ALSA 1.0.19 Released With Many Changes

There were no release candidates or any official test builds this time around, but ALSA 1.0.19 was released this morning. There are many changes to be found in this latest update for the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture. Among other changes, the popular HDA codec driver has received many improvements, fixes, and support for new audio devices.

When it comes to the C-Media Oxygen driver for the Razer Barracuda AC-1 and other high-end sound cards, the HT Omega "Claro Halo" sound card has been added and there's also a fix in this audio driver so the EEPROM on the ASUS Xonar D2/D2X doesn't get overwritten.

Some of the other changes include enhancements to dynamic audio power management, a horde of SoC layer improvements, and USB audio changes. Beyond the ALSA drivers there are also a number of changes to the ALSA library with version 1.0.19. New versions of the ALSA utilities, tools, firmware, and plug-ins have also been published.

While Creative Labs had allowed 4Front Technologies to create open-source X-Fi support in the Open Sound System nearly a year ago by releasing the needed APU specifications, there still is no Creative X-Fi support in ALSA 1.0.19. Creative Labs had even open-sourced their X-Fi driver back in November, but no code has yet to hit ALSA.

The list showing all of the many changes between ALSA 1.0.18 and 1.0.19 can be found on the ALSA Project Wiki. The latest packages to download can be obtained here.