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Vrock
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What happened to the Realtek Audio Manager?

Wed Sep 18, 2019 9:03 am

Got a new board with ALC882. What a chore to find drivers from Realtek (and when I did, they're from 2017). I installed the driver from Asrock (board is an Asrock B450M Pro4) and it was dated June of 2019. But, there's no Realtek Audio Manager like I remember in Windows 10. Google searches have been fruitless. Am I missing something? Should I even care?
 
The Egg
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Re: What happened to the Realtek Audio Manager?

Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:19 am

I've seen a number of people asking about Realtek audio drivers lately, so you're not the only one. I recently had trouble finding them as well, though this driver page seems to be up and available now. Still not good that so many are having difficulty. Considering the install base, I'm sure a very statistically significant number of people are accidentally downloading malware from shady "driver sites".

Speaking of install-base and nefarious intentions, the attack surface via Realtek's audio drivers must be absolutely colossal. They're on what, probably 95% of all motherboards? Seeing as how the drivers haven't been updated in over 2 years and the distribution method is haphazardly maintained, I doubt security is even on the radar. Important people should probably be concerned about that.
 
Vrock
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Re: What happened to the Realtek Audio Manager?

Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:28 am

The Egg wrote:
I've seen a number of people asking about Realtek audio drivers lately, so you're not the only one. I recently had trouble finding them as well, though this driver page seems to be up and available now. Still not good that so many are having difficulty. Considering the install base, I'm sure a very statistically significant number of people are accidentally downloading malware from shady "driver sites".

Indeed. What's weird is that MS and motherboard manufacturers seem to have updated drivers. It's almost like Realtek is only providing drivers to OEMs now.
 
The Egg
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Re: What happened to the Realtek Audio Manager?

Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:49 am

Vrock wrote:
The Egg wrote:
I've seen a number of people asking about Realtek audio drivers lately, so you're not the only one. I recently had trouble finding them as well, though this driver page seems to be up and available now. Still not good that so many are having difficulty. Considering the install base, I'm sure a very statistically significant number of people are accidentally downloading malware from shady "driver sites".

Indeed. What's weird is that MS and motherboard manufacturers seem to have updated drivers. It's almost like Realtek is only providing drivers to OEMs now.

Yeap. Except that the driver version numbers don't correlate, and board makers often slap-on the date THEY released the drivers. Makes it very difficult to follow or figure out what the heck is going on.
 
just brew it!
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Re: What happened to the Realtek Audio Manager?

Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:10 pm

At least on Linux, everyone gets the SAME broken driver! :lol:
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
Captain Ned
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Re: What happened to the Realtek Audio Manager?

Wed Sep 18, 2019 12:15 pm

just brew it! wrote:
At least on Linux, everyone gets the SAME broken driver! :lol:

And LIKES it!!!
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
meerkt
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Re: What happened to the Realtek Audio Manager?

Wed Sep 18, 2019 5:22 pm

Vrock wrote:
Indeed. What's weird is that MS and motherboard manufacturers seem to have updated drivers. It's almost like Realtek is only providing drivers to OEMs now.

That's not unique to Realtek. I've recently encountered something similar with Marvell (storage) and Qualcomm/Atheros (LAN).

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