[linux-audio-user] Great news for JACK & KDE

[Erik Steffl]

Ross Vandegrift wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 21, 2003 at 07:19:14AM -0800, Erik Steffl wrote:
> 
>>  example: set mozilla to use arts, set xmms to use arts etc... and 
>>then go and surf the web, flash, realplayer etc. all do not use arts and 
>>thus your mozilla blocks (looks frozen) on number of pages... (I suspect 
>>it's mostly flash, used in banners, not playing any sound but still 
>>trying to open audio)
> 
> 
> ::shrugs:: If you use non-free software, you get what you're fed.

   double shrug! this is not the problem of the non free apps, this is a 
problem of _bad_ infrastructure (or perhaps unfinished - imagine a world 
without X, with only berlin, ggi, svgalib etc. - that's an analogy of 
current audio situation).

> If you use free software that doesn't support arts and just needs to go
> "boing", adding an arts (or even esd) interface isn't *that* involved.
> In fact both have /dev/dsp wrappers that may or may not work already (I
> can't say I've ever used said wrappers).

   free or non-free it should work and it doesn't. yes I could fix some 
of them or bug developers to fix it or pay somebody to fix or... but the 
  important part of free software is that it actually _works_, nobody 
has time to fix everything... (even for values of everything limited to 
the programs that one uses)

>>  that's why the problem of multiple applications trying to use 
>>soundcard has to be solved by something that pretty much everybody uses
> 
> 
> That's why JACK is really the key software bit, not arts/esd - JACK
> gives a metal interface that lets lower performance apps use a
> virtualized interface.  JACK can mitigate the hardware, provide high
> performance apps high performance, and send out a beep when something
> wants it.

   there has to be something that everybody will/can use and will not 
create a weak impersonations of BSOD while running (like programs 
freezes when they try to access the soundcard, often it's not that easy 
to find out that it's waiting for the soundcard (for general users))

   perhaps dmix in alsa is that something...

	erik