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ALSA vs. OSS vs. OSSFree
scenic writes "I was wondering what experience the /. community has had with ALSA vs the sound drivers that are part of the Kernel and the various other choices (such as the 4Front OSS packages). I've used the commercial OSS drivers as well as the "included" Linux drivers. I've started to look to ALSA for better sound response (for example, I've noticed with esd and the basic linux drivers, there is sometimes a lag when playing back video files through esd. I understand that esd is part of the issue, but it's sort of important to be able to multiplex sound). What have others' experiences been? What other solutions are there aside from things like esd?" Which sound systems do you find work for your system, and which don't? If specific hardware / software combinations can be endorsed or critiqued, it'll probably help a lot of people.
My understanding is Mandrake 8.0 used ALSA exclusively. I use the Maestro 2 chipset (it's a crappy no-name laptop), and it didn't seem to multiplex sounds at all. Hence I use artsd. Am I completely on crack, and is there a definitive way to test if the ESS Maestro 2 is capable of/currently wavetable mixing via ALSA?
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