Editing Sound card (section)

==Driver architecture==
To use a sound card, the [[operating system]] (OS) typically requires a specific [[device driver]], a low-level program that handles the data connections between the physical hardware and the operating system. Some operating systems include the drivers for many cards; for cards not so supported, drivers are supplied with the card, or available for download.

* [[DOS]] programs for the IBM PC often had to use universal [[middleware]] driver libraries (such as the [[HMI Sound Operating System]], the [[Miles Audio Interface Libraries]] (AIL), the [[Miles Sound System]] etc.) which had drivers for most common sound cards, since DOS itself had no real concept of a sound card. Some card manufacturers provided [[Terminate-and-stay-resident program|terminate-and-stay-resident drivers]] for their products. Often the driver is a Sound Blaster and AdLib emulator designed to allow their products to emulate a Sound Blaster and AdLib, and to allow games that could only use SoundBlaster or AdLib sound to work with the card. Finally, some programs simply had driver or middleware source code incorporated into the program itself for the sound cards that were supported.
* [[Microsoft Windows]] uses drivers generally written by the sound card manufacturers. Many device manufacturers supply the drivers on their own discs or to Microsoft for inclusion on Windows installation disc. USB audio device class support is present from Windows 98 onwards.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/bus/USB/USBFAQ_intro.mspx#E2DAC |title=Microsoft USB FAQ |website=[[Microsoft]] |access-date=2008-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409202106/http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/bus/USB/USBFAQ_intro.mspx#E2DAC#E2DAC |archive-date=2008-04-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Since Microsoft's [[Universal Audio Architecture]] (UAA) initiative which supports HD Audio, FireWire and [[USB audio device class]] standards, a universal class driver by Microsoft can be used. The driver is included with [[Windows Vista]]. For [[Windows XP]], [[Windows 2000]] or [[Windows Server 2003]], the driver can be obtained by contacting Microsoft support.<ref>[https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/888111/universal-audio-architecture-uaa-high-definition-audio-class-driver-ve Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) High Definition Audio class driver version 1.0a available] Retrieved September 7, 2017.</ref> Almost all manufacturer-supplied drivers for such devices also include this universal class driver.
* A number of versions of [[UNIX]] make use of the portable [[Open Sound System]] (OSS). Drivers are seldom produced by the card manufacturer.
* Most present-day [[Linux distribution]]s make use of the [[Advanced Linux Sound Architecture]] (ALSA).{{efn|Up until [[Linux kernel]] 2.4, OSS was the standard sound architecture for Linux, although ALSA can be downloaded, compiled and installed separately for kernels 2.2 or higher. But from kernel 2.5 onwards, ALSA was integrated into the kernel and the OSS native drivers were deprecated. Backward compatibility with OSS-based software is maintained, however, by the use of the ALSA-OSS compatibility API and the OSS-emulation kernel modules.}}
* Mockingboard support on the Apple II is usually incorporated into the programs itself as many programs for the Apple II boot directly from disk. However a TSR is shipped on a disk that adds instructions to Apple Basic so users can create programs that use the card, provided that the TSR is loaded first.