An alternate approach is to buy (yes, I said buy) some drivers from 4-Front at http://www.opensound.com. They have a real-time software mixer that works with ALL chipsets. Latency is nonexistent, as far as I can tell.
So does ALSA. Check out the "dmix" plugin. It requires a fairly beefy CPU though (P150 or better).
Not every company is willing to open source all their software and make it free.
Right, well, if I pay for a piece of software that I depend on to make use of hardware that I've purchased, I want the source code so that I can make sure it continues to work for my purposes.
Just because they would deliver the source code with their product doesn't make it "Free", unless they specifically relinquish redistribution rights to the user of the software. That may or may not fit within their business model and is their choice to make. However, depriving the user of the source code is to maintain control over the user.
The GPL is an implicit contract. Anybody who happens along and acquires a copy of the GPL'd code is supposedly bound by this 'contract.'
Wrong. Notice that it is typically contained in a file called 'COPYING'. The GPL only applies when you redistribute the software.
It's a heck of a lot like an EULA in that regard, and nobody here takes binding EULA's seriously. Why should we take the GPL seriously either?
It's not like a EULA at all. A distribution license like the GPL is not invoked until you distribute the software to someone else. A EULA is a contract that is invoked when you install a piece of software (or sometimes, when you open the box).
The GPL guarantees you to have no restrictions on your use of the software. Above and beyond that, it grants you certain distribution rights that you would not have otherwise under copyright law. If you reject the terms of the GPL, you may not distribute the software, but you can still use it for whatever purpose you want. A EULA, on the other hand, is designed to disallow you to even make use of the software if you do not accept its terms.
There was an awesome article in the IEEE Spectrum years ago detailing the hurdles the C64 designers went through while building the machine. I scanned the article and placed the DjVu e-book here:
Not only that, but early C64's had a bug in the ROM that would cause random snow to appear on the screen occasionally. This wouldn't be so bad, except it triggered collision detection where the snow showed up!
Huh? The Dreamcast used a PowerVR chip similar to the PCX1/PCX2 chips that were used in consumer Direct3D cards. How is PowerVR so "screwed up" that console programmers can't figure out how to make use of it? PC programmers needed to know nothing about the underlying hardware, and neither did Dreamcast programmers. The API and middleware took care of it for you.
Or, are you complaining about the difficulty of programming the hardware directly, ignoring the easy-to-use interface that was provided for you? Do you also complain that it is difficult to program your GeForce or Radeon card at the hardware level? I don't understand.
It is VERY LIKELY that a former or current SCO employee or someone who had access to the codebase simply added the code in. Why is that so hard for you people to believe? There are no controls in place to prevent it.
What are you talking about? You think there is public commit access to the Linux repository or something? You may want to check again on that.
Every bit of code that is committed to the official Linux kernel goes either through Linus himself, or one of many "lieutenants" who clean up/verify the patches, and then send them on to Linus. It is the same process by which FreeBSD development is done, except there are more people with commit in the BSD project. Yet Linux's development model is flawed somehow?
Stallman's goals are the erradication of all commercial software. So that "information can be free". Do you contend that?
I know this will hurt, but go ahead and link to where you read such drivel. Because it completely misrepresents the driving force behind the FSF, which is to make proprietary (not commercial) software irrelevant, not to outlaw it.
If you find any such fanaticism on the FSF's site, I'll eat my hat. The FSF has always been about choice, and that includes having the choice to pick a proprietary package when it fits your needs, or to use a free package if it fits your needs. Their primary encouragement is for software developers to develop free software, for the purpose of empowering users and ensuring that there is no post-purchase support monopoly.
Not to "erradicate" proprietary software, or to suppress commerce -- indeed, the GPL is all about giving authors commercial opportunities when writing free software that they never had when using the traditional permissive licenses.
In short, quit trolling. It's tiresome reading your smug posts which are actually, for the most part, devoid of content.
The best thing for large scale adoption of Free Software is for this and other RMS/ESR sort of religious, philosophical propaganda to be buried where corporate manager types can't find it.
Propaganda implies a lack of reason. Attack their points instead of their persona.
The thing that these people don't understand is that, although the average bearded crypto-communist zealot may begrudge Microsoft et al. for being profit minded, other corporations don't.
"They" don't begrudge Microsoft for being profit-minded. I'm not sure which "they" you are talking about, but "I" begrudge Microsoft for trying to control and manipulate their users and destroy competition even when they have near 100% marketshare.
This is both interesting and a terrible shame. It's interesting, because the people involved obviously have some talent. It's a shame, because they're devoting such talent to utterly useless projects.
I'm glad someone appointed you the official arbitrator of usefulness. Yes, these people obviously don't have enough perspective on their own lives; when will they realize that they should do only things that others find useful, instead of the things that they want to do?
It's a shame that so many people today waste time on frivolous things like "having an idea and pursuing it" and "learning by doing". They should be doing their duty and filling up empty slots in The Machine instead!
One word: Bullshit. All R100 and R200 Radeon cards have open source drivers. There are, at most, about a dozen people who work on those drivers and the majority of them are paid to do so.
Yeah. Probably the same dozen people who have access to the documentation under NDA. You ever tried writing or improving a driver for undocumented hardware?
I've also had problems with certain.tar.gz archives not extracting properly under Winzip. I have no idea why; I extracted, recreated, changed files around, etc. Seems that there is some subtle bug in Winzip that only occasionally gets triggered.br.
This was not a problem for more intelligent zip scanners; they would simply compare the uncompressed file sizes in the zip file's internal directory versus the free space left on disk, and refuse to process the file if the former was greater than the latter.
Plus, if people were able to reprogram the unit, I'm not sure how that'd really help the community. You'd probably see a bunch of people doing silly "hacks" with the system and a bunch of confused users not knowing what "distribution" to run on their [Linksys access point].
Replace "Linksys access point" with "computer", another term that accurately describes the unit. See the problem? Thing is, people like things they can play with, and other people like those people to play with those things, because innovative stuff comes out of it in the end.
How else is Linksys going to distinguish itself from the rest of the Taiwanese crowd?
Consider "overclocking". Overclocking in the 486 era was marginally useful. Overclocking today belongs in the same category as car stereo loudness competitions.
You're painfully correct. Overclocking used to be about maximizing one's performance/price ratio, to get the equivalent of better hardware for a lower price, the object being to have money left over for other things. It was a rational thing to do!
Now, overclocking is all about who can spend the most money to get the most performance, and the primary rationale for doing it in the first place has completely escaped most of those who participate in the "popular" overclocking movement of today.
Cracking an XBox to run Linux is like using a 500MB word-processor to write a 1 page letter. Waste of resources and effort, it profits only MS. Better contribute to some useful GNU projects, such as AbiWord - there's many of them out there that need attention.
I think baseball is a waste of time. It's stupid! Throwing and hitting a ball around; it does nothing to contribute to the progress of society. Why don't all those baseball players do something useful like construction work, or become doctors or fire fighters? Until they do, they are simply wasting their efforts on such a stupid thing as baseball.
Yes, I still use an AT motherboard, for my ISA card EPROM burner which is only supported under DOS. (And the crazy part is that Fry's still sells 'em!)
Still sells EPROM burners, or the motherboards? Just curious -- if they are selling EPROM burners, what kind?
Using the DSP wrapper programs, artsdsp or esddsp, you can allow programs to write to OSS-style/dev/dsp and still mix the waveforms in a userspace daemon.
Thanks! I had no idea those existed. Very helpful.
in the fact that anyone using 'copylefted' software MUST redistribute any alterations publicly.
Bullshit. Only if you redistribute the modified GPL/LGPL software must you make your changes public. You can make all the changes you want for your own internal use and the world will never see it.
These kinds of distros involve so much handholding that you never learn about things like which module you need for your net card, which to me is what makes Linux fun.
Something you might learn is that other people have differing definitions of what constitutes fun, and not lambast them for it if it doesn't align with yours.
Because you didn't pay for the right to see the content they're beaming through your head.
I live in a highrise apartment next to Comiskey Park. I look out my window; I see an ongoing ballgame. I sit down and watch the game. I didn't pay for the right to see the game, but due to the nature of the "content", I am able to view it anyway.
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Just because they would deliver the source code with their product doesn't make it "Free", unless they specifically relinquish redistribution rights to the user of the software. That may or may not fit within their business model and is their choice to make. However, depriving the user of the source code is to maintain control over the user.
Someone use it on *BSD! Finally, we can know for sure whether it is really dying, or not!
The GPL guarantees you to have no restrictions on your use of the software. Above and beyond that, it grants you certain distribution rights that you would not have otherwise under copyright law. If you reject the terms of the GPL, you may not distribute the software, but you can still use it for whatever purpose you want. A EULA, on the other hand, is designed to disallow you to even make use of the software if you do not accept its terms.
See the difference now?
http://retro.icequake.net/commodore_64_design_case _history
Hope this is of some interest to the sort of people who would be interested in the XGameStation.
Not only that, but early C64's had a bug in the ROM that would cause random snow to appear on the screen occasionally. This wouldn't be so bad, except it triggered collision detection where the snow showed up!
Or, are you complaining about the difficulty of programming the hardware directly, ignoring the easy-to-use interface that was provided for you? Do you also complain that it is difficult to program your GeForce or Radeon card at the hardware level? I don't understand.
Every bit of code that is committed to the official Linux kernel goes either through Linus himself, or one of many "lieutenants" who clean up/verify the patches, and then send them on to Linus. It is the same process by which FreeBSD development is done, except there are more people with commit in the BSD project. Yet Linux's development model is flawed somehow?
You do know that Tom Lord is the author of arch, do you not?
If you find any such fanaticism on the FSF's site, I'll eat my hat. The FSF has always been about choice, and that includes having the choice to pick a proprietary package when it fits your needs, or to use a free package if it fits your needs. Their primary encouragement is for software developers to develop free software, for the purpose of empowering users and ensuring that there is no post-purchase support monopoly.
Not to "erradicate" proprietary software, or to suppress commerce -- indeed, the GPL is all about giving authors commercial opportunities when writing free software that they never had when using the traditional permissive licenses.
In short, quit trolling. It's tiresome reading your smug posts which are actually, for the most part, devoid of content.
It's a shame that so many people today waste time on frivolous things like "having an idea and pursuing it" and "learning by doing". They should be doing their duty and filling up empty slots in The Machine instead!
I've also had problems with certain .tar.gz archives not extracting properly under Winzip. I have no idea why; I extracted, recreated, changed files around, etc. Seems that there is some subtle bug in Winzip that only occasionally gets triggered.br.
This was not a problem for more intelligent zip scanners; they would simply compare the uncompressed file sizes in the zip file's internal directory versus the free space left on disk, and refuse to process the file if the former was greater than the latter.
How else is Linksys going to distinguish itself from the rest of the Taiwanese crowd?
Now, overclocking is all about who can spend the most money to get the most performance, and the primary rationale for doing it in the first place has completely escaped most of those who participate in the "popular" overclocking movement of today.
I live in a highrise apartment next to Comiskey Park. I look out my window; I see an ongoing ballgame. I sit down and watch the game. I didn't pay for the right to see the game, but due to the nature of the "content", I am able to view it anyway.
Am I a criminal?