From alsa-user-owner@alsa.jcu.cz  Thu Aug 20 23:14:47 1998
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To: alsa-user@jcu.CZ
cc: Phillip Neumann <filsin@interaccess.cl>
Subject: Re: New to alsa (question) 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 20 Aug 1998 20:13:05 -0000."
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Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 17:13:36 -0400
From: Eric Sharkey <sharkey@fatman.physics.sunysb.edu>
Reply-To: alsa-user@alsa.jcu.cz
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> Hi,

Hi.
 
> Im new to alsa and have a primitive question. What is alsa anyway?

Alsa is the "Advanced Linux Sound Architecture".  It is a new driver for
sound under linux.

> Is the same as OSS/Lite but with better support for the sound cards?

No, in fact, at the current version (0.2.0-pre5) far fewer sound cards are
supported under ALSA than OSS.  This is changing, of course, but it takes
time.  ALSA is much younger than OSS.

ALSA's primary advantage over OSS is called "Jaroslav Kysela".  This tireless
hacker spends countless hours toiling over this new child of his.  He has
put a lot of thought into the deficiencies of OSS and is commited to doing
a much better job.  Many new innovations, such as the /proc/sound file system,
exist in ALSA where nothing comparable exists in OSS.

Furthermore, there will be no "ALSA/Lite".  Full Duplex support and other
advanced features will not be withheld from anyone.  It's hoped that multiple
applications will be able to run and output sound simultaneously.  Many other
things are planned. 

In short, JK is doing a new sound driver, only this time he's doing it right.
He's had a lot of experience working on the Linux Ultrasound Project.  His
driver produced far better quality sound than the OSS driver, or even the
Windows driver, so I have every faith in his ability to make ALSA rock.
 
The driver is more than just a driver though, it's also an API, which will
make writing sound apps much easier.

> what mean full compatible with OSS?

It means that there will be /dev/audio and /dev/dsp and other OSS compatible
device files so that old applications written for OSS will still work with
ALSA.

> Does it mean i can use the OSS driver with the alsa driver?

Uh, you can certainly switch back and forth between ALSA and OSS easily
enough, but only one should be active at any given time.  If you have more
than one sound card in your system, it might be possible to use both, but
I'm not sure.

> or that i can use the same app. as with working with OSS?

That's more like it.

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

That's recommended.

My personal feeling is that it's not time yet to completely remove OSS from
your system.  ALSA is progressing well, and given some time, I have no
doubts that it will beat the pants off OSS, but it's at version 0.2.0-pre5,
and provides a level of support only slightly superior to what you would
expect from the current version number.  There is no Midi sequencer support
yet, the number of cards supported is still too small, and not all OSS
applications work properly.

I use it, I like it, but it's not yet ready for everyone.

Eric


