This page is now obsolete, since after the 2.8 release OpenBSD supports the ESS Maestro 2E soundcard.
First of all you must understand that the ESS Maestro 2E soundcard is not supported by OpenBSD. The only alternative is to use the demo drivers provided by OSS. So, after many failed attempts on previous versions of OpenBSD, I decided to try again the OSS demo drivers on the 2.7 release. I downloaded from their site the file ossopenbsd393j-27.tar.gz which contains all the necessary files and documentation. You must have the kernel sources installed on your system in order to use the demo driver, because the kernel needs to be reconfigured with the sound support stripped out. Thus, edit your kernel configuration file and remove the following lines:
pss0 at isa? port 0x220 irq 7 drq 6 # Personal Sound System sp0 at pss0 port 0x530 irq 10 drq 0 # sound port driver eap* at pci? dev ? function ? # Ensoniq AudioPCI S5016 eso* at pci? dev ? function ? # ESS Solo-1 PCI AudioDrive sv* at pci? dev ? function ? # S3 SonicVibes (S3 617) neo* at pci? dev ? function ? # NeoMagic 256AV/ZX cmpci* at pci? dev ? function ? # C-Media CMI8338/8738 sb0 at isa? port 0x220 irq 5 drq 1 # SoundBlaster sb* at isapnp? ess* at isapnp? # ESS Tech ES188[78], ES888 wss0 at isa? port 0x530 irq 10 drq 0 # Windows Sound System wss* at isapnp? pas0 at isa? port 0x220 irq 7 drq 1 # ProAudio Spectrum gus0 at isa? port 0x220 irq 7 drq 1 drq2 6 # Gravis UltraSound ym* at isapnp? mpu* at isapnp? # OPL[23] FM syntheziers opl0 at isa? port 0x388 # use only if not attached to sound card opl* at eso? opl* at sb? opl* at ess? # MIDI support midi* at pcppi? # MIDI interface to the PC speaker midi* at sb? # SB MPU401 port midi* at opl? # OPL FM synth midi* at ym? midi* at mpu? # The spkr driver provides a simple tone interface to the built in speaker. spkr0 at pcppi? # PC speaker #Audio Support audio* at sb? audio* at gus? audio* at pas? audio* at sp? audio* at ess? audio* at wss? audio* at ym? audio* at eap? audio* at eso? audio* at sv? audio* at neo? audio* at cmpci? audio* at uaudio? pseudo-device sequencer 1
Now recompile the kernel and copy it over the old one. Since the OSS demo driver is a loadable kernel module (LKM), you must enable the use of LKMs in your kernel. Also, you must change the security level from the default 1 to -1, in order to allow the use of LKMs. This can be done in the /etc/rc.securelevel file. Now reboot the system with the new kernel. Run oss-install provided by OSS and follow the instructions. The soundon command loads the LKM and soundoff unloads it. After all these I was able to play CDs with the cdio command, and listen to wav files with the play command, provided by OSS. Note that mpg123 is not working.. More on this later..