Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Barry Jibb <barryjibbsausagesinc@×××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Phonon + PulseAudio Problem
Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 20:31:49
Message-Id: 4BF83F23.3070801@gmail.com
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Phonon + PulseAudio Problem by "Canek Peláez Valdés"
1 On 22/05/10 21:26, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:
2 > On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 1:02 PM, Nikos Chantziaras<realnc@×××××.de> wrote:
3 > [snip]
4 >
5 >> I don't do professional audio. I have a normal PC. And just like I
6 >> sometimes use a synth in Windows (I'm just a hobbyist), I'd like to do the
7 >> same in Linux.
8 >>
9 > You can; but you have to use special software, because yours is a
10 > special case. The normal desktop/laptop user does not use a synth.
11 >
12 >
13 >> ALSA/Pulse needing third-party stuff just to get basics right (acceptable
14 >> latency; not *ultra* low latency, just acceptable one) is a sign that
15 >> they're not designed right.
16 >>
17 > Your definition of "acceptable" is *ultra* low to me, and many others.
18 > To me acceptable latency means that the audio system does not waste my
19 > laptop/phone battery.
20 >
21 >
22 >> And in the end, you know what? Even if OSS4 had a broken design, it's still
23 >> better, because it works better.
24 >>
25 > This is your principal problem: you think your use-case is universal,
26 > and it's not. To me Alsa+PulseAudio works better because it allows the
27 > battery of my laptop to last for hours while I see a movie with my
28 > bluetooth headset. With the latencies you want, that's not possible. I
29 > believe my use-case is more general.
30 >
31 >
32 >> At least it gets the basics right. Other
33 >> operating systems are much more advanced in that manner. It's ALSA that
34 >> holds Linux audio back.
35 >>
36 > Jack uses ALSA. From the Jack FAQ page (http://jackaudio.org/faq):
37 >
38 > <quote>
39 > Doesn't use JACK add latency?
40 >
41 > There is NO extra latency caused by using JACK for audio input and
42 > output. When we say none, we mean absolutely zero. The only impact of
43 > using JACK is a slight increase in the amount of work done by the CPU
44 > to process a given chunk of audio, which means that in theory you
45 > could not get 100% of the processing power that you might get it if
46 > your application(s) used ALSA or CoreAudio directly. However, given
47 > that the difference is less than 1%, and that your system will be
48 > unstable before you get close to 80% of the theoretical processing
49 > power, the effect is completely disregardable.
50 > </quote>
51 >
52 > ALSA works great. And for regular users, with PulseAudio both are full
53 > of awesome awesomeness. For your use-case, you should try Jack.
54 >
55 > Regards.
56 >
57 Can someone unsubscribe me please?!?!?!?!?!?

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Phonon + PulseAudio Problem Volker Armin Hemmann <volkerarmin@××××××××××.com>