[linux-audio-user] alsa dmix question(s)

[Dave Phillips]

Greetings:

  I'd like to employ dmix on my laptop but I need to know a few things
before doing so. The first thing concerns my assumptions: Am I correct
in understanding that dmix will perform as a "virtual hardware mixer" a
la the SBLive on my desktop machine ? My laptop is an HP Omnibook 4150,
it's very nice but its sound chip is a CS4232 and is not capable of
hardware mixing like the SBLive. It would be nice if dmix would let me
play with more than one audio app at a time.

  If my first assumption is correct, how do I invoke and use dmix ?
Should it be in a startup file somewhere or should it be launched from
the command-line ? Given that my laptop's CPU is only a PII 366 what
kind of performance can I expect ? Finally, how do I control the volume
for each app playing, i.e., is there a mixer that recognizes dmix ?

  I'm curious as to how people are using dmix and what are their
opinions about it, so fire away...

Best regards,

== Dave Phillips

	The Book Of Linux Music & Sound at http://www.nostarch.com/lms.htm
	The Linux Soundapps Site at http://linux-sound.org