esound in xfce?

[Jack Coates]

On Sun, 2003-11-23 at 08:17, Tom Wesley wrote:
> On Sun, 2003-11-23 at 16:05, Jack Coates wrote:
> > On Sun, 2003-11-23 at 06:49, Tom Wesley wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > > 
> > > Since I moved to XFCE4 some time back I've had problems with xmms
> > > stopping after a few traps and telling me that the sound device cannot
> > > be opened, check the output plugin.  I've been using the esd plugin,
> > > which seems to work.
> > > The only other application that I use that produces regular sound is
> > > gaim, but that should also be using the esd plugin.
> > > 
> > > If I don't use this, but tell xmms to use ALSA directly it seems to
> > > work, but gaim cannot make any sound.
> > > 
> > > Does anyone know a way to make everything work happily?  I don't mind
> > > running a sound daemon of some sort, although would prefer not to if
> > > applications can talk directly to ALSA simultaneously.
> > 
> > I don't think that's possible. I use artsd because esd is staticky on my
> > sound card, but same principles apply. Are you using the XFce mixer
> > plugin? That's the only thing in XFce that should have anything to do
> > with the sound card.
> > 
> > --
> > Jack at Monkeynoodle Dot Org: It's A Scientific Venture...
> > 
> > "So keep that phone out of my way for the things I must say are empty if
> > you don't believe they're true."
> > -- The Price I Pay from Worker's Playtime by Billy Bragg
> > 
> 
> OK I have set xmms to alsa, gaim to auto and it's all working
> perfectly.  I have no esd processes running, so does anyone know _how_
> it's working?  I was under the impression that alsa would allow only one
> program to access it at once.

Hm. I did some Googling and it appears that mutliplexing capability was
always planned and has been added to ALSA 0.9. That's purty cool, if
true it means that there's no more need for sound daemons at all unless
you need network transparency, so both esd and artsd could go away.
--
Jack at Monkeynoodle Dot Org: It's A Scientific Venture...

"That may be so says I to him but tell me Sergeant dear-io, if I had a
pack stuck up on me back would I look fine and cheerio?"
-- Medley from If I Should Fall From Grace With God by The Pogues