New xfi drivers dated 6th nov 08. Anyone tried?

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I have just visited the Creative website and they have some new XFi drivers dated 6th nov and claim to be both 32 bit and 64 bit compatable.

Here are the notes:

File Name : XFiDrv_Linux_Public_US_1.00.tar.gz

This download is a source release driver providing Linux® 32-bit / 64-bit OS support for Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ and X-Fi Titanium series of audio devices. For more details, read the rest of this web release note.

Take note of the following:

    * THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED DRIVER. There is no technical support for this driver.
    * We recommend that only experienced users install this driver. Do not install this driver on a system used to perform critical tasks.

This download is intended for the following audio devices only:

    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty® Champion Series
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Series
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Professional Audio
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro 
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
    * Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Current release features:

    * ALSA PCM Playback
    * ALSA Record
    * ALSA Mixer

Known issues:

    * External I/O modules are not supported in this driver release.
    * Applications from the Installation CD of your Sound Blaster audio device will not work with this driver.

Requirements:

    * Linux x86 / x86_64 OS
    * Creative Sound Blaster audio devices listed above

Notes:

    * To install the driver, do the following:
         1. Download the tarball package onto your local hard disk.
         2. Un-tarball the downloaded package to unpack its contents.
         3. Read the README file and follow the instructions.

Link:

http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&CatName=Sound+Blaster&subCatID=208&subCatName=X-Fi&prodID=15854&prodName=X-Fi+XtremeGamer+Fatal1ty+Pro+Series

Unfortunately I am a linux noob and as such would not know where to start, but if someone else tries these i would like to hear how you get on.

Actually, I tried them.

The drivers seemed to work fine for most stuff. However when using applications under WINE, the sound was TERRIBLE, full of static and jittery, and aweful.

Now though, a week or so later it seems my sound card has died. Now the card (and computer) is two years old, so I don't know if the problem can be blamed on the drivers or not, but my sound card is no longer recognized by the system as all. As far as the kernel is concerned a sound card doesn't exist.

I haven't yet, but I am going to pull out the card, boot, shutdown and reseat the card. You never know....

Anyway, that's my experience thus far.