Sound Software

Sound on Linux is the absolute biggest bunch of bullshit ever.

Kernel

• Determine: are there still ALSA hardware drivers inferior to their OSS equivalents? Assuming no...
• OSS emulation: kernel, library, or neither?
  • Kernel: snd_pcm_oss, snd_mixer_oss, snd_seq_oss provide /dev/dsp, /dev/seq, /dev/mixer
  • Library: aoss sets LD_PRELOAD to include libaoss.so
  • Neither: force fail on attempts to use OSS
    • Might be better if OSS-only code is old and crappy, as suggested by OSS-only nature, as it'll eliminate such code. Might also be better if OSS compatability introduces any kinds of issues. Might be worse if OSS code is better-written than ALSA code alternatives, and OSS compatability introduces no problems.
• What the fuck ought go in /etc/asoundrc? It's a complete enigma.

Sound Servers

• pulseaudio -- crashes mpd every time I try to use it (no longer true as of Fall 2008)
• To drive ALSA through pulseaudio by default:

pcm.!default {
	type pulse
}

ctl.!default {
	type pulse
}

• jack -- low-latency, professional software; it frightens me
• esd -- deprecated, replaced by pulseaudio's esd-compat module

Hardware

• PulseAudio can supposedly use a plugin together with HAL to drive dynamic devices

See Also

• A Guide to Linux Sound APIs by Lennart Poettering of PulseAudio
• Linux Audio: It's a Mess from LWN
• PulseAudio -- The Perfect Setup
• Ubuntu has a HOWTO on ... fixing pulseaudio. Yikes.