Re: [gentoo-user] Re: What is the best audio system?

2012-02-28 Thread Willie Matthews
On Tue, 28 Feb 2012 04:14:25 +0200
Nikos Chantziaras rea...@arcor.de wrote:

 On 28/02/12 04:07, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:
  On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 4:44 PM, Mark Knechtmarkkne...@gmail.com
  wrote:
  On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 2:38 PM, Paul Hartman
  paul.hartman+gen...@gmail.com  wrote:
  On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Mark
  Knechtmarkkne...@gmail.com  wrote:
  On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 2:24 PM, Paul Hartman
  paul.hartman+gen...@gmail.com  wrote:
  On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 3:50 PM, Willie Matthews
  matthews.wil...@gmail.com  wrote:
  Right now I use pulseaudio on my laptop and desktop. Is there
  something else out there that can handle multiple audio
  streams?
 
  alsa dmix
 
 
  Isn't dmix pretty much automatic in als these days? I suspect
  that's how KDE supports multiple audio streams by default.
 
  Yep, I think it's automatic since alsa 1.0.9 or so.
 
 
  Yeah, when you wrote dmix the light turned on about how KDE (and I
  suspect most desktop managers) is likely doing it.
 
  GNOME uses PulseAudio by default, and since 3.0 is actually
  mandatory. I believe Xfce uses PA also, and (please, tell me if I'm
  wrong) KDE also by default uses PA.
 
 Nope.  KDE uses whatever is supported by the Phonon backend.  The 
 default is GStreamer, meaning that whatever GStreamer uses, KDE uses
 too.
 
 

Thanks for all of your help folks. Reading all the responses was quite
educational. It seems that I will be sticking with pulseaudio.

-- 

Willie Matthews
matthews.wil...@gmail.com



[gentoo-user] Re: What is the best audio system?

2012-02-27 Thread Nikos Chantziaras

On 27/02/12 23:50, Willie Matthews wrote:

Right now I use pulseaudio on my laptop and desktop. Is there something
else out there that can handle multiple audio streams?


Plain ALSA?  Or OSSv4?  Both handle multiple audio streams just fine.




[gentoo-user] Re: What is the best audio system?

2012-02-27 Thread Nikos Chantziaras

On 28/02/12 04:07, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 4:44 PM, Mark Knechtmarkkne...@gmail.com  wrote:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 2:38 PM, Paul Hartman
paul.hartman+gen...@gmail.com  wrote:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Mark Knechtmarkkne...@gmail.com  wrote:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 2:24 PM, Paul Hartman
paul.hartman+gen...@gmail.com  wrote:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 3:50 PM, Willie Matthews
matthews.wil...@gmail.com  wrote:

Right now I use pulseaudio on my laptop and desktop. Is there something
else out there that can handle multiple audio streams?


alsa dmix



Isn't dmix pretty much automatic in als these days? I suspect that's
how KDE supports multiple audio streams by default.


Yep, I think it's automatic since alsa 1.0.9 or so.



Yeah, when you wrote dmix the light turned on about how KDE (and I
suspect most desktop managers) is likely doing it.


GNOME uses PulseAudio by default, and since 3.0 is actually mandatory.
I believe Xfce uses PA also, and (please, tell me if I'm wrong) KDE
also by default uses PA.


Nope.  KDE uses whatever is supported by the Phonon backend.  The 
default is GStreamer, meaning that whatever GStreamer uses, KDE uses too.





[gentoo-user] Re: What is the best audio system?

2012-02-27 Thread Nikos Chantziaras

On 28/02/12 04:30, Frank Steinmetzger wrote:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 08:07:21PM -0600, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:


Isn't dmix pretty much automatic in als these days? I suspect that's
how KDE supports multiple audio streams by default.


Yep, I think it's automatic since alsa 1.0.9 or so.



Yeah, when you wrote dmix the light turned on about how KDE (and I
suspect most desktop managers) is likely doing it.


GNOME uses PulseAudio by default, and since 3.0 is actually mandatory.
I believe Xfce uses PA also, and (please, tell me if I'm wrong) KDE
also by default uses PA.


KDE has the phonon layer, which features a PA useflag, but also a flag for
gstreamer and vlc.


These are not related though.  PA is not a substitute for gstreamer or vlc.




[gentoo-user] Re: What is the best audio system?

2012-02-27 Thread Nikos Chantziaras

On 28/02/12 04:30, Frank Steinmetzger wrote:

On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 08:07:21PM -0600, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:


Isn't dmix pretty much automatic in als these days? I suspect that's
how KDE supports multiple audio streams by default.


Yep, I think it's automatic since alsa 1.0.9 or so.



Yeah, when you wrote dmix the light turned on about how KDE (and I
suspect most desktop managers) is likely doing it.


GNOME uses PulseAudio by default, and since 3.0 is actually mandatory.
I believe Xfce uses PA also, and (please, tell me if I'm wrong) KDE
also by default uses PA.


KDE has the phonon layer, which features a PA useflag, but also a flag for
gstreamer and vlc.


These are not related though.  PA is not a substitute for gstreamer or vlc.




Re: [gentoo-user] Re: What is the best audio system?

2012-02-27 Thread Canek Peláez Valdés
On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 9:11 PM, Nikos Chantziaras rea...@arcor.de wrote:
 On 28/02/12 04:30, Frank Steinmetzger wrote:

 On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 08:07:21PM -0600, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:

 Isn't dmix pretty much automatic in als these days? I suspect that's
 how KDE supports multiple audio streams by default.


 Yep, I think it's automatic since alsa 1.0.9 or so.


 Yeah, when you wrote dmix the light turned on about how KDE (and I
 suspect most desktop managers) is likely doing it.


 GNOME uses PulseAudio by default, and since 3.0 is actually mandatory.
 I believe Xfce uses PA also, and (please, tell me if I'm wrong) KDE
 also by default uses PA.


 KDE has the phonon layer, which features a PA useflag, but also a flag for
 gstreamer and vlc.


 These are not related though.  PA is not a substitute for gstreamer or vlc.

Indeed, but both GStreamer and VLC can run on top of PulseAudio. They
can also (of course) run on top of ALSA, but then you loose all the
nice things PA provides. At least with GStreamer (directly on top of
ALSA) you don't get per-application volume, seamlessly changing sound
cards or easy integration with USB soundcards and bluetooth headsets;
I don't use VLC, but I believe is the same.

ALSA is the bottom of the stack, PulseAudio goes above it, and then
you can have GStreamer, VLC, ffmpeg, Xine-lib or whatever, which are
the high-level libraries. All of the high-level libraries cantalk to
ALSA directly; but none of them provide by themselves the features
that PulseAudio has.

Regards.
-- 
Canek Peláez Valdés
Posgrado en Ciencia e Ingeniería de la Computación
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México