From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1NGxm0-0004qe-BD for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:46:22 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id EB850E050C; Sat, 5 Dec 2009 16:45:53 +0000 (UTC) Received: from IMPaqm1.telefonica.net (impaqm1.telefonica.net [213.4.129.21]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9F427E050C for ; Sat, 5 Dec 2009 16:45:53 +0000 (UTC) Received: from IMPmailhost6.adm.correo ([10.20.102.127]) by IMPaqm1.telefonica.net with bizsmtp id DSUr1d01P2kvMAa01UltK2; Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:45:53 +0100 Received: from jesgue.homelinux.org ([78.136.66.163]) by IMPmailhost6.adm.correo with BIZ IMP id DUlf1d0063XLmEe1mUlpGw; Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:45:52 +0100 X-TE-authinfo: authemail="i92guboj.terra.es" |auth_email="i92guboj@terra.es" X-TE-AcuTerraCos: auth_cuTerraCos="cosuitera01" Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:45:36 +0100 From: =?UTF-8?Q?Jes=C3=BAs_Guerrero?= To: Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Sound card is only usable by one application at a time In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <944f3ec61ecf97ccbd179680fcca15f5@localhost> X-Sender: i92guboj@terra.es User-Agent: RoundCube Webmail/0.3.1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: 6044b80f-6038-4191-92eb-9fbe40a8b2d8 X-Archives-Hash: 8899696e60e2d2b3c6960eda55d6d568 On Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:44:50 +0200, Nikos Chantziaras wrote: > On 12/04/2009 03:12 AM, walt wrote: >> Most people don't have any need for more than one application to use >> the sound card at the same time. >=20 > I was under the impression that it's quite the opposite. For example I= =20 > would still like to hear my MSN messenger go *ping* when someone talks=20 > to me while I'm listening to some mp3 and/or am playing a game. Definitely, *most* do need support for software mixing. I am not on the boat of notifications or system sounds, but most users are, and all the major desktops do enable sound notifications by default, and all the majo= r IM programs do as well.=20 I like austerity so I don't use these little things, but even for me this is a must. I might have many sound tracks playing at a given moment while= I practice with my guitar. Heck, even for youtube this is a must, because t= he plugin likes to trap the sound card, and you can't even listen to another video if you have another tab with youtube on it, even if the video in th= at tab is not playing nor even paused. So, yes. Definitely, 99% of the users need software mixing. However, it is not true that you need pulse for that. That's what the dmi= x alsa plugin is for. The problem is not that alsa can't do it. The problem is that alsa is buggy as hell and should really be fixed. Or, it should b= e simplified to provide only the basic functionality, rip out all the crap and do it in user land, with either pulse, jack or whatever. The problem = is that there are many layers like alsa and pulse that don't have a clear delimitation, they overlap functionality, duplicate code and bloat the system making it prone to bugs and stuff like this. The sound system in linux is in a pitiful state right now :P --=20 Jes=C3=BAs Guerrero