LinuxQuestions.org - whats difference between OSS and ALSA?

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- - whats difference between OSS and ALSA? (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/whats-difference-between-oss-and-alsa-432258/)

whats difference between OSS and ALSA?

I want to know difference between OSS and ALSA

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Originally Posted by b123coder

I want to know difference between OSS and ALSA

Use Google! http://www.google.se/search?q=differ...en-US:official

Quote:

The difference between OSS and ALSA is the following:
ALSA depends on a few user-space things, like mixer control for one. It requires programs to run at startup so your mixer levels aren't zero'd.
OSS only allowed one program to access the sound card at the same time. Hence the sound servers we're all stuck with now. ALSA allowed multiple programs access, because it sort of has a sound server built in. It's also backwards compatible with the OSS API, and will still support multiple processes.

Cheers, Leon.

ok one more thing
How can i check that i am using OSS or ALSA and Does using ALSA means i can play souds from more that one software like windows does?

OSS is the older sound system in Linux. If you use kernel 2.6.x it's more than likely you're using ALSA.

Most older distros use OSS.

To check (if you're using KDE), you can go to KDE control center -> Sound and multimedia -> Sound system -> Hardware tab.