I'm not much of a PC-gamer (I play on my PS3 and Wii) except for point'n'click adventure games (ScummVM!) so I'm not the right person to ask. I know someone who often play WoW and Counter-Strike on his LP3065 though, and he thinks it's great.
I've been using a 1600x1200 21" LCD for over 7 years now. I recently upgraded to a 2560x1600 30" HP LP3065 monitor and I love it.
I think 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080 and 1900x1200 monitors (combined) are more common than those with lower resolution nowadays.
So, my audio leaves my application, goes through Pulse Audio, then through Jack, then through the ALSA layer, then to the kernel?
If you are using pro audio apps at that specific moment, then yes. Otherwise you don't need JACK.
Why the heck doesn't ALSA just mix multiple streams? Talk about classic BS bloat.
It does (with dmix), but it doesn't support per-application volume settings, on-the-fly detection and configuration of things like bluetooth headsets and networked speakers, on-the-fly routing of audio (master or application specific) to different or multiple sets of speakers and a lot more. Also, ALSA is Linux-specific whereas Pulseaudio will run on any UNIX, Windows and MacOS X.
Do you have a better idea how this should be handled while being as flexible?
Yes, this transitional period is pretty harsh to us who wants to run some older software that use bad coding practices.:( Thankfully, it will only get better as applications are fixed and backwards compatibility interfaces, like CUSE+ossp mentioned in the article summary, get better.
You know what? Maybe in the future Jack will implement the Pulseaudio API and be able to function as a drop-in replacement to Pulseaudio. It's not THAT unfeasible. Also, the PA implementation is getting better and the latest versions don't have that high latency if run on a -rt kernel with realtime privileges. A bit buggy under certain conditions, yes, but that will be fixed in the future.
As I wrote above: For pro audio production you'll run JACK and have PA output its audio to JACK instead of directly to ALSA. That way your pro audio apps will get their super low latency and all of the apps that can get away with 30-50ms latency will play through PA to JACK, at the same time even.
With the very latest versions of Pulseaudio combined with a realtime kernel (soon to be merged into the mainline kernel), Pulseaudio won't give you much latency at all. It also uses MUCH less CPU than JACK so it's much better suited for standard desktop needs. PA won't drain your laptop's battery, JACK will.
PA is for desktop audio. For pro audio production you'll run JACK and have PA output its audio to JACK instead of directly to ALSA. That way your pro audio apps will get their super low latency and all of the apps that can get away with 50ms latency will play through PA to JACK. You get the best of both worlds.
Please define "works". After that, imagine that some people have other needs and what the definition of "works" is in their case. Think about multiseat setups, have one users X session play audio on the front speakers and another users X session play on the rear speakers, and they have separate master volume controls. Think about using one microphone to record to several different applications at the same time. Think about logging in to a remote computer and the audio of the applications you start play on your local speakers.
Plain OSS was okay only if your needs were within OSS' very limited feature set.
The "million handler processes" are for backwards compatibility. Pulseaudio only use a single one.
I agree but the situation is getting better and better. Pretty much every distribution has standardized on Pulseaudio and while it caused lots of problems in the beginning, and it still causes some problems on certain setups (especially with legacy, badly coded applications/games/emulators), it is a good API and it IS the future of Linux desktop audio, whether you like it or not. When this transitional period we are currently in is over, everyone will be much better off.
It's also a proprietary, binary blob and an insanely buggy one at that. At least all versions that are currently usable in practice (Gnash/swfdec are only usable in theory).
With NX, like plain X, you can remotely run single apps and mix windows from different hosts and they all act as if they were running locally. AFAIK you can't do that with VNC. It is also MUCH more usable than VNC on very slow links (modems).
I had 450+ hours into the game playing different characters *before* the DLCs came out . Now I have over 600 hours and each character brought new adventures not only because of a different skill set, but because of places in the game that I missed before or scenarios that played out differently.
If you think F3 is too short then your only skimming the surface.
I played the missions one after the other and can't say I did much aimless exploration. It took me about 20 hours of active gameplay before I reached the ending scene.
So yeah, I'm sure I just skimmed the surface. However, I don't get much out of aimless exploration, I want missions spread out all over the map.
BTW, when buying the DLCs, do you get to keep using the character you spent hours leveling up in the base game?
Why can't I get a single fucking one of them for my PS3 then? I loved Fallout 3 but thought it was a bit too short. If I had been able to buy the DLCs I would had done so but the more time that passes I get less and less likely to buy them when/if they get released because my interest has moved on to other games.
Slashdot Mirror
Eh, what?
I'm not much of a PC-gamer (I play on my PS3 and Wii) except for point'n'click adventure games (ScummVM!) so I'm not the right person to ask. I know someone who often play WoW and Counter-Strike on his LP3065 though, and he thinks it's great.
I've been using a 1600x1200 21" LCD for over 7 years now. I recently upgraded to a 2560x1600 30" HP LP3065 monitor and I love it. I think 1440x900, 1680x1050, 1920x1080 and 1900x1200 monitors (combined) are more common than those with lower resolution nowadays.
What happened to good old bandwidth-friendly text?
