kernel vs. alsa?

kernel vs. alsa?

[Igor Gueths]

Hi all. I am having pretty bad luck getting beta11 of the alsa package to
work. Beta9 work well with some quirks. I wonder what has so drastically
changed in beta11 that makes it so much harder to get working? Anyway, my
question is why does everyone like the alsa drivers better than the oss
modules? One thing that I've heard is that the oss modules don't use full
duplex. Is this correct? The only reason why I ask is because I am
considering switching from alsa to the 2.4.18 sound modules to hopefully
fix my problem with not being able to play wavs with trplayer.

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Cheryl Homiak]

As much as i'm hating trying to get all these mixer setting straight, I didn't
at all like the kernel drivers for my sblive. they made my sblive sound like a
cheap (cheap, not inexpensive) card, maybe because I wasn't using a mixer that
could handle them. on the other hand, I very much liked the oss package I
bought; I'm only trying to do alsa because I want to be on the speakfreely
reflector.
as for your trplayer program, there is probably a setting eluding you or
something; even with the problems i am having with my mixer settings for
recording, trplayer works fine with my .wav files.
However, I will say that for my soundblaster the kernel support was just fine; I
couldn't have been happier, so it depends on your card whether you would be
happywith the kernel support.

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Gregory Nowak]

Cheryl, do you have amplified speakers? The kernel drivers for the sblive card aren't the best, but they did a good job for me in terms of sound loudness and quality for about a year and a half.
Greg


On Sat, Apr 20, 2002 at 09:31:45PM -0500, Cheryl Homiak wrote:
> As much as i'm hating trying to get all these mixer setting straight, I didn't
> at all like the kernel drivers for my sblive. they made my sblive sound like a
> cheap (cheap, not inexpensive) card, maybe because I wasn't using a mixer that
> could handle them. on the other hand, I very much liked the oss package I
> bought; I'm only trying to do alsa because I want to be on the speakfreely
> reflector.
> as for your trplayer program, there is probably a setting eluding you or
> something; even with the problems i am having with my mixer settings for
> recording, trplayer works fine with my .wav files.
> However, I will say that for my soundblaster the kernel support was just fine; I
> couldn't have been happier, so it depends on your card whether you would be
> happywith the kernel support.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Shaun Oliver]

the reason people like alsa is because alsa is userspace and handles only
sound.
the kernel drivers have to fight fortiming and as a result sometimes place
unecissary load on the system.
hth


-- 
Shaun

If little else, the brain is an educational toy.
                -- Tom Robbins
EMAIL: shauno@goanna.net.au
ICQ: 76958435



On Sat, 20 Apr 2002, Igor Gueths wrote:

> Hi all. I am having pretty bad luck getting beta11 of the alsa package to
> work. Beta9 work well with some quirks. I wonder what has so drastically
> changed in beta11 that makes it so much harder to get working? Anyway, my
> question is why does everyone like the alsa drivers better than the oss
> modules? One thing that I've heard is that the oss modules don't use full
> duplex. Is this correct? The only reason why I ask is because I am
> considering switching from alsa to the 2.4.18 sound modules to hopefully
> fix my problem with not being able to play wavs with trplayer.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
>

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Igor Gueths]

Hi Shaun. But won't the timing issue come into play once it is integrated
in the next kernel tree? Unless you compile it as a module, I might be
able to see the above problem happening.

On Sun, 21 Apr 2002, Shaun Oliver wrote:

> the reason people like alsa is because alsa is userspace and handles only
> sound.
> the kernel drivers have to fight fortiming and as a result sometimes place
> unecissary load on the system.
> hth
>
>
> --
> Shaun
>
> If little else, the brain is an educational toy.
>                 -- Tom Robbins
> EMAIL: shauno@goanna.net.au
> ICQ: 76958435
>
>
>
> On Sat, 20 Apr 2002, Igor Gueths wrote:
>
> > Hi all. I am having pretty bad luck getting beta11 of the alsa package to
> > work. Beta9 work well with some quirks. I wonder what has so drastically
> > changed in beta11 that makes it so much harder to get working? Anyway, my
> > question is why does everyone like the alsa drivers better than the oss
> > modules? One thing that I've heard is that the oss modules don't use full
> > duplex. Is this correct? The only reason why I ask is because I am
> > considering switching from alsa to the 2.4.18 sound modules to hopefully
> > fix my problem with not being able to play wavs with trplayer.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> >
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Shaun Oliver]

igor I couldn't honestly say.
I know that right at the moment alsa works fine for me.


-- 
Shaun

If little else, the brain is an educational toy.
                -- Tom Robbins
EMAIL: shauno@goanna.net.au
ICQ: 76958435

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Cheryl Homiak]

My system never had any problems with the kernel based soud, though I suppose it
caould potentially be a problem. Maybe somebody should quit emphasizing just
userspace and start emphasizing user friendly.

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Cheryl Homiak]

It really depends on your system. I never compiled it as a module, and I had no
problems, but i'm not discounting the possibility.

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Gregory Nowak]

I usually refrain from one line comments on lists, but I have to say whole heartedly that I agree.
Greg


On Sun, Apr 21, 2002 at 10:02:51AM -0500, Cheryl Homiak wrote:
> My system never had any problems with the kernel based soud, though I suppose it
> caould potentially be a problem. Maybe somebody should quit emphasizing just
> userspace and start emphasizing user friendly.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: kernel vs. alsa?

[Toby Fisher]

On Sat, 20 Apr 2002, Igor Gueths wrote:

> Hi all. I am having pretty bad luck getting beta11 of the alsa package to
> work. Beta9 work well with some quirks. I wonder what has so drastically
> changed in beta11 that makes it so much harder to get working? Anyway, my
> question is why does everyone like the alsa drivers better than the oss
> modules? One thing that I've heard is that the oss modules don't use full
> duplex. Is this correct? The only reason why I ask is because I am
> considering switching from alsa to the 2.4.18 sound modules to hopefully
> fix my problem with not being able to play wavs with trplayer.

Igor,
I am successfully using b12 here, no problems.

To answer the other point, from a personal point of view, I changed
because if I played sound and used Speakup with my external synth at the
same time, I got audio break-up, don't know why, maybe it was a kernel
scheduling issue, I don't know, but ALSA has solved it and all seems fine.
I guess this could change later today however when I try to compile
Speakfreely 7.5.

Cheers, and sorry if this has already been covered, I'm catching up after
a week offline due to isp problems.

-- 
Toby Fisher	Email: toby@g0ucu.freeserve.co.uk
Tel.: +44(0)1480 417272	Mobile: +44(0)7974 363239
ICQ: #61744808
   Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments.
   See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html