Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 15 Oct 1999 14:08:02 -0400 | From | Simon Kirby <> | Subject | Re: Kernel OSS vs ALSA |
| |
On Thu, Oct 14, 1999 at 07:54:53PM +0200, Gabor Lenart wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 14, 1999 at 07:10:33PM +0200, Jamie Lokier wrote: > > - anyone can open /dev/dsp > > > > - if more than one instance of /dev/dsp is open, the ioctls > > and so on are routed to a separate mixing module, which fakes > > the separate devices and writes to the real one. > > Yes, yes ! It's a bad idea to do something VERY new system which is not > in kernel (so many users hasn't got it loaded all the time). It's MUCH MORE > simple to use the good old way with this "little" extension :) All the old > softwares (binary only ones too) would continue working with it too !
Actually, ALSA already supports multiple open, at least on GF1 chips (which, might I mention, were _so_ far ahead of their time (1991-92 or so? Mine GUS Classic says (C) 1992)). I can just run multiple MP3 players, realaudio clients, etc. using the existing OSS interface), at the same time, and everything works fine. Granted, other cards would haev to mix in software to match this functionality, but with cards with chips such as the GF1 and others that do hardware channel mixing, it is really nice to be able to have an interface that allows this (and the fact that ALSA already does this with the OSS interface at least shows it's possible). I'm not sure if ALSA supports this with other cards or not (it probably does).
... The GUS Classic is an amazing card -- you can even do some resoldering and make it completely full duplex, too (otherwise it will echo the output). I'm not saying that the newer GUS cards aren't better, it's just that it's so cool considering how old it is :). Forte technologies went under not so long ago, and I guess Advanced Gravis didn't sell enough because of bad Windows drivers... *sigh*...
I'm not a diehard GUS fan, no, never... :)
Simon-
[ Stormix Technologies Inc. ][ NetNation Communcations Inc. ] [ sim@stormix.com ][ sim@netnation.com ] [ Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employers. ]
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |