Linux - SoftwareThis forum is for Software issues.
Having a problem installing a new program? Want to know which application is best for the job? Post your question in this forum.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
I have the latest Alsa (v. 0.9.7) drivers installed and an on-board AD1980 sound card.
Sound currently works (sorta).
When I listen to something in XMMS (using the alsa plugin) for example, and receive a message from Gaim, it puts the Gaim sound in a queue and plays it when I stop XMMS. Other programs will "hang" when they try to use the sound card (mplayer, vlc, ect...)
With the latest alsa drivers, how can I configure it so more than one application can use my sound card at once?
I have the default settings, as specified in the alsa sound card matrix documentation. Unfortunately, since this is my first post, I am unable to post a URL to what my modules.conf looks like.
Many sound cards support only one PCM stream for each playback and capture, and the driver allows one process to access it exclusively. That is, if you access to a device from two or more applications at the same time, only one application can run and others will be blocked until it quits the operation. For solving this problem, a sound server is introduced. Instead of reading and writing a device file, applications access to a sound server, which accesses to the device exclusively on behalf. For multiple playbacks, a sound server reads multiple PCM streams from several applications and writes a mixed stream to the sound device (mixing function). For the capture direction, on the contrary, a sound server writes the PCM streams from the device to any accessing applications (multiplexing). Also, the samples being played by EsounD can be captured (loopback).
i.e. you'll need some sort of a sound server, because your so-called "sound card" doesn't have support for more that one sound stream at once.
My sound card, for example, is SB Live! 4.1 (5 years old now) and I don't have any problems playing sounds from many applications at once. If this is a viable option for you, buy one SB Live! 5.1 for about $30-$35 (or Yamaha 7{2,4,5}4) or something similar that have built-in (hardware) mixing support and forget for all those troubles.
Well, all I want to run is something simple. I run WindowMaker with the latest Alsa drivers -- very minimal. What would be the best option for a sound server, something not too clunky? I really dislike Arts for that (I used KDE a while back).
On a side note, a friend of mine who is a huge debian fan and has no idea what I should do in regard to having multiple programs use the sound card at once, he says that sound cards have been able to do multiple processes for years. It's a 6 channel (5.1) sound card and should be able to handle it.
The motherboard, an Asus P4PE with the on-board sound chip AD1980 is not that old...
I don't think I should have to use a sound server, but I will if I really have to. In any event, I'm still open to ideas. Arts is crap because KDE is crap and bloated. Any ideas?
How about a response from someone with the same board/sound card? Please.
On a side note, a friend of mine who is a huge debian fan and has no idea what I should do in regard to having multiple programs use the sound card at once, he says that sound cards have been able to do multiple processes for years.
Yes, real sound cards are for sure capable to play more than one sound stream at once. If I'm not mistaken my 5 year old SB Live! 4.1 (for example) is capable to do 64 streams at once in hardware.
Quote:
It's a 6 channel (5.1) sound card and should be able to handle it.
The motherboard, an Asus P4PE with the on-board sound chip AD1980 is not that old...
Stop refer to this misunderstanding called AD1980 (or whatever) as 'sound card', because it is not! Not only it is not sound card but never will be! My trustworthy SB Live! 4.1 is example for real sound card and is for sure capable to fly circles around your new "sound card" (just el chipo AC97 codec promoted to the rank of 'sound card' for purely marketing purposes). Learn the difference between 'sound card' and AC97 codec (Audio Codec, '97) for god's sake…
Quote:
I don't think I should have to use a sound server, but I will if I really have to. In any event, I'm still open to ideas. Arts is crap because KDE is crap and bloated. Any ideas?
I really don't know what should you use, simply because I never have felt need to use sound server. Save yourself some troubles and become a proud owner of SB Live! 5.1 (or Yamaha 754/744/724 or something real that is capable to do more than one sound stream at once in hardware (i.e. real sound card with its own processor on board; JFY: SB Live! have EMU10K1 processor on board which is capable to deliver 1000 MIPS (millions instructions per second) - rough equivalent of Pentium 90 MHz)).
However if you insist on AD1980 then maybe you're supposed to use EsounD (becouse aRts is "crap" according to you. I for one think that the real 'crap' is your "sound card" in fact).
My card can do more than one stream at once... in Windows. I was looking for some advice in configuring alsa so that I can have the same functionality, not insults. Since you're not familiar with my sound codec, card, or whtaever you want to call it, I'm going to disregard whatever you say because I shouldn't have to use a sound server.
In any event, specification wise, my sound "codec" kicks the crap out of your SBLive 4.1. No only is it 6 cannel (5.1) it support both digital RCA and SPDIF out -- something that yours does not.
My card can do more than one stream at once... in Windows.
Yes, it can, but only because there is driver available for such purpose. It does exactly the same what sound surver under Linux will do i.e. it mixes everything in software using your CPU:
Quote:
For multiple playbacks, a sound server reads multiple PCM streams from several applications and writes a mixed stream to the sound device (mixing function).
Quote:
Since you're not familiar with my sound codec, card, or whtaever you want to call it, I'm going to disregard whatever you say because I shouldn't have to use a sound server.
In any event, specification wise, my sound "codec" kicks the crap out of your SBLive 4.1. No only is it 6 cannel (5.1) it support both digital RCA and SPDIF out -- something that yours does not.
I'll be laconic and this will be my last post in this thread: Never argue with an idiot. They'll lower you to their level and then beat you with experience.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
