Mark,

> 0: ESS ES1688 AudioDrive (rev 11) (3.1)
> 0: Yamaha OPL3

This is exactly the same hardware that I have in my laptop.  Try the
latest Linux/Intel 2.3 VM on alix.inria.fr, which has monothreaded
sound support (output only for the moment) and works fine for me.
(I've tested it with 2.0.36, 2.1.24 and 2.2.3 kernels on the laptop).

If you have problems with this new VM then contact me directly and
we'll investigate the problem further.

Regards,

Ian
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Ian Piumarta, INRIA Rocquencourt,          Internet: Ian.Piumarta at inria.fr
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