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On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 2:32 PM, Alan Mackenzie <acm@×××.de> wrote: |
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> Hello, Gentoo. |
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> |
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> I've just removed pulseaudio from my main Gentoo system. Why? Several |
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> reasons: |
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> |
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> (i) It's a "sound server", a description I don't understand. What does |
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> it _do_? Why do I want it? It seems to be an unnecessary layer of fat |
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> between sound applications and the kernel. |
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Take a look at this: |
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https://plus.google.com/photos/115256116066287398549/albums/5778609034682831121/5778849461325756466 |
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That's me selecting with a click of the mouse if I want to use Skype |
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with the analog speakers from my laptop, or with my bluetooth headset. |
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Of course, the BT headset doesn't appear in the combo box until they |
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are actually connected; my USB speakers don't show up there because |
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they weren't connected. |
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With PA, I can switch soundcards for programs individually, without |
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the program in questing noticing at all: you have your sound coming |
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from the laptop speakers, and after selecting my BT headset, the sound |
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starts coming out from them, all instantaneously. No config files |
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editing required, everything "just works". |
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And of course all the other sound applications just keep working, and |
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the sound for them it's routed to the laptop speakers, but I can also |
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change them on the fly to go to my BT headset, or my USB speakers, or |
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even other machines using PA connected in my LAN (with proper |
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permissions). |
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You can probably do all of this without PA, but it will require to |
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edit $HOME/.asoundrc, and files under /etc/bluetooth/, and probably |
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testing different configurations for permissions, and... |
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And I just don't care. PA just works, in all my machines and media |
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center. And it's all very nicely integrated with GNOME and it just |
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works with a couple clicks from my mouse (if at all). |
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So if you don't need it, good for you that you can remove PA from your |
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system. For the *general case* (not necessarily the *most used*, but |
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the one that covers the *most* use cases), PA is the best solution |
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available. And all the distributions seems to agree on that. |
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|
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Regards. |
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-- |
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Canek Peláez Valdés |
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Posgrado en Ciencia e Ingeniería de la Computación |
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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |
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