Alsa isn't really necessary.

It is the new sound API(oss is the old one)

Alsa allows for the running of more than 1 sound at a time, whereas oss will only run one sound at a time.

I suggest switching to ALSA if you can, otherwise you can only run one sound at a time.

But, you can still run more than one sound at a time by using ARTS if you use oss.

for example, if you set xmms to use arts, and then gaim to use arts, you can run xmms and gaim at the same time and here sounds from both.

And if an application doesn't support arts, you can type

artsdsp appname and it will use arts too.

So i think(keyword here is think) that if you type artsdsp firefox, you should be able to run flash while kaffeine is running(but only if you set kaffeine to use arts too)

wow that sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.

Hello? Can anyone tell me how to do that atuff with alsa?

Whats xmms? What's oss?

Ok here is how you switch to alsa.

there is an easier mandrake way to do it, but i haven't used mandrake in well over 2 years, so i'll tell you the command way to do it.

open a terminal and type su

then type urpmi alsa-utils

it will download and install everything it needs(or it will ask you to put it the cd's for it)

then type in init 3.

that will put you into a pure commandline.

then type(as root) alsaconf

that will load modules for alsa, unload modules for oss, and raise volume levels.

then after that finishes(answer the questions it answers, they are pretty easy)

type init 5.

then go back into kde, and change all your programs to use alsa(like xmms)

then add that thing i told you to earlier to .asoundrc, and then you can play more than one alsa sound at a time.

but oss sounds will still take up the whole soundcard (like flash), but you can still use artsdsp firefox to solvce that.

EDIT: xmms is a media player, very very much like winamp(can even use winamp skins) it's pretty much the default linux music player. and oss is what lets you play sounds.

There was no package named alsa-utils.

*bump*

Okay, since I obviously can't switch anything to use alsa because there's no 'alsa-utils' file I can download, I guess I'll just keep Kaffeine disabled. However, Flash now has an even more annoying problem. It keeps sticking every few seconds.

The problem goes away when I turn on Kaffeine or Amarok. However, I lose my flash sound. I want my flash sound, but without the 'sticking'. Surely there's something that can be done about this problem.