Put these files in some convenient directory. The tracker binary contains no hard-coded paths, and can be placed anywhere.
2. The files whose names end with ".mod" are Amiga "MOD" files, which contain instructions on how to play a song. Each .mod file is one song.
3. To play a song to the headphone jack, do (for example):

         tracker -volume -20 -mix 40 boesen.mod

   (You may have to add paths to the tracker binary or to ``boensen.mod`')

   If you want the song to be output to the internal speaker, do:

         tracker -speaker -volume 0 -mix 40 boesen.mod

   Important: do not use a volume level of zero (0) if you are listening using headphones. A volume level of zero is loud, and could conceivably cause damage to your hearing. Frankly, you probably shouldn't use anything above -5 if you are listening using headphones.

#### Other notes:

1. The volume is specified in dB, and the default volume setting is -20dB. Note that setting the volume to -5dB and higher could conceivably cause damage to your hearing if you listen to mod files using a headphone.
2. After running tracker, X-Windows (vue) can no longer beep. I have no idea why, although I'm looking into this.