From alsa-user-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Thu Aug 20 22:47:13 1998
Received: from knot.iegroup.com (ns.iegroup.com [24.124.2.253])
	by marvin.jcu.cz (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA24624
	for <alsa-user@jcu.cz>; Thu, 20 Aug 1998 22:45:52 +0200
Received: from knot.iegroup.com (root@localhost)
	by knot.iegroup.com with ESMTP id PAA03323;
	Thu, 20 Aug 1998 15:45:51 -0500 (CDT)
Received: from iegroup.com (pulsar.iegroup.com [10.0.1.5])
	by knot.iegroup.com with SMTP id PAA03319;
	Thu, 20 Aug 1998 15:45:51 -0500 (CDT)
Received: from iegroup.com by iegroup.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4)
	id PAA22741; Thu, 20 Aug 1998 15:45:50 -0500
Message-ID: <35DC8AFE.A4C8EE02@iegroup.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 15:45:50 -0500
From: John Fulmer <jfulmer@iegroup.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: alsa-user@jcu.cz, Phillip Neumann <filsin@interaccess.cl>
Subject: Re: New to alsa (question)
References: <Pine.LNX.3.96.980820103453.7484A-100000@entry.jcu.cz> <35DC8351.4B0A09AF@interaccess.cl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Reply-To: alsa-user@alsa.jcu.cz
Sender: alsa-user-owner@alsa.jcu.cz
Precedence: list

Phillip Neumann wrote:
> 
> >
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Im new to alsa and have a primitive question. What is alsa anyway? Is the same
> as OSS/Lite but with better support for the sound cards?

ALSA (If I may put my own interpretation) is an attempt at a better
sound system in Linux, including applications libraries that allow
programmers access to the sound system in a (more) structured fashion.
It will also include things like soundcard synth support, that allows
programs to access the onboard synths as external MIDI devices
(/dev/sequencer) and a driver based synth for Ultrasound based cards. At
this point, it also tends to support cards that are not well supported
in the OSSFree drivers, like the S3 SonicVibes and  Interwave-based
cards.

I'm sure that I'm missing lots of features, but these are the things
that I see.

> 
> what mean full compatible with OSS?
> Does it mean i can use the OSS driver with the alsa driver? or that i can use
> the same app. as with working with OSS?
> 

Apps written for OSS (that use /dev/dsp, /dev/audio, etc) will work with
ALSA through a "converter module" like snd-pcm1-oss. So far, it has been
almost 100% compatible, although I believe there are issues with the AWE
and certain apps? (It's in the README).				

> I have a SB AWE64, sould i remove the OSS driver for my card before trying to
> install alsa?

Oh yes. They won't like each other very much. Also make sure to read ALL
of the documentation. Pay special attention to the section on setting up
the /etc/conf.modules file. If you set it up right, all you should need
to do to load the drivers, is run an included script on startup and
shutdown.....


jf

-- 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ John Fulmer                   | "UNIX was not designed to stop     +
+ Secure Network System         |  you from doing stupid things,     +
+ Lawrence, Kansas              |  because that would also stop you  +
+                               |  from doing clever things."        +
+ jfulmer@iegroup.com           |                                    + 
+ http://www.iegroup.com        |                     -- Larry Wall  +
+   "The opinions contained above may not reflect those of SNS"      +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

