On Wed, 2009-08-05 at 21:53 +0200, Jens M Andreasen
wrote:
From TFA:
--8<----------------------------------
Go to System->Preferences->Sound, click on the Devices tab, and check
out the pulldown menu next to ‘Sound Events’ at the top of the panel.
You will see various acronyms, possibly including cryptic-looking
technologies like OSS, ESD, ALSA, JACK, and Pulse Audio. These acronyms
represent a byzantine tangle of conflicting technologies that over time,
and due to political reasons or backwards compatibility, have ended up
cohabiting with one another. ‘Frankenstein’ might be an accurate
metaphor here.
Thankfully, there is a simpler way, which is the combination of ALSA [a
high-performance, kernel-level audio and MIDI system] and JACK [a system
for creating low-latency audio, MIDI, and sync connections between
applications and computers]. The battle-scarred among us have learned to
ignore all the other audio cruft bolted on to Ubuntu and just use ALSA
and JACK. One can think of the ALSA/JACK stack, the heart of most pro
Linux studios, as the Core Audio of Linux and in my opinion Jack should
be the first thing installed on any musicians laptop. I’d go so far as
to suggest placing it in the Startup Applications so it’s always
running.
-------------------8<--------------------------------------------------
IMO without a ton of effort Jack could, and should, be turned into a
viable default installation audio system (or the bottom layer of such a
system, at least). The desktop guys certainly aren't ever going to get
it right.
The above problem is a very real one as far as people's perception of
GNU/Linux as an audio system. What a mess. We can do better.
AFAICT it's like 95% there already as far as the average user is
concerned. So the desktop guys you are referring to have got it and are
way ahead of anyone else in this respect.
Pulse is ubiquitous now. Jack was never intended to be the default audio
system for desktop use.
Let's just fix the interaction between pulse and jack and be done with it.
It's harmful to suggest that it things are less than they are as it just
makes people who have already invested a lot of effort get annoyed and
turned off.
Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd
-dr
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