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Latch · 09-03-2003, 06:57 AM

To anyone who is considering installing ALSA onto their linux system: don't, it's not worth the trouble. ESD works heaps better while allowing multiple processes to access your sound card.

The story:

So I keep reading about ALSA.. xmms supports it, mplayer suggests it (when it says my system is too slow to play a file, one of the suggestions is "try using ALSA"). It seems to be the next great thing for linux audio. Fair enough.. I'm happy w/ my ESD but maybe it'd be even cooler.

First, I tried freshrpms.net to install the RH9 rpms for it (I run RH9). No go. That's OK, I can compile it myself. I'm not a guru, but I know some stuff.

I refer to the ALSA page for my sound card as I'm going through this. Configuration, make, make install works great for alsa-driver, alsa-lib, and alsa-utils.

Then we get to modprobe (I didn't want to recompile my kernel w/ it). I spend a good hour trying to figure out why it says it can't detect my sound card. I kill'd esd, I did a lsof on /dev/dsp... no results.. what the fuck? Going through my dmesg output.. I see it giving me a bunch of errors saying it doesn't exist. Just as I'm about to give up.. there's the answer.. the normal (OSS?) driver is installed.

DOAH! That's 50% my fault, 50% ALSA page's fault for not saying I need to uninstall my current driver (I'm a total newbie to ALSA). I thought it sat on top of OSS like ESD or aRts.

Now to my main complaint. It's shit! The sound doesn't come out correctly, it screws up xmms's little bar/line thing that goes with the music, and it's OSS emulation (which Gaim would use since I can't run it and ESD together) is total crap (and it's apparently better than OSS).

Now, some of my frustration is my fault (especially the installing driver part)... but the rest just pisses me off that I wasted my time on something that's crap.

Anyone have any better experiences, or used it at all?

Oh, a summary of this story with faces:

I

the current setup I have.. but I thought "

" about trying ALSA.. something new to play with. So I start and everything works fine

... but wait.. modprobe doesn't work

one hour later.. still

and

about it all... then I realise what I did... I

and

at myself and fix the problem.... go for a reboot for good measure.. into my system fine.. no errors on startup

... feeling pretty proud of myself

.. then I find out the sound is fucking shit quality

ALSA can

my ass. I give it an opposite of a

. It can

(that's blow) me.

There.. that's every face.. except one...

.

09-03-2003, 06:57 AM	#1 (permalink)
Latch In Your Dreams Location: City of Lights	ALSA == EVIL To anyone who is considering installing ALSA onto their linux system: don't, it's not worth the trouble. ESD works heaps better while allowing multiple processes to access your sound card. The story: So I keep reading about ALSA.. xmms supports it, mplayer suggests it (when it says my system is too slow to play a file, one of the suggestions is "try using ALSA"). It seems to be the next great thing for linux audio. Fair enough.. I'm happy w/ my ESD but maybe it'd be even cooler. First, I tried freshrpms.net to install the RH9 rpms for it (I run RH9). No go. That's OK, I can compile it myself. I'm not a guru, but I know some stuff. I refer to the ALSA page for my sound card as I'm going through this. Configuration, make, make install works great for alsa-driver, alsa-lib, and alsa-utils. Then we get to modprobe (I didn't want to recompile my kernel w/ it). I spend a good hour trying to figure out why it says it can't detect my sound card. I kill'd esd, I did a lsof on /dev/dsp... no results.. what the fuck? Going through my dmesg output.. I see it giving me a bunch of errors saying it doesn't exist. Just as I'm about to give up.. there's the answer.. the normal (OSS?) driver is installed. DOAH! That's 50% my fault, 50% ALSA page's fault for not saying I need to uninstall my current driver (I'm a total newbie to ALSA). I thought it sat on top of OSS like ESD or aRts. Now to my main complaint. It's shit! The sound doesn't come out correctly, it screws up xmms's little bar/line thing that goes with the music, and it's OSS emulation (which Gaim would use since I can't run it and ESD together) is total crap (and it's apparently better than OSS). Now, some of my frustration is my fault (especially the installing driver part)... but the rest just pisses me off that I wasted my time on something that's crap. Anyone have any better experiences, or used it at all? Oh, a summary of this story with faces: I the current setup I have.. but I thought "" about trying ALSA.. something new to play with. So I start and everything works fine ... but wait.. modprobe doesn't work one hour later.. still and about it all... then I realise what I did... I and at myself and fix the problem.... go for a reboot for good measure.. into my system fine.. no errors on startup ... feeling pretty proud of myself .. then I find out the sound is fucking shit quality ALSA can my ass. I give it an opposite of a . It can (that's blow) me. There.. that's every face.. except one... .