Tom Horsley wrote:
I think we're saying the same thing. Alsa should stay low level, providing the full functionality that every sound device provides.On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:37:26 -0700 stan <eiqep_eiwo_y cox net> wrote:And my suggestion is that pulseaudio should be integrated into ALSA. That is, it becomes invisible to most usersThe trouble is, it is really easy to understand why people could grow to hate ALSA. It is way too low level. For instance to get a DVD played with the digital sound directly routed out of the SP/DIF interface on my motherboard, I have to say this:
pulseaudio should be the interface in alsa that allows you to either have access to that low level capability if you want it, or high level capability like you describe above at the touch of a button. So pulse is a plugin framework into alsa, where if there is no plugin you get alsa, otherwise the high level functionality.
And all of this occurs transparently to the average user that doesn't care. They don't even know there is something called pulse or alsa. Applications just use the alsa api or the pulse plugin functionality as a stop on the way to the alsa api as they see fit and know one knows.
Sound just works. Are we there? No. Are we in sight? On a clear sunny day, if we get tossed in the air. :-^