Perplexing question reguarding sound in Xwindows.
 

Hey. I'd like to start this message with my thanks, again, for everyone helping me out before.

Anyway... here's a weird one I found. I got my Ensoniq 5880 soundcard working just fine, module-wise. It loads without a hitch, and shares IRQ 11 with USB no problem, etc. However, whenever I'm to play an MP3, or listen to some .wav file, it refuses to play more than one sound. I know it's clearly possible - it does so in Win2k without a hitch. It's a watered down PCI SB16 but it should be capable.. but it's rather strange. For instance:

If I'm playing some MP3, and I have GAIM open , no sounds will play as I receive any IMS. However, when the MP3 stops and the sound is free, all the .wav files start to play, like as if it's catching up. If it wasen't capable of multiple sounds, woulden't it just ignore them rather than keep them cued? I'm really confused by this and was wondering if anyone had any ideas. I tried 'chmod 666 /dev/dsp' under root, as I've understood it should give full access from root, but still no luck. This shoulden't be an IRQ problem, as it plays fine, right?

And yes, i've tried it with another GUI.. still no luck..

perplexing... a greatly underused word...

you're problem is that you're using kde or gnome and are using their sound server, arts or esd respectively. however you are not playing all your audio outputs through the server (which is there to take multiple conenctions etc...) so other programs not using that server can not gain access to the dsp until that instance of the server closes itself. some apps are queueing the sounds internally i'd guess. make all your apps use the integrated sound server and you'll be fine.

Nice.
 

Hey, I reapproached the problem on that basis, and it worked perfectly. Thanks for your time, acid_kewpie.
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