On Sat, 16 Aug 2003, Andrew Farmer wrote:
> > Yep. The problem lies in Linux's unusual approach(es) to handling sound > output: > > - OSS sound. This is still the "standard" method (though it's being > supplanted by kernel ALSA) -- programs access /dev/dsp directly. Only > one program can use this at a time. OSS is generally only used by > full-screen games and other programs requiring quick response. > > - ESD sound server. A single "server" program accesses /dev/dsp and > accepts connections through a UNIX domain socket to "mix" sound > together. Good idea, but ESD is fundamentally broken -- it introduces > large delays (sometimes as much as 1/2 second) in the process. ESD is > used primarily by GNOME. > > - Userland ALSA. Similar to ESD, even with similar problems. I don't > know much about ALSA, really, because it's used primarily by KDE. > > - Kernel-space ALSA. Since the kernel can pre�mpt user programs, it's a > fine choice of a place to put the sound mixer. Still quite > experimental, as I understand it. But this is still a good choice, if > you can get it. > > Some sound servers support "shims" to allow the use of programs written > for one server under another -- for example, ESD has esddsp, which will > reroute accesses to /dev/dsp into ESD. Hopefully, something similar > exists for ALSA. > > To get back to your question, XMMS actually supports both OSS and ESD > sound, and apparently ALSA as well (through a masked plugin). You could > try emerging the plugin to see if it works, though... > > Thanks for your comments. I use "kernel-space" alsa. I don't use masked ebuilds, because I don't feel lucky! Pity that some parts of KMix and KRec are badly documented, but this is another matter... -- Jorge Almeida -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
