From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 23C6E1381F3 for ; Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:43:27 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 68432E0A6F; Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:43:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-lb0-f173.google.com (mail-lb0-f173.google.com [209.85.217.173]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id C6978E09FA for ; Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:43:12 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-lb0-f173.google.com with SMTP id w20so3763348lbh.18 for ; Fri, 19 Apr 2013 06:43:11 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:x-received:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id :subject:from:to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=YJi0IkPTnbjaRQFfS6woLgMr2kwW2k7NhspkskMCeG4=; b=a6q2PWPTEJHv/gufixJWGxZBRrJVWZrIm+rp3O7u4dMNnx2vBYjlTECQ1lq/TFmqR/ YaQTDOpdJHHS5nSlhWBIwT0VMDUU+GyXW6uKBbjpfUOGY8kxVvJsKY+dRnLQGg5CmP9H DX9s0BD9ZE36NIPzzise4k50YSeuAlp48wz2qRpmwegJ4fkgvxuPqzJGWsJgdGLI7GSy 0KlpnL5kx+KQIJMt39HOXlThbew72n6Qc6b3cjhmV55urBYKu7wt8mNhLpbW+TPSiVw6 YgvatTIjd7hzZKNoqyWQzuy9wS9uv+u7o6vANGioNgUiUnmq6iL7Uzmbj+b7SF0lnWQR m1cA== 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 X-Received: by 10.152.5.134 with SMTP id s6mr8216883las.24.1366378991038; Fri, 19 Apr 2013 06:43:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.114.26.105 with HTTP; Fri, 19 Apr 2013 06:43:10 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20130418193224.GA3234@acm.acm> References: <20130418193224.GA3234@acm.acm> Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2013 08:43:10 -0500 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Removing pulseaudio From: =?UTF-8?B?Q2FuZWsgUGVsw6FleiBWYWxkw6lz?= To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: 3309c648-692e-484c-b815-38fcdde65214 X-Archives-Hash: 2decaa6cd80eccb78a7ce3d65f19d7ed On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Alan Mackenzie wrote: > Hello, Gentoo. > > I've just removed pulseaudio from my main Gentoo system. Why? Several > reasons: > > (i) It's a "sound server", a description I don't understand. What does > it _do_? Why do I want it? It seems to be an unnecessary layer of fat > between sound applications and the kernel. Take a look at this: https://plus.google.com/photos/115256116066287398549/albums/577860903468283= 1121/5778849461325756466 That's me selecting with a click of the mouse if I want to use Skype with the analog speakers from my laptop, or with my bluetooth headset. Of course, the BT headset doesn't appear in the combo box until they are actually connected; my USB speakers don't show up there because they weren't connected. With PA, I can switch soundcards for programs individually, without the program in questing noticing at all: you have your sound coming from the laptop speakers, and after selecting my BT headset, the sound starts coming out from them, all instantaneously. No config files editing required, everything "just works". And of course all the other sound applications just keep working, and the sound for them it's routed to the laptop speakers, but I can also change them on the fly to go to my BT headset, or my USB speakers, or even other machines using PA connected in my LAN (with proper permissions). You can probably do all of this without PA, but it will require to edit $HOME/.asoundrc, and files under /etc/bluetooth/, and probably testing different configurations for permissions, and... And I just don't care. PA just works, in all my machines and media center. And it's all very nicely integrated with GNOME and it just works with a couple clicks from my mouse (if at all). So if you don't need it, good for you that you can remove PA from your system. For the *general case* (not necessarily the *most used*, but the one that covers the *most* use cases), PA is the best solution available. And all the distributions seems to agree on that. Regards. -- Canek Pel=C3=A1ez Vald=C3=A9s Posgrado en Ciencia e Ingenier=C3=ADa de la Computaci=C3=B3n Universidad Nacional Aut=C3=B3noma de M=C3=A9xico