> On Thu, Oct 14, 1999 at 07:10:33PM +0200, Jamie Lokier wrote:
> > - anyone can open /dev/dsp
> >
> > - if more than one instance of /dev/dsp is open, the ioctls
> > and so on are routed to a separate mixing module, which fakes
> > the separate devices and writes to the real one.
>
> Yes, yes ! It's a bad idea to do something VERY new system which is not
> in kernel (so many users hasn't got it loaded all the time). It's MUCH MORE
> simple to use the good old way with this "little" extension :) All the old
> softwares (binary only ones too) would continue working with it too !
Actually, ALSA already supports multiple open, at least on GF1 chips
(which, might I mention, were _so_ far ahead of their time (1991-92 or
so? Mine GUS Classic says (C) 1992)). I can just run multiple MP3
players, realaudio clients, etc. using the existing OSS interface), at
the same time, and everything works fine. Granted, other cards would
haev to mix in software to match this functionality, but with cards with
chips such as the GF1 and others that do hardware channel mixing, it is
really nice to be able to have an interface that allows this (and the
fact that ALSA already does this with the OSS interface at least shows
it's possible). I'm not sure if ALSA supports this with other cards or
not (it probably does).
... The GUS Classic is an amazing card -- you can even do some resoldering and
make it completely full duplex, too (otherwise it will echo the output).
I'm not saying that the newer GUS cards aren't better, it's just that
it's so cool considering how old it is :). Forte technologies went under
not so long ago, and I guess Advanced Gravis didn't sell enough because
of bad Windows drivers... *sigh*...
I'm not a diehard GUS fan, no, never... :)
Simon-
[ Stormix Technologies Inc. ][ NetNation Communcations Inc. ]
[ sim@stormix.com ][ sim@netnation.com ]
[ Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of my employers. ]
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