diff -urN linux-2.4.18/drivers/sound/audio.c linux/drivers/sound/audio.c
--- linux-2.4.18/drivers/sound/audio.c	Sat Jun  1 16:42:43 2002
+++ linux/drivers/sound/audio.c	Sat Jun  1 17:11:05 2002
@@ -281,6 +281,11 @@
 			if(copy_from_user(dma_buf, &(buf)[p], l))
 				return -EFAULT;
 		} 
+		/* Warning: make sure the hardware driver's copy_user accepts
+		 * remainders resulting from odd data byte count input properly,
+		 * i.e. it doesn't leave us looping here e.g. with a constantly
+		 * rejected lone byte that it considers insufficient
+		 * for 16bit output (which needs 2 bytes/sample)... */
 		else audio_devs[dev]->d->copy_user (dev,
 						dma_buf, 0,
 						buf, p,
@@ -814,7 +819,22 @@
 				info.fragments = dmap->nbufs;
 
 			info.fragsize = dmap->fragment_size;
-			info.bytes = info.fragments * dmap->fragment_size;
+			info.bytes = info.fragments * info.fragsize;
+
+			if (dmap->flags & (DMA_CONV_16_8|DMA_CONV_8_16))
+			{ /* attention, sound card does 8/16bit conversion ! */
+			    if (dmap->flags & DMA_CONV_16_8)
+			    { /* 2 bytes input result in 1 byte in DMA only:
+			         need to receive *twice* the internal amount */
+				info.fragsize <<= 1;
+				info.bytes <<= 1;
+			    }
+			    else
+			    { /* 1 byte input -> 2 bytes DMA */
+				info.fragsize >>= 1;
+				info.bytes >>= 1;
+			    }
+			}
 
 			if (cmd == SNDCTL_DSP_GETISPACE && dmap->qlen)
 				info.bytes -= dmap->counts[dmap->qhead];
diff -urN linux-2.4.18/drivers/sound/dev_table.h linux/drivers/sound/dev_table.h
--- linux-2.4.18/drivers/sound/dev_table.h	Sat Jun  1 16:44:20 2002
+++ linux/drivers/sound/dev_table.h	Sat Jun  1 15:41:44 2002
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@
 #define DMA_POST	0x00000100
 #define DMA_NODMA	0x00000200
 #define DMA_NOTIMEOUT	0x00000400
+#define DMA_CONV_16_8	0x00000800 /* SB16: 16bit -> 8bit conversion */
+#define DMA_CONV_8_16	0x00001000 /* SB16: 8bit -> 16bit conversion */
 
 	int      open_mode;
 
diff -urN linux-2.4.18/drivers/sound/sb_audio.c linux/drivers/sound/sb_audio.c
--- linux-2.4.18/drivers/sound/sb_audio.c	Sat Jun  1 16:46:55 2002
+++ linux/drivers/sound/sb_audio.c	Sat Jun  1 17:12:11 2002
@@ -20,6 +20,15 @@
  *                       Maybe other 16 bit cards in this code could behave
  *                       the same.
  * Chris Rankin:         Use spinlocks instead of CLI/STI
+ *
+ * SB16 comment, mostly by -aa:
+ * Since sb cards don't have two dma16 channels, when you playback data at 16
+ * bit the driver will convert data to 8bit and will play it with the dma8,
+ * allowing you to use the dma16 for recording at the same time. The patch
+ * isn't smart because it hardlock dma8 for playback of 16bit data and
+ * dma16 for playback of 8bit data, so with this patch applied, the sb
+ * driver will convert all 16bit data to 8bit even if dma16 isn't used
+ * for recording.
  */
 
 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
@@ -623,6 +632,15 @@
 			devc->bits = bits;
 		else
 			devc->bits = AFMT_U8;
+		if (devc->fullduplex)
+		{ /* set 8bit vs. 16bit conversion flags */
+			struct dma_buffparms *dmap = audio_devs[dev]->dmap_out;
+			dmap->flags &= ~(DMA_CONV_16_8|DMA_CONV_8_16);
+			if (devc->bits == AFMT_S16_LE)
+			    dmap->flags |= DMA_CONV_16_8;
+			else
+			    dmap->flags |= DMA_CONV_8_16;
+		}
 	}
 
 	return devc->bits;
@@ -858,9 +876,9 @@
 		/* 16 -> 8 */
 		/* max_in >> 1, max number of samples in ( 16 bits ) */
 		/* max_out, max number of samples out ( 8 bits ) */
-		/* len, number of samples that will be taken ( 16 bits )*/
-		/* c, count of samples remaining in buffer ( 16 bits )*/
-		/* p, count of samples already processed ( 16 bits )*/
+		/* len, number of samples that will be taken ( 16 bits ) */
+		/* c, count of samples remaining in buffer ( 16 bits ) */
+		/* p, count of samples already processed ( 16 bits ) */
 		len = ( (max_in >> 1) > max_out) ? max_out : (max_in >> 1);
 		c = len;
 		p = 0;
@@ -880,6 +898,12 @@
 		}
 		/* used = ( samples * 16 bits size ) */
 		*used = len << 1;
+		/* make sure to discard any remaining odd incoming byte count */
+		if (max_in & 1)
+		{
+			printk(KERN_ERR "got odd byte count for 16bit audio, discarding remainder\n");
+			(*used)++;
+		}
 		/* returned = ( samples * 8 bits size ) */
 		*returned = len;
 	}