I... am not... programmed... to answer... in that area. *beeeeeeeep*
[Yeoman blurred face]
But then again it difficult, but not impossible, to live in the modern world without credit.
Bull. Just use a debit card instead and gain some control over your personal economy. Don't buy things you can't afford. Save first, then buy.
Maki toko ha
Misokata yu tama
Ky omota na
How to they measure these magic "hours" that all game reviews talk about? What is the definition?
How about keeping PA and JACK but skipping the ALSA layer, then
But how should PA/JACK talk to the sound card? ALSA (not counting the userland plugin system) is pretty much an API and a collection of drivers.
(especially since non-Linux systems apparently manage without it)?
Because they use something else instead of ALSA, like OSS, Core Audio or Direct Sound.
there is no soundcard made this century that I know of who does not do hardware mixing
How about HDA and AC97 used in about 95% of the computers built in the last 10 years?
So, my audio leaves my application, goes through Pulse Audio, then through Jack, then through the ALSA layer, then to the kernel?
If you are using pro audio apps at that specific moment, then yes. Otherwise you don't need JACK.
Why the heck doesn't ALSA just mix multiple streams? Talk about classic BS bloat.
It does (with dmix), but it doesn't support per-application volume settings, on-the-fly detection and configuration of things like bluetooth headsets and networked speakers, on-the-fly routing of audio (master or application specific) to different or multiple sets of speakers and a lot more. Also, ALSA is Linux-specific whereas Pulseaudio will run on any UNIX, Windows and MacOS X. Do you have a better idea how this should be handled while being as flexible?
Yeah, but now it's on a computer!
Err... nevermind.
Yes, this transitional period is pretty harsh to us who wants to run some older software that use bad coding practices. :( Thankfully, it will only get better as applications are fixed and backwards compatibility interfaces, like CUSE+ossp mentioned in the article summary, get better.
You know what? Maybe in the future Jack will implement the Pulseaudio API and be able to function as a drop-in replacement to Pulseaudio. It's not THAT unfeasible. Also, the PA implementation is getting better and the latest versions don't have that high latency if run on a -rt kernel with realtime privileges. A bit buggy under certain conditions, yes, but that will be fixed in the future.
As I wrote above: For pro audio production you'll run JACK and have PA output its audio to JACK instead of directly to ALSA. That way your pro audio apps will get their super low latency and all of the apps that can get away with 30-50ms latency will play through PA to JACK, at the same time even.
With the very latest versions of Pulseaudio combined with a realtime kernel (soon to be merged into the mainline kernel), Pulseaudio won't give you much latency at all. It also uses MUCH less CPU than JACK so it's much better suited for standard desktop needs. PA won't drain your laptop's battery, JACK will.
PA is for desktop audio. For pro audio production you'll run JACK and have PA output its audio to JACK instead of directly to ALSA. That way your pro audio apps will get their super low latency and all of the apps that can get away with 50ms latency will play through PA to JACK. You get the best of both worlds.
Please define "works". After that, imagine that some people have other needs and what the definition of "works" is in their case. Think about multiseat setups, have one users X session play audio on the front speakers and another users X session play on the rear speakers, and they have separate master volume controls. Think about using one microphone to record to several different applications at the same time. Think about logging in to a remote computer and the audio of the applications you start play on your local speakers.
Plain OSS was okay only if your needs were within OSS' very limited feature set.
The "million handler processes" are for backwards compatibility. Pulseaudio only use a single one.
I agree but the situation is getting better and better. Pretty much every distribution has standardized on Pulseaudio and while it caused lots of problems in the beginning, and it still causes some problems on certain setups (especially with legacy, badly coded applications/games/emulators), it is a good API and it IS the future of Linux desktop audio, whether you like it or not. When this transitional period we are currently in is over, everyone will be much better off.
You should take it with a grain of salt...
It's also a proprietary, binary blob and an insanely buggy one at that. At least all versions that are currently usable in practice (Gnash/swfdec are only usable in theory).
Is there a reason why 'orange' doesn't sound like anything else?
Door hinge?
With NX, like plain X, you can remotely run single apps and mix windows from different hosts and they all act as if they were running locally. AFAIK you can't do that with VNC. It is also MUCH more usable than VNC on very slow links (modems).
The A320 is a bit to weak but the French beta-tested it on the A330 six weeks ago.
Fallout 3 is too short?
I had 450+ hours into the game playing different characters *before* the DLCs came out . Now I have over 600 hours and each character brought new adventures not only because of a different skill set, but because of places in the game that I missed before or scenarios that played out differently.
If you think F3 is too short then your only skimming the surface.
I played the missions one after the other and can't say I did much aimless exploration. It took me about 20 hours of active gameplay before I reached the ending scene.
So yeah, I'm sure I just skimmed the surface. However, I don't get much out of aimless exploration, I want missions spread out all over the map.
BTW, when buying the DLCs, do you get to keep using the character you spent hours leveling up in the base game?
the game's fifth and final DLC release
Why can't I get a single fucking one of them for my PS3 then?
I loved Fallout 3 but thought it was a bit too short. If I had been able to buy the DLCs I would had done so but the more time that passes I get less and less likely to buy them when/if they get released because my interest has moved on to other games